bebeer bep bebeen foc powerfpowerfup powerful po powerfpowerfup powerful p r levep levels threaten sever aloalong thp along the eas lealeast ninp least ninele dead. mor more thp more thamo withor without powerrb rnew jersey that has been evacuatp evacuated becausev. r we wiwe will gp we we minutes. thr this this as newprt pounting the!tie lata mideast. >> and jeanne meserve has been pounded by wind and rain for some time and she has been a trooper. jeanne, are you there? >> well, natalie, i am here, and it is picking up here. it is really intense at this point in time. we are seeing a little bit of damage here done. we are seeing some damage, and perhaps we could take a shot down here and you could see on the building next to us some of the siding has been ripped away. the mayor of this town, ocean city, told me that a lot of the building here are built above the fema code, so he was hopeful they would weather the gusts pretty well, but the gusts are pretty strong, and the water is very high. i talked the a city official who told me that the waves out here are measured at averages of 15 to 20 feet right now, and right now the tide is going out which is a good thing. but they are very worried about the flooding and they are already having some in some pars of the city that characterize it as minor at this point in time. but frankly, they are not going to have a full assessment of the damage being done until the conditions clear up a little bit. it is just so stormy right now that no workers can go out, no emergency workers, no utility crews, no one is able to go out to get a picture. we aren't able to get a picture either. we are pretty much tied down to this hotel and walking around it. i can say i have been in a lot of hurricanes and i'm seeing much less physical damage at this point in time this geographical area than expected with winds of this force, but the worst is yet to come. back to you. >> and jeanne, you have been sitting there holding your hat for many, for what seems like hours at this point trying to maintain, and we appreciate it. how long has it just been sustained as it is that we are seeing now? >> ooh, gosh. the hours are starting to blend to me, but i think that it started to pick up around 6:00 or 7:00 this evening and we are feeling every hour getting more and more intense and by the way, i want to reassure you that in between the live shots i am out of the wind and the rain and i' not that painful, and look, i'm not holding it right now. >> well, thank you very much, and we will check back in with you jeanne meserve. thank you very much. >> and let's check in with karen mcginnes about the strength of it. >> well, drew, we have breaking news that we have mentioned a few minutes ago and that is the potential for a dam to break at st. mary's park. this is a google map, and this is washington, d.c. and right along the peninsula, this is the chesapeake peek are peak area, will zoom in near st. mary's lake, maryland, and there is a lot of recreational activities that take place here, and one more time, they have issued a code red meaning that the dam can burst. we have seen rainfall across the region and they are estimating right now they have seen already 7 inches of rain, and we know as irene continues to pull forward it will produce rainfall across the region and 7 inches may become 10 or 12 inches, and those people who are in to a wi wake of what could be a dam failure will experience severe flooding and flash flooding. this is not something where the water is going to rise slowly and then go back down. we are looking at some flash flooding potential, but right now they are saying that the folks who are in the path of this dam should it burst are in grave danger right now, so a code red alert has withbeen iss. there are 12 parts of this calloway region and this st. mary's park -- well, zoom out, brent, and we will show you the perspective here, and lying offshore about 90 miles or so from ocean city, and then we saw jeanne meserve who is so bravely been out there and battling the wind and the rainfall for many, many hours and she says that it feel likes the wind has been increasing, so that the water is piling up as it moves on shore. we have seen the wind gusts across this region gusting to near 50 miles an hour. we are talking about a hurricane that is a category 1 hurricane. it has sustained winds of 80 miles an hour, and moving toward the north/northeast at 60 miles an hour. we will zoom in one more time, and as i mentioned this is the chesapeake bay area, and this is st. mary's lake, maryland, and with we will zoom in one more time and show you how close this is and the dam that has been identified as potentially bursting after 7 inches of rainfall. it does look like additional rainfall is going to materialize here as it continues to pile up. in some areas also in north carolina, more than 24 hours now have seen these steady downpours across this area. let's go ahead and show you what is happening right now. also, here is long island and we arenticipating the tides right across here and this is an area that we are focused on and this is an orange shaded area, but it is telling us that the water is going to continue to pile up across this area, and lesser so into the sound and this is where the perth amboy area is and manhattan, and this is where noods could be six feet above where they are and we are seeing higher than normal and astronomical tides across this region, so this is in peril here, but the pressing situation here continues to be focused on now critically on the st. mary's st. park area that we showed you right as you begin to enter the chesapeake bay area, and as i said 7 inches of rain, but because the system is just repeatedly putting rainfall across the coastal sections of north carolina and in some cases as much as 14 inches, but in this particular region, the ground has been saturated. so plenty of power outages to tell you about and i took a look at one area the vanwick parkway in new york. if you have ever been there going on to jfk, they are saying that they have shut down a portion of that parkway, because the flooding has been so severe. so, lots of information coming in now, and definitive things that are now materializing because of what is happening with irene as she continues to just make her way progressively towards new york city. looks about mid-morning maybe between 4:00 and 6:00, and that is when we will see perhaps some of the worst bands move in across that i-95 corridor as we continue to monitor the progression of irene and then for boston, we are looking at the evening hours for sunday and into the overnight hours and then it will quickly move away into the canadian maritimes, but repeating what the breaking news is, st. mary's state park that's right at the mouth of the chesapeake bay, they are saying 7 inches of rainfall in danger of breaking, and the folks who are in potential flood zone region of that could see quite a bit of loss of property, and quite a bit of damage associated with that. now, back to you. >> well, the question is 1:00 in morning that they know that they might need to get out of harm's way. >> sure, a lot of the folks in this area have power here and we are looking at people very aware and i'm sure that people who live around this particular park are indeed very aware that it can only sustain so much rainfall before something gives way. i'm sure that this is not the first time they have experienced something like this, so there is a heightened alert for this particular situation. >> i'm looking at the st. mary's county has a warning on the website, and basically what they are saying is to get ready just in case, and move the family and pets upstairs and have a means of escape and turn off gas, and electricity and water supplies if the water starts to rise and keep listenbing. they are going to be plon monit the situation. >> and of course, don't drive through the floodwater and that could be challenging, karen, since this is so slow-moving. >> this is a warning for them, because this dam has not burst but the prognosis is 7-inches plus an additional 4-8 inches possible and that and the wind-driven rainfall and certainly there is the potential. i don't want to send up an alarm and, you know, that people are hyperconcerned about this, but certainly, they have issued a code red which means they need to pay attention to this, and be ready to go. and we are already seeing winds along the coast there, and jeanne meserve, as i mentioned, in some instances the winds have gusted to 50 miles an hour, ab it is only going to be worse. they are not even right around the core where the hurricane-force wins are, 50-mile-an-hour winds and we have core winds of 80 miles per hour. >> and karen, quickly, can we see what the hurricane is doing now in terms of that. >> well, we will show you that just one second. >> i don't want to stray too far from that. >> well, i want to show you what is happening as far as the winds are concerned here with north carolina and extending into southern maryland and also philadelphia, we have heard a lot of reports of high wind gusts. and remember, that the hurricane is situated right down here, so we have a whiches to go, hours in fact, early morning hours before this system travels up the i-95 corridor, but we are seeing the winds coming in off of the atlantic, and the east/northea east/northeasternly fashion, and more toward boston we will see the winds out of the west/southwest, and the areas in the back bay will be in danger, too. and there are two parts of the hurricane, and i will show you one other thing right now, and that is we think as it moves an pulls away, here are the time lines we are looking at. right around, just off of washington, baltimore, towards atlantic city, we go towards 5:00 a.m. 8:00 a.m., in the vicinity of philadelphia. and towards new york city. heading on then to the south of bos ton going into sunday about midday, but what is in particular very interesting about this is that where you see the orange shaded area, that is where we are looking at 60 to 80-mile-an-hour winds. so from new york to boston, that is where we are looking at some of the highest wind gusts that we are anticipating as we are going into the overnight hours and about midday coming up for sunday. >> all right. karen, thank you very much, and we will be back to you. and yes, 8:00 a.m. is high tide in new york city. we will go become to new york where the city is in high alert as hurricane irene gets closer and closer. cnn's live coverage continues. ♪ [ jim ] i need to push out a software upgrade. build a new app for the sales team in beijing. and convince the c.e.o. his email will find him... wherever he is. i need to see my family while they're still awake. 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(sigh) whaa. tasty. that's, that's a complete dramatization of course, but you get my point. vo: geico 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. if something is simply the color of gold, is it really worth more? we don't think so. chase sapphire preferred is a card of a different color. unlike others, you get twice the points on travel, and twice the points on dining, and no foreign transaction fees. call now or apply at chasesapphire.com/preferred. the mayor announced that we had to evacuate. we kind of knew that we would evacuate so we were prepared, and then we went to whole foods and get a bunch of food, and we have a hotel. so it is a day and a half. i don't think it is that bad. >> well, we all hope so. a mandatory evacuation order has been issued for all low lying areas and all five boroughs of new york city and we are going to wcbs which is unique to have the reporters driving around, and live shots right from the vehicles they are driving around, and boy, if you have ever been to manhattan, take a look at the beautiful clear street. >> people were jogging down the middle of the street today before it started to get little bit worse. you know, new yorkers being a hearty bunch, but at this point, you won't see too many people out on the streets tonight, hopefully not so. >> we just got another update, breaking news is what we are calling it and it is sad news. another person has died, and we don't have details now, but it brings the total of the storm to ten people who have died along the east coast here because of this storm. and the trees that are falling and the various things happening out there. >> right. many of the people who are killed have been outside, and car crashes and someone was killed by a downed tree, and that is what we are hearing now, and we don't know the details of the latest death, but, yes, ten people dead, and 1 million without power so far up and down the east coast. we are going to go live now to poppy harlow in lower manhattan near ground zero, and poppy, what's the scene there? go ahead, poppy, can you hear us? >> right now, i'm at the southernmost tip of manhattan at a place called south street seaport and i can hear you, but there is a delay here. it is full of tourists, usually. i have not seen one person on the street. i just want to show you what the local businesses are doing here, guys. you can see how heavy the rain is, and take a look at the local businesses, this is a wine shop all boarded up, sandbagged up, and you will see this at every single business we have been driving to here. we are below wall street to give you some perspective, and nothing is open. i have not seen one person. there are no cars even on the roads down here. and the only vehicles that we have been passing by are the e mj si vehic merge en si -- emergency vehicles, and we are making our way toward ground zero. this is flood zone a and you are right, because it is sea level, and only a block away is new york harbor, the east river. i have never in my ten years of new york seen this place, if we can show you, so deserted. one lone motorcycle is all we are seeing. we have thousands of power outages and the flooding is get sog bad right across the river in new jersey. look at that, guys! look at that rain if you can see it flowing awe of the rooftop there, and the flooding is so bad in parts of new jersey that they have evacuated a shelter in hoboken which is right across the way. mayor mike bloomberg is telling you if you lived in this area in lower manhattan, you were told to evacuate and if you did not do that, stay put and deal with as best you can where you are, and if you are in a high-rise building, we are near wall street, and if you are in one of the high-rise buildings, you have to get behind the tenth floor, because these buildings are susceptible, and you have to stay away from the glass obviously and get below the tenth floor. you see con edison, a power truck here, but all you see is power trucks and emergency vehicles. natalie? >> i'm not sure whenever you could drive through the streets of new york city and do a live report and not worry about the traffic around you, poppy. >> and even stopping. and we have more information on the tenth death. queen ann's county, maryland, is where it took place. a woman in her home, and a tree fell through the roof and apparently she died in her home. it is one of the unavoidable unfortunate things. this woman was obviously inside of her home sheltering and a tree fell over. i think that we will see more of that. >> how tratragic, and the probl is that everyone is saying that it is a slow-moving storm, and the rain is continuous for many more hours, and we are starting to see it move farther up the east coast. up next here, we will talk to man who commanded the military response to hurricane katrina, general russel honore and what the city should expect when the sun comes up. cnn's live coverage continues. it's salonpas. this is the relief i've been looking for. salonpas has 2 powerful pain fighting ingredients that work for up to 12 hours. and my pharmacist told me it's the only otc pain patch approved for sale using the same rigorous clinical testing that's required for prescription pain medications. proven. powerful. safe. salonpas. 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[ announcer ] we are insurance. ♪ we are farmers bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ [ male announcer ] this is what it's like getting an amazing discount on a hotel with travelocity's top secret hotels. the easy way to get unpublished discounts of up to 55% off top hotels. harpist not included. ♪ i have never seen the ocean look like a river where it is going completely north along the shore instead of right at it. i have seen it coming over the bulkheads and the dunes, but this is, i mean, this is so far we are lucky. >> and very soon they will find out how lucky or not so lucky they were in kill devil hills because the hurricane has passed by there, and we will bring in our retired general russel honore, and you were there when hurricane katrina devastated new orleans. and you are checking with the sources up and down the coast that you have been working with emergency response. right now, i would say we are halfway through the entire event, and how are we doing? >> well, we have two quarters of the game left to play, because the storm is so big. the first thing in the morning, north carolina and the virginia, they will be doing extensive search and rescue and reaching out to people who have lost power and people who might be isolated the vulnerable population, and the elderly and the disabled, and in the northern part of the storm up in new york an new england area, they will be seeing the worst of the storm hitting them. so we will have a two-phase operation as we might use a military term in responding to the storm tomorrow by doing recovery and search and rescue in the south and still dealing with the effects of the storm way into the evening tomorrow once we determine what that tidal surge impact will have on new york. that is is the big question mark right now. that's the big unknown. if we can get by without an enormous tidal surge that will flood that area that we have been showing all evening we will be in good shape. but if it, if wall street gets the foot wet, this is a different game. >> and it is certainly a different city than new orleans. new orleans is surrounded by levees, but what are the similarities that you are seeing as far as what new york could face other than lower manhattan, and whether people could be affected after the first storm comes ashore. that is what happened in new orleans. they didn't know how bad it was at first. >> absolutely. if the that happens, that scenario were to play out, that part of manhattan called the buildings getting their feet wet. the water will go out naturall