handing out bottled water and clean up supplies. >> ma'am, a response i got from a viewer when i talked to you earlier, was the cell phone app that people could download this app and find shelters. red cross shelters. describe that for me again. where they can get it and exactly what it is used for. >> we have a free application for iphones and ipads. it is a shelter app. you can download it from itunes. it will show you where all of the shelters are that we have open. if you are in a location and you feel you need to get to a shelter, pull up an app and get to safety as soon as possible. >> that is useful information this morning. we will channel that out to our viewers. kate meier, we appreciate you giving us the update. we hope we can continue to call on you as the storm makes landfall. we are at the bottom of the hour here now. i was not supposed to be here in studio with you this weekend for this newscast. i was supposed to be in washington d.c. we were taking our show on the road. we will do it live from the national mall. this weekend was the big dedication of the mlk memorial on the national mall. that is just one of a number of things that had to be canceled this weekend because of hurricane irene. we will check in with d.c. and see how things are going when we come back. stay with me. or mical.. . major medical. ...but it helps pay the doctors. pays the doctors, boyyy! 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[ male announcer ] help protect your family at aflac.com. if something is simply the color of gold, is it really worth more? we don't think so. chase sapphire preferred is a card of a different color. unlike others, you get twice the points on travel, and twice the points on dining, and no foreign transaction fees. call now or apply at chasesapphire.com/preferred. all right. we are 35 minutes past the hour on this cnn saturday morning. it is a morning where we are giving you continuing coverage of hurricane irene which is set to make landfall here at any moment now. this coverage continues for you and we can add new jersey now to the list of states that are eligible for federal aid as president obama has signed an emergency order for the garden state. new york and new jersey and connecticut and north carolina have the declarations. the storm is smacking north carolina as we speak. sustained winds of 90 miles an hour. it is a category one storm. it was a category two yesterday. don't let that fool you. that it seems to have downgraded. i should not use the word downgrade. this is a serious storm. a big storm as well. storm bands are hundreds of miles wide right now. the radar suggesting it may be losing organization. sloppy is the word that our jacqui jeras was using earlier. >> and john zarrella. >> you want to contribute it to john? >> yes, he is the one who said sloppy. >> i went along with sloppy. what is the word? >> it is not an organized storm. that is a better term to talk about. we had a lot of wind shear on the southwest side of the storm. we had a lot of dry air which has been moving into it. all of these factors have been weakening the system overall. i like that you said, t.j., that we don't want to downplay it and say it is downgraded to a category one. this is a monster. look at how big this thing is. we have cloud shield over into tennessee. that is hundreds of miles. we are going to see big impact. we are in the height of this thing. in fact, we will have an update from the national hurricane center on the intensity of this storm within the next 15 minutes. make sure you stay tuned for that one. for landfall, this is -- basically, we are having that happen. we are in the process of that right now. here is cape lookout. you can see the peak. the center of circulation which is right in the area here. we are in the process of making landfall. i'll wait for the hurricane center to tell you that and i'll repeat it. look at this. the biggest concern is what i'm seeing in this area right here with the band as it pushes on in. we will see some winds, maybe 80-to-110 miles an hour. we had a 110-mile-an-hour wind gust on this island here. there is a lot of intensity with the storm. let's look at the forecast track. it will pick up a little bit of forward speed as it heads through the mid-atlantic today and the northeast tomorrow. out of here by monday. we are already seeing quite a bit of damage in virginia and the norfolk area. keep in mind this is a big storm. you are not getting the peak of this until midnight in washington d.c. new york, midday tomorrow. rainfall is the biggest problem. there is so much moisture with this thing. we are talking 6 to 12 inches expected. a lot of flash flooding on the outer banks. t.j. >> jacqui, thank you. 38 minutes past the hour. we will head up to washington d.c. where i was supposed to be this weekend with athena jones. she is there in d.c. the show was supposed to be on the road for the big mlk dedication on the national mall. that is on hold right now. >> reporter: exactly. it has been postponed. safety first. there was a whole series of events around that. thousands of people were expected to come for this dedication that was set for tomorrow, sunday. the 48th anniversary of the march on washington and the famous martin luther king, "i have a dream" speech. the d.c. mayor vincent gray has declared a state of emergency for the city. he was one of several mayors and governors who had a conference call with president obama yesterday morning to talk about the storm. i should mention the president has cut short his vacation on martha's vineyard. he returned with his family late last night. people have been preparing for the storm for days. engineers were scramble to plug holes in the washington monument which was damaged in tuesday's earthquake. they were stuffing flexible insulation in the holes. they were also working on the turrets on the smithsonian castle to protect it from the winds and rain of the storm. the city officials have been telling residents to be ready. let's listen to what vincent gray, the mayor, had to say about what we could expect to see here in washington. >> roughly a period of 24 hours during which we would experience the conditions of a hurricane. there could be some flooding. we don't know the extent of that at this stage. our department of public works for the last 24 hours has been making sand bags available to people who would like to have them to address their concerns about the possibility of flooding. >> reporter: and so he mentioned sand bags. the city handed out 7,000 sand bags to families yesterday. they ran out at 5:00 p.m. they had to stop delivering. that is supposed to start up again today at around noon at a stadium nearby. they will hand out another 2,700 today. they are limiting five per household. you will have to find some other ways to protect your homes and businesses. they want residents to be ready. i got a flyer under my door last item saying you could be without power for at least 24 hours or longer. people are being asked to be prepared for this storm, t.j. >> athena jones for us in d.c., thank you. we are 41 minutes past the hour. it is the natural instinct to pick up the phone and call on your loved ones in a storm. that is what authorities want you not to do. they want you to get on twitter and facebook to stay in touch. we will explain that. taking a look at how social media is changing how we deal and communicate in disasters. ker . this summer put your family in an exceptionally engineered mercedes-benz now for an exceptional price during the summer event. but hurry, this offer ends august 31st. excuse me? 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[ male announcer ] it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. and so too is the summer event. now get an incredible offer on the powerful c300 sport sedan. but hurry before this opportunity...disappears. the mercedes-benz summer event ends august 31st. a quarter until the top of the hour on this cnn saturday morning. if you want to check on your loved ones in the path of the storm, don't call them. we have josh levs with more. >> they said their were reminders this week after the earthquake that people had trouble making phone calls. the director of fema said you should try other avenues. >> we have some using social media. cell phones may not be able to get through. stay off the phones if it is not an emergency. other people may be trying to call 911. >> use social media if you are on it. make sure your loved ones follow you if it is facebook or twitter. you can use ireport or youtube. there is a web site from the red cross. it is called safe and well. let's zoom in on it. they have set this up. it has a special section now for hurricane irene. you go to the web site and you click you are able to list yourself or go searching for someone who is already listed. everything i just shown you and other links are posted for you up here. show my page. i have it there for you. facebook and twitter. you can go to cnn.com/josh. we have resources and more here. those are the things to try. if there is no other way to reach your loved ones, there are cell phone networks that are working, but do not make that your first move. >> josh, thank you. you remember hurricane katrina and you remember army lieutenant general russell honerau. we will hear from him as they keep it together for hurricane irene. recoend the ensure brand for extra nutrition. ensure clinical strength has revigor and thirteen grams of protein to protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. and immune balance to help support your immune system. ensure clinical strength... helping you to bounce back. ensure! nutrition in charge! excuse me? my grandfather was born in this village. 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[ male announcer ] we are insurance. ♪ we are farmers ♪ bum, ba-da-bum, bum, bum, bum ♪ ten minutes to the top of the hour. jackie, make it official. >> we've got landfall. absolutely. cape lookout, about 10, 20 minutes ago. you can see on radar, it ace taken a little jog to the northeast. looks like it's back offshore five miles north-northeast of cape lookout. it's weakened a bit, our winds are down a smidge to 85 miles per hour. it's still a category 1, a stronger category 1 storm, and it is going to continue to just lash the outer banks and eastern parts of north carolina over the next five, six hours or so before you start to see this it let up just a bit. lots of storm surge being reported all throughout the outer banks in the range of 6 to 8 feet. we're getting many reports of damage, mobile homes as well as trees being uprooted and thousands and thousands of people are are without power this hour. so irene has officially made landfall, our first landfalling hurricane in the u.s. since hurricane ike back in 2008. >> jacqui, thank you for that. had when we come back, we'll be talking to general honore. he knows a thing or two about handling the response to a disaster. he's with me, stay here. 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[ crunching, sipping ] be happy. be healthy. can i try yours? just heard from jacqui jeras a moment ago that, yes, hurricane eye heen officially made landfall just a matter of minutes ago, made landfall in north carolina. but it has come ashore in north carolina, this storm coming ashore as a category 1 storm with sustained winds of at least 85 miles an hour. want to turn to the gentleman sitting to my left. you certainly recognize the name and face. he was in charge of the military response to hurricane katrina, general russell honore. as you watch it this storm, it's made its way to north carolina, going to make its way up the coast, what jumps out at you as your first concern about the storm in. >> number one, all of government has done a good job, including the media of keep people informed. my concern is the lack of actions or actions by the most vulnerable population, the elderly, disabled and the poor. as the storm just made landfall, it's about to go norfolk, portsmouth, hampton road area. there are a lot of poor people that live in some very questionable homes that can take this wind. with them adisabled and elderly people, that tidal surge a lot of that area will flood. >> we always talk about people to listen to the warnings and get out. but frankly we have people that don't have the means to get out. >> don't have the means. local shelters are open, but we've got a long way in many america to go that the execution of the plan focus on the vulnerable population, the disabled elderly and poor. >> this last 40 seconds i have, military ready and will the military be needed? >> never seen it any better, north com, national guard, prepared for land, air and sea, navy is ready to come in, air force ready to back up the national guard. we're ready ff general russell honore, it's unfortunate disasters are the only time we get to see you. always good to have you. thank you, general, with us throughout the day as we continue our coverage of hurricane irene, now made landfall officially according to the national hurricane center, happened just minutes ago. we will continue our extensive coverage of this monster storm as it makes its way up the east coast of the. e silverado's the most dependable, longest-lasting full-size truck on the road or because heavy duty made motor trend's 2011 truck of the year. no, it was good because you told us so. consider this a thank-you. the chevy model year wrap up. get in on our greatest model year yet. right now, combine the all-star edition discount with other offers for a total value of $6,000. our greatest model year yet is wrapping up. ♪ at great clips, quality and value have never looked more atractive. relax. you're at great clips.