been carrying throughout the east coast. back to you. >> no doubt about that. thanks. we'll continue to check in with you. let's check in with affiliate wcbs who's driving around in brooklyn, see what the scene is there. >> doing everything that residents can expect and even more. we'll get by this. we will get by this. >> there are some gutsy calls involved here. when you start telling people to evacuate, that's something many have never been told to do before. when you make the decision in conjunction with governor cuomo to shut down the mta system at noon on saturday before the storm has reached here, that's a gutsy call, isn't it? >> it is but i think the mayor with his executive advises and mta, i think they obviously have the expertise, number one is the safety of the residents of the city of new york and it's always best to side on the side of safety. that's what they did. i believe they made the right decision. >> we just passed an nypd checkpoint here. it seems like they had staged vehicles here in advance after the storm. the tennis center, what do you make of this over here? >> obviously this is open right now. during the winter it's a bubble. during the summer months it's open. it looks like some -- i really can't tell if there's any damage. the nets are still up, obviously. >> some of the netting around the courts -- >> i think because of the aggressiveness of the city administration, i think we'll keep damage minimum. the residents were obviously a lale alerted and took this seriously. whether they sought a shelter or not they took this seriously. i think residents batted down everything that can move and took this to heart this time. i think it was the right call. >> marty, what are you hearing from the coastal communities, the low-lying areas where the coastal evacuation was ordered? >> i must tell you that from, for instance, my wife's relative lives right in the heart of manhattan beach and perhaps we're heading there now. and she said, surprisingly, absolutely nothing. >> we'll head to that part of brooklyn with the borough president. we'll check back in with you. we're reporting live from mobile 2. >> you may have just witnessed the birth of a brand new reality show. >> that's our affiliate wcbs. let's check in with john king on the phone from long beach. john? >> anderson, i'm going to step out, my audio may go a bit. i'll walk back out to the edge of the board walk. trying to stream you a wide picture. we'll show you how the waves were beginning to deteriorate, show you the sandbags set up here. the waves are now coming over that. the waves are getting more intense. you can see some of the waves hitting right now, the picture is coming in. they are beginning to destroy this. the reason this one is here, this is one part of the board walk where there's a bit of an opening. the water going through into the town of long beach. show you back along the board walk this way as well as i can. [ inaudible ] some of the projections are gone. some things are toppled over at the beach. more and more water coming on to the beach. places that were dry two hours ago are now ankle deep, some places, with water. it's about high tide. the brunt of the storm is still a couple hours away. the coastal areas, you just heard our affiliate talking about as well, the flooding in the coastal areas is becoming a reality here in long beach. the question is how bad will be the flooding be here in the big question is, the problems we're beginning to see here, do they make it to you in the more populated areas of the city, which subof course, as you know, is a major concern. just an hour or so ago, there's been an increase in the waves, a significant increase in the power of the water and significant evidence that the efforts along the coast here are beginning to fail, anderson. >> john king joining us on the phone from long beach. clearly the story this morning, the effects of this storm are really being felt in the coastal areas, in those beach areas, in low-lying areas. but as far as for the majority of the population living in manhattan, living in other areas of new york city which had been of such concern, it seems at this point if this is as -- or jacqui jeras had said, it's the worst of the rain we're going to see, you wouldn't know this is a major storm necessarily in new york unless you'd been watching the news. this looks like just a bad rainstorm. it's obviously, according to jacqui, going to be lasting 12 hours. it will be a big inconvenience today. but there's no doubt folks are going to be coming out and walking around unless the winds pick up substantially. it's just going to be an irritati irritation, very different story as we're seeing in a lot of these coastal areas. we continue to check in with correspondents all along the coastal areas. we'll be right back, our coverage continues. really? no. it comes with a hat. you see, airline credit cards promise flights for 25,000 miles, but... 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[ male announcer ] to get the flights you want, sign up for a venture card at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? uh, it's okay. i've played a pilot before. welcome back to our continuing coverage of hurricane irene. we'll get an update in a few minutes to see whether it is still a hurricane or not. certainly in new york city it does not feel like one. probably just a strong tropical storm. rob marciano is standing by in long beach where it is a different story. we're seeing high winds and a lot of effect on the water. what's it like right now? we're obviously having problems with rob. we'll try to check in with him coming up. elizabeth cohen is standing by farther east from where i am. i'm in washington square park, that area of the village. elizabeth cohen is nearer to the east river, zone "a," one of the low-lying areas by the water. she's at the new york langone medical center. a hospital which has largely been evacuated. she's learned there's still a number of patients who were too sick to be moved. elizabe elizabeth, how many patients are actually still in the hospital? >> nyu folks tell us about five or six patients are there and anderson, they say they are so critically ill, many of them on life support. the doctors got together and said you know what, if we move these people we could kill them. it is safer to have them weather the storm here at nyu. what is really so heroic, anderson, about 15 to 20 doctors and nurses said we're staying here to take care of those patients. we're not going anywhere either. i asked folks at nyu, are they nervous? they're practically on the east river, which could very likely overflow. they said, no, they're not. they're new yorkers, they're tough, this is what they need to do. >> at what point would they know when it's okay to bring patients back? at what point would that decision be made? at least for now, in terms of rain, maybe the winds might pick up, but in terms of rain, this is the worst there is. it's not as bad as i think some people anticipated. >> i spoke to them a few hours ago. they said they hope to bring patients back tomorrow, that that's when they expect to bring them back. if this storm is tamer than anyone expected, maybe they will bring patients back. as you can imagine, the hospitals they went to have patients of their own. i'm sure everyone is anxious for nyu to get their patients back. >> yes. obviously it's difficult for anyone to come visit loved ones in a hospital given the lack of the subway system, the subway shut down yesterday at 12:00. you can see taxis going around. there were taxis out yesterday, rob marciano, i think we made contact with rob in long beach. how is it there? >> i can finally hear you now. we've taken quite a beating the past couple of hours, anderson. our satellite truck had to be moved back away from the beach. the board walk has been taking some hits from the surf. we're aetch proing high tide. i'm not sure how much you can see. we're broadcasting via internet by the way. behind me is this board walk and beyond that are a series of 12 and 15-foot berms built up the past couple days in order to protect the town from getting an influx of water. also to protect the lifeguard headquarters of long beach which just in the last 20 minutes has been taken off its foundation and slammed into the board walk. the lifeguards and the police department have been out there to assess that situation. that is pinned right now against the board walk as the full force of the atlantic ocean is pounding the board walk here. i just stepped back on to the board walk, then you get a sense for the winds here on the coastline. we've had winds gusting over 60 miles an hour. that continues to be the case now with the center of the storm obviously off to my left. probably about 50 or so miles,ing its wmiles, i making its way in this general direction. 250,000 people are without energy. this water right now to my left has breached the berms, has come underneath the board walk and has made its way in to town. so the first few blocks of long beach, long island, is seeing serious flooding and a flow rate of what looks to be rapids across the river that's flowing down national boulevard and into the streets of long beach. that's the situation behind me. the surf here is so intense, we will see this surge continue not only for the next half hour and high tide will be within the hour but because the winds will continue to be onshore, as the storm itself moves north of us, we're not going to see -- >> i think we lost rob marciano. he was talking about how the winds and rain will be with us for a long time, the rain will be with us for as long as 12 hours, that will have a lot of affect, not just high tide now but over the next 12 hours. let's listen to our affiliate, wabc, seeing what they're seeing in the city. >> it's not bad. it's passable. but on any of the streets off of the main road, they go down very quickly and a lot of water really covering those waterways. you can't tell, people are driving right up to that water thinking he h ining they can ma through. they may have made it through a half hour ago but a half hour from now, it may not go that quickly. people drove up to this restaurant to get coffee, they said they are starting to see trees down. there was a tree on a car a couple of blocks from here. the wind is starting to take its toll. mostly, again, it's the rain that's loosening the tree roots and pulling the trees up. bill and liz? >> we appreciate that. we want to continue a whiparound with our reporters in the field. we are getting a sense there is a change here. jamie roth is in lower manhattan. >> jamie, have you seen flooding yet so far? >> no flooding yet but in just the last few minutes the rain has noticeably intensified. that we've seen. we're starting to see high winds and the rain being pushed along the pavements by these winds. gusting winds, intensifying rains, possibly a new band coming through here. the tide should be coming in in the near term. we spoke with the arena manager here not too long ago. his concern was about three hours ago, the water was at the level it should be for high tide in a full moon. that was three hours before the tide was supposed to come in. the water level is creeping up. it's not coming over the banks just yet. >> that's our affiliate wabc. let's check in with our own jacqui jeras. >> we have a big burst of thunderstorms that are going to be heading into new york city here, anderson very shortly. it looked okay where you are right now but it is coming, minutes away, heavy downpours as well as very strong winds. we could see 60 mile per hour gusts easy as it starts to push into your area. it's moving up towards the upper bay, maybe 10, 15 minutes at the most from lower manhattan. this is moving up towards the north from the south. this could be the back side of that storm coming in. we've been seeing easterly wind, easterly wind, things will start shifting and we'll start to see that pull in from the west. it looks like we're getting the back side or second burst and second wave as the storm structure continues to kind of change and evolve as we speak. so conditions will be getting worse once again in new york city. also the other thing to keep in mind is that that storm surge is still very high right now. this is the worst of it in terms of high tide. high tide between 7:00 and 9:00 all along the new jersey/new york shore and into new england. those waters will continue to stay high over the next couple of hours before they start to begin to move down. things getting nasty into the city once again, anderson. here you can see it. >> you're saying -- >> go ahead. >> you're saying heavy thunderstorms in the next probably 15 or so minutes? >> absolutely. rain's going to come down heavy, your winds will be picking up, things could be strong enough they could be flying down the street and we could get more power outages with the next burst that pushes on through the city. >> any idea of how long those conditions last for? >> it's starting to move pretty quick. look at how this thing is pushing up to the north quickly. this will be a good 30 minutes or more this will be moving through your area. at least 30 minutes, anderson. >> at what point will we know if this is still a hurricane or a tropical storm, is that the 8:00 hour. >> sometimes we sneak them in a little bit early and we'll get them as early as quarter till but we haven't seen it yet. i think we'll be talking about a tropical storm status at this point. >> what is the difference in terms of -- the measurements between a tropical storm and a cat 1? >> 74 miles per hour, that's the threshold. that's for sustained winds. that's a three-minute average. i haven't seen hurricane force sustained winds for a really long time now. in fact, i'm having a hard time finding hurricane force wind gusts. we've been seeing a couple 50, a couple 60 mile per hour wind gusts. this storm is clearly weakening but it still has lots of threats. it's this burst, this latest cluster of thunderstorms moving through that has me concerned, if people let down their guard and went outside, you better get your butt back indoors because things will get bad here in the next couple of minutes again. >> it's remarkable how there's not that much wind in this area of manhattan. we anticipated wind whipping through with these tall buildings around, even with the smaller buildings whipping down the streets. we haven't really seen that. with these thunderstorms coming that could change quickly. we'll continue to cover it. jacqui, appreciate it. we'll be right back as our coverage continues. you just heard from jacqui, thunderstorms coming in the next 10 to 15 minutes. we anticipate wind picking up significantly. actually instead of going to break, let's listen in to wabc where they are right now. >> just looking at where the center is now , i'm not sure if it's going into new york city or long beach, which is the track of gloria in '85. you're going to get the 11:00 high tide in the sound and you're talking about water pouring block into stanford, westcott grove and greenwich. >> and as the storm goes by, you were saying the wind is going to shift dramatically. so the trees that have been knocked one way are going to be knocked the other way? >> yes, you know, you think the storm has passed us, we made it and we didn't lose all our trees. you know what, we have to go through the early evening hours. >> you're talking about several focal points of bad damage. certainly the south shore of long island. the north shore as it makes its way around at 11:00 and the fairfield county area of connecticut into westchester county. >> a storm like this has a history of doing two things. the southeast wind comes in first and you get this type of surge at long beach. as the storm exits and goes into new england, you get a northwest wind. >> you're looking at a picture from long beach. what you saw was a lifeguard tower that's come loose and unhinged from its foundation and slammed into the board walk on long beach. to our control room, if we have that tape of it happening just a few minutes ago when we were on television live and we saw it happen. when we get that, roll it, we'll take that. we have bill evans and lee along with bill witter and liz cho. watching the high tide start to happen on the south shore of long island. here comes the video. >> here comes the tape. >> the tower coming loss and slamming into the board walk. >> that was the lifeguard shack. >> a.j. burkett was on the scene when it happened. you can see the wind blowing fiercely. >> that's 75 mile-an-hour winds there. with this video happened just about 20 minutes or so ago, even within we switched back to the live pictures, you can see how much of the berm is now gone. it's just being eat an way so quickly by the surge that is coming ashore and all of that water rushing underneath the board walk there. and flooding parts of long beach in that area. >> how far inland it goes is still the big question. we saw in one of the shots, our photographer, his truck now water seeping under the car there. at some point john will break down and have to move that car because we don't want to lose that car. you can see there, the water going under the board walk and it may be one or two blocks in as we head north under the board walk. those streets are now flooded. >> talk to us about the timing of the surge. we know it is approaching now. one the storm passes does the surge completely pass as well? and in terms of rivers, too, those will still rise and they'll have to crest. >> you're talking about a couple different areas here. one thing, i was going to refer to bill with this, i don't know if we can take the accutrack, what i'm noticing is number one, you're seeing the northern part of the circulation may have made landfall in long beach. you see the western edge of the eye wall is right over new york city. i think that's what we're talking about, is we're looking at that area where that squall came over, we saw that in statin island and we've seen the surge come in. the coastal surge has come in. if we can go back to the live pictures in long beach, it looked like the wind has backed off there. bill, i wonder if we made the inroads with the coastal surge. it may not push any more. >> it's probably moving at more or less 22, 23 miles per hour when it was at 13, 14 earlier this morning and up to 18. it's quickly pushed north there. you can see the red area, the thunderstorms that were right there over manhattan. that's another one of those spokes coming out of this. you see the storm pushing into nassau county and heading into long island sounded. >> we have just not seen this in our lifetime. they want to put up the power outages. >> liz also mentioned the rivers. we'll know the extent of the search in the bay. >> we're back with our live coverage. we have correspondents throughout the region. we'll check this with ali velshi, soledad o'brien, jong king, rob marciano, don lemon is in philadelphia for us. ♪ [ male announcer ] you never know when a moment might turn into something more. and when it does men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis for daily use. cialis for daily use is a clinically proven low-dose tablet you take every day, so you can be ready anytime the moment's right. ♪ [ man ] tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. don't take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. 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