Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Isabel Churning Closer
Aired September 17, 2003 - 07:04 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Our reporters are waiting. Two reports now to start the morning -- Brian Cabell in Kill Devil Hills, Gary Tuchman in North Topsail Beach, both in the state of North Carolina.
Let's start again this morning 24 hours later with Brian.
Good morning there.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
It's distinctly cooler here this morning than it was yesterday. Still a mostly clear sky, but we certainly expect that to deteriorate throughout the day.
A mandatory evacuation remains in effect. The state of emergency remains in effect.
Let's take a look now at street levels as a matter of fact, and you can see it's taking on the look of a ghost town at this point -- very little traffic out there, most of the houses and most of the businesses have been boarded up.
A few businesses say they will remain open today, maybe even into tomorrow. The motel we're in and a few others are remaining open for now.
But I think it's fair to say at this point, Bill, that virtually all of the tourists have left the Outer Banks right now. All that are remaining behind are a few employees and, of course, as usual, the media -- Bill.
HEMMER: Brian, thanks.
Next up: Gary Tuchman.
Gary -- good morning there.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good morning to you.
We're in North Topsail Beach, North Carolina. That's south of where Brian is. This is on a very fragile barrier island called Topsail Island.
And you can see right now, the surf is up, but this is quite a tease, because this is nothing compared to the way it will be tonight and tomorrow when they're expecting waves up to 10 feet here on this 26-mile-long island.
They're not strangers to hurricanes in this part of North Carolina. They've had five near or direct hits since 1996. But right now, on this fragile island, there is a voluntary evacuation order. However, that may be upgraded within the next couple of hours.
Bill -- back to you.
HEMMER: Gary, thanks; Brian as well.
From the National Hurricane Center now, Deputy Director Edward Rappaport is back with us live this morning here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning to you, sir. I know you're very busy. But tell us at this point what you know about how strong this storm will be once she hits land.
EDWARD RAPPAPORT, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Well, right now, Isabel is at the borderline of category 2 and 3 with winds of 110 miles per hour. There could be some minor fluctuations prior to landfall, but basically were expecting that kind of intensity for landfall.
And what that implies is a storm surge as high as perhaps 11 feet along the coast. And then inland, as the storm progresses past the Outer Banks and past eastern North Carolina, we're going to see rainfall on the order of 6 to 10 inches over grounds that are already wet.
HEMMER: Turn around and again point to that map, if you could. Answer this question based on your forecast: Where will the most damage be from this storm?
RAPPAPORT: OK, well, I'm going to switch to a different map, and we'll take a look at it from here. If the forecast track is right on, we're looking at where the core of the hurricane will go, the strongest winds and highest storm surge will be right there in the Outer Banks. Now, there could be a little shift either way, and that would take that worst weather to either side of this line.
Basically, we're talking about a swath that's at least 100 miles wide on either side, where there will be very strong winds and heavy rain and some storm surges, particularly on the right side here.
HEMMER: What explains why earlier this week we saw this storm lose 50 miles per hour in about a 24-hour period?
RAPPAPORT: Intensity forecasting is one of the big challenges. We know some of the factors that are involved. We talk about wind sheer, where winds at one level are different than another and they tend to tilt over a hurricane and its thunderstorms. Or the waters can be too cool to support a hurricane.
These last two days we've had a pretty good handle on what the situation is. We did get some weakening as expected, and now a little bit of restrengthening. And there is still some concern that through the day today there could be a little bit of additional strengthening. And then, as it approaches the coast, pretty much maintain a steady level at the category 2 or 3 threshold.
HEMMER: Thank you, Edward. Good to talk to you again. We'll speak again next hour here. Edward Rappaport from the National Hurricane Center in Miami, thanks again.
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 - 07:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Our reporters are waiting. Two reports now to start the morning -- Brian Cabell in Kill Devil Hills, Gary Tuchman in North Topsail Beach, both in the state of North Carolina.
Let's start again this morning 24 hours later with Brian.
Good morning there.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
It's distinctly cooler here this morning than it was yesterday. Still a mostly clear sky, but we certainly expect that to deteriorate throughout the day.
A mandatory evacuation remains in effect. The state of emergency remains in effect.
Let's take a look now at street levels as a matter of fact, and you can see it's taking on the look of a ghost town at this point -- very little traffic out there, most of the houses and most of the businesses have been boarded up.
A few businesses say they will remain open today, maybe even into tomorrow. The motel we're in and a few others are remaining open for now.
But I think it's fair to say at this point, Bill, that virtually all of the tourists have left the Outer Banks right now. All that are remaining behind are a few employees and, of course, as usual, the media -- Bill.
HEMMER: Brian, thanks.
Next up: Gary Tuchman.
Gary -- good morning there.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good morning to you.
We're in North Topsail Beach, North Carolina. That's south of where Brian is. This is on a very fragile barrier island called Topsail Island.
And you can see right now, the surf is up, but this is quite a tease, because this is nothing compared to the way it will be tonight and tomorrow when they're expecting waves up to 10 feet here on this 26-mile-long island.
They're not strangers to hurricanes in this part of North Carolina. They've had five near or direct hits since 1996. But right now, on this fragile island, there is a voluntary evacuation order. However, that may be upgraded within the next couple of hours.
Bill -- back to you.
HEMMER: Gary, thanks; Brian as well.
From the National Hurricane Center now, Deputy Director Edward Rappaport is back with us live this morning here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning to you, sir. I know you're very busy. But tell us at this point what you know about how strong this storm will be once she hits land.
EDWARD RAPPAPORT, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Well, right now, Isabel is at the borderline of category 2 and 3 with winds of 110 miles per hour. There could be some minor fluctuations prior to landfall, but basically were expecting that kind of intensity for landfall.
And what that implies is a storm surge as high as perhaps 11 feet along the coast. And then inland, as the storm progresses past the Outer Banks and past eastern North Carolina, we're going to see rainfall on the order of 6 to 10 inches over grounds that are already wet.
HEMMER: Turn around and again point to that map, if you could. Answer this question based on your forecast: Where will the most damage be from this storm?
RAPPAPORT: OK, well, I'm going to switch to a different map, and we'll take a look at it from here. If the forecast track is right on, we're looking at where the core of the hurricane will go, the strongest winds and highest storm surge will be right there in the Outer Banks. Now, there could be a little shift either way, and that would take that worst weather to either side of this line.
Basically, we're talking about a swath that's at least 100 miles wide on either side, where there will be very strong winds and heavy rain and some storm surges, particularly on the right side here.
HEMMER: What explains why earlier this week we saw this storm lose 50 miles per hour in about a 24-hour period?
RAPPAPORT: Intensity forecasting is one of the big challenges. We know some of the factors that are involved. We talk about wind sheer, where winds at one level are different than another and they tend to tilt over a hurricane and its thunderstorms. Or the waters can be too cool to support a hurricane.
These last two days we've had a pretty good handle on what the situation is. We did get some weakening as expected, and now a little bit of restrengthening. And there is still some concern that through the day today there could be a little bit of additional strengthening. And then, as it approaches the coast, pretty much maintain a steady level at the category 2 or 3 threshold.
HEMMER: Thank you, Edward. Good to talk to you again. We'll speak again next hour here. Edward Rappaport from the National Hurricane Center in Miami, thanks again.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
