just about deserted. winds have decreased slightly to 80 miles an hour but it remains a hurricane as it it pushes north toward new york. irene is especially dangerous because it s moving slowly. we ve talked about this all morning, all afternoon. it s almost certain to create a tripling storm surge. as you just heard mary mention, new york transit officials earlier today shut down the city s mass transportation system as a precaution. live pictures now from times square, similar moves have also been made or will be made, we re told, in philadelphia and baltimore. and joining us now on the telephone, jeanne meserve who is in ocean city, maryland. jeanne? reporter: martin and keira, still dark where we are in ocean city, the lights went out a bit ago in this part of the city. we saw a couple of explosions to the south and think there were probably some transformers that had some problems. but this appears to be localized. we can see other buildings to our west and to our
mary, thanks. this is cnn s breaking news coverage of hurricane irene. i m martin savidge at the cnn world headquarters in atlanta. i m keira phillips. thanks for staying with us for the hurricane coverage. a massive category 1 storm is what we re talking about, slowly churning up the east coast. it it s large, dangerous and relent areless. at least nine deaths are now blamed on this hurricane, more than 1 million customers have lost power. right now irene is closing in on ocean city, maryland. like every other beach resort along the mid-atlantic, it is just about deserted. winds have decreased slightly to 80 miles an hour but it remains a hurricane as it it pushes north toward new york. irene is especially dangerous because it s moving slowly. we ve talked about this all morning, all afternoon. it s almost certain to create a tripling storm surge. as you just heard mary mention, new york transit officials earlier today shut down the city s mass transportation system