28/08/2011 BBC Weekend News

Good afternoon. Hurricane Irene is on course to hit New Yorker this

lunchtime with the eye of the storm expected to attack the city in the

next hour or so. Hundreds of thousands of people have been told

to leave their homes and there are fears that flooding could affect

much of lower Manhattan and Wall Street. In a moment, the latest

from New York. High wind and heavy rain in New

York's Times Square portend I mean's imminent arrival. The Series

of a storm surge that could breach the defences. Having shut down the

subway system and ordered the evacuation of more than 370,000

residents, the mayor is now urging everyone to stay indoors. The time

for evacuation is over. Everyone should now coincide and be prepared

to stay inside until weather conditions improve, which will not

lightly be until Sunday afternoon. Hurricane Irene has already made

her presence felt in North Carolina and Virginia. A foot of rain fell

in some places. Among the dead, and a love-in year-old boy. She is

following the path forecasters had predicted. -- an 11-year-old boy.

The eye of the storm is expected to pass over New York in just under

one hour's time. Let's turn to events in Libya. The

transitional council say supplies of food, water and fuel arriving in

Tripoli today to help ease shortages, with fighting in the

capital subsiding. The council's head, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, says

that food is a greater priority than security. Let's get our latest

from Daniel Stanford. What is the situation like there this morning?

Well, it is fine. It is very peaceful. As you were saying, food

is becoming a problem. The biggest problem of all is water. There is

not running water in the city. People are getting enough water to

drink by getting it from a neighbour's wells or buying bottled

water in shops. But they are not getting enough to wash or to flush

the toilet. That is going to cause a big public health problem. The

transitional council is saying, well, we should be able to sort

this and we are working on it. But it's not quite clear what the

problem is they are trying to fix. There are problems with fuel. That

is critical, to bring supplies in that there has to be fuel. The

border through to Tunisia is not working well. As far as discussions

over whether Gaddafi would surrender, there was a suggestion

that he was prepared to enter talks with the Government. They say they

are happy to talk to him, only if he is going to surrender.

I think we can speak to Laura Trevelyan in New York. Hurricane

Irene is just beginning to hit you. It's pretty wet. How are things?

The approach of the hurricane is coinciding with a high tide in New

York harbour. Already, the storm surge is beginning. If you look

down, you can see the water is rising. There is a very real risk

of flooding in New York harbour. That is why 370,000 people were

told to evacuate. Now, the city itself is eerily silent as the

worst hurricane in a generation approaches. We should hear the full