a little meteorology here, b brian. the jet stream is pulling the ai we re thinking as it moves rth toward you there in new york, it is just going to intensify. everyone from the center of pennsylvania with severe flooding over inland all the way over new england with coastal inundation, all the effects we ve been talking about are still in play, i m afraid, for the east coast. brian? all right. just an enormous storm. you look at that picture, the bands run from north carolina all the way to canada. bryan norcross, we ll be talking to you often. and it s possible, because of the size of this storm, for several communities at once to be in the teeth of this storm. well, virginia beach is one of them. eric fisher of the weather channel is there for us tonight. he s been there all day. and eric, you re in one of the bands we just saw? reporter: absolutely, brian. the center of circulation of irene is just starting to move into the virginia beach area as we speak. some of the worst we
thunder. the ocean is really churning up. right now, irene is about 315 miles southwest of us. we re waiting for it to come in. and these beaches are going to the see storm surge of about 4 to 8 feet. and right about the time it comes onshore, it s probably going to be during high tide, which will cause some big problems. brian? all right, al, we ll be going back to you and we ll be back with more right after this. . [ male announcer ] heard this one? listen to this. three out of four americans don t get enough vegetables. so here s five bucks to help you buy v8 juice. five bucks. that s a lot of green.
shelters this afternoon, brian. ron mott in new york. there are worries about the inmates at the low-lying rikers island prison. there are worries about waters spilling into the pit there at ground zero. trains, planes, and automobiles have just frozen in place. there s no coming in or going out. take a look at what may be the picture of the day in new york city. you just don t see this, and that s grand central, and that s closed. it s absolute dead calm empty. the world s most famous, or at least the united states s most famous train station. there are cab drivers on the streets, they re charging a flat rate for cash, based on a zone policy. harry smith is in times square tonight. harry, i think you ll agree, it s about the earie eeriest ti this city in recent memory and there you are at the crossroads of the world. reporter: think about this, times square on a saturday night in the middle of the busiest tourist season of the year, and all you with see is a handful of
similar flooding possible in low-lying areas in washington, d.c. the main jest here, washington is water, water, water, brian, and a lot of people are thinking it s like isabel of 2003 and have water that could be here. luke russert, whatever you re on, i trust you know to get off of it before the winds increase too much. before this storm is over, one of the big stories is going to be what it does to the new jersey shore. obviously, a hugely popular place, and the tail end of summer, this time of year. spoke with governor chris christie earlier today. he notes that 1 million people have gotten out and driven away from the new jersey shore. now all that s left to do is see what it does. michelle franzen is in asbury park for us tonight, where conditions have really deteriorated, michelle, over the last two or three hours. reporter: they have. we re just getting started here, too, brian. and we ve been talking about how people in this area, along this stretch of the east coast are j
nbc s kerry sanders, further south, atlantic beach, north carolina, where they had a sporting night and a violent day today. kerry, good evening. reporter: well, good evening, brian. hurricane irene arrived here early and is still lingering. and in her wake, there is destruction and also death. two deaths directly related to hurricane irene. one, a man who was outside his house during the hurricane, a tree branch broke loose, fell down, crushed him and killed him. and another accident at an intersection, where the power was out and the police chief says if the power had not been out, the traffic lights would have been working and nobody would have died in an accident that took place there. hurricane irene made first landfall just south of the outer banks on carolina s coast. winds in excess of 100 miles per hour ripped apart unsecured siding, tilted electrical poles and church steeples, downed trees. an unconfirmed tornado is