so, that is still very much a concern. live in nags head, north carolina, kirk hopkins for abc news. tahman and reena, back to you. >> kirk, the image of your live shot is amazing. i hope you can hear us. i'm wondering about tornado warnings up and down the north carolina and virginia coast. what are you hearing about that? >> reporter: well, you know, as soon as arthur made landfall shortly after 11:00 last night, there were tornado warnings up and down the coast of north carolina as well as power outages. at last check, duke energy in north carolina said it had more than 21,000 customers that were without power. >> well, kirk, we know that 102-mile-per-hour winds have been reported in cape lookout. you mentioned one of the main highways there where you are. were people able to get on the roads and to get to safety? are there still a lot of people there this morning? >> reporter: you know, for most of the day, the roads -- there was a lot of really strong
roads. extra crews are on standby. there will be more activity tonight. people are just urged to be careful and stay off those roads unless they absolutely need to be there. >> nbc's mark potter for us live in memphis, tennessee, on beale street, good to see you. a live look right now at south africa where millions are remembering nelson mandela. we'll have a live report on the memorial plans that are under way right now. also ahead -- >> essentially we're saying, you need to buy rape insurance. >> we believe that abortion is not health care and that tax dollars should not be going to pay to subsidize abortions. >> the people are dumbfounded that this is even before it at this point. >> some are calling it rape insurance. michigan may ban abortion coverage even in cases of rape and incest. also the jobless rate falls
anger, but it's what you do with it. very sorry for your loss. >> thank you very much. as a leader, nelson mandela was inspiring but also quite a sense of humor as you heard sir richard say. you'll hear from him in his own words. we'll also hear from those who knew him well and interviewed him often. kate? turning back here to home right now, let's bring you up to date on that large and severe storm that is bearing down on much of the country. winter advisories are under way from texas to the ohio valley as sleet and freezing rain are creating dangerous ice conditions. several states are declaring states of emergency and airlines have canceled hundreds of flights, many schools also closed for the day. we have team coverage of what could be the biggest winter storm in recent memory, beginning for us indra petersons live in memphis, tennessee this morning. good morning, indra.
for us live in -- live from london. greg, let's go over to you and get the very latest on what's going on. >> reporter: all this breaking in the last 20-25 minutes from my sources inside the yemen see government -- yemeni government, we're getting a picture of the worst situation in months there, conforming that saleh has been lightly injured in an attack by opposition forces on the presidential palace grounds, yemeni government officials telling me only that saleh is alive. there are reports he will be appearing before state tv an hour or so to prove he is alive but the yemeni government official also telling me that senior government officials have been injured, there have been reports that the prime minister, the deputy prime minister, the speaker of parliament, have been injured, also that four presidential guards, and this is telling, four presidential guards, have been killed, the shelling by opposition forces apparently on a mosque on the presidential grounds, this