states, along the eastern seaboard. new york city has ordered an unprecedented evacuation, of 370,000 people. some of america s biggest cities are now bracing for the worst. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer, you re in the situation room. we want to start with chris lawrence, he s joining us from maryland, the chesapeake beach, right now, chris, this powerful storm is moving in your direction, what are you seeing and what are you feeling? reporter: i feel very wet, and i can feel a tremendous amount of wind, that kicked up in the last few hours. where i m standing now and a lot of the areas right around it, earlier this morning when we were here at 11:00 in the morning or noon, this was sand and very quickly over the past few hours, we have seen the tide start to rise and the winds get more and more intense here. it really says something, when you consider how far we still are from the a lot of these homes are bui
here s what hurricane irene looked like when it hit the bahamas. new yorkers might see it here and soon. here is the view as irene began moving up the eastern seaboard, and as it did emergency plans started to kick in. airlines began cancelling flights. hospitals moving patients. and here in new york mayor mike bloomberg issued the first evacuation orders in city history for low-lying areas, including the one, the area that we are standing in tonight. and for the first time in modern memory, a hurricane warning is in effect for new york city. meantime as we speak, north carolina s outer banks are getting hit. we ve got reporters all around the region. in a moment we ll check with correspondent on the ground there. i want to begin with chad myers who just got his hands on a fresh update from the national hurricane center. chad, what have you learned? i ve learned now that storm has turned to the north-northeast. that is the continuation of the right-hand turn, anderson, that
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heading back to washington, d.c. a day ahead of schedule. earlier he called irene a historic storm. i cannot stress this highly enough. if you are in the projected path of the hurricane, you have to take precautions now. don t wait. don t delay. we all hope for the best but have to be prepared for the worst. irene is on track to follow the northeast corridor right up to new england and beyond. cnn is there. reynold wolf is in new jersey, and athena jones is in annapolis, maryland. we will start here in the weather center with cnn meteorologist, chad meyers. chad, give us an idea of where irene is now. not too much changed overnight. the storm did get a little stronger, and as it got stronger, you could see the eye. at 2:00 in the morning, you could truly see the eye. now we don t see it anymore. that tells me the storm is being torn up by a little bit of sheer. it s still a 105-mile-per-hour storm. it will not say category 3 or 4 anymore, but don t let your guard down.