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CNN Live At Daybreak
Update on Isabel
Aired September 17, 2003 - 05:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: But now an update on Isabel with Chad --, is she 500 miles or so off the coast now?
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Four hundred and fifty now, Carol, yes. Here are the numbers that I promised you. I finally got them, literally by the skin of my teeth here. 29.4 north, 72.2 west, just coming over the wire here, winds at 110 miles per hour, moving to the north-northwest at nine. A strong category two.
We talk about this thing, category three, four, five, blah, blah, blah.
But 111 makes this thing a category three and a major hurricane. So you get the idea. It is right on the edge and is a very strong storm this morning.
Here it is. We'll fly you in. You can see the topography of the storm. A very good eye wall again this morning. It didn't have one yesterday. From Cape Fear right on up into Shinkatigue (ph), Virginia, that's where the hurricane warning is.
Now, we stop the warning, the Hurricane Center does, right here at Smith Point, which is the bottom part of the "va" in the Delmarva. The bottom part of Virginia right here is all hurricane warning. Any part of Maryland here is only hurricane watch, including the District of Columbia and the tidal basin. From Cape Fear southward, down to Little River Inlet, tropical storm warnings, and I do suspect that the hurricane is going to come right over this area here, right east now, east of Moorehead City.
Here's what it's going to look like. High surf across the east and all along the North Carolina border right on up here. Storm surge east of Moorehead City. Then by the time we get this thing inland, we're going to get flooding in Richmond, flooding in Greenville, Rocky Mount and then also on up into D.C. with some wind damage right along the path of the eye of this storm, as it takes it over D.C., takes it over all of Pennsylvania, eventually western New York and really, Carol, all the way into Ontario -- back to you.
COSTELLO: OK, we're going to go live to North Carolina, Chad, to Atlantic Beach. So when I talk to Katie, what should I tell her? That's going to be...
MYERS: Tell her that she is about ground zero.
COSTELLO: She's at ground zero.
MYERS: She really is.
COSTELLO: OK.
Katie Marzullo with News 14, a CNN affiliate, good morning.
Did you hear what Chad said? I don't know what you did, but you're at ground zero.
KATIE MARZULLO, NEWS 14 CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning.
Lucky us, right? We didn't think we were going to be, but that is the latest and folks here in Atlantic Beach have a busy morning ahead of them.
We are here now on the Atlantic Beach side of the Atlantic Beach bridge. We want to give you a better shot of that. Take a look behind us here. Starting at 7:00 this morning, everybody's going to be heading that way, heading west towards Moorehead City and beyond. That is because those mandatory evacuations begin at 7:00.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARZULLO (voice-over): There are those who head toward the water when a hurricane approaches. They're called surfers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it's always the greatest whenever there's a hurricane here. I mean you don't catch much around here. It's the East Coast.
MARZULLO: But most head inland to safety.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mother is on her way down from Raleigh right now to pick up my children and take them to Raleigh so that they are not here. But I work down at the Ramada and I'm -- right at this moment I'm scheduled to work. So I'm not really sure whether I'm leaving the island or not leaving the island.
MARZULLO: Emergency officials are mandating residents evacuate, but they really can't make people leave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like to sit it out. I think it would be exciting to sit it out, but not in a ground level apartment.
MARZULLO: It's simply their best advice based on what they know is coming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This possibly will only be a two when it gets here, but that still has the potential for damage and the potential to kill people. So we know we're going to be dealing with no electricity, flooded roads, blocked roads.
MARZULLO: All the residents we spoke with are heeding the advice and heading out. But some sooner than others.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I mean, if they're evacuating people, you know, you probably need to leave. But we'll wait until then. (END VIDEOTAPE)
MARZULLO: All right, again, those mandatory evacuations begin at 7:00 a.m. and they end at 7:00 p.m. And when we say end, we mean this bridge closes at 7:00 p.m., and at that point it'll be restricted access only, which means only residents, and even then they have to have a special reentry pass to come and go back and forth.
But, again, they are doing so at their own risk -- Carol.
COSTELLO: But from what you're seeing, most people have decided to leave?
MARZULLO: That's what we have heard. We haven't run into anyone yet who says they're going to wait it out. We know they're out there, but for the most part people are going to head out. But we do know there's one restaurant in Moorehead City that's staying open, at least one hotel. So there are a few holdouts as far as businesses go, and they are full, because they're the only ones accommodating people who do have to stay or who are choosing to stay.
COSTELLO: Well, you always have to wonder, because it used to be a category five hurricane. Now it's down to a category two, although it could strengthen. So maybe that's making people feel a little more safe in staying.
MARZULLO: Yes, a false sense of security, maybe. And we spoke with one local who has gone to far as to build a steel edition onto her house, which is their safety spot. And she told us the other day that they never leave if winds are -- unless winds are 150 miles an hour. But funny thing, ran into her again and now she sounds nervous, too, and was warning us that maybe we should reconsider leaving.
So, you know, everyone's got their own theory, I guess.
COSTELLO: Yes. That's good to hear, actually.
Thank you.
Katie Marzullo reporting live from Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 17, 2003 - 05:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: But now an update on Isabel with Chad --, is she 500 miles or so off the coast now?
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Four hundred and fifty now, Carol, yes. Here are the numbers that I promised you. I finally got them, literally by the skin of my teeth here. 29.4 north, 72.2 west, just coming over the wire here, winds at 110 miles per hour, moving to the north-northwest at nine. A strong category two.
We talk about this thing, category three, four, five, blah, blah, blah.
But 111 makes this thing a category three and a major hurricane. So you get the idea. It is right on the edge and is a very strong storm this morning.
Here it is. We'll fly you in. You can see the topography of the storm. A very good eye wall again this morning. It didn't have one yesterday. From Cape Fear right on up into Shinkatigue (ph), Virginia, that's where the hurricane warning is.
Now, we stop the warning, the Hurricane Center does, right here at Smith Point, which is the bottom part of the "va" in the Delmarva. The bottom part of Virginia right here is all hurricane warning. Any part of Maryland here is only hurricane watch, including the District of Columbia and the tidal basin. From Cape Fear southward, down to Little River Inlet, tropical storm warnings, and I do suspect that the hurricane is going to come right over this area here, right east now, east of Moorehead City.
Here's what it's going to look like. High surf across the east and all along the North Carolina border right on up here. Storm surge east of Moorehead City. Then by the time we get this thing inland, we're going to get flooding in Richmond, flooding in Greenville, Rocky Mount and then also on up into D.C. with some wind damage right along the path of the eye of this storm, as it takes it over D.C., takes it over all of Pennsylvania, eventually western New York and really, Carol, all the way into Ontario -- back to you.
COSTELLO: OK, we're going to go live to North Carolina, Chad, to Atlantic Beach. So when I talk to Katie, what should I tell her? That's going to be...
MYERS: Tell her that she is about ground zero.
COSTELLO: She's at ground zero.
MYERS: She really is.
COSTELLO: OK.
Katie Marzullo with News 14, a CNN affiliate, good morning.
Did you hear what Chad said? I don't know what you did, but you're at ground zero.
KATIE MARZULLO, NEWS 14 CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning.
Lucky us, right? We didn't think we were going to be, but that is the latest and folks here in Atlantic Beach have a busy morning ahead of them.
We are here now on the Atlantic Beach side of the Atlantic Beach bridge. We want to give you a better shot of that. Take a look behind us here. Starting at 7:00 this morning, everybody's going to be heading that way, heading west towards Moorehead City and beyond. That is because those mandatory evacuations begin at 7:00.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARZULLO (voice-over): There are those who head toward the water when a hurricane approaches. They're called surfers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it's always the greatest whenever there's a hurricane here. I mean you don't catch much around here. It's the East Coast.
MARZULLO: But most head inland to safety.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mother is on her way down from Raleigh right now to pick up my children and take them to Raleigh so that they are not here. But I work down at the Ramada and I'm -- right at this moment I'm scheduled to work. So I'm not really sure whether I'm leaving the island or not leaving the island.
MARZULLO: Emergency officials are mandating residents evacuate, but they really can't make people leave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like to sit it out. I think it would be exciting to sit it out, but not in a ground level apartment.
MARZULLO: It's simply their best advice based on what they know is coming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This possibly will only be a two when it gets here, but that still has the potential for damage and the potential to kill people. So we know we're going to be dealing with no electricity, flooded roads, blocked roads.
MARZULLO: All the residents we spoke with are heeding the advice and heading out. But some sooner than others.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I mean, if they're evacuating people, you know, you probably need to leave. But we'll wait until then. (END VIDEOTAPE)
MARZULLO: All right, again, those mandatory evacuations begin at 7:00 a.m. and they end at 7:00 p.m. And when we say end, we mean this bridge closes at 7:00 p.m., and at that point it'll be restricted access only, which means only residents, and even then they have to have a special reentry pass to come and go back and forth.
But, again, they are doing so at their own risk -- Carol.
COSTELLO: But from what you're seeing, most people have decided to leave?
MARZULLO: That's what we have heard. We haven't run into anyone yet who says they're going to wait it out. We know they're out there, but for the most part people are going to head out. But we do know there's one restaurant in Moorehead City that's staying open, at least one hotel. So there are a few holdouts as far as businesses go, and they are full, because they're the only ones accommodating people who do have to stay or who are choosing to stay.
COSTELLO: Well, you always have to wonder, because it used to be a category five hurricane. Now it's down to a category two, although it could strengthen. So maybe that's making people feel a little more safe in staying.
MARZULLO: Yes, a false sense of security, maybe. And we spoke with one local who has gone to far as to build a steel edition onto her house, which is their safety spot. And she told us the other day that they never leave if winds are -- unless winds are 150 miles an hour. But funny thing, ran into her again and now she sounds nervous, too, and was warning us that maybe we should reconsider leaving.
So, you know, everyone's got their own theory, I guess.
COSTELLO: Yes. That's good to hear, actually.
Thank you.
Katie Marzullo reporting live from Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
