[Don Lemon, Cnn Anchor:] Thank you, everyone, for joining us. It's the top of the hour. I'm Don Lemon here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Two words for you that's going to dominate the news right now about to make life miserable for millions of people. I'm talking about hurricane Sandy. Look at that sideways rain and a wall of wind. The outer banks of North Carolina are just starting to feel the first punch of this hurricane. Now, this storm is huge and is headed ashore. There are some questions for you, where exactly will it make landfall and will the people who did not evacuate be prepared to handle it? President Obama got a full briefing at FEMA headquarters today. Look at it.
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States:] This is a serious and big storm. And my first message is to all people across the Eastern Seaboard, the Mid-Atlantic going north, that you need to take this very seriously.
[Lemon:] The president is saying to take it seriously, you should. The CNN severe weather team in place reporters all along the shore and also Chad Myers here with me. Sandra Endo is in Ocean City, Maryland, coming to you in a minute. And then Chad Myers coming to you in minute as well here on CNN. But we want to update you on something first and we want to go to the outer banks where George Howell is on the beach. He's in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. So, George, tell me how the conditions have changed in the past few hours. I have seen you very wet, getting pelted you and I've you see a little bit dryer. What's happening now?
[George Howell, Cnn Correspondent:] Don, look, while you were talking we had a bit of a break and then the wind came back. And we are talking about the winds here. We are talking of winds up to 40 miles per hour plus we just lost the light. We'll keep going, though. Strong winds that keep coming through this area. And also the rainfall. Now, when you look at the radar, Don, we are in an area right along one of the biggest bands, it's the entire tidewater area. We are talking about Norfolk, we are talking Virginia Bach, we're taking about the outer banks here where we are. This area has been getting hit and hit hard by this storm for the last 24 hours. Don, from what we understand, it will continue throughout the night. Get a little worse throughout the night before it starts to get better. And the winds are starting to shift. The winds initially were coming in from the East now coming in a bit from the north and we'll start seeing winds from the west. I'm sorry, from the east, the north and then from the west as this storm continues to pass through this area, Don.
[Lemon:] Hey, George, standby. Let's talk to Chad really quick. We'll go out to other reporters. But, Chad, he is getting pelted there. It's really moving through. What's happening where he is right now?
[Chad Myers, Ams Meteorologist:] Three hundred miles from the center.
[Lemon:] Really?
[Myers:] That's what he's feeling. That's the rub with this storm. You can't focus on the eye because it does not have an eye.
[Lemon:] Right.
[Myers:] You focus on the width of the wind and 300 miles on either side of the center of this hurricane, winds or tropical storm force or greater. That's a 600-mile swath of damage.
[Lemon:] Hey, George, do you feel it intensifying, like from your last live shot, do you feel it continuously to the shot is dark, it's OK, we can still go to him. Do you feel it there? OK, we lost the shot because of the weather. All right. Let's move on. Let's go to Sandra Endo now in Ocean City. Sandra Endo is in Ocean City. And she's about 200 miles north of where George is. What are you seeing there as you talk to me and Chad Myers?
[Sandra Endo, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, Don and Chad, we have been feeling the effects of hurricane Sandy already here in Ocean City all day long now. Steady winds up to 27 miles per hour. Steady rain just pelting down all day long. And we are here on the balcony of an Oceanside hotel to give you perspective of what you're seeing right now, where it's close to high tide and you can see the fierce waves behind me right here along the shore. And this is really what local officials are worried about, the high tide and the combination of this long duration of the storm that they are expecting. They are expecting about 36 hours for hurricane Sandy to really come through this area and just to show you over here as well, they have evacuated this entire area of downtown Ocean City. And that evacuation deadline is fast approaching. We have seen people flee town all day long. And they have opened up local shelters in this county where we are hearing about 40 people resorted to shelters already. But, clearly, they have been preparing for this and also have learned from last year's hurricane Irene. Here's the local mayor. All right, well, we talked to the local mayor earlier and he said that they have been preparing. They are under 24-hour operations right now trying to keep those lines of communication open with residents here who chose not to evacuate, as well as keeping up-to-date with everything that's going on in terms of emergency responses and any type of damage that may come because of hurricane Sandy, Don and Chad.
[Lemon:] All right. Sandy, standby. We have Chad Myers here again. And, Sandy, you can play along in this as well. So we have Sandra, Chad, is in Ocean City, Maryland, 200 miles north of George. George is getting pelted at this point. How long before Sandy starts to feel what he's feeling?
[Myers:] There are arms on this storm.
[Lemon:] Right.
[Myers:] Almost like, you know, you see a picture of a hurricane, you see the spiral bands. That's what we have with the storm. Let me walk over here because I want to describe what you're going to look. You're going to look at this for the next 36 hours. So, I want to know I want you to know when you see it what you're seeing. There's the center of the storm right there, Don. But wherever there's color, that's where it is storming. That's where it is raining. And that's when the rain will bring down the wind. So when you get a cell, there's even one right there coming onto long Island. When you get a cell with a little color and rain, it will translate all of this wind back down to the surface. Now, it's not windy right here. It's not windy here, even though this is much closer to the center than this. It is windier here because of the storm around it, the arms around it. And these will rotate around and the winds will eventually go right through New York and into Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the like.
[Lemon:] The size again of this thing?
[Myers:] It is 300 miles from the center to the edge of the 50 to 55- mile-per-hour gusts.
[Lemon:] Yes. As Fred last said when she was handing off to me. She said it's 200 miles from North Carolina, about 500 miles from New York City. And that people all the way from Maine from North Carolina to Maine, when was the last time or have we ever seen a weather event like this on the East Coast of this magnitude?
[Myers:] No, we have not. The last thing that was even close was the perfect storm.
[Lemon:] Yes.
[Myers:] Because there's not only this hurricane. There's another low pressure that's going to energize it more. We've got a low here that should make a snowstorm, and it will. Then all of a sudden you have a hurricane coming in and they are going to merge. So we have not seen this, except for the storm perfect storm. The difference between this storm and perfect storm, the perfect storm never made landfall and it stayed in the ocean the whole time and did that much damage. This will make landfall and make more damage.
[Lemon:] And we are sure it's going to be a fish storm because of the models.
[Myers:] I don't it's going to hit something. I'm not totally convinced it is going into D.C. I think it will be north of there, Cape May to Central New Jersey for the eye. But here's what I said. The problem is: don't worry about the eye. It is not windy in the eye in some spots, it's windy away from the eye wherever the storms are, and those storms reach out 300 miles from the center.
[Lemon:] When you say Cape May, that's almost like Grand Isle, Louisiana, it sticks out in New Jersey. So for everyone storm, when I worked in Philadelphia, everyone went to Cape May because that's where you get the best pictures. Help me talk to speaking of best pictures, help me talk to George Howell, George is back.
[Myers:] He's back?
[Lemon:] Yes. And, George, you're aware, you said you were getting pelted and lost the light because of the rain, I'm sure. And now your shot went down because of the weather and you're back. How intense is this getting moment by moment? How are you feeling the intensity moment by moment here?
[Howell:] Don, absolutely. Again, we are feeling these winds. Wind gusts anywhere from 40 to 50 miles per hour at times. And you're right, this is the area that has really been getting the brunt of this storm. When you look at the way the storm has been traveling, most of it offshore, as Chad described, but right there on those outer bands of the wind field, we are feeling the strong winds as they come in. And that's what people will start seeing in the metro areas as this storm hooks a left. So, again, you know, what we are seeing here in North Carolina, and now more here in the tidewater area, this is what will be coming as the storm makes land.
[Lemon:] Hey, George
[Howell:] So officials here are keeping yes?
[Lemon:] George, I don't want to complicate things, but I'm not sure if your photographer can show us around, but show us where you are standing and what you're seeing from your vantage point there.
[Howell:] And, Don, we'll do the best we can with the lighting. Everything kind of blends back there but I'll show you what's happening with the Atlantic. Take a look back there. If you can see the water out there, it's rough. It is really rough. There was a beach out there, Don, yesterday. We walked that beach. The beach is gone. And beach erosion is going to be a big issue here with this particular storm system. Also, when it comes to the storm surge, Don, that's what a lot of people are concerned about on this island. Storm surge where we are could get anywhere from four to six feet. Also, on the other side of the island is a concern about flooding. On the south side, flooding from all the water that the storm pushes in and then it comes back. That cause a lot of flooding. That's what people saw here with Irene when it came through.
[Lemon:] All right, George, standby. Don't go anywhere. Do we still have Sandra Endo just to show a picture, the difference, Chad, between Sandra's picture and George's picture. If you put them together side by side, you can see, it's still sunny, Sandra, you're on now. But it still sunset happening where Sandra is. And then look at that just 200 miles away. That's definitely a contrast there.
[Myers:] Sandra, I know you can hear us looking at the camera, your beach is gone. About two hours ago you had 300 to 400 feet of sand between you and the water. Where did it go?
[Endo:] Yes, that's what local officials and the National Weather Service is actually concerned about beach erosion here. And they are comparing and anticipating hurricane Sandy to hurricane Gloria back in 1985, which it destroyed the boardwalk. So they are certainly going to look for that storm surge damage to possibly happen because of hurricane Sandy. And, of course, beach erosion with the mixture of high tide, again, and this long storm, that is what they are really concerned about because the storm surge could affect this region, devastatingly, and certainly they are hunkering down bracing for the worst. And, of course, the worst is not going to hit this area for another 24 hours or so.
[Lemon:] All right. We'll stand by, Sandra. Thank you very much. Don't go anywhere. We'll be getting to Sandra, George Howell as well, of course, meteorologist Chad Myers. Chad is in charge. He's going to be helping me here. We're going to be on for a long time, Chad. So get rested, afternoon break, take it now. All right. Thanks, everyone. More on this when we come back, but with hurricane season reaching the end, a lot of people weren't ready for this. We're going to talk with General Russel Honore who dedicated his life to helping others be prepared after his experience with hurricane Katrina. Remember that? Here's live in studio with me just moments away. And, you know, this storm is throwing a big monkey-wrench into the race for the White House. Battleground states are in hurricane Sandy's path. Which candidate does the storm help or hurt?