wolf blitzer is off tonight. i m joe johns. you re in the situation room. i cannot stress this highly enough. if you are in the projected president of this hurricane, you have to take precautions now. don t wait, don t delay. we all hope for the best, but we have to be prepared for the worst. we how is it going in new york right now, mary? you just heard the president speak about this hurricane. new york had asked the president to declare emergency assistance. and the president did have an emergency declaration for new york, meaning the city and state will get federal help. but this is an unprecedented move in new york today, joe. the mayor michael bloomberg has ordered iffer the first time mandatory evac yags in low-lying areas of new york. and this encome passes areas that affect between 200 and 300,000 people. this out of caution and concern about high water and heavy winds. earlier throughout the day, there have been some evacuations taking place in hospitals and n
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.
rockaways. in addition, you should know that mta service, including subways, buses and railroads will begin to shut down tomorrow at noon. we ll discuss that and other measures in a moment depending on the effect of the storm, let me caution you in regards to the mta that service may or may not be restored in time for rush hour monday morning. i would urge employees checking with their employers regarding business openings on monday. cnn s reporters are showing us some of the stormy surf in florida. video shot by sheterly, don off new smyrna beach. amazing how rough the ocean is there. janet napolitano telling people not to mess around with this storm. she briefed president obama by phone earlier today and the president is going to leave marthas vineyard a short and return day short and return from his vacation. he s urging americans to prepare for the worst. i cannot stress this highly enough. if you are in the projected path of this hurricane, you have to take precaut
could wind up in the hands of china. those stories are ahead. surviving record flooding, mississippi river threatening entire communities as the destruction pushes downstream and the bull s-eye. john king is live from the flood zone a pastor, this is an unbelievable story. a pastor claiming to be a navy s.e.a.l. we will show you why he did it and how he was caught and all of that at the top of the hour. more piers morgan in a moment.
that decision where radiation levels were above the legal limit detected in those farmed goods. an amazing story of survival nine days after the earthquake and tsunami. medical workers rescued an 80-year-old woman as you three is and her grandson. the 16-year-old boy crawled climbed onto the roof of their home just in time to alert rescuers. extraordinary story n northeastern japan, entire villages were threatened by last week s tsunami. now, the focus already on rebuilding. one of the hardest hit air jaths the town of ken nash she. reporter: the question for people in the tsunami zone a week after the tsunami is how do you rebuild from this? this appears to have been a residential area, right near the downtown, a fishing village and if you take a look through this rubble what townspeople are trying to do is figure out what they can salvage not very much,