let's begin with the storm. one time hurricane irene is just now a rainmaker. soaking eastern canada right now. but the emergency add randi was pointing out with her guest, far from over. it is a large wide path. the storm churnd all the way up the eastern seaboard. i mean, look at this. this is central new york. this is prattsville in the cat skill mountains. officials say the volume of water rushing through the riverbanks is more than what's flowing over niagara falls today. just think about that. it stranded people in their homes and hotels. no way for rescuers to get to them. next, i want to share video from rhode island. 300,000 people there in the dark. no electricity. several of these, you can see them downed trees, just sheer wind power took them down. half the state is affected here. listen now as rhode island's

governor is speaking a short time ago. >> really what we're focusing on is getting the power back. rhode islanders without power getting antsy. they want to -- that's really where our focus is. we'll assessment damage and the cost and everything else. that's our priority right now. >> and in vermont, that is where it looks like the flooding is worse today. you know, some towns in the southern part of the state are completely underwater. others being battered by raging rivers that are far out of their banks today. let's go now live to cnn's amber lion who has been driving from what i understand, amber all around the state today. you're able to pop in front of the camera to give us a visual here. you're in brat tloboro, vermont. it's landlocked. what are you seeing? >> well, what we're seeing out here is some of these waters actually start to recede,brook. the governor spoke earlier and he said areas of higher

elevations are starting to see less and less flooding. he's warning that the flooding is active. it's currently happening especially in areas of lower elevations and all across the state, there's a state of shock out here as almost every single waterway here in vermont flooded. they have said that this is the worst flooding they've seen since 1927. i want you to get a look at this building behind me. this is an artist studio. luckily everyone was able to get out okay o. as you can see, this building has been condemned. it's just hanging on there. right over the side of this stream. what we've noticed so far, driving in. we didn't have any issues. the major roads. the governor and emergency crews say that about 260 roads here in this state alone are currently flooded. big issue with that is that some of these smaller communities have actually been cut off because the bridges and roads leading in and out of town have been or are now currently

underwater. governor shulman is warning people not to get out in your cars and drive today unless absolutely necessary. there's a concern that although the surface of the roads will be okay to drive over, the ground underneath has washed away which could turn the areas into quicksand. i've been monitoring traffic from all over the state, there's been some concern in certain communities of the smell of gas. propane companies are saying that several propane tanks were washed away in the flooding. they're trying to recover those as of now. earlier today, too, the governor spoke with cnn. he said "vermont is not used to getting hit by tropical storms and they could be digging out of this for a very long time." but he said, as of now, their biggest concern is making sure people in flooded areas are staying safe. >> absolutely devastating. irene really whacked us hard up here. vermont is a mountainous state

and small rivers into bigger rivers and brooks. literally, every small community south of the massachusetts line is impacted through central vermont. we're trying to get vermonters to focus on a few things so we don't have further loss of life. the first is stay away from downed power lines because we don't have roads and adequate transportation systems into many of the areas to fix them. the second is stay away from standing water. that's obviously when people lose life going into water, they don't know how deep it is. finally, reach out to your neighbors as we do in vermont. we have hundreds and hundreds of seniors crammed into shelters that would be much happier in a home of a wonderful vermont family. >> 50,000 customers across the state are still without power because of the road situation, electric companies don't know, have any estimate as to when they'll get the power back on here. also, they're currently worried about people missing, presumed

to have been -- they're out there looking for them now. over here in this city, we're seeing all of the houses lined up with belongings pulled outside to dry out. people are inside trying to clean up after water spread through where we are now. brooke? >> you know what's bad, i was listening to the white house briefing and craig fugate that a vermont emergency center had to evacuate because of the flooding. they're keeping a close eye on it. we'll check back in with you. thank you. i want to share this video. this had a lot of us staring at our computer screens this morning. you see this military truck and it's moving through very, very muddy waters. this is new jersey. you're sitting and thinking is it moving through because the wake is pushing it through? can't possibly have someone inside this thing, can you? you can. take a good long look. see these guys climbing out. people climbing out of this truck. do you see how high the water is. finally, getting the truck

unstuck. amazing. also, another i-reporter sent this video. this is people being rescued in front and inside a front loader. that is how they're getting rescued. desperate times, desperate measures. that was yesterday. today, new york city goes back to work as usual. subways, trains, buses, they are back in service. the three majors airports happy to report they are back open. also, the new york stock exchange opened this morning doing business as usual there. there are some concerns about inland flooding in the region as rivers, creeks, some do continue to rise. now, irene has moved away from the east coast but the rivers are still rising. electricity is back in several areas. although hundreds of thousands of people, in fact, millions of people are still without power. chad myers, if we can hone in on specific regions where the

rivers are still rising. where are you seeing? >> that would be vermont, northern parts of new york and the cat skills in the add ron decks into maine. it's not going to get better in the next 48 hours. in the mountains and basically in the entire appalachian chain, there's a continental divide like in the rockies. in the rockies, if you're west of the continental divide, all the water goes to the pacific, if you're east, it goes into the mississippi and eventually into the nugulf of mexico. it's the same thing. therefore waters and floodwaters that may get into quebec because of this. so not only of the american flood warnings, but there may be flooding going on up into parts of canada as well. all of the green counties have some river, some creek, some stream out of its banks. the counties are going to continue. this map will be green for at least another week or so. the rainfall totals were

tremendous. they were all the way from here in the carolinas to over 14 inches on up into d.c. and delaware where there are still flood warnings going on now. you know how flat delaware is. you would think the water would runoff. that doesn't help at all. flat land doesn't runoff as quick and temperatures here were in the 60s and 70s and 80s and 90s. as it came up, we have rainfall totals. six to ten inches. the temperatures really came up here. this was a warm side of the hurricane. people even were telling me in nova scotia on my tweets, it felt like they were in the caribbean. what could this possibly be? that was the caribbean air. that was literally the tropical air coming up from the south to the north. now, here, you can go on this. if you are interested in where your creek or where your river is going, water.weather.gov. now, you have to understand that just because i said it, that this website is going to be have tremendous traffic. give it a half hour and go there. you can see your creek.

this is the worst one i could find. otter creek at rutland. 17 feet is the river stage. the record stage is four feet below that. this is a flood that they've never seen before on this creek in rutland and that's the case of many, many rivers. they're out of their banks and record stage. >> yeah. it's been decades since a lot of these places have seen water like this. chad myers, thank you very much. in terms of damage here, we have to talk in the billions. talking about the bill that hurricane irene left in her wake. who pays for the cleanup? there's a good chance fema will not. why? because the disaster agency cannot. coming up next, the financial disaster that's turning into campaign fodder. washington, d.c., you would think by now they would get the message. an earthquake, a hurricane. are you listening? >> i'll speak live with homeland

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before hurricane irene. the agency had to deal with 65 major disasters this year. floods, tornadoes, last week's earthquake and it's all draining fema's budget. now it has fewer than a billion dollars remaining. it has to come up with this. hurricane irene cleanup and rebuilding estimated to cost in the billions of dollars. critics say fema handled tax dollars irresponsibly by overspending, failing to weed out fraud and waste and among those critics, presidential candidate ron paul.

tell you what to do. can't get in the houses. they hinder the volunteers and local people from going in. there's no magic about fema. more people are starting to recognize that. >> fema's director says if there is another disaster, the agency may have to ask for more federal money. but, presidential candidate, congresswoman michele bachmann says don't bother. she calls spending out of hand, laughingly saying washington won't take the hint. listen. >> washington, d.c., you would think by now they would get the message. an earthquake. a hurricane. [ [ laughter ] are you listening? the american people have done everything they possibly can. now it's time for an act of god. and we're getting it. >> as fema starts collecting the damage estimates from irene, you know, big question many of you have is there enough cash on hand.

janet napolitano. good enough to join me live from the nation's capitol. madam secretary, thank you so much for coming on and sparing the time. let me ask you straight up. does the federal government have the money to respond to this storm? >> yes. let me be very clear about this. survivors of hurricane irene, survivors from the tornado, survivors from the flooding that occurred in the spring, they are all going to receive their individual assistance. public assistance for projects already under way will continue. the only thing that has happened and this has happened historically at the end of the fiscal year is if you've had a heavier than predicted disaster year, that we take money and make sure that survivors get paid first and no new projects for older disasters are approved until congress replenishes the funds necessary for disasters. >> i know.

i think of joplin for example. who can forget the images there. they started school recently and are still picking up the pieces. can you be more specific, secretary napolitano in terms of how you prioritize your funding obligations? >> well, i think it's pretty straightforward. survivors come first always. and then all uninsured losses for businesses, infrastructure, like highways, things of that sort. and like i said, all that has happened now is we've declared immediate needs assistance, meaning that we want to make sure that all the immediate needs of the millions of people affected pi hurricane irene are met. no new projects will be funded,ie, nothing already in the works will be started until congress and the president replenish the fund. this happens historically. there's nothing new about this. at the beginning of any fiscal year, it's difficult to predict

how many disasters you're going to have to deal with. so traditionally and historically, they wait until right around this time every year and then make decisions about how much actually will be needed to make sure that all of fema's obligations are met. that's our expectation the. >> i know that the immediate needs assistance, that's certainly nothing new as you point out. what is new or unprecedented is the money in the coffers pre-irene it was less than a billion dollars. will the obama administration have to request supplemental funding from congress and then how is that handled? is that decided upon by the super committee? >> well, it gets obviously decided by the appropriators. we're already talking with the head of omb and with the president. we don't know what the damages from irene are going to be. those assessments are just now beginning. we were just able to get up in

the air in north carolina a day or two ago because the wind speed was over 35 miles per hour. it was unsafe for aircraft to get up to do the low flying necessary. but they're up there, doing the damage assessments. we're working with the governors and the other states. we're still in response in a number of states. as you've noted, the record flooding we're seeing in places like new jersey, in new england, that's still ongoing. some of those won't crest for a day or two. right now, with the size of the storm, we have -- as well as now recovery and damage assessments for places where the hurricane hit first. >> i know i have you for a limited time. let me get one more question in. fema admits that yes, it's been victimized by fraud and waste. my question is how is the government getting a handle on those problems? how and when will the government begin to get their money ba being? >> well, i think a lot of those

older problems have long been rectified and dealt with. we want to make sure that the taxpayers are getting their money's worth. we want to be good steward of the taxpayer dollars. these are disaster dollars. these go to places that otherwise would have no recourse for all the victims of disaster that we've had this year. it's very important and i think fundamental that from a safety and security perspective we take care of these issues. >> madam secretary, thank you so much for coming on. spending the time. thank you. >> thank you. quick reminder to all of you. if you are watching these images, you'd like to help in some way, you can. you can visit our impact world page. there's all kinds of great information with links to relief information. the page is cnn.com/impact. now, this. what's the philosophy, why do people like you stay? >> i'm going to guess, i don't know. we grew up here.

>> an now they're stuck there. more than 2,000 people stranded on north carolina's remote hatteras island after hurricane irene destroys the only way out. fema's brian todd is there. we'll check in with him live, next. you...before you see them. cops are cracking down on drinking and riding. drive sober, or get pulled over.

let's go back to saturday morning. the coast of north carolina headed north. fast forward to sunday. take a look at this. north carolina's, highway 12, north of cape hatteras. washed out. here's what this means. hatteras island, ocracoke, south

of the breach, there were multiple breaches. cut off from the mainland. the folks who stayed behind, 2500 nonevacuees, they're stranded. maybe self-imposed exile, you could say. brian todd has been out there. he's back there on the mainland now. stumpy point, north carolina. brian, are there folks out there in any danger that the 2500 people out there on the outer banks? >> reporter: they've not reported any cases of imminent danger or any emergency medical needs yet, brooke. that's going to be an issue if and when that happens. as you mentioned, 2500 people have been stranded since saturday. the reason is because of that breach on highway 12 that connects the outer banks to hatteras island there. it was completely washed over. it caved in. downed power lines all over the place. it's a real mess. so the people there are stranded. this is one of the life lines here. we're going to show from you this side. this is the ferry here at stumpy point they're bringing

passengers in this way add then bringing the ferry over here to load vehicles on. they'll be doing that shortly. they're bringing in electrical trucks, highway repair equipment, food, medical supplies to hat rat island. it's slow going. this takes 2.5 hours each way to hatteras island. it's kind of a slow lifeline to them. the people we've talked to have said they have enough food and supplies for now. this is three days in. the governor says they may need it for quite some time longer. it's slow but it has a fairly steady stream. this leaves about two or three times about once every two or three hours we're told. but it is a slow boat. they've got to make do with that for now, brooke. >> they make do with the boat. what about the road? i was reading back in '03 with isabel there was a breach there. it took two months to repair that. are they getting an estimate of how long to fix highway 12, to reconnect hatteras and ocracoke.

>> that's an indication of how long it's going to take. the people who we talked to on the island, who we were standing next to this breach talking to them, they said this is going to be at least two weeks. that's really a conservative estimate. that's a very serious breach. the atlantic ocean is washing completely over the road in addition to the damage the road suffered. it's going to be at least two weeks. you know, you project ahead. it's probably going to be much longer than that. >> then that is the tourist season, brian todd, is contingent upon that road as well. does this mean the end of outer banks tour season 2011? >> reporter: that's a very good question. because of the timing. on one hand we've heard some state officials indicate. hey we want people to come back. the hurricane coming back to the outer banks. plenty of good weather left. even though labor day is in a week. after that, a month where people can enjoy the outer banks. they want people to come.

another issue is the power outages. there's a lot of areas on the outer banks that don't have power and they may not get it for at least a couple of weeks. that will eat away at a critical moment on the tourist season, brooke. >> the electricity, month for the road. brian todd, live in north carolina. thank you. we want to catch up on the other stories making news here today. coming up, including this story, the manhunt for this former nba player. what he's accused of and why the fbi wants your help. plus, breaking news on one of moammar gadhafi's son. we'll share it with you after this break. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ machines have a voice. ♪ medical history follows you. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities... committed to delivering the most advanced mobile broadband experience to help move business... forward. ♪

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news just into us here at cnn. this is coming in from libya. senior rebel commander is telling us that son of libyan leader moammar gadhafi has been killed. the spokesman says thomas gadhafi was killed sunday night in a battle with opposition stories. we're making calls and monitoring the story. we'll pass along any updates to you. checking the top stories on this monday. president obama has nominated princeton professor alan krueger to be the chairman of the white

house council of economic advisors. if confirmed by the senate, mr. kruger will replace austin goolsby, it's one week before the president is set to deliver his plan for creating jobs with unemployment at 9.1%. atlanta police have an arrest warrant for a former nba player wanted in this murder investigation. they say javaris crittenton who used to play for the washington wizards shot and killed 22-year-old julian jones ten days ago. she was hit by bullets from an assault rifle while she was walking down the street. she was not the intended victim. police say crittenton was robbed back in april. was looking to reit will yat against a man on the street at the same time as jones. wildfire near yosemite national park extended to 5,000 acres. take a look. it started in sierra, nevada, california. some communities and campgrounds

are evacuated. people in california may be asked to leave next. they are making progress to get the fire under control. if you were watching last night, unexpected baby news at mtv's video music awards. at the end of beyonce's performance, she unbuttons her sequin jacket and reveals the baby bump to the world. as you can hear, to plenty of applause. her husband got a little love from can way west. the public revelation is out of the ordinary for beyonce and jay-z. the couple kept their private lives notoriously secret over the years. he was freed from a scottish prison two years ago. now, the man convicted of bombing pan am flight 103 over lockerbie is in a coma and apparently veneer death. cnn's nick robertson tracked him down in libya. >> has he been able to see a doctor? >> no, there is no doctor.

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let's talk about libya now. there are two very separate items to tell you about today in libya. first is the health and status of the only person convicted in the bombing of pan am flight 103 over lockerbie, scotland. he's in libya and there's news today about his condition and fate. now that libya's state is in transition. we're working to confirm several reports about members of moammar gadhafi's family. his wife, three of his children, the foreign ministry says they're in algeria. more on that as soon as we get more details. i want you to watch this report. it's an exclusive report from cnn's senior international

correspondent x nick robertson about al meg rah mi. he may be the only person alive who knows who ordered the bombing of the pan am flight. nick was looking for megrahi in tripoli yesterday. he found him. >> we found his villa in an upper part of town. at least six security cameras and flood lights outside. >> this is megrahi's house. this is where he's been living for the last couple of years. we're going to knock on the door, see if we can get any answer. [ knocking ] hello? for 15 minutes or so, nothing. >> i'm not sure if they've heard me, so we'll try the last-ditch means which is shouting over the wall. >> hello? >> all of a sudden someone comes. nothing prepares me for what i see. megrahi apparently in a coma. his aging mother at his side.

>> we just give him oxygen and nobody give us the advice. and some food by injection. if you see, his body is weak. >> he had been expected to die almost two years ago. but convicted pan am 103 bomber megrahi lives, only just this wasn't the way he looked when he was released from a scottish jail two years ago. he came home to a hero's welcome freed on compassionate grounds because doctors said he would be dead in three months. almost immediately, he began renovating this palatial house money no object. it doesn't take long walking around this building before you begin to realize and looking at the marble here on these expensive fittings to realize that it appears megrahi was being paid offhand somely for all those years he spent in jail. >> in the two decades since the bomb exploded on board pan am

103, over lockerbie killing 270 passengers, crew and townspeople, it seemed the secrets of the attack would die with the bombers. megrahi always maintained he was innocent. just a month ago in a rare public sighting, moammar gadhafi had him literally wheeled out for a pro-government rally. i'm seeing him now for the first time in two years. he appears to be just a shell of the man he was. far sicker than he appeared before. >> has he been able to see a doctor? >> no. there's no doctor. there is nobody to ask and we don't have any phone line to call anybody. >> what's his situation right now? >> he stop eating and he sometimes is come in coma. >> coma. he goes unconscious? >> yes. >> we just next to him and --

>> all that's keeping him alive, they say, okay general and a fluids drip. i ask about demands he return to jail in scotland. >> my dad, if you send him to scotland, he will die by the way, here or there. >> do you know how long he has left? >> nobody can know how long he will stay alive. nobody know. >> it seems i've arrived too late. his apparently in no state to talk. whatever secrets he has may soon be gone. nick robertson, cnn, tripoli, libya. >> i want to bring in susan cohen now. she and her husband lost their daughter, theodora in 1998 when pan am flight 103 went down in scotland. susan, i want to begin with that image the way nick robertson finished his piece. you see al megrahi appearing frail, shelf a man. what emotions are stirred in

you, if any. >> first of all, i've been through this a dozen times where any time megrahi comes up in a situation which is difficult for megrahi, you get pictures of him getting oxygen. i have been over this many, many times, he was supposed to be near death. he isn't. he's lived for a very long time beyond the time he was supposed to live even from scotland. nick robertson said that only a doctor can determine megrahi's condition and i think really we have to be very, very careful about this. i would like to see the western -- western, actually american government officials able to go in there and interview megrahi if at all possible because we need to get information about pan am 103 and he is the one to tell us. if he were still in prison in scotland where he should be, i bet you would be surprised how

fast he might decide it was in his interest to talk. but right now -- >> forgive me for interrupting you. so you entirely question the veracity of his sickness, his condition? not so sure he's that sick. >> i've been through it so many times. i'm not in a position to say whether he's dying. his family has always told us. it's a replay of what they've done before where he is shown with oxygen and then somehow conveniently back home and feeling better. i just asking for a lot of skepticism. nobody should jump on the idea that he's really in a coma and dying. give it time. it may be true. but i tell you that i've been through it too often. it's like the boy who cried wolf. >> so you say, sounds like very clearly that he absolutely should be taken, extradited back to scotland even though his son in the piece said he would either die either here or there. you say he should head back to scotland, face the tough

questions. what questions would you want him to face? >> well, mainly, i want to find out more about who else was involved in the bombing. how it was done. how it was handled. if there is anyone else to bring to trial. everything is different now in libya. everything has changed. it's not going to help him to be under the protection of moammar gadhafi anymore, because moammar gadhafi doesn't have power. so i would like to see the new government, which i support completely, work with american officials to try to get information from megrahi if he can do it. and i don't know that he should be back in scotland. they did a pretty horrible job when they let him go. i would like to see him in the united states. i would like to see him imprisoned here. but -- >> susan, scottish officials say they have no intention of extraditing him. if i may play the other side of this. what if it's true, if he dies in that bed we see him in or en

route to scotland if that in fact happens. what are you left with? what are your final thoughts if that happens? does it close? >> of course not. i don't think we should weep our heads off for megrahi. he's a convicted murderer of 270 people. he murdered my daughter. he ruined my life. i don't feel sorry for megrahi. if he dies, he dies. but i know scotland is not going to want him back. there is no reason to think that he might not be able to be imprisoned some other way. might not be able to come here. i don't know if that's going to happen. i suspect not. but i think that senator menendez and other senators have suggested that he should be imprisoned and they had suggested that there may be problems for the new government that they don't help us with this. so, you know, to me, i'm being skeptical and waiting to see what happens with megrahi.

>> sure. >> i would feel happy if he died later. but i'd like to know what he knows first. >> he took your sister's life in 1988. final question. if you were in that room, susan cohen, what would you whisper in his ear. >> he took my only child's life. my daughters. i would whisper to him he's going to rot in the lowest level of held. there will be no pity for him wherever he goes. he showed no pity of us, the people whose lives were destroyed by him and he never should have been let out on something called compassionate release, which i don't think is the reason he was let out anyway. i think it had to do with money, trade, oil and a moral collapse on part of the west. where did that get them? look where we are now with libya and gadhafi. if they had been tough with gadhafi, they would have wound off better here in america, britain, france, scotland than they ever did by placating him

and having policies of peace towards gadhafi. i will be especially happy the day gadhafi is dead. he is the one who is really behind this horrible mass murder of the bombing of pan am 103. >> so we wait. still we don't know where moammar gadhafi is. susan cohen, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> coming up, i want to return to a storytelling but this hour. there's 2500 people stuck right now on hatteras island. just off the north carolina coast. because of this, highway 12 has been sliced into two. after this hurricane. it's the only way to get in or get out of that island. straight ahead, i'll talk to a man who didn't heed the warnings to leave, finds himself among those 2500 cut off. that's next. family, so how do i go back to school? university of phoenix made it doable. a lot of my instructors were principals in my district.

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judge. i'm talking about this law set to go in effect in alabama on thursday. this is video of alabama governor bentley signing this into law. just a couple of months ago and there have been a number of opponents to this measure. quickly the law very expansive including requiring the state to check the immigration of status of students in public school. federal judge -- of that law in alabama. back to north carolina now. outer banks. let's have a look at highway 12. the lifeline to the mainland washed out. the folks who stayed behind obviously they're the ones who didn't evacuate. they're stranded now. we're hearing the number 2500, plus people. among them, business owner ali jarvis. ali, we keep saying that you're stuck. i understand you don't see it that way. how come in. >> well, hatteras island is our home and our life is here. our businesses are here. our friends are here.

and my business happens to be at one part of it is selling gasoline. we feel like if we stay in our station or our gas pumps are not ruined, we're here and able to fill people's generators and keep them with some food to eat in their refrigerators and keep ice for them and things like that. you know, it's a hardship for us. but i've been here since 1983. the people of hatteras island just always body together when something like this happens. >> i understand that. i know you know these folks very well. i mean, you don't have electricity. i know that there's a very slow-moving ferry. hopefully it will get to you guys. highway 12 may not be fixed for two months. do you feel in danger at all? >> i do not. we are supposed to have electricity back within two

days. we have been talking to senator hag an and the senator thinks she can get the corps of engineers to come, pull up the portable bridges like they do in the war area. >> sure. >> and we have already had ferries come across with fuel for the national guard. we have food trucks coming across already. >> so you're pretty cool, calm and collected, ollie. let me ask you about your bait shop. curism is key for you and a lot of people. are you nervous about the money you won't be making the rest of year? >> yeah. we're always nervous about that. we go through that constantly. another situation. question yes, we worry about it. any time we have a hurricane, it affects our business a week and a half before and at least two weeks after a hurricane. people leave, some say they'll never come back, but normally they'll drift

back in and hopefully we'll pick up where we left off. i know certainly it hurts everybody here economically. >> ali jarvis here's hoping it's not ruined the rest of the season. it's monday, you know what that means on this show, music monday. we have a real treat for you. remember these guys? the red shot chili peppers, they are back finally, with a brand new album out today, cnn got to go behind the scenes on this music video shoot. "music monday" after the break. all systems prepare to engage. captain, unidentified object -- detergent chamber. that's a cascade complete pac. the best of cascade powder and gel combined in one vessel. brilliant. we're gonna need it! lasagna pan -- lower rack! fire! [ female announcer ] conquer tough foods and greasy messes. [ woman ] wow! [ crew ] yeah! [ female announcer ] cascade complete pacs. love it or your money back.

we haven't heard any new tunes from these guys in five

years. today fans of the red hot chili peppers can get their new album "i'm with news." for today's "music monday" denise quan got to go to their new sound check. check it out. ♪ >> hello, everybody. my name is flea, i am the bass player on the red hot chili peppers. >> this is chad. >> my name is carl zufredi. ♪ lipstick junkie ♪ cannot came back wearing a smile ♪ >> very happy to be here on this auspicious day making our video for the song "the adventures of rain dance maggie." ♪ rain dance, we've got to make

it rain somehow ♪ >> after the last tour we decided to take a two-year break which was outstanding. >> we got to do a little bit of work at the end of the last tour. >> things have shifted. john vrishante left the band. i didn't think i'd want to continue if he left but once he left i felt like i did want to continue and we hired josh clinghofer. >> i'm josh from the red hot chili peppers. >> how many guitar players have you had in the red hot chili peppers? >> let me see, spinal tap, the exploding drummer. funny enough we asked josh to be in the band and plea called him on the phone, and josh, being the person that he is, he'd go yeah, yeah, great i'll be in the band. he's like, let me think about that. i'll get back to you.

>> the first day we started playing, musically made sense and i've known them for over ten years and i love them all. people, you know, so it just sort of worked. ♪ >> things sound a lot different. it sounds great. sounds vibrant, sounds alive, sounds, has a feeling of excitement, exploration and love and warmth and violence and explosion that you want in rock music. >> it's a new chapter, it's the same name but it's a different band. >> we like what we did. please listen. ♪ here we come >> chili peppers are back? >> chili peppers never went away. >> okay, we're out. >> i have to get back to work. >> i'm pretty sure i played "under the bridge" so many times the tape broke in micah set deck. "music monday" check out

cnn.com/showbiz and when i get to go back stage for "music monday" go to cnn.com/brooke. got a good one next monday. stay tuned for that. straight ahead a brand new poll on the gop presidential candidates and one among the pack is pulling ahead of the rest, wolf blitzer has that and more coming up next in your political ticker.

fresh poll numbers and a fresh face for the president's economic team. two stories crossing the cnn political ticker at this hour. wolf blitzer let's begin with the new cnn/opinion research poll. the presidential republican candidat candidates, who is on top of that? >> rick perry on top of the national poll with sarah palin and rudy giuliani in the contest even though neither announced they would run. if you take out giuliani and sarah palin from the equation, perry does better, at 32%, romney 18%, bachmann 12%,

gingrich 7%, ron paul 6%, herman caine 3%, everybody else 2%. bottom line nationally among republicans in our new poll and other polls we've seen, romney is clearly the front-runner right now, doesn't necessarily mean, brooke, he's going to get the nomination, doesn't necessarily mean he will win the caucuses in iowa, win the new hampshire primary, south carolina. it shows nationally at this moment he's the front-runner right now, it's only been a few weeks as you know since he announced he's running for president so presumably this will help him get some fund-raising going and also put a little bull's eye on him as well because the other republican candidates might be more assertive in going after him. two weeks from today in tampa, florida, i'm going to be moderating the cnn debate down there among the republican candidates so we'll see what he's got, see what the other republican candidates have and i'm sure it will be a strong two-hour debate in tampa. brooke? >> all right, wolf blitzer you

will be also in -- >> can i tell you one more note? >> you're going to tell me you'll be in atlanta and so excited to see me? >> you did an excellent job anchoring this weekend on the hurricane irene coverage? >> you did. >> you did a great job as usual. i will be in atlanta for the cnn dialogues wednesday night so looking forward to that. >> we'll talk about it tomorrow. >> looking forward to doing a lot of good stuff and looking forward to my show at 5:00. >> right on. wolf blitzer thank you very much. we'll check in with you later. now here we are over the top of the hour, take a look at this. irene may be gone, but all is not back to normal, power is off, roads are still out and not everyone has clean running water. i'm brooke baldwin. the news is now. the story, rising waters inland, wiping out bridges, sweeping away vehicles, collapsing homes, and endangering lives hours after irene's departure.

♪ this is a far cry from a bedouin tent, the luxurious dwellings and tortured victims. plus a boy punished for doing what so many children do. >> i couldn't do nothing about it because if i said something i would end up getting in trouble, too. >> hear jonathan's story from his twin brother, joseph. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> welcome back. i'm brooke baldwin. the storm and the aftermath, 5 million people all the way up and down the east coast still have no power right now, 5 million people. here's why. they were in the path of irene when that storm left the new york city area tore northward through connecticut, rhode island, massachusetts. we're talking about vermont and there's a reason, a brook here that normally runs quietly

through the town of brattleboro is raging today. rainfall reached 15 inches in some spots, still some major rivers have yet to crest and that means flooding all over new england today, much of it at record levels. also today, we learned that the death toll from hurricane irene rose by one to 25. a pennsylvania woman was found just about a half mile from where her car was stuck in a flooded creek. let's go to vermont to brattleboro, bring in cnn's amber lyon. we know vermont as i mentioned landlocked state, very rarely floods. how are people there coping? >> reporter: well, to put things into perspective the governor of vermont told cnn earlier "vermont is not used to getting hit by tropical storms this far north," and they're just trying to deal with everything now the best they can. he says it will be quite some time before they're fully dug out of this mess literally.

where i'm standing in the center of town had i been here last night i would have been completely underwater. almost every single waterway in this state is flooded. take a look at this stream over here next to me. that was a significantly higher level last night. the governor says they were going to start seeing waterways at higher elevations recede. that being said waterways at lower elevation also start to crest. also take a look at this building right over here. we've seen a lot of residents come over here and just kind of watching this, waiting for it to fall over. unfortunately, this is a common sight around vermont today as the floodwaters took regular streams and rivers and turned them into rushing monsters that just hit these towns and i want to bring in a man we just met, his name is lou tyke and he was involved in the search and rescue teams trying to save residents. you were telling me earlier you

rescued almost two dozen people in this town alone. >> yeah, a combination of i par of technical rescue, swiftwater rescue, we work closely with brattleboro fire. we spent the whole time in west brattleboro, not this part of brattleboro. most people we rescued in their houses earlier brattleboro had gone, knocked on doors you really should evacuate and some people refused and as the water came higher and up there it started to surround people's homes and people -- >> reporter: people were not on the streets observing, they were in the homes when the water came through? >> yeah and it came up so fast and with such a velocity that there were some people that we weren't able to get to in the real height of the flood and then it started to recede a little bit, and we were able to get to those people, and most everyone we got to was either a raft and sometimes we were in

it, sometimes we were -- >> reporter: you were in it, you were in some of the houses as furniture started floating through the living room, out of the house and the water started going out? >> it was interesting one house surrounded by water and it receded enough as a group of four of us with a big stick we were able to wade out to it and we brought the people out one at a time and while we were wading, getting their dog, putting the dog in the backpack and giving them life jackets. >> reporter: any injuries, any deaths, any people still missing? >> not in brattleboro. there's the hills around here still, there's many spots isolated and haven't able to be gotten yet out of bridges out and many people have bridges just up to their individual houses but from all i've heard, everybody is safe, just some people are still, you know, basically trapped where they are in their own homes or neighborhood. >> reporter:'s that he a good point lou brings up, brooke.

the roads have been so badly affected by the floodwaters, almost 260 roads across the state are flooded. some communities have become isolated because the bridges and roads leading into those communities have been wiped out, so as the governor told cnn earlier, today they're focusing on search and rescue and finding these people and assessing the damage. >> people are stuck, they can't get in, can't get out and of course that also means rescue crews can't get to them, amber lyon thank you, and your guest, very much, in vermont. can't forget let's talk about north carolina. let me take you back to saturday morning. here you have irene, once was a category 1, came ashore along the coast of north carolina, headed northward, so fast forward to sunday, look at this. this i should say was north carolina's highway 12, this is just north of cape hatteras, washed out. what does this mean? hatteras island totally cut off and the folks who stayed behind,

2,500 non-evacuees are stranded. officials are saying maybe two weeks to repair the multiple breaches in highway 12. the governor warning could take up to two months but they do have ferries hauling road equipment, hauling food supplies, other supplies. before it's over some folks may need medicine. officials are saying two weeks to two months to repair the breaches in that road. a lot of folks who live there fear it could take a little longer than that. take a look at that piece of video. what are you looking at, you ask? a military truck clearly somehow being forced forward in these floodwaters. this is new jersey and a lot of us were thinking how is this moving forward, it must be the wake. no wake, people would be inside and then you see these images very much so, people climbing out as they were stuck, trying to get to the top to try to get out of there in that fast-moving

water. another ireporter, people being rescued in a front loader. that was yesterday. rescued in a front loader. a much weakened irene moved away from the east coast of the united states but the rivers in several states they are still rising. electricity is back on in several areas, although hundreds of thousands of people are still without power. chad myers, i know we were just talking to amber in vermont where the story is flooding, she mentioned a lot of people are stuck, but new jersey, huge problem there, too. >> yeah, i was watching some of poppy harlow stuff out of new jersey, heartbreaking for the businesses and you have to understand that just the pictures that we showed were multiplied by at least 100 times where 100 businesses that we never got to. the rain was all the way up into vermont but it was centered over parts of north carolina. i've heard a lot of people say it was an overhyped storm, wasn't that big. it wasn't that big because north

carolina took the brunt of it. north carolina took the stuffing out of the storm. it never reorganized when it got back over the land. had that storm missed north carolina or brushed the outer banks and didn't stay over for 12 hours it would have been a much bigger deal for new york city, a much, much bigger deal. let's go to new york city, up here, let's go to pine brook and look at the rivers here, still rising in many spots, at record levels. there's pine brook, here's the river, right through here, right over the highway. click on that, still rising. the old record as high as it's ever been, 23 feet. we are over that record right now. a little bit farther to the north, i think we'll take you to the pasaeic. circle burners, 12.6 feet. way over major stage. it's five feet above major flood stage. this is the forecast for the next couple days, we'll come down here, this is the ramapoeic

pompton, and it's well above where it has ever been for rockaway boonton reservoir. this is as bad as it's been ever. these rivers have never been this high. although the wind didn't knock down and didn't knock out windows in new york city, the rain and the flooding that this storm made is tremendous, it is record flooding in about ten states, brooke. >> i think of one of the guys that poppy harlow was surveying the damage and so had it in perspective, they're just things. i'm okay, my mom who lives with me is okay. they're just things. chad, thank you. >> you're welcome. we're not going to go too far from irene, fema, federal emergency management agency facing its own hurricane driven problem, running low on cash and irene will generate a huge number of requests for help. it's impossible to predict how many disasters fema will have to

face in any given year. last hour when i spoke with janet napolitano she told me the money will be there. >> survivors from the hurricane, survivors from the tornado, survivors from the flooding that occurred this spring, they are all going to receive their individual assistance. public assistance for projects already under way will continue. > >> new projects may not get funding, all via the priority basis but even before hurricane eye even if the agency had to deal with 65 what they call major disasters this year, mentioned the floods, the tornadoes, last week's earthquake, the hurricane, all but draining fema's budget. fema will continue to pay out claims, survivors, the number one priority. some of the day's other stories including the manhunt for theer nba player, what

he's accused of. is a former polygamist sect leader starving himself to death? familiar. your name? > naomi pryce. >> what other "negotiating" skills do you have? > i'm a fifth-degree black belt. >> as am i. > i'm fluent in 37 languages. >> (indistinct clicking) > and i'm a master of disguise >> as am i. > as am i. >> as am i. > as am i. >> well played naomi pryce.

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welcome back. i'm brooke baldwin. if it's interesting and happening now you're about to see it. "rapid fire." in new york city up and running after hurricane irene barrelled through it over the weekend, subways, buses trains back in service today. also the three major airports are also open for business, commuters expecting that mad rush to leave home extra early to find things running smoothly. the wildfire in yosemite

national park, firefighters ordered communities and campgrounds evacuated and people in el portale california may have to leave next. firefighters say are making progress in getting things under control. sources say aesa gadhafi is said to give birth in september. the striking blond beauty is known as the claudia schiffer as the region. she lost her post after her father's violent crackdown in february. we have learned some members of moammar gadhafi's family crossed the border into algeria. gadhafi's whereabouts still unknown. remember the cash for clunkers program? the guy behind that idea is president's obama's new choice to be the white house council of

economics, princeton economic's professor, alan krueger. vice president dick cheney's book criticizes colleagues including colin powell, condoleezza rice and george tenet. he accu powell accuses cheney of taking cheap shots. >> i hope he will focus on his long career not taking cheap shots at others who served to the best of our ability for president bush. >> in the book cheney claims credit for forces powell to resign at the end of his first term. powell disputes that saying he never planned to serve a second term. the fbi joined the serve for an nba player wanted in a murder investigation. atlanta police have an arrest warrant out for javaris

crittendon, saying he shot and killed 22-year-old jullian jones ten days ago. she was hit by several bullets from an assault rifle in a drive-by shooting while she was just walking down the street. she was not the intended victim. police say crittendon was robbed in april and looking to retaliate against a man on the street at the same time at jones. warren jeffs is now in a texas hospital, he is in critical condition, state prison official say jeffs got sick during a fast, they say he wasn't eating, wasn't drinking. jeffs apparently told officials it wasn't a hunger strike. he was sentenced earlier this month to life plus 20 years after being convicted of sexually assaulting two young girls. he was free from a scottish prison two years ago, now the man convicted of bombing pan am flight 103 over lockerbie is in a coma apparently near death, but should abdelbaset al megrahi

be returned to prison? hear my interview with a mother who lost her daughter in that attack 23 years ago. plus horrors of gadhafi regime trickling out including the story of a gadhafi nanny scalded with hot water, her heartbreaking story coming up. if something is simply the color of gold, is it really worth more? we don't think so. chase sapphire preferred is a card of a different color. unlike others, you get twice the points on travel, and twice the points on dining, and no foreign transaction fees. call now or apply at chasesapphire.com/preferred.

just in the past couple of minutes very critical news about the family of long time libyan leader moammar gadhafi. two things. first we now have reports from the got of algeria gadhafi's wife, daughter and two sons are there, they crossed the border into algeria, they reportedly surfaced there today, a spokesman for the rebel-led

provisional government in libya did not confirm this development but said if it is true they would demand the return of the family members back to libya. secondly, a senior rebel commander tells cnn another member of moammar gadhafi's son a high-ranking military officer under his father was killed yesterday in a clash with rebel fighters near misrata. more details as we get them. now to tripoli, more evidence being uncovered on the brutality of the gadhafi regime. dan rivers has the disturbing story of a nanny allegedly tortured by the wife of one of gadhafi's sons, one of the sons who is reportedly in algeria. i warn you, get the kids out of the room. the images you are about to see are graphic. >> this is the inner sanctum of the gadhafi family, much evidence here of a decadent lifestyle. this compound of opulent

beachside villas is dripping with every luxury imaginable. it's been ransacked but still looks like a villain's hideout in a bond movie. in one we find rebels sharing out hundreds of bottles of fine bordeaux and crkrystal champagn. this house belongs to hanibal champagne. meet shweigar miller, a nanny who was horribly tortured by the wife. >> she took me to the bathroom and tied my hands behind my back and feet and taped my mouth. and she started pouring the boiling water on my head like this.

>> her crime? she says she refused to beat hanibal's toddler, who wouldn't stop crying. she was scolded twice, the most recent episode was three months ago, her wounds are still raw and weeping. she appears to be in desperate need of medical attention. >> translator: there were maggots coming out of my head because she had hidden me and no one had seen me, and then they found me and put me in the hospital. >> reporter: then she was discovered and brought back and the guard who helped her was threatened with prison if he took her to hospital again. her workers backed up her account. >> translator: i worked for a whole year. they didn't give me one penny. now i want to go to the hospital and i have no money. i have nothing. she said no money for you.

you just work. >> reporter: is this the true face of colonel gadhafi's regime, amid fantastic wealth, sadistic brutality meted out even those trusted to look after the dictator's grandchildren? dan rivers, cnn. this didn't just happen to shweigar once, it happened twice, and you've got to wonder if this is what they do to people at work in their own homes, what on earth do the gadhafi family do to their enemies. >> dan, i cannot imagine. i do want to ask, though, looking at her, what kind of medical treatment will she need and perhaps more importantly, is she in a position where she can get it? she said she had no money. >> reporter: yeah, well on the second point, we're working hard to try and find some way of helping her, and we hope to come back to new the next couple of days with some firm plans as to

what's going to be done to help her. in terms of what she needs, i spoke to a burn specialist in the netherlands a few hours ago. he watched our report and just from looking at the pictures said it's fairly obvious that she does need a skin graft, she does need surgery. that is something that she could get in tripoli, there say burn unit here, but you know, there is a possibility of course she might get even better care elsewhere in the u.s. or europe. he did add though, that because this was done three months ago, it wasn't necessarily life-threatening right now but the key thing for her is preventing infection, and because of the lack of water and you know all the bodies lying around the city and all the kind of mayhem, that's the big problem at the moment is ensuring that she keeps those wounds clean, really she needs some sort of cream to put on it and possibly antibiotics as well and those sorts of things are very difficult to get in the current situation where there is

just sort of chaos in many parts of the city. >> horrific, dan rivers, please follow up. we want to follow her story definitely. dan, thank you very much. just want to let all of you know, cnn is working with humanitarian organizations, medical officials to get help for this nanny shweiger. we know viewers in the u.s. and all around the world want to help as well. as soon as we get that information finalized we'll alert you as to how you can help here on cnn and of course also cnn.com/impact. we'll keep you posted there. in the past 24 hours we here at cnn found out the condition of the only man convicted of the 1988 bombing of pan am flight 103, this man, abdelbaset el me g grahi. he is apparently lying in a bed

near death. he was allowed to leave prison two years ago supposedly near death. a spoke to a new jersey woman who lost her daughter just about 23 years ago when that flight went down. >> first of all, i've been through this a dozen times where any time megrahi comes up in a situation which is likely difficult for megrahi you get pictures of him getting oxygen. i have noticed this many, many times when he's supposed to be near death and he isn't, he's lived for a very long time beyond the time he was supposed to live. now, nic robertson said that only a doctor can determine megrahi's condition, and i think really we have to be very, very careful about this. i would like to see the western, actually american government officials able to go in there

and interview megrahi, if at all possible, because we need to get information about pan am 103, and he is the one who could tell us. if he was still in prison in scotland, where he should be, i bet you'd be so fast he might decide it was in his interests to talk. >> forgive me for interrupting you. you entirely question the veracity of his sickness, his condition. not so sure he's that sick. >> i've been through it so many conditions. i'm not so sure he's dying. his family told us, it's a replay of what they've done before, where is he shown with oxand somehow conveniently he's back home and feeling better. i'm just asking for a lot of skepticism. nobody should jump on the idea that he's really in a coma and dying. give it time. it may be true, but i tell you that i've been through it too often. it's like the boy who cried

wolf. >> susan cohen, thank you again for coming on. we do have reaction from the u.s. government here, state department spokesman says it's up to the rebel movement in charge of libya to decide al megrahi's fate. when hurricane irene swept across the east coast you, our ireporters were our front line. coming up next breath-taking water sweeping through vermont, this san ireport makes you feel like you're there, even if your tv or laptop had zero picture you'd feel like that even from just listening to this one. we'll be right back. ter, who's . and challenge janet who's 6 chapters ahead. [ male announcer ] with interactive learning solutions from dell, mrs. davis can make every student feel like her only student. dell. the power to do more. no, it's just for new people. hey ! chocolate, vanilla or strawberry ? chocolate !

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call or click to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. obviously when we cover stories like this we rely on our own crews but we also rely on you, our ireporters. this is from brattlerattleboro, vermont, along wet stone brook. >> it's 1:30, wet stone brook in brattleboro, vermont, it's flooded, at the intersection of

elliott and thrust street. behind me is william street and it is flooding. i hope everybody's okay. >> thank you for that ireport. by the way, vermont's governor haven't seen flooding like this in 75 years. the national guard is on the way with the high water vehicles to rescue people trapped by all the flooding we just saw. there are hundreds of others they can't quite reach, creeks, brooks, swelled to levels they haven't seen since 1927 for some of you in vermont. gary tuchman is in one of the hard-hit communities where a seemingly harmless brook has caused major damage. >> reporter: in place of business in brattleboro, vermont, was condemned monday afternoon. the reason is because what happened here and what was a very gentle brook before tropical storm irene moved through vermont, it is now a

rapids, powerful water came through here, expanded this from ten feet wide to 40 feet wide, eroded the ground, the energy exploded the land here and you can see this building which is an arts studio, 15 artists, sculptors, painters, yoga instructor, their office was hanging over the wet stone break, just a couple of days ago it was a swimming hole for generations children have swam in it, old timers told me they never have seen anything like this. they knew tropical storm or hurricane irene would come through vermont but no one anticipated the devastation. more than 260 roads are under the water, most of the floodwaters receded but the brooks which were overflowing with water many look like rapids and caused mud to go into people's homes, lots of damage and at least one person died from it, about 15 miles west of here, a woman somehow ended up in a creek and her body was

recovered earlier today. a very sad situation here in vermont, it's an interior state, it borders canada, known for its skiing and mountains, not known for its tropical storms but it experienced the fury of tropical storm irene. this is gary tuchman, cnn in brattleboro, vermont. >> gary, thank you. today's market rebound, the new york stock exchange opened on time despite irene. could gas prices, could they go down after the storm? alison kosik is coming up next. stay right there. and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy.

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stocks are up after hurricane irene does less than expected damage, patients are back in new york hospitals after they shut down in the face of the storm and chad myers is going to show us where rivers from irene have yet to crest. time to play reporter roulette here on monday. alison kosik there at the new york stock exchange, give me the market check, how was today? >> hey, brooke, the bulls were in full force. it was a relief rally because irene wasn't as disastrous as everyone feared. we watched insurance companies

lead the gains. investors bought in because insurers are not on the hook for as much damage as first thought. also we have a positive consumer spending report showing maeshz spent more in july. brooke? >> will irene at all affect gas prices for us? >> you know what surprisingly expect the unexpected. everybody expected a rise in prices but analysts think you know what? gas prices will be falling because again damage wasn't as bad as feared. there are a lot of refineries that refine the east coast weren't damaged. remember this, the hurricane forced many of us to stay at home. we weren't driving around having our tanks refilled so it means lower demand. national average 3.61 a gallon, going to stay around there unless we see a spike in oil prices. we could see a dip in gas prices. >> thank you very much. elizabeth cohen is live in new york.

for the first time new york city hospitals eerily empty this weekend after they evacuated in anticipation of the hurricane. how is that process, a lot of people, how is that process going? >> reporter: oh it is a lot of people. here at new york stock exchange tie lanagain to medical center 200 people discharged friday, brought back today. brooke they started off with the newborn babies and pediatric patients and they expect patients to come back over a period of three days. it's interesting, it took them less than a day to get them out and three days to get them back. opening a hospital is harder than closing a hospital. when you have an empty hospital and fill it back up, you have to resterilize everything. they had a little bit of water damage at nyu, they lost power from con ed in part of the hospital so they have to go through and make sure it is in shape to get patients back. they still aren't doing things like elective surgeries here at

nyu but they hope so very soon. brooke? >> elizabeth looking back, are hospitals glad they made the call to have the patients evacuate? >> reporter: you know it's interesting. one hospital administrator told me on friday i think this is really being overblown and we shouldn't have to do this and today he said i think it really was a good idea, better to be safe than sorry. we did take on some water at the hospital, it was the right thing to do. a nursing home administrator was very disgruntled when we spoke to him today. our nursing home was fine and you made us ship out all of our patients and one of the places we shipped them to, they had water damage. it depends on what happened at your particular institution. >> yes. >> reporter: i'm hearing both, actually. >> depends on who you ask. elizabeth cohen thank you very much. and finally here, chad myers is working what, all through the weekend here, talking about irene, and we heard the president speaking from the rose garden yesterday saying even though irene is gone we'll be

talking about this damage for weeks. >> i think we're going to be talking about people being injured for weeks because you have all of those limbs, all of those trees in your yard, some power on, some power off, if you don't know what you're doing, hire a professional, i know it may take a longer time but to pay 100 bucks and have all your fingers or whatever it might be is probably worth the money and people get injured, put the ladders in the wrong places, try to bring limbs down and get in trouble. there's a lot of water to make its way to the ocean, a lot of water up the st. lawrence seaway, there's more to this before it's finally said and done and just so that you don't sit back and get too used to all this calmness -- >> oh, no. >> tropical depression 12 is in the middle of the atlantic and forecast to become a category 2 hurricane a little bit farther to the north of where the last storm was, which was irene, that probably means a quicker right turn, that we call that the

gutter ball that doesn't hit anything, but it's too early to tell, it's too early to tell when it was going to hit new york city and that was 24 hours away from landfall so five or ten days away from the u.s., way too early to figure out where this thing is going. >> the season doesn't end until november 30th? >> but the peak, the greatest day of all-time in hurricane history is september 10th. there you go. >> chad, thank you. >> you're welcome. what happened to a young boy in texas during the height of the summer heat is almost unspeakable, but i feel like i have to tell you about this because what happened to john than james shouldn't happen to any other child. that's next. [ female ] we will always be dependent on foreign oil.

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you know, i don't often sit up here and say this but i'm saying it today, i'm sharing this next story with you because it's one of those stories that makes me angry. makes me sad and it makes me angry. sad for a child whose life was cut short, angry because there were red flags. and he wasn't saved from horrible treatment that his little body just couldn't endure. these are photos of 10-year-old jonathan james and his twin brother, joseph. we know what happened in the days leading up to jonathan's death last month in part because joseph witnessed it. investigators in dallas say jonathan was deprived of water for five days as punishment in late july, five days that ended when january than collapsed from dehydration from shaking and moaning. adults in the house, they called 911 but it was too late to

revive him. he died at the hospital. and according to our affiliate wfaa in dallas, the no water pun shamt was doled out because jonathan had stolen guitar strings from his older stepbrother. there were other reports jonathan was being punished for wetting the bed. listen to his surviving twin brother describe what life was like at their father's home this summer. >> they made him eat a pb&j and the peanut butter got stuck in his throat, they still wouldn't let him have water. they made him stand in front of the window that they put an "x" on the floor and "x" on the window and the sun was coming straight through it and there was no air conditioning there, and i couldn't do nothing about it. because if i said something i would end up getting in trouble, too. >> 150. his father and stepmother were

arrested this past friday night, charged with injury to a child causing serious bodily injury. the boy's grandmother john than called and said "can i come to your house instead? i know i'm going to be n trouble while i'm there because i always am." chilling words. jonathan knew he'd be in trouble, but he had no way of knowing he would die. would you imagine the fear he must have felt, it's hard to believe no one was able to save him. i am going to tell stories like jonathan's just like i told you about amy diehl last month and christian choat the month before, because they are children and they can't look after themselves, and he can do better. free 'cause that's how it ought to be my brother credit 'cause you'll need a loan for one thing or another score 'cause they break it down to one simple number

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okay, let's quickly go over to chad myers getting news here in the world of weather, a tornado warning? >> like the people of north carolina haven't seen enough, right? right under the path of irene, a tornado probably on the ground, this is an impressive looking tornado right there going to engelhardt, north carolina. mainly a farming community, everybody cleaning up outside and now there's a tornado. >> goodness, chad, thank you. wolf blitzer let's get a quick check of what he has coming up on "the situation room." wolf? >> it's amazing when you think about it, brooke and chad thinks about this all the time, earthquake, hurricanes, tornadoes, what's next? ask chad. >> i don't know. >> i have no idea what's next but i can only imagine.

we'll talk about all of the above, craig fugate will join us at the top of the hour, we'll speak with the governor of vermont, sandra sanders of vermont, a disaster in vermont. you've seen the pictures so we're all over those stories and all over what's going on in syria, new developments right now and also in libya. >> quite a situation in "the situation room." thank you very much. 2,500 stranded on north carolina's remote hatteras island after hurricane irene wiped out the only road in and out. coming up next we'll talk to a red cross worker who is there. be right back. we search, browse, and shop from anywhere.

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as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare, get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. we have told you about the situation in north carolina. chad told us there's a tornado warning in daier and hyde counties. the situation on hatteras island 2,500 stuck or stranded there, the folks who didn't leave ahead of hurricane irene and the storm smashed through, washed out the road to the maindlaland, highwa 12. how long, maybe two weeks, maybe two months. six people have died in north carolina and at last report about 300,000 people are without electricity. kate meyer is with the american red cross in newburn, north

carolina. how bad is it, kate? >> reporter: well i spent the last couple of days driving around newburn, north carolina, that are fairly inland but we're still seeing a lot of damage, a lot of trees down, roads that are impassable because we still have flowing water going across them. i actually had to stop when i was driving to one of our shelters and turn around and find a different route because there was water flowing across the road. we had 2,500 people stay in our shelters in north carolina alone last night so we still have thousands of people who need our help. >> kate we're talking so much about the outer banks here with regard to the storm but what about inland? how far inland does the damage go? >> i've been at our shelter in wilson, north carolina, and i've been out two and a half hours inland, talking about 150 miles from the coast, and we had 160 people at that shelter waiting

out hurricane irene alone on saturday, and that number has only grown so we're seeing damage very widespread. irene's footprint over the entire united states is bigger than the continent of europe, so we're talking a lot of damage and it's not just isolated to the coast. >> what about the outer banks? i'm a student from chapel hill, north carolina. i loved going out there for vacation, a beautiful spot. a lot of people are worried about tourism season. officials are saying tourism come spend labor day with us. kate, does that sound overly optimistic to you? >> well, you know, the outer banks were hit really hard. there are still people stranded in hatteras and in that area. i would say proceed with caution. some of the roads are still probably dangerous and you know, i don't know. i've been out there. i know it's a fun time but you're talking about going into an area that just survived a

hurricane. >> are you guys able to get into hatteras or ocracoke at all? i know there's a slow-moving ferry trying to get that way but if there in any sort of need for medical, how will they get it? >> the red cross, our mission is really to provide those emergency needs, which that ferry is helping to deal with the water and food and whatever else. we work with emergency management to try to meet the needs of the people who are there and elsewhere of course, and i think it is unfortunate, but it is a necessary reminder of being prepared for a storm and evacuating if necessary because things like this can happen. >> kate meier please be safe as you are out on the roads. a lot of them suffered a substantial amount of damage in north carolina. kate thank you from the american red cross. that is it for me in atlanta at the cnn world headquarters. we go to washington, d.c. "the situation room" with wolf blitzer starts no