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CNN Live At Daybreak

Hurricane Isabel: Outer Bands Hit Land

Aired September 18, 2003 - 06:10   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: Let's head to Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, and Brian Cabell right now.
Brian, well it looks kind of calm there.

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Yes, it's -- we're in a rather benign posture at this point because we're about five floors up. This is Kill Devil Hills you are looking at out here. I was walking outside just a little bit ago. Frankly, it's not all that bad yet. I'd say winds are perhaps 35 to 40 miles per hour. The rain is coming down, as you can see, from the north to the south. There is some minor flooding out there. Electricity flickered off a little while ago, came back on. That is one of the concerns out here, of course, that electricity will go off when the winds get stronger.

But at this point, you see no activity out there whatsoever. There was a police car patrolling a little while ago. We are told they will continue up until maybe 50 or 60 mile per hour winds, then they themselves will hunker down. But at this point what you see is a ghost town with rain and wind. As I say, perhaps 40 miles per hour.

Now let me switch you to the other shot we have and this is looking out at the ocean. Let me explain what we have there. It -- we are not actually outside on the deck, we are looking through a window, because if we open the door and look directly out at the ocean, what we would have is a lens filled with water.

So at this point, Carol, what we have is 40 mile per hour winds. We expect it to get worse throughout the morning up until about 2:00 this afternoon. A 10-foot storm surge, which means these highways behind me will be flooded. There is (ph) overwash, we are told. So we may be isolated here later on this afternoon, but right now, not all that bad.

COSTELLO: Well, Brian, when the storm really hits, you are five floors up, where will you go for safety? Is there some sort of plan in place?

CABELL: The plan is we stay right here. We are five floors up. The Ramada Inn itself is 17 feet above sea level, so the storm surge is not going to even hit the bottom floor. So we are relatively safe.

Now our concern -- let me show you right down here, if I can, there are satellite trucks all down here. There's an army of satellite trucks. And so they are on fairly high ground as well. We think they will be safe. They are protected by the wall of this five- story hotel. So we think we are going to be relatively well protected here unless the winds shift on us. But again, the problem is we may well be isolated. We may be surrounded by water, but at this point, on the fifth floor, we feel relatively safe unless the windows start breaking.

COSTELLO: And we hope that does not happen.

Brian Cabell, live from...

CABELL: We sure do.

COSTELLO: ... Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina this morning.

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 18, 2003 - 06:10   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's head to Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, and Brian Cabell right now.
Brian, well it looks kind of calm there.

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Yes, it's -- we're in a rather benign posture at this point because we're about five floors up. This is Kill Devil Hills you are looking at out here. I was walking outside just a little bit ago. Frankly, it's not all that bad yet. I'd say winds are perhaps 35 to 40 miles per hour. The rain is coming down, as you can see, from the north to the south. There is some minor flooding out there. Electricity flickered off a little while ago, came back on. That is one of the concerns out here, of course, that electricity will go off when the winds get stronger.

But at this point, you see no activity out there whatsoever. There was a police car patrolling a little while ago. We are told they will continue up until maybe 50 or 60 mile per hour winds, then they themselves will hunker down. But at this point what you see is a ghost town with rain and wind. As I say, perhaps 40 miles per hour.

Now let me switch you to the other shot we have and this is looking out at the ocean. Let me explain what we have there. It -- we are not actually outside on the deck, we are looking through a window, because if we open the door and look directly out at the ocean, what we would have is a lens filled with water.

So at this point, Carol, what we have is 40 mile per hour winds. We expect it to get worse throughout the morning up until about 2:00 this afternoon. A 10-foot storm surge, which means these highways behind me will be flooded. There is (ph) overwash, we are told. So we may be isolated here later on this afternoon, but right now, not all that bad.

COSTELLO: Well, Brian, when the storm really hits, you are five floors up, where will you go for safety? Is there some sort of plan in place?

CABELL: The plan is we stay right here. We are five floors up. The Ramada Inn itself is 17 feet above sea level, so the storm surge is not going to even hit the bottom floor. So we are relatively safe.

Now our concern -- let me show you right down here, if I can, there are satellite trucks all down here. There's an army of satellite trucks. And so they are on fairly high ground as well. We think they will be safe. They are protected by the wall of this five- story hotel. So we think we are going to be relatively well protected here unless the winds shift on us. But again, the problem is we may well be isolated. We may be surrounded by water, but at this point, on the fifth floor, we feel relatively safe unless the windows start breaking.

COSTELLO: And we hope that does not happen.

Brian Cabell, live from...

CABELL: We sure do.

COSTELLO: ... Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com