Nightly News   |  October 29, 2012

Storm surge threatens Manhattan

Battery Park City has been the focal point of attention due to rising water levels. If water enters the streets of lower Manhattan, or into the subway system, it could have a major impact on New York City. Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore reports.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>> lower manhattan , not far from ground zero , this has been the main point of a lot of attention because of the water that in the last go-around, hurricane irene came up to and over the lip of the seawall there, jim cantore has staked out the ground there. jim, we have been following your progress and that of the water lev levels all day.

>> reporter: well, brian, the storm surge , the water rise, the level is 6.6, 2.2 higher than irene. so we're waiting for the high tide to come up. for example, irene was about here. all right? and what we could see is another two and a half, three feet here, major implications, if the water gets into the lower streets of manhattan, and also the subway system . and con-ed has the power to shut it down, and the mayor has to coordinate with the mta, the cross bay, the veteran's memorial bridge , the george washington bridge , just to name a few. they're huge bridges with massive traffic. and of course that was the only way to get around. it was either by car or cab. they were going to keep the bayonne, the 70 miles an hour wind gusts were anticipated to come up this evening through the midnight hour. now, they could choose to open it tomorrow if the winds die down, which certainly they may do. the power losses, approximately a million-plus in 11 states, and that number, brian, i'm afraid is only going to go up.

>> all right, jim cantore , southern tip of manhattan, jim, we may check back with you