hundreds of patients including infants from the neo-natal intensive care unit after backup power failed. more on that incredible story in just a moment. first, let s go up to bill karins for the very latest on this storm. bill, where are we right now? we re about 95% done with all the damage that this storm has produced. and, again, the majority of it was last night at about 8:00 p.m. as we had the high tide cycles right along the jersey coast. of course, with those gusty hurricane-force winds that we dealt with all yesterday afternoon and evening. but i still have concerns this morning. we have the next high tide cycle approaching areas that had the devastation last night. this will not be as high. the storm is a little weaker, a little further inland. it will be much higher than normal. we ll have more minor damage occurring at this high tide cycle. the next one in new york city down by battery park is just after 9:00 a.m. this morning. it is not expected to be high enoug
closed today. it will reopen tomorrow. it was the first two-day weather closing since the blizzard of 18 8. it was a night to remember or forget. there s a mandatory evacuation order under effect. real concern here is to the inland lakes connect to the ocean and wipe out the town in this area. this is a dangerous situation. police are creating a collapse zone. no cars, no pedestrians around the area of 57th street where this building is under construction and this is crane is dangerously dangling over the street. the storm surge right now, that s just the water rise alone with this, 6.6 feet. that s 2.2 feet higher than irene. we re awaiting that high tide coming up. for example, irene was about right here, all right, and what we could see with another two and a half feet is up through here. no campaigning for the president. he is locked down at the white house, telephoning governors and mayors and meeting with fema. mitt romney is not campaigning but holding what h
this is now a system that s about 900 miles across. it is something that is really going to be epic. governor jack marckel saying that people should not take any chances. seven shelters are set up in the ate of delaware, three in rehoboth, and two of them are taking pets. if you re going to a shelter, you need to realize you re getting space on the floor. you need a sleeping bag, pillow, books. there is limited food here. you ll get fed. there s not a lot of comforts of home. reporter: and high tide moves in at 7:55 this morning. take a look at the waves, folks. this is just the beginning of what sandy will look like on the east coast. schools are cancelled, and rehoboth regional school districts will bring you much more. live coverage from rehoboth beach. i m erica gonzalez for news 4 today. back to you guys in the studio. let s check in with meteorologist tom kierein, who is checking the track of the storm and when it s going to arrive in our area. right now where
and good morning. welcome to today on a monday morning. i m matt lauer. good morning, everyone. i m savannah guthrie, and it is an anxious morning for folks up and down the east coast. hurricane sandy strengthened over the night. want to give you the information we know right now. sandy is a category 1 hurricane with wind speeds of 85 miles per hour. it s located about 285 miles east of cape hatteras, north carolina. emergency officials in new york city and washington, d.c. had taking unprecedented actions to deal with this storm. that s righ the mass transit systems shut down, schools cancelled. the stock markets are also closed. the first weather-related closure in 27 years, and just take a look at this nasa image from space. this is one massive hurricane. 800 miles wide which means its impact is going to be felt across a massive region for a very long time. you forgot to mention one precaution. starbucks in new york and long island closed this morning. don t hear
kieran has just handed it over to me. he s been watch the storm throughout the morn. you can see the heavy band making its way from areas of eastern shore inland. what we seen out there in areas east, over 5 inches of rain. areas around ocean city. over four inches of rain. getting into areas of delaware, over 3 inches of rain. those are the kind of rainfall amounts we re going to see before long. as, again, the center of hurricane sandy gets closer and closer to us. it s already made that turn not just to the north but towards the north and west. getting closer to the coast. you can see it there. landfall expected somewhere between delaware and the southern new jersey coast around 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. here s the latest track coming out. this should be the 11:00 p.m. track for you. to the north and west. coming ashore around areas of southern new jersey, northern delaware. then again, the storm system, we re really going to see it spread out even more. talking about 1,000 miles