cnn s athena jones is live in rockville, maryland and let s talk about how extensive the damage is right now and what folks are telling you on the ground there. reporter: one thing we should let you know about is that the death toll has risen. in virginia there are six confirmed deaths in that state and that s come coming from governor bob mcdonald and that governor has declared a state of emergency in virginia. there are 1 million people without power and more deaths in washington, d.c., a man was electrocutedas he stepped out of his house and wires fell on him and a woman was killed by a fallen tree and we just learned of two other deaths and the deathings of two small children in the state of new jersey who were out camping with their families in the state park and they huddled together in a tent for protection from the storm and they were killed. the two children were killed when a tree fell on that tent. so a lot of bad news. in addition, it took to the power problem,
strait of hormuz. it s a choke point, and as american officials have been warning privately and publicly, a serious flash point. what about if they decide to block us off at the straits of hormuz. we have made it clear that the united states will not tolerate the blocking of the straits of hormuz. we will respond to that. the question tonight is, what will iran do next? what happens then? what s being done right now to head it off. barbara starr is here, and on the phone, curt lithal, former commander of the u.s.s. cole. what do you believe to be the intent of the iranians. were they trying to bait the u.s. military, provoke an altercation? maybe just a little bit of both, anderson. the thinking is that the iranians were not looking for a shooting match. they were going to break off, but they were going to cause a little heart-stopping action before they did that. one of the things here is look, the iranians gained intelligence by getting so close to u.s. navy ships.
it s a choke point, and as american officials have been warning privately and publicly, a serious flash point. what about if they decide to block us off at the straits of hormuz. we have made it clear that the united states will not tolerate the blocking of the straits of hormuz. we will respond to that. the question tonight is, what will iran do next? what happens then? what s being done right now to head it off. barbara starr is here, and on the phone, curt lithal, former commander of the u.s.s. cole. what do you believe to be the intent of the iranians. were they trying to bait the u.s. military, provoke an altercation? maybe just a little bit of both, anderson. the thinking is that the iranians were not looking for a shooting match. they were going to break off, but they were going to cause a little heart-stopping action before they did that. one of the things here is look, the iranians gained intelligence by getting so close to u.s. navy ships. they were able to