good morning. it is friday, august 26th. welcome to "american morning." it's all about the hurricane today. >> i wish i could say happy friday, happy friday for those not living along the northeast coast. >> and whom it hasn't reached yet. >> exactly. let's talk about hurricane irene. now said to be a massive and powerful category 2 storm sitting just off the east coast. 50 million people could feel its force by this weekend. new hurricane warnings are now up, they stretch from north carolina to new jersey. states of emergency have been declared as far north as new england. >> irene totally hammered the bahamas yesterday with torrential rain, 115-mile-per-hour winds, north carolina like i is next. in atlantic beach a surf shop boarding up, mandatory evacuations under way along the outer banks and could be the biggest storm to hit new york in decades. people all the way up the coast are being asked to leave or to get ready. >> i understand sometimes folks think that people overreact in this situation. let me assure you that we are not overreacting. we need to be ready for this and if we give advice we want you to do things like leave the shore in the next 24 hours, i hope the people will comply with that in a voluntary way and not force my hand in having to make it mandatory. >> new jersey governor chris christie. we're all over this morning this morning getting minute by minute updates. rob marciano tracking the huge storm for us. mary snow is live in manhattan. john zarrella and reynolds wolf along the carolina coast. >> we have people all over the place. let's go to rob marciano. tell us where irene is right now. >> it's south of north carolina and heading to the north. basically it's going to run into north carolina. there's virtually no doubt about that right now, about 400 miles south-southwest of cape hatteras. switch to the watch and warnings, the biggest issue this morning has been that there have been new watches and warnings issued and warnings have now been extended northward and watches have been posted now, for the long island coastline, connecticut coastline, the rhode island coastline and parts of eastern new england coastline. hurricane conditions possible in the next 48 hours. but the hurricane warnings have been lifted northward to sandy hook, new jersey, meaning hurricane conditions likely in the next 36 hours. any preparations should be rushed to completion and in some cases there have been evacuation orders met. let's talk about the satellite picture where this thing is what kind of shape it's in. it has weakened a little bit, down to a category 2, minuscule compared to what we're talking about here. winds of 110 miles per hour. category 3 is 111. let's not talk about categories right now, but we will discuss the fact we've seen a little weakening, dry air coming into this. it will get into cooler waters but that's not until it gets closer to new york city. warm waters to go over before it gets to north carolina. a possibility of it strengthening back to category 3 status. it's a big storm with a large circulation. here's the forecast track from a number of our computer models. they're fairly clustered once we get through the krngs and delmarva and across long island. the hurricane track echos this theme in bringing this onshore during the day tomorrow as a category 2 or 3 storm across cape hatteras, pamlico sound and skimming the coastline of the delmarva and jersey shore and southern new england. not weakening terribly as it does so and remaining a large storm at that. rainfall is going to be a huge issue as well because places like philadelphia, up and down jersey, the entire tri-state area has seen a tremendous amount of rainfall in the past couple of weeks and you will see more on top of that. ground saturated, more rainfall and winds that will be sustained 70, 80, 90 miles per hour, guys, will topple some trees and probably going to be the largest issue for the widest amount of real estate not to mention the storm surge which we'll be talking throughout the morning. >> rob marciano, doesn't sound so good, does it? >> >> no. i think you need to remember when talking ability the toppled trees, power outages and flooding at the same time. you can't get rid of floods when you have power outages. thousands of people are leaving beach communities in north carolina, they're bracing for a direct hit from irene. john zarrella is live in morehead city, north carolina. yesterday when we talked to you things were calm looking. how is the looking now? >> yeah. it still looks pretty calm here, ali. you mentioned about people evacuating the beach front communities. this is one of those. you can see over my right shoulder this building along the water in atlantic beach, north carolina is boarded up. when we arrived here yesterday afternoon, we saw several other businesses beginning or finishing up putting up the plywood shutters over their windows. when we took a tour of the island and overall, there weren't a whole lot of places that had been boarded up. but there has been a mandatory evacuation order issued here. it is eerily quiet on this island which is a huge vacation spot, atlantic beach. moorehead city is just over the bridge from here and it is one big, high bridge to get here into atlantic beach, so it is very, very likely that as this storm moves in, you know, access over that bridge is going to be cut off. that's why today they have said they want everybody off this island who does not need to be on this island. can't really see the wave action out there right now, ali. it's not too much. looks like a normal day here along the emerald isle, emerald coast here in north carolina. right now. little bit of drizzle starting to pick up now and then, but that's about it. but quite clearly, right here where we are in the moorehead city, atlantic beach area, we're likely to be the first ones along the north carolina coast to feel the effects from the hurricane and we could very well be in that eye wall or at least on the left side of that eye wall as it moves up towards the outer banks, which are just up the road from here. ali? >> john, i know you and your team are very experienced at staying save, so i won't tell you about that. you'll be watching it closely and we'll check with you. >> we talked about what if. we could find out what will happen if a hurricane made a direct hit on new york city. it could happen sunday afternoon. as you can see on this google map, the worst case scenario has the storm surge pushing into places like wall street and world trade center site and that's what the city is getting ready for right now. it's talking about a total mass transit shutdown. mayor bloomberg announced the evacuation of the most vulnerable new yorkers, hospital patients and those in nursing homes and people confined to their homes who live in low-lying areas of the five boroughs. >> let me remind you that this kind of forecast is very imprecise and we're talking about something that is a long time away in meteorological terms. so what we have to do is assume the worst, prepare for that and hope for the best. >> mary snow is joining us from lower manhattan. so, mayor bloomberg came out strong, he said listen to what i'm saying, new yorkers, you have to be prepared. do you think new yorkers will listen? >> that is doubtful, carol. you know, hurricanes here are so rare and that's one of the reasons why these what if scenarios have been looked at because new york hasn't experienced a direct hit by an earthquake in more than 100 years. so there have been some modules, especially because hurricane experts say it wouldn't take a major hurricane to cause significant flooding. >> reporter: if anyone is worried about a hurricane hitting new york, it's coastal geology professor nick colatch koch. to understand why he took us to southampton, new york. >> this is actually where the 1938 hurricane broke through and made this bay a branch of the ocean. >> reporter: koch says most new yorkers forget that it was here that a powerful category 3 hurricane made landfall in 1938. it was called the long island express and it caused widespread damage even in new york city, some 70 miles away. >> even if new york city is spared a direct hit. >> it's going to have massive flooding, yeah. >> reporter: for years kofrp has been sounding the alarm about how vulnerable new york city is. he said storm surges could trigger massive flooding in low-lying areas, particularly lower manhattan. consider the simulation done by noaa showing what a category 2 hurricane could do to a tunnel linking brooklyn and manhattan. donald with the army corps of engineers mapped out worst case scenarios. a category 1 hurricane could flood the subway station at the southern tip of manhattan with 3 1/2 feet of water. a category 2 storm, he says, could put jfk airport under 5 1/2 feet of water. >> if a storm were to occur, could be catastrophic. given the population density in the northeast. >> reporter: high winds are also a big concern. city officials have evacuation plans at the ready. despite all the preparations, koch says it's not the hurricane he's most worried about. >> what's your biggest concern? >> the new yorker. >> why? >> because they don't listen. you can always tell a new yorker, but you can't tell them very much. >> you have to admit, nicolas koch has a point there. with all these hurricane plans you can add stubbornness to one of the factors that city officials will have to take into account. they're trying to evacuate people. >> you know what that means when it starts to really rain here and people finally get scared they'll try to go into the subway to get out of the city and the subway system may be shut down. >> yeah. i cannot remember in recent memory when there's been talk of an entire shutdown in mass transit, but the mta chairman says if there are winds higher than 39 miles per hour, they may actually shut the entire system down, that it would take about eight hours. some of the subways also are above ground. that's a pretty extraordinary move that the city would take if it comes to that. >> we'll see. i hope so. mary snow, reporting live from lower manhattan. >> we're all going to snug up in manhattan this weekend if we're here for it. we have a lot more on hurricane irene ahead. 6:30 eastern we'll speak with the director of the national hurricane center, bill read, at 6:40, stephen flynn, author of "the edge of disaster rebuilding a nation" center for national policy and done work on whether or not new york is ready for this kind of disaster. >> coming up on "american morning," two north carolina's outer banks expected to take the first hit from hurricane irene. meteorologist reynolds wolfe shows us all the supplies everyone will need. you will need them to ride out the storm. we'll tell you about it. >> don't wait until saturday to get them. a lot of people are going to stores already and they're sold out. a lot of the stores are trying to restock on the important stuff. do that now. plus, on the other side of the world, rebels knocking down doors looking for libyan leader moammar gadhafi. the latest on their search for the missing dictator. 12 minutes after the hour. vrrooom...vrrroooomm vroom vrrooom vrrroooomm vrrroooomm vrroom vrrrooomm vrrroooooooommmmmm mmmm mm. a mouthwatering combination of ingredients...e for you! i know you're gonna love. 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[♪...] >> male announcer: now, for a limited time, your companion flies free, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. conditions apply.. it is 14 minutes past the hour. the outer banks in north carolina expected to take the first blow on saturday. tens of thousands of tourists and residents have already been told to get the heck out of dodge. cnn meteorologist reynolds wolf is live in kill devil hills, north carolina. people are heeding the warnings, right? >> yes. many people did. they had an evacuation yesterday for all visitors. they have about 150,000 people on average per day visiting the outer banks but i have to tell you, if you happen to be here and you had your nose in a book over the last week or so and look outside, take a look to my right, we have cnn photo journalist mark, can show you clear skies. still very picturesque, very serene, pivot to the south, the situation gets a little more foreboding. to the south where the direction where irene will come calling. a massive storm as it comes closer over the seconds, minutes and hours we anticipate conditions to quickly deteriorate. because of that reason we have, of course, this evacuation. we mentioned the people leaving yesterday, a lot of visitors, but we have the local residents, people who call this place home year-round, 35,000 people, they'll start leaving today at 8:00 a.m. again, mandatory evacuation really doesn't mean every person has to leave. they strongly advise you go. we spoke to one gentleman who's a visitor, he said why take your chances? >> everyone's being evacuated, there's reason to be concerned. i would rather evacuate than wait around to see. >> reporter: if you do decide to stay on the outer banks or any place along the eastern seaboard where you might be dealing with this system, irene, there's a couple things you need to have. to this full screen and show you what you need to have to stay safe. first and foremost and this is important, you need bottled water. you need bottled water, nonperishable food. bottled water, basically a gallon per person drinking water per day. one is one of the first things that goes out, your tap water. you have to have that supply. another thing, first aid kit, medicine, all your ibuprofen, painkillers. it helps to have a flashlight. power outages all but certain and it's no-brainer you need extra batteries. radio. for many people the only form of communication you will have is going to be radio and with that you got it, you need the batteries. one thing that a lot of people don't really consider in this day of, you know, just swiping cards all over the place you're going to need cash. those atms, as soon as they cut the power atms will be out. a cash only existence. back to you. >> good advice. reynolds wolf, many thanks. we'll get back to you. new york caught in the hurricane's cross hairs. officials warn the city could take a direct hit sparking fears of flooding and major damage. some voluntary evacuations on long island are under way. susan candiotti is right there, see where it is, smith point, new york. she's there now. what's it looking like out there, susan? how are people preparing? >> well, it's a nice morning so far. we're expected to have pretty decent weather today which is the perfect kind of weather you would want to get ready for this hurricane because no doubt about it, it's going to be hitting this area exactly where is the only thing they don't know. remember, ali, this area was hit by a big storm in 1938 called the long island express, a killer storm that claimed 200 lives from new york all the way up through new england. of course, wind gusts back then were up to -- a category 3 storm with wind gusts up to 125 miles per hour. clearly now, there is far more development out here on long island and, therefore, there is far likely to be much more damage. as you said we're on the south side of long island, more than halfway to the eastern end of things. on a barrier island right now. this area more likely than not, the beach we're on will be under a mandatory evacuation later today. other areas where people are being told to prepare for an evacuation, but they won't get that news until much later. in the meantime people are scooping up all kinds of supplies. take a look. >> water. we had batteries so i didn't have to buy those. they're all out right now, by the way. and canned goods in case, you know, we lose power and/or the stove. we can't use the fringe and can't use the stove, we need to eat something. >> reporter: of course, out here, and in metropolitan new york area, they're expecting a ton of rain, high storm surge, downed power lines and power outages that could last for days. good weather today, best time to prepare. >> all right. good advice, as we've been saying. do it now, don't wait until tomorrow when you realize guess what, there's a hurricane coming our way. susan, looks good to see you there. you look dry, happy, it won't last. >> last time i'll look like that, that's right. >> i'll be joining you pretty soon anyway. see you. >> our other developing story libya. cnn's team at the tripoli airport is reporting gadhafi loyalists are shelling the administrative buildings there. in the meantime opposition forces are going door to door, still looking for the missing leader. and take a look at this. this is an rv that's said to have belonged to moammar gadhafi. rebels tell cnn the fugitive dictator had been hiding inside this rv for the past few days. >> wow. i couldn't know what to think about that. >> weird. coming up on this "american morning" another stimulus, all eyes on fed chief ben bernanke looking for hints. a major speech coming up today. we'll tell you what thing ones are and how it could affect you. we're minding your business. 21 minutes after the hour. matio. for broccoli, say one. for toys, say two. toys ! the system can't process your response at this time. what ? 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