Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Isabel a Couple of Hours Away

Aired September 18, 2003 - 05:01   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: Now to the forecast center to find out exactly when Isabel will hit. She's just a couple of hours away now -- right, Chad?
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, yes. Really, we're looking at about 155 miles away from the coast of North Carolina and now the storm is moving to the northwest at 14 miles per hour. Now, you do the math and you can really figure out, that's about another 10 hours away, probably less because the storm has been picking up speed. But we're not really concerned about the eye. We're already seeing wind gusts here from Cape Hatteras down to Wilmington well in excess of 40 to 50 miles per hour. And some of the buoys, there's one right there, it just had a wind gust over 65 miles per hour and waves out there are well over 30 feet.

So, boy, oh, boy, is it really going this morning. The coordinates, if you want them, 33.1 north, 74.7 west. They literally just came off the wire eight minutes ago. Winds at 105 miles per hour, moving northwest at 14. Still a category two. You need to get to 111 to be a category three, but they had flight level winds at about 115, which means up above where the plane flies in it was even higher than a category three. But they don't deflect that all the way down to the surface. They reduce that number by about 10 percent because they think some surface friction and all that kind of stuff is going to slow the wind down right there at the surface of the water.

From Cape Hatteras back to Wilmington, there you are. There's the eye of the storm. You can now see it on radar. How very impressive that is to be able to see the eye on radar. The hurricane itself, with hurricane warnings from Cape Fear all the way up to Smith Point. That hasn't changed; also, all the way up to Chincoteague.

What did change overnight was where the tropical storm warning goes, all the way up to Moriches's Inlet in New York. That is on Long Island. So this entire area, not only to Sandy Hook, but now they have extended that off to the east, thinking that tropical storm warnings and tropical storm conditions will be occurring there in the next 24 hours. So that tropical storm that we're talking about, maybe 40, maybe 50 miles per hour winds -- tropical storm we just have to be up above 36.

But other than that, things are going to go downhill from here, Carol. Obviously still offshore, but things are going to get really bad here in some spots -- flooding, storm surge, wind, the possibility of onshore tornadoes. I suspect we'll probably get tornado warnings pretty soon here as the storm gets a little bit closer. That's all in a hurricane. COSTELLO: OK, so Elaine Quijano is at North Topsail Beach, North Carolina.

What should we tell her?

MYERS: If she can get a live shot out for us, do it now because pretty soon that wind will be so strong -- you know, we put these big satellite dishes -- and you used to see them in the back of all the farmhouses in Nebraska. They're six feet big. Well, now we're all talking about these little satellite dishes you put on your roof. Well, you can't send a beam up with a satellite truck with a little dish. You still need that big dish. Think about that thing blowing around in a 75 mile per hour wind.

COSTELLO: Well, let's ask her about that right now. Let's go to North Topsail Beach, North Carolina.

MYERS: Oh good, she's up.

COSTELLO: Elaine Quijano is up. And the satellite on top of the live truck is up, as well, because we can see you -- Elaine.

What's it feel like there?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hi there, Carol.

So far, so good. I can tell you, the winds are picking up just a little bit here. The rain has been coming off and on, very light rain throughout the night. I can tell you right now it appears that things are relatively calm. But make no mistake, local forecasters here are expecting things to deteriorate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO (voice-over): Up and down the East Coast, people are bracing for the full force of Hurricane Isabel and amidst the usual preparations, there's a feeling, at least among some, that this one time category five hurricane could be different.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is probably the first time that I've heard warnings from the people who've been here a long time that say board up.

QUIJANO: In North Carolina, where the eye is expected to make land fall, officials predict more than 150,000 people will evacuate, many heading to the 80 plus shelters set up in the state.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now is the time to ask people to please put themselves and their families out of harm's way, get into a safe location and ride this storm out.

QUIJANO: Officials warn even inland communities, like Richmond, Virginia and the Washington, D.C. area, could experience hurricane force winds. But the winds aren't the only hazard. Torrential rains can prove treacherous, also. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People just need to be smart about these things and recognize that these flood waters are very dangerous. Don't put yourself in harm's way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO: And federal officials also warning that in a hurricane, more than half of all deaths occur because of flooding. So once the actual eye of the storm passes, they are saying there could be plenty more still to contend with.

We're live in North Topsail Beach, North Carolina.

I'm Elaine Quijano -- Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: And we understand the bridge to the mainland now closed, so if people haven't left by now, they just have to hunker down and stick it out.

QUIJANO: That's absolutely right. There were, in fact, a lot of folks who decided to take the advice of the governor, who said go ahead and get out while you can, get to a safe place. But by now, as you said, a lot of these areas are going to be closed off, so people are really going to just have to, as you said, hunker down, sort of batten down the hatches, if you will, as Isabel moves through -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, you stay safe.

Elaine Quijano from North Topsail 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 18, 2003 - 05:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the forecast center to find out exactly when Isabel will hit. She's just a couple of hours away now -- right, Chad?
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, yes. Really, we're looking at about 155 miles away from the coast of North Carolina and now the storm is moving to the northwest at 14 miles per hour. Now, you do the math and you can really figure out, that's about another 10 hours away, probably less because the storm has been picking up speed. But we're not really concerned about the eye. We're already seeing wind gusts here from Cape Hatteras down to Wilmington well in excess of 40 to 50 miles per hour. And some of the buoys, there's one right there, it just had a wind gust over 65 miles per hour and waves out there are well over 30 feet.

So, boy, oh, boy, is it really going this morning. The coordinates, if you want them, 33.1 north, 74.7 west. They literally just came off the wire eight minutes ago. Winds at 105 miles per hour, moving northwest at 14. Still a category two. You need to get to 111 to be a category three, but they had flight level winds at about 115, which means up above where the plane flies in it was even higher than a category three. But they don't deflect that all the way down to the surface. They reduce that number by about 10 percent because they think some surface friction and all that kind of stuff is going to slow the wind down right there at the surface of the water.

From Cape Hatteras back to Wilmington, there you are. There's the eye of the storm. You can now see it on radar. How very impressive that is to be able to see the eye on radar. The hurricane itself, with hurricane warnings from Cape Fear all the way up to Smith Point. That hasn't changed; also, all the way up to Chincoteague.

What did change overnight was where the tropical storm warning goes, all the way up to Moriches's Inlet in New York. That is on Long Island. So this entire area, not only to Sandy Hook, but now they have extended that off to the east, thinking that tropical storm warnings and tropical storm conditions will be occurring there in the next 24 hours. So that tropical storm that we're talking about, maybe 40, maybe 50 miles per hour winds -- tropical storm we just have to be up above 36.

But other than that, things are going to go downhill from here, Carol. Obviously still offshore, but things are going to get really bad here in some spots -- flooding, storm surge, wind, the possibility of onshore tornadoes. I suspect we'll probably get tornado warnings pretty soon here as the storm gets a little bit closer. That's all in a hurricane. COSTELLO: OK, so Elaine Quijano is at North Topsail Beach, North Carolina.

What should we tell her?

MYERS: If she can get a live shot out for us, do it now because pretty soon that wind will be so strong -- you know, we put these big satellite dishes -- and you used to see them in the back of all the farmhouses in Nebraska. They're six feet big. Well, now we're all talking about these little satellite dishes you put on your roof. Well, you can't send a beam up with a satellite truck with a little dish. You still need that big dish. Think about that thing blowing around in a 75 mile per hour wind.

COSTELLO: Well, let's ask her about that right now. Let's go to North Topsail Beach, North Carolina.

MYERS: Oh good, she's up.

COSTELLO: Elaine Quijano is up. And the satellite on top of the live truck is up, as well, because we can see you -- Elaine.

What's it feel like there?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hi there, Carol.

So far, so good. I can tell you, the winds are picking up just a little bit here. The rain has been coming off and on, very light rain throughout the night. I can tell you right now it appears that things are relatively calm. But make no mistake, local forecasters here are expecting things to deteriorate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO (voice-over): Up and down the East Coast, people are bracing for the full force of Hurricane Isabel and amidst the usual preparations, there's a feeling, at least among some, that this one time category five hurricane could be different.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is probably the first time that I've heard warnings from the people who've been here a long time that say board up.

QUIJANO: In North Carolina, where the eye is expected to make land fall, officials predict more than 150,000 people will evacuate, many heading to the 80 plus shelters set up in the state.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now is the time to ask people to please put themselves and their families out of harm's way, get into a safe location and ride this storm out.

QUIJANO: Officials warn even inland communities, like Richmond, Virginia and the Washington, D.C. area, could experience hurricane force winds. But the winds aren't the only hazard. Torrential rains can prove treacherous, also. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People just need to be smart about these things and recognize that these flood waters are very dangerous. Don't put yourself in harm's way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO: And federal officials also warning that in a hurricane, more than half of all deaths occur because of flooding. So once the actual eye of the storm passes, they are saying there could be plenty more still to contend with.

We're live in North Topsail Beach, North Carolina.

I'm Elaine Quijano -- Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: And we understand the bridge to the mainland now closed, so if people haven't left by now, they just have to hunker down and stick it out.

QUIJANO: That's absolutely right. There were, in fact, a lot of folks who decided to take the advice of the governor, who said go ahead and get out while you can, get to a safe place. But by now, as you said, a lot of these areas are going to be closed off, so people are really going to just have to, as you said, hunker down, sort of batten down the hatches, if you will, as Isabel moves through -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, you stay safe.

Elaine Quijano from North Topsail 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