d.c. area. i want to bring back melissa mollet with our station wrc in washington, d.c. and she is in alexander, virginia. we got cut off from you the last time you were reporting but give us a sense of how things are looking there right now. well, good morning, chris. you can see, let me first show you this tree behind me. look how massive this thing is. we are in alexandria, virginia. you can see how large it is as i stand next to it. this is a neighborhood that lost power last night. who knows who they ll get it back on. they are just some of the hundreds of thousands of people in this region without power. if we kind of pan around, you can see it is completely dark. let s walk across the street and see another tree that is down. our numbers right now and the d.c., maryland, virginia area are 200,000 people out of power. i ve got to tell you the winds were whipping through like crazy last night. this is no surprise and, of course, this is something that we re seeing all along the
village data assessment at 7:00 once the sun comes up and really first and foremost will be working with con ed to make sure we can get power restored to our village and see how we can help to get our downtown back to being the vibrant commerce center that it was before sandy arrived. unbelievable. dennis pilla, the mayor of port chester, new york, good luck to you and thanks so much for talking to us. at the height of the storm a generator went out and 215 patients had to be evacuated from nyu medical center here in manhattan. nbc s rehema ellis has been there since the beginning of the evacuation and joins us now with an update. when we spoke last hour they were still evacuating, rehema, have they finished yet? reporter: not yet, chris. this has been a long night. it s often long nights in hospitals, but i m not certain how much sleep any of these patients got because of the fact
there is a huge tree across the street which is blocking the entire our entire way. there are several of our largest trees around the city that have come down. there are lines down. there are light poles that have snapped into two and bent. it is really something i have never seen before. we ve been talking all through the night and into the early morning hours with mayors and members of congress and all of them, of course, preparing for the worst and that s what most of them got. as bad or worse than their worst expectations. is this even worse than you might have expected, mr. mayor? absolutely. i mean, you know, you have to remember a year ago we faced an earthquake and a hurricane all in one week. this is the most devastating thing i have ever seen. it has really caused severe damage throughout our city. we do not have power. our police force is out surveying with our fire department and just assessing the damage right now throughout
it s don t get stranded in your car because it will snow hard for another 24 hours. ohio, your state of ohio, chris, now with snow and windy conditions. i mean from a hurricane. this it s crazy. i don t ever remember we were talking about this earlier when do you ever have these kinds of winter storm warnings as a result of a hurricane. the other thing i keep forgetting about, right now the windchill in is the 30s where people don t have power so waking up with no power and they re cold. you know, i ve been up all night so i forget who said it but one of the local reporters who covered so many hurricanes said had never been in a hurricane this cold that was absolutely brutal being out there reporting on it. it s going to be a lot worse for people in the coming days who don t have power and see all the devastation that has befallen the area. bill karins, thank you very much. he s been up all night with us. when we come back we ll take a look at what s going on in new jerse
through the afternoon hours. 39 in kansas city, 20 degrees in minneapolis. so certainly very, very chilling. and of course, cold here in the atlanta metro area, as well. all these people don t have power. so for the most part, these houses are empty, people are trying to stay with their friends and relatives. john and kiran, back to you. thanks. we ll check back in with jacqui as the sun comes up. also coming up next, choosing cash over credit, more than 8 million americans are no longer using credit cards. we re going to break down why there s been a dramatic change in spending habits. 34 minutes past the hour. celebr! come celebrate exciting cars that are stunning to look at, exhilarating to drive and worry free to own. celebrate this holiday season with the gift of platinum. jaguar platinum coverage: five years or 50,000 miles of complimentary scheduled maintenance, and no cost replacement of wear and tear items. visit your jaguar dealer during