arabic networks saying he is walking around in tripoli and calls rebel forces criminals and traitors and rats. more and more the rebels do believe he is still in or near tripoli. in fact, they think two days of fierce fighting near the airport could be pretty significant. we are covering every angle of this story with multiple correspondents on the ground. sara sidner is in tripoli central square and we have arwa damon and frederik pleitgen and zain verjee. let's get to arwa damon right near the airport on the latest on the clashes. >> there were grad rockets fired at the airport complex earlier today. the fighting around here has been quite intense. and the rebel commander who led the assault on the airport believes that that fighting is directly linked to the whereabouts of colonel gadhafi himself. >> translator: the clashes are fierce because i think a route for gaffy to escape to other places. traffic all day and breaking people in the sunset and we spotted a convoy. possible he may be inside it. this is my analysis as a military man. there has been intense firing from all directions for the last three days. there has been a focus on this airport complex more than other locations even in tripoli. this is evidence that gadhafi is in the area but wants to escape from tripoli through here. >> the commanders at the airport were telling us themselves after the initial rush into tripoli they were forced to pull back from certain locations after it appeared that gadhafi forces remassed and reorganize kourcou attacks. they do realize that they need to be able to structure themselves militarily so they can hold the ground they have gained so far but what they have done is in moving into tripoli, they have managed to set up sleeper cells inside the city when they gave the signal a few days ago those sleeper cells had a fairly sophisticated structure managed to join in the uprising. on the one hand, we have seen them gain this experience and gain the level of sophistication and on the other hand see them act as a rag tag group and moving in without paying full attention into the kind of situation and muscly militarily analyzing the situations they are getting into. >> that was our arwa damon that is outside of the airport of tripoli. we will talk to her the next two hours. gadhafi compound has fall and regime in shambles and we still don't know where he is but we did hear an audio recording last night purported to be from him but that doesn't mean he is in tripoli. zain verjee joins us from london. it's all speculation but what are people saying around the world about where gadhafi is hiding? you've been tracking the headlines. >> reporter: yeah. no one knows for sure exactly where he is and anybody who says they know, probably doesn't. it's a really difficult situation and really unclear to know exactly how long it will take to get him. i've been looking at some u.s. embassy cables pushblished by wikileaks. this is a flamboyant material guy who presided over a very brutal regime. the first thing these cables reveal is that he has a real fear of flying over water. the u.s. ambassador was quoted in these cables saying he has a dislike of any long flights. he also has been described as having an intense dislike of staying on the upper floors of any buildings. if you just look at some video that we have -- had taken back in 2009 when he was in new york city, he took along his good old tent and pitched it up in a garden. he wants to be in an environment that he is comfortable in and one that he trusts. lastly, the cables talk about the hundreds of bodyguard and they focus on the female bodyguards he likes to be surrounded by and traveled with him everywhere. the cables also talk about how much of a diminished role that they have played over the years. the u.s. embassy cables published by wikileaks talk about this gadhafi is a very complicated person and he has managed to stay in power for so long, kyra, 42 years by cleverly maneuvering himself around the different power structures of the country, the different tribes of the country too. he has been able to manage very well a balancing act, partly because of all the oil revenue that he has been able to get from the oil in libya and then paying off and giving money to different groups to win over that trust. >> we are going to stay on the search. zain verjee out of london, thanks so much. there is more fierce fighting that is making it dangerous for journalists to leave the rixos hotel. gadhafi loyalists are making it impossible as well and forb forbidding cnn's matthew chance and other journalists from leaving the hotel for their own safety the guards say. there was unexpected movement at the hotel today and our matthew chance gives us an update. >> we have had one journalist come through. we have mlganaged to find their way from the outside. he is allowed to take one of the journalists inside the rixos holed up here because it is still controlled by the government. one was was a shocking trip. take that one person out and basically take them away. but what happened when got outside with this journalist who was leaving with him, there was a gunfight and the driver of the car who was waiting for them fled in a hurry and left them stranded in the hotel. that is some additional person in the hotel. then shortly afterwards, some more journalists arrived at the hotel. a gunfight. they fled into the hotel. additional four people came inside. the past 50 minutes we have had five additional international journalists, most of them american citizens as far as we can make out who have come into this hotel. perhaps an attempt to do some reporting on what is going on here. they have found themselves now in the same situation we are in. >> that was our matthew chance. tough to get in touch with him considering the situation he is in but he had a chance to file that for us within the last hour or so. we hope to get him back on the line to find out what the conditions are there at the rixos hotel. move closer to home now. hurricane irene hitting the headlines. jacqui jeras, looks like you just got a brand-new model in. we were talking about the bahamas. what do we know now? >> we have taken a look at the computer model forecast. these are the spaghetti plots we call them and as we take a look at them, we have noticed an even greater consensus of the those models towards the carolinas that they are offshore. only one model now bringing it out over the outer banks of north carolina. everything is shifting on off to the east. as we take a look at them further out in time, the other new thing we have noticed here is there is an even greater spread as we head into the mid-atlantic and northeast. when we see them spread apart like this, there is greater unseru uncertainty as to the track of this forecast. i want to point out the better models, this is a very good and accurate computer model and more of the reliable models. so some of it bring it over new jersey and some over new york. i don't like to see that. now, the official forecast from the national hurricane center will show you this storm intensifying. it's a category 3 now with the winds at 115 miles per hour. that makes it a major hurricane and here is the official track bringing it still near the outer banks, at least as we head into the weekend. then up to the coast. but look at how huge that cone of uncertainty is. that is because we see these errors that far out in time. at 11:00 eastern time the hurricane center will update their track and see if they follow suit along with the computer models and see if that pushes farther off to the east. >> isn't it bizarre to see new york, boston? >> it doesn't happen every day but we have had hurricanes like gloria, we had hurricanes like bob. it would be a very, very disastrous situation to get a hurricane here. even if we don't get a hit in the northeast and still stays offshore a major ground event and worried about flooding and the winds we think will be strong enough that power outages could be expected as well. >> jacqui, thanks. you mentioned southeastern bahamas and where our jim spelman is. things are pretty calm right now, though, right, jim? >> reporter: yeah. windier earlier and first bout of rains but it will come and go as the spands start moving in. right now, calm and beautiful in the bahamas. it's a beautiful country. they are bracing for this storm. the shopkeepers here in downtown nassau putting up shutters and plywood over the windows and flooding they expect, i spoke to a shopkeeper who says it floods two feet on a good storm. they are ready for five or six feet of water in downtown nassau. that is what they are preparing for here. all of the tourists here are being encouraged to get out. the cruise ships pulled up this morning and took off and the airport will close in a few hours. the last few flights of tourists leaving. the rest of the tourists who couldn't get out have to hole up in hotels which are in good shape here. the island is 20 miles long and not a lot of places to go to get out of the way of the storm. >> are you gearing up for a long day, long night? >> absolutely. you know how it is. >> reporter: covering the hurricanes you have to get ready because they don't come on our schedule, they come on their own schedule. >> isn't that the truth. keep us up-to-date. appreciate it. the strongest rumble to rattle the region in decades. yesterday's 5.8 magnitude earthquake centered in virginia and felt by people in northern new england to georgia. no extensive damage reports as of now, but the washington monument is actually one of several structures showing some cracks. cnn's brian todd is live near the epi center. when have we said mineral, virginia, the epi center of an earthquake, brian? >> right. >> you wouldn't think this would be a epi center of a natural event lie i like this. >> reporter: there was significant damage to the middle school and high school in this town. minor injuries reported. not significant damage as far as heavy structural damage to these buildings here. two houses did collapse but one of them had been abandoned and one was not occupied at the time. so that is the extent of the damage in the town. but there is real concern here about the facility behind me. this is the norn anna nuclear power plant. both of the nuclear reactors here are offline and been offline since the earthquake hit yesterday. they don't anticipate getting back online for another day. they have to run down the safety checks. what they have been able to tell it us, though, the power from the outside grid has been restored to the cooling systems in this facility. that means that the cooling systems which cool down the nuclear reactor and the spent fuel pools are now running off power from the grid. they had been running on backup generator power. that quashes any fears of a fukushima like repeat whether radioactivity and a meltdown essentially at fukushima. they say it's not a possibility here. no radioactivity has leaked and the areas that house the spent fuel rods are safe. >> that is good news. meanwhile, being an unusual place for this to happen, what has the reaction been like there in mineral? >> reporter: it's still kind of a state of shell shock here. you go around to talk to people in this town and in washington, d.c. where we came from right after the earthquake, people still just can't believe this happened. this is a natural event that just does not happen on the east coast. we have been reporting on this since yesterday. this is the biggest earthquake of the east coast in 67 years. the biggest one in virginia in 114 years. people are not used to it and people assessing the damage of their homes, structure damage as we mentioned and not significant damage but enough to cause them a great deal of worry. some people, we did talk to a gentleman yesterday who said he can't go back into his home and told to keep out of it and people are assessing whether they have insurance to cover some of this stuff. just a lot of concern right now and we may not be done with the aftershocks yet. >> brian todd, we will be talking more. appreciate it. no matter who ends up in control of libya, americans will be part of the rebuilding process. just ahead, we will talk about someone who is doing some of that work and also talk to him about what he learned helping rebuild iraq. beneful healthy fiesta. gotta love the protein for muscles-- whoo-hoo! and omega-rich nutrition for that shiny coat. ever think healthy could taste so good? 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[ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists. go to bengay.com for a 5-dollar coupon. gadhafi's compound has fallen and his regime imploded but what will a new libya will look like is far from clear and one thing for certain, americans will be involved. already numerous american companies doing billions of dollars of work in into libya. add miles an hour cubic is one of them and he had a pivotal role in rebuilding iraq and joins me this morning live from virginia beach. good to see you. >> good to see you, kyra, as well. >> you were in iraq. and now you have been in libya and you are dealing with libya as this change is taking place. you know, how do you even begin to move forward and rebuild a country like this when you've got a dictator that is still m.i.a. and a regime that is completely crumbling? >> right now, you can't do much of anything, kyra. we actually left on february 10th before this actually started. we have been monitoring it very, very carefully and they are going to have to be a governing group emerge that can actually provide security and control what is going on, i think, before any businesses can really reengage. >> i was with you in iraq when saddam fell and you were in charge of the rebuilding there. you also dealt with the transition of power. so what do you think? is this going to be easy or more difficult than what you dealt with in iraq? >> from the standpoint of rebuilding, maybe a little easier, because they have a lot of advanced infrastructure, they have a lot of capability or at least they had but from the transition of power i think it's going to be really hard. what you have there are 2,000 tribes spread over about 6 million people, all of whom were united by a strong man who is no longer there and a governing council or transition council has lost control. i am getting reports there ask no security in tripoli and people hiding in their homes while gangs of youth, many of them under 25, are basically looting and killing and until somebody can step forward and say we have control and hopefully begin to broker some sort of truce and stop the fighting, it is going to be difficult to give a transition of power because there really aren't a lot of roots there that we can build upon. >> taking into account what you just said, all of the tribal members and what we are seeing with regard to destruction, civil war, chaos, disorganization, would you rather be dealing with a single dictator like gadhafi, or a fractured -- or a transitional council? >> actually, neither, kyra. i mean, i think the point now is that we need to take gadhafi out of the equation. however, he is going to be settled, somebody needs to deal with that but what we need to look at are the libyan people and who are going to emerge as the governing authority that has legitimacy. you know, gadhafi did have a peoples congress that was organized in three tiers at the local level, regional, and national level, and they did meet and debated issues and even passed budgets. unfortunately, they were all appointed by gadhafi. but i think in their tribal culture and the way they have governed themselves for the past 40 years, that people's congress has to be reactivated hopefully with people who are selected by their local its to begin the rebuilding process and i think the transition council has to recognize that and they have to begin to add legitimacy to govern all of the people and not just a couple of thousand that actually started this conflict. and so, again, i do think that we have to find a way to bring the people of libya here, separate that from their leader, stop worrying about him and start worrying about the people. >> appreciate your time today. >> thanks, kyra. >> you bet. wall street saw the dow surge more than 300 points yesterday. we will go to new york and the stock exchange and predict what can happen today. amy winehouse toxology results in rin. her cause of death still a mystery. next, we will hear what her family members are saying about the report. seven professional drivers. the bad news is, only one of those seven seats is the driver's seat. 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[ announcer ] who could resist the call... of america's number-one puppy food brand? with dha and essential nutrients also found in mother's milk. purina puppy chow. showbiz headlines. will and jada pinkett-smith say they are not splitting up. mrs. smith's rep says that rumors about her being involved with hawthorne co-star marc anthony are not true. craig ferguson said someone mailed into his show white powder claiming it was anthrax. >> i was frightened shrast the late, late show employees had to leave and nobody getting any work done. it was just like a regular day! but they was going crazy. i said the helicopters are buzzing everywhere. people are rushing around. this is the most attention this show has gotten -- it's the most attention the show has! >> thankful the powder wasn't dangerous. authorities are investigating the case. toxicology results are in for the death of amy winehouse. zain verjee is joining us out of london. she was known to use drugs so what do the results show? >> reporter: a bit of a surprise to many people, kyra, who expected that that would show up in these toxicology results. a family has come out to make a statement and they have had said there is no illegal substance that has been found in her system at all when she died last month. they also say that the toxicology results show that alcohol was present in her system but it's really not clear whether that was the cause of death. so there will likely be further tests to determine what the cause of death actually was. she died last month here in london, kyra. she was only 27 years old. she had battled with addiction of drugs and alcohol abuse. she had actually just come out of rehab and then she had gone to serbia to have a big comeback concert and that was a total disaster and she was booed off the stage. i was looking at an interview she did with cnn back in 2007 where she said, i don't care enough what people think about me to conform to anything. kyra? >> zain verjee out of london. she definitely wasn't a conformist, that is for sure. let's head to business now. carter evans is at the new york stock exchange where we watched the dow surge more than 300 points yesterday. carter a nice little rally. >> reporter: yeah. nice rally. it was looking like we would give some of that back today. dow futures down a hundred points and not pretty much flat lined. a report on durable orders jumped 4% in july. these are planes, cars, trucks, things that last a long time and jumped 4% in july and a whole lot better than expected and it's mostly due to aircraft orders. still a good sign for manufacturers in general if we do turn