here. we're standing, a lot of this was beach. we got here this morning. quickly it's already risen several feet. i was talking to the mayor. he said one of the big worries in this area is when you go past here, there's homes that's built on a cliff. at this point their worries not so much the wind, this is not going to be the kind of storm here where the wind is going to do catastrophic damage, but what they are worried about is, it's moving so slowly, and it's going to hit right before high tide which comes about 3:30 in the morning here, that they are worried that there may be so much water brought into the areas quickly that it could erode a lot of the soil that these homes are built on a cliff. so he's been going around today trying to make sure, you know, people have left their homes or if they haven't that they are at least aware of the risk that they are taking by staying inside. wolf? >> even though everyone was strongly urged to leave where you are as you say, chris, there are some people who say you know what? they think they can ride it out? >> reporter: yeah, exactly. i think a lot of that has to do with the fact that the winds aren't going to be catastrophic winds. they are not talking about a category 3 or 4. and so sometimes that can lull people to sleep when you hear cat 1 or hear the wind speed is decreasing. people think they don't need to leave the home. for a lot of reasons kit be an emotional reason. the problem is you won't know about that storm surge really until it's right on top of you. the real worry is with the brunt of the storm coming at night in the dark and then high tide coming about 3:30 in the morning, it can bring a tremendous amount of water in here in a very short amount of time. >> so the real fear right now is flooding right, chris, is that what you're saying? >> reporter: that is the primary fear, wolf. the winds are not to the extent that were feared maybe even a few days ago. the risk from the wind damage is not what they are worried about here. they are very worried about the water and how much water is going to come in to this area. >> chris lawrence in chesapeake beach for us. chris, thank you very much. be careful over there. let's bring in the fwofr of maryland, martin o'malley. joining us on phone. governor, what's the latest information you're getting about your state maryland and hurricane irene. >> wolf, do me a favor. tell chris to get out of the water. right now the initial bands are starting to lash us as you saw from chris's report. we've done a lot of preparation. we have national guard that are forwarded around the state, especially on the lower shore. now the tidal surges are always tricky in the chesapeake bay. we don't believe that those surges will being a greater than what is being forecast and that's kind of confirmed by our bay pilots as well. but, we have probably about 5,000 citizens who are in shelters around the state right now. we have approximately 40,000 customers without power all across our state. the saturation of the ground is such that, you know, these trees and as the wind picks up and as the rain picks up will no doubt take down more power lines. that's going to be a big, big challenge for us as we recover. but, actually in terms of the storm hitting us, when it is off of ocean city at around midnight tonight, it will be between the high tides, so that is fortuitous. we're prepared and urging everyone to stay inside. >> what are your biggest fears, governor? >> biggest fears? >> my big guest concerns a-- bi concerns is downed power lines and flooding, coastal flooding. we had some pretty good evacuations, ocean city and camp island, the ones that your reporter chris was talking about, actually higher up on the cliffs down there in calvert county. those folks because of their proximity to the cliffs and erosion and the like are in danger. biggest concern is always for life and the protection of life and so people need to stay off the roads. i think people are treating this storm with the respect that it's due, and big challenge will be getting the electricity back on once she passes through. also there's likely to be a whole lot of beach damage and so we're keeping an eye on that, and hanging tough with our neighbors in virginia who are experiencing the same thing. >> million customers already, governor, have lost power in virginia and in north carolina. you say what 30,000 so far in maryland. but you know it's going to go into hundreds of thousands very, very quickly, right? >> well it probably will. i mean given the saturation of the ground, and the wind knocking over trees, there will be lots of people without power tonight in my state and fortunately we have a lot more crews on hand ahead of this that have been working with the utility companies for two to three times as many out of state crews are here right now than were here on the advent of sn snowmageddon. >> governor, a lot of people are worried about those beaches. this was supposed to be one of those weekends where tourism would bring a lot of revenue for people who live in maryland. unfortunately, that is not happening right now. are you getting the support from fema, from the federal government that you need? >> i'll tell you what, wolf. fema has never been better. we had a conference call with all of the states, secretary napolitano was there, director fugate and president obama. our federal government has treated this storm with tremendous amount of professionalism and preparedness and everybody is really leaning forward and it makes you very, very proud of the committed people in our federal government that are doing so much to help all of us up and down the eastern seaboard here. >> let me ask you one political question. when you hear republican president candidate ron paul, a congressman from texas say you know what the federal government should not be in the fema business right now, what do you want to say to congressman ron paul? >> well, you know, i think these are those emergencies where we all remember, regardless of political party that we're stronger together. and that, in fact, the reason we have a federal government is so that when lives are threatened that we can come together and we can protect one another. and you're seeing an example of that right now. i'm very proud of the response of our federal government and the obama administration. it is a thousand percent improved over what fema used to be. >> very diplomatic answer from governor martin o'malley. i thought you would say something rougher on congressman paul. >> talk to me after the storm. >> this is not a time for politics even though i tried. governor, thanks for coming in. good luck to you and all the people of maryland, all the people of the east coast of the united states. we appreciate it very much. our meteorologists and severe weather exert chad myers is over at the cnn hurricane headquarters with the latest. what are you picking up? >> i'm picking up now for maryland, significant flash flood warnings for p.g. county, anna arundel county, manassas, virginia. three to six inches of rainfall in that d.c.-northern virginia area and into maryland as well. more rainfall from philadelphia all the way down. literally, wolf, it is raining from this storm in new hampshire and it is raining in south carolina. the size is bigger than most nor'easters like the governor was talking about. the storm is exiting north carolina. it will quickly get back into water. not very warm water so it's not going to regenerate much but at least it won't, point do much. it won't go up or down. we have to see more of this rainfall rain out. then we need to see some dry air get sucked into it from the mountains and that will begin to kill the storm off as it travels up to the north. from dover all the way here through delaware very heavy rainfall. from rehoboth down to ocean city, rain and just pounding waves. really taking away a lot of the beach here. that will continue. this big red box, that's a tornado watch box. nothing else to worry b-some of these storms could actually be spinning and as they spin they could bring a tornado on shore. here's washington, d.c. here's baltimore. there's the big red square. almost all the way down to richmond, virginia with that new flash flood warning that was just issued. here's the storm, spinning off the coast. there's the eye getting into the water again and it will move up. this track has not changed. the forecast from the hurricane center has been stellar. another government agency that did a fantastic job with this storm. 70 mile-per-hour winds. even into connecticut. that's going to bring down trees. my biggest concern is the water, the rains still coming down, six to ten inches of rainfall on top of there's areas that have already seen significant rain. philadelphia this month, wolf, has had 13 inches of rain. those trees are in saturated ground. up gate wind gust like we're expecting 60 miles per hour and those trees will fall on hopes. that's the biggest concern i have. when the winds really pick up you need to be on the inside of your home somewhere safe just because these trees will be going every where. >> if you're in new york city, chad, and you're in one of those high rise buildings and let's say you live on the 20th floor of those buildings what do you do? do you just ride it out even though you're high up or you try to go down, down sort of lower level? >> well, there's a couple of schools of thought. i really path lot of time into this. the higher you go, the higher the wind speeds will be. 20% higher at level 30 or the 30th floor. 20% higher than at the surface. if you get up to about floor 60 or 70 you're talking toing about 30% higher. let's just say winds will be 60 miles per hour. at the top of that building you're looking at about 78 miles per hour. but now, you and i have been in new york city enough to know that a 60 mile-per-hour wind at the surface is going to be funneled through those buildings and the wind tunnel effect may make the bottom ten floors 100 miles per hour. so, i understand how there's going to be more potential wind up above but i also think that there could be more potential damage down below as those 100 mile-per-hour winds going through the wind tunnel, especially through tribeca and lower mid-town, picking up stones and breaking the windows. the windows can with stand thing. the windows are strong enough. but they are not made to with stand a pebble being thrown at it, shot at it at 80 miles per hour. or your neighbor's lawn chair that he didn't take off his balcony. that's more of a concern than anything else. >> they are like protectiles. we'll get back to you. we're covering the storm from new england to north carolina. complete storm coverage continues right here in the situation room when we come back. one little smile, one little laugh. honey bunny. 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>> reporter: wolf, i'm out here in virginia beach and the center of hurricane irene is about two hours south of us but we're definitely already feeling very intense effects of the storm. look how ominous the sea looks out there. tremendous waves. lots of wind and rain and the wind is pounding you. unlike the outer banks, south of us, the city of virginia beach doesn't have sand dunes to protect it from a storm surge. this is a city with a population of more than 400,000 people. it's a popular tourist destination for people living up forecast. the boardwalk is lined with hotels, restaurant, bars. it's taking a big financial hit if a storm surge comes over here and enters the city. if i could have you step over here and show our viewers. we're witnessing breaking news. look at that water. the storm surge is coming up here. we've even sometimes when it's been approaching this boardwalk and going over the side and that's a big concern for residents that this water will enter this city. once again 400,000 people, all very nervous about the looks of that seawall. >> so, do most of the people in virginia beach, amber, are they there? are they riding it out in their homes and apartments or have they left? >> reporter: well, wolf, some people are riding it out in their homes. other people -- we're here on the ninth floor of our hotel. a lot of rooms are filled with local residents who were scared they would lose electricity. the wind gusts are getting pretty strong here. we're quite -- we're going to lose electricity. they were scared they were going to be in an unsafe situation. this is a very stable hotel. they left their homes to come and stay what would normally be filled with tourists but now filled with locals. snowboard safe. we'll stay in close touch with you. amber reporting from us in virginia beach. let's bring in the governor from virginia, bob mcdonnell. what's the latest governor? >> you just heard the report from virginia beach. there's over a million people in that area, 500,000 in virginia beach. a lot of people are experiencing hurricane force winds now and will for the next several hours. our biggest concern, revised estimates of the storm surge up to five to seven feet. that would be a record, that would put water in a lot of places and fortunately we had mandatory evacuations along those low-lying areas over the last day or so, and that was the right decision. so we're very concerned about storm surge. in some areas have had, wolf, often inches of rain so far and now the high winds come in. we're very concerned about trees. we've already had two deaths in virginia as a result of trees falling on apartment and tree falling on a car. >> one of those deaths was a little boy in that apartment building when a tree fell and killed that boy. what else can you tell us about that, governor. >> just tragic. this morning, 11-year-old boy killed in an apartment. a tree fell on house to. his mother was in the house and it's just a very heartbreaking accident in brunswick county a tree falling on a car. we expect tremendous additional downed limbs and trees. we got 617,000 customers which is over a million people, half in richmond and the other half or more in the hampton roads area without power. we expect much more of that over the next couple of hours and over the next four hours it's the tidal issues at hampton rods that's the most concern. >> i'll ask you the same question that i just asked governor o'malley of maryland. are you getting everything you need from the federal government, from fema, from the white house or are they not showing up. >> no. it's been a great partnership. i was on the line with the president today, yesterday secretary napolitano, the day before. we have 40 fema officers in the richmond emergency operations center. i met with them today. spoke with them. we've got tremendous state resources deployed. had a state declaration of emergency on thursday. president obama approved my federal declaration last night. so it is been quite a week. we've had fires in the great dismal swamp. an earthquake on tuesday. today a hurricane. our emergency responders are having their hand full. but in coordination with the local officials and local meyers and sheriffs they are doing a great job. >> how many people in virginia already, already have lost power? we've heard a million between north carolina and virginia. a million customers meaning there's a lot more people involved because two, three, four, five people live in a home. what's your latest estimate? >> the latest estimate in the last hour was 617,000 customers and that's about 2 1/2 people per customer household. so we're looking at well over a million at this point. we think there's a lot more to come. we just tell people look it's going to be a while getting it back. the co-ops have extra resources that will be deployed as soon as it's safe to start repairing tonight and tomorrow. people will have to wait several days or so to get this done. safety is first. >> what's the forecast for northern strarks suburbs of washington, d.c.? >> with the path of this storm, we literally have about two-thirds of the land mass of the state that's affected but well over 75% of the population that lives along that 95 corridor from northern virginia, d.c. suburbs to richmond and hampton roads. so most people are going to have some impact here. we're expecting potential tropical storm force winds, and several inches of rain in northern virginia. they've been feeling that since the middle of the day. and there's more to come. we expect the effects of the storm to last until about 6:00 in the morning. some residents of virginia will have tropical storm force winds until 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 in the morning. >> we're looking at these live pictures of virginia beach that surf that's coming in. it's pretty dangerous. the flooding problem in virginia beach, hampton roads, some of the other areas in near norfolk, how big of a problem will that be, the flooding problem? >> that's our major immediate concern, wolf. again the storm surge, five to seven feet would be near a record. there are areas in norfolk which we expect eight to nine feet above the mean low watermark. most of those areas that were subject to mandatory evacuations, hopefully people are aware from those areas. there's a number of tributaries feeding into this hampton roads area that will have days of rivers and creeks cresting. this problem will continue. the immediate problem is the next four hours with this storm surge, you saw those pictures. it's very likely that we have some significant flooding in virginia beach and hampton roads. >> one final question, governor before i let you get back. the u.s. navy, the largest port in the world in norfolk, some of the other areas in your state, did they successfully manage to get all of those ships out to sea to protect them or are there still some stuck? >> no, they are all out. i flew over yesterday. i was down in virginia beach and norfolk and hampton meeting with the leaders down there, their operation center. flew over. everything is gone. they had to go several hundred miles out to get out of the path. coast guard vessel, some are in the vicinity to be ready to help people. the port of hampton roads is closed. and our great folks of the navy are out of harm's way, again away from their families for a couple of days until the storm passes. >> let's hope it passes quickly and the destruction won't be that great and fatality, hopefully be just what it is right now although i fear for the worst. governor, thanks very much. good luck to all of the people of virginia. appreciate it very much. >> thanks, wolf. i think people were prepared and we appreciate getting on so people stay on. >> keep up the good work. from north carolina they are feeling irene. suffering