that s because all of the city s cables and electricity are stored in these vaults underground. vaults actually in downtown manhattan. so if they do shut down power, it won t be restored for the next three days. so, if you don t have flashlights, extra batteries at this point it s a bit late. but there are probably a couple stores that are still open right now. i would definitely recommend everybody get out and do that. it is a strong chance that they may have to shut off power unlike many people who live in the outer suburbs where power outtages are normally affected by downed trees and downed power lines. we have a much different story here. that s why the storm surge is extremely important. we are keeping a very close eye on that right now. back to you guys. good point, julie. steve: other reason the camera is all foggy like that we have tropical air here. the humidity is at 96%. dave: 96%? steve: according to
cliffs plant was apparently damaged by winds from the storm. a large piece of aluminum ripped from nearby building on to the transformer. authorities say this is not a serious emergency. and that the plant is stable. plant workers and people who live nearby are not at risk. that s going on out there at the calvert cliffs plant in maryland. juliet: i m getting a lot of tweets today. everybody is asking about what s going on. people asked about the dams and nuclear plants. somebody from australia is watching hoping we are safe today. everybody is watching around the world. we will continue to give you all of the information not just going to be new york and new jersey centric as we sometimes can be. dave: we will focus on the entire region as this thing moves. let s bring in now the police chief of west hampton beach, new york, ray dean who has been helping people in that area evacuate. good morning to you, sir. tell us the latest on that evacuation. good morning. we evacuated yest
dave: the worst of it you are saying in the low are manhattan area in the next four hours. it looks like it s beginning to lose a little bit of its structure if it will. is that good news. you are good. yes it is yiewdzing some of its structure. that s what happens when it gets this far north and going over cooler watters. that s why prediction from 8 a mile-per-hour storm down to 70 mile-per-hour storm happens because you know it s going to go over that water and begin to lose structure as its up here. won t keep that same hurricane form. that s exactly what we re dealing with now. strong storm just because you see that that s part of what you expect to see. that is part of what is taken into account when you see the projections for winds to be lower. steve: it is still a hurricane though. category 1. 7 a miles per hour. he is at the irene center and we re going to be checking in with him all morning long. thanks, rick. we talked about pour outages to houses and homes. hurricane
is a possibility that we night shut them off. however, nothing is scheduled at this time. dave: elizabeth matthews from con edison with the power situation. let s get now to virginia beach where fox elizabeth prann has been surviving the storm. elizabeth, what s the sense of things? was it worse or just about as bad as expected there? well, i think people here in virginia beach are certainly breathing a sigh of relief. what we are seeing this morning is perhaps a good indicator of what you all will be seeing tomorrow morning and maybe as early as this evening. but we re still experiencing some wind gusts. i will say the tail end of hurricane irene is a lot nicer than the front end when we had those 80 mile-per-hour winds yesterday. but today what folks here are concerned about, especially the 4,000 that spent the night in shelters last night, is getting back to their homes and assessing the damage. we have seen superficial damage so far. things like the siding of walls
churches being open. no, no, no, no, no. the churches that are open are open typically because they are shelters for folks who live in that area. don t go out. just don t go to church timothy doll license and listen dolland. i don t remember he says you can pray at home and a lot of people are. dave: that s good advice. always seeing this weekend a very bizarre rise in births. it turns out i brought this point up yesterday and received a little bit of ridicule. but there is some science to this. when the barometric pressurizes during hurricanes. steve: it goes real low. dave: actually increases the birth. increases the likelihood of women s water breaking. there is science behind it. i was mocked. juliet: i apologize officially. dave: one woman gave birth during irene wilmington, north carolina. i have read many reports of moms