system may weaken, get down to category 1 status, it is such a large system that the wind field is already out there. the wave and surf already generated. at this point, even if the winds continue to come down, there will be surge coming over places like this, the boardwalk here, ruining a lot of folks first floors and business and in their homes. heavy duty interior rainfall as well. it is going to be a big issue. we could be looking at 5 to 10 inches of rain. you combine all that in there, that s terrible. you re right, though, if the wind speeds continue to come down, the saturated ground is going to have a little hold on some of the trees. that will keep some power out annuals from happening. still, so many questions. last thing we want to do is have people say, hey, things are improving now, it is okay to go to the beach. that will be most dangerous area. where i m standing now, i may not be able to stand in about 24 hours, 36 hours from now could be the worst of the storm for je
here s the current radar loop of what irene is looking like at this hour, 10:38 on the east coast. nbc s jay gray is live for us in kill devil hills in north carolina. explain what you re seeing there. you re just north of nags head. reporter: right, thomas. what we ve seen in the last 30, 45 minutes is the wind picking up dramatically. we wanted to bring to you the what you re edge. the surf is growing, as well. we are seeing the waves starting to crest four or five feet down here. forecasters say that could double by the time all of this is over. i could tell you the wind is strong enough now it s beginning to pick of pewses and debris on the sand along the beach. of course, that is going to grow. stronger winds will move through the area throughout the night. as we move and look at what s happening here in kill devil hills, i can tell you throughout the day, people have been preparing for the worst of this storm, knowing that this area was targeted. they ve been boarding up. a lot
are they going smoothly? reporter: tourists got the message yesterday. we saw them leaving in drove. there was stacking up in gas stations. there were some traffic problems we could see here. it went quickly. now it feels like a ghost town. certainly now, but even earlier today. it seemed the tourists got out. a lot of locals did, too. some locals said they would normally stay here and ride out the storm. it s part of local culture this. time with the threat, the storm surge and size of the storm, they would leave. some did the first time. old-timers here, some are saying i never left before, i m not leaving now. they are still here. they and emergency managers called a truce. managers told them if anything were to happen in terms of any people getting in trouble at the height of the storm, ambulance drivers, firemen and police officers couldn t help them.
flooding from the rain, which is hard to show on tv because locational and once it is flooding, it is hard to get the pictures. and the second part will be a ton of downed trees. tree limbs and branches and whole trees all over the place. this is going to be one of those roulette storms. if it happens a tree falls on your property, on your house or car it a big deal. if nothing happens to your property, you don t lose power, it is no big deal. that s what is going to happen up and down the eastern seaboard. won t be fair, some people will get hit by the trees and some people won t. the storm itself, honestly, does not look that impressive considering at this time yesterday the hurricane center was calling for a category 3 storm to approach the outer banks and make landfall, this is not that impressive. there is a lot of strong thunderstorms and heavy rain from the eastern north carolina coastline, the water will start ponding up, could get an isolated tornado that could do significant
when it hits, these people are not going to be able to get out and help you or save you. they are going to be hunkered down, too, waiting for this storm to pass. we ve been preparing for the last 72 hours. we go through these emergency operations drills throughout the year. we work with all of the different teams, state and federal agencies here. we are all in one room here. monitoring the situation. we ve been preparing for obviously being here along the coastline. we prepared for it more than a couple of times a year. just heed what your officials are telling you. a lot of wind and a lot of rain. if you prepare and take care of yourself, you ll be okay. listen to what your officials have got to tell you. when you re talking about the concerns you have as this storm passes up the coastline, the governor of north carolina was on in the past half hour saying