international, who are watching our special coverage of hurricane irene, a category 1 storm, a massive storm that is on its move, up the eastern seaboard. it came ashore a couple of hours ago, making landfall near camp lookout, north carolina. there s new video we are getting from nearby, atlantic beach shows you what irene has left behind already in some areas. the hurricane storm surge swamping the town with ocean water. also, irene is spinning its way northward to some of the biggest cities on the eastern coast of the united states. cities like new york, washington, baltimore, boston, cities that aren t used to being prepared for a hurricane. they could all get slammed by this storm this weekend. right now, irene, a category 1 storm, it is pushing sustained winds of about 85 miles an hour. irene has also claimed at least one life in north carolina. we do have special hurricane coverage for you this morning that spans that coastline, from north carolina all the way up the a
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
nursing homes and hospitals, have been phenomenally cooperative. it has gone so smoothly. they all deserve a lot of credit. hopefully this will have been for naught, but we cannot take risks, particularly with the most vulnerable. we wanted to do those first, and that s basically been accomplished. we do not incidentally recommend that anybody wait forz a bus to evacua evacuate. the best thing to do is to use your own or public transportation to get yourself to a shelter, and that means you ve got to do that right now. 2 1/2 hours left for mass transit. city employees, if you volunteered to help serve in the shelters today, we need you to report to your sites now. it is going to be very difficult to get to or from these sites, and when with people show up really will make a difference. to those city ployees who volunteered, thank you so much for doing so, but we need you to start making that trip. bring some stuff with you if you have to stay for a while, but you really are g
good morning to you all. i m t.j. holmes. welcome to our viewers watching us in the u.s. and around the world, as we continue to follow a category 1 storm, hurricane irene, that is threatening about 20% of the u.s. population. some 65 million people in its path. it has been hammering north carolina with heavy rains and fierce winds for past several hours. it was just a couple of hours ago that it officially made landfall in north carolina. more than 200,000 people are without power as we speak, and the path of destruction is spreading as this storm continues to move north. major northeastern cities are in its sights, cities that aren t used to being tested for their hurricane preparedness. talking about washington, d.c., boston, new york city, as well. in fact, in some low-lying areas of new york, there has been an unprecedented mandatory evacuation in several places. that evacuation order is still in place, and some of those evacuations still underway. hospital patients, res
supplies. they really couldn t find their way out. it was an issue of where to go. and that is the case for a lot of new yorkers. many people don t have the capacity to leave the city or don t have a place to go inland. so they don t have hurricane plans. they re die-hard new yorkers. they re going to stay where they are and hope for the best. fredricka, it s all yours. you have a long day of coverage here as well. i ll see you tomorrow morning. this is like one long psych zbll it is. we want to welcome our international viewers this hour. 65 million people could be in harm s way this weekend in north america as hurricane irene sweeps up the east coast of the u.s. parts of the region haven t seen a storm like this in two decades. from north carolina into new england, bracing for irene. right now, irene is battering north carolina after making landfall a few hours ago near cape lookout. the winds, rain and surf were brutal as irene slammed ashore. and right now, mo