:00:21. > :00:24.Good afternoon. Hurricane Irene is on course to hit New Yorker this
:00:24. > :00:27.lunchtime with the eye of the storm expected to attack the city in the
:00:27. > :00:31.next hour or so. Hundreds of thousands of people have been told
:00:31. > :00:34.to leave their homes and there are fears that flooding could affect
:00:34. > :00:39.much of lower Manhattan and Wall Street. In a moment, the latest
:00:39. > :00:46.from New York. High wind and heavy rain in New
:00:46. > :00:52.York's Times Square portend I mean's imminent arrival. The Series
:00:52. > :00:55.of a storm surge that could breach the defences. Having shut down the
:00:55. > :01:01.subway system and ordered the evacuation of more than 370,000
:01:01. > :01:06.residents, the mayor is now urging everyone to stay indoors. The time
:01:06. > :01:11.for evacuation is over. Everyone should now coincide and be prepared
:01:11. > :01:15.to stay inside until weather conditions improve, which will not
:01:15. > :01:19.lightly be until Sunday afternoon. Hurricane Irene has already made
:01:19. > :01:25.her presence felt in North Carolina and Virginia. A foot of rain fell
:01:25. > :01:29.in some places. Among the dead, and a love-in year-old boy. She is
:01:29. > :01:34.following the path forecasters had predicted. -- an 11-year-old boy.
:01:34. > :01:43.The eye of the storm is expected to pass over New York in just under
:01:43. > :01:46.one hour's time. Let's turn to events in Libya. The
:01:46. > :01:50.transitional council say supplies of food, water and fuel arriving in
:01:50. > :01:55.Tripoli today to help ease shortages, with fighting in the
:01:55. > :02:01.capital subsiding. The council's head, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, says
:02:01. > :02:05.that food is a greater priority than security. Let's get our latest
:02:05. > :02:11.from Daniel Stanford. What is the situation like there this morning?
:02:11. > :02:15.Well, it is fine. It is very peaceful. As you were saying, food
:02:15. > :02:18.is becoming a problem. The biggest problem of all is water. There is
:02:18. > :02:22.not running water in the city. People are getting enough water to
:02:22. > :02:26.drink by getting it from a neighbour's wells or buying bottled
:02:26. > :02:32.water in shops. But they are not getting enough to wash or to flush
:02:32. > :02:34.the toilet. That is going to cause a big public health problem. The
:02:34. > :02:37.transitional council is saying, well, we should be able to sort
:02:37. > :02:42.this and we are working on it. But it's not quite clear what the
:02:42. > :02:46.problem is they are trying to fix. There are problems with fuel. That
:02:46. > :02:50.is critical, to bring supplies in that there has to be fuel. The
:02:50. > :02:53.border through to Tunisia is not working well. As far as discussions
:02:53. > :02:58.over whether Gaddafi would surrender, there was a suggestion
:02:59. > :03:02.that he was prepared to enter talks with the Government. They say they
:03:02. > :03:08.are happy to talk to him, only if he is going to surrender.
:03:08. > :03:16.I think we can speak to Laura Trevelyan in New York. Hurricane
:03:16. > :03:20.Irene is just beginning to hit you. It's pretty wet. How are things?
:03:20. > :03:23.The approach of the hurricane is coinciding with a high tide in New
:03:23. > :03:28.York harbour. Already, the storm surge is beginning. If you look
:03:28. > :03:33.down, you can see the water is rising. There is a very real risk
:03:34. > :03:40.of flooding in New York harbour. That is why 370,000 people were
:03:40. > :03:44.told to evacuate. Now, the city itself is eerily silent as the
:03:45. > :03:52.worst hurricane in a generation approaches. We should hear the full