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CNN Live At Daybreak
Isabel is Coming
Aired September 18, 2003 - 06:21 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: Isabel is coming. In fact, winds in parts of North Carolina already up to 51 miles per hour.
We want to take you live to Miami now.
Ed Rappaport is a forecaster at the National Hurricane Center there.
Good morning.
ED RAPPAPORT, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Good morning.
COSTELLO: You know, it seems like you've been tracking the storm forever. Some are criticizing, saying it's over kill. Is it?
RAPPAPORT: Well, I hope not. What we're seeing now is a category two hurricane coming ashore. And what category two hurricanes bring are storm surges as much as 10 feet near and to the north of where the center -- or to the right of where the center makes land fall. So in this case we're talking about particularly the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds.
We do expect a storm surge, perhaps of four to six or eight feet, up the southern part of Chesapeake Bay, as well.
So those areas that are low lying will have to contend with that today. And on top of that storm surge, we're going to have a lot of wave action, as well. So we have some considerable concern there at the coast.
COSTELLO: Oh, gosh. How often does a hurricane affect so many people?
RAPPAPORT: Well, the most recent example of a hurricane of this strength in this area was Hurricane Floyd back about four years ago. We know that that created a lot of damage, took many lives. We're hoping, of course, that the effects are not as disastrous in this case.
COSTELLO: OK. Already in places like Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, the winds are at, what, 51 miles per hour? When the eye hits, if the eye hits there, how strong will the winds be?
RAPPAPORT: Well, the strongest winds are going to be near the center and just off to the north and east. And we do now have a report, an unofficial report of sustained winds near 60 miles per hour along the coast. Again, we think that the highest winds will be about 100 miles per hour along the Outer Banks.
COSTELLO: All right, we want to bring Chad Myers in right now.
Chad has a quick question for you, Ed.
Go ahead -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ed, good morning.
I've been watching some of the remarks now coming over from the latest hurricane hunter aircraft. What are you finding now with this latest flight?
RAPPAPORT: Well, we haven't seen much change in intensity really over the last 12 to 24 hours. The central pressure has been roughly the same. We do have a large wind field. Again, we have hurricane force winds extending out about 100 miles.
What's a little different in this case is that we don't have it all packed right in near the center and very intense near the center. Instead, we really have category one and patches of category two winds extending out about 100 miles from the center to the north. So much of that's going to overspread eastern North Carolina today.
COSTELLO: So hunker down.
Ed Rappaport from the Hurricane Center in Miami.
Many thanks to you.
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 - 06:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Isabel is coming. In fact, winds in parts of North Carolina already up to 51 miles per hour.
We want to take you live to Miami now.
Ed Rappaport is a forecaster at the National Hurricane Center there.
Good morning.
ED RAPPAPORT, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Good morning.
COSTELLO: You know, it seems like you've been tracking the storm forever. Some are criticizing, saying it's over kill. Is it?
RAPPAPORT: Well, I hope not. What we're seeing now is a category two hurricane coming ashore. And what category two hurricanes bring are storm surges as much as 10 feet near and to the north of where the center -- or to the right of where the center makes land fall. So in this case we're talking about particularly the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds.
We do expect a storm surge, perhaps of four to six or eight feet, up the southern part of Chesapeake Bay, as well.
So those areas that are low lying will have to contend with that today. And on top of that storm surge, we're going to have a lot of wave action, as well. So we have some considerable concern there at the coast.
COSTELLO: Oh, gosh. How often does a hurricane affect so many people?
RAPPAPORT: Well, the most recent example of a hurricane of this strength in this area was Hurricane Floyd back about four years ago. We know that that created a lot of damage, took many lives. We're hoping, of course, that the effects are not as disastrous in this case.
COSTELLO: OK. Already in places like Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, the winds are at, what, 51 miles per hour? When the eye hits, if the eye hits there, how strong will the winds be?
RAPPAPORT: Well, the strongest winds are going to be near the center and just off to the north and east. And we do now have a report, an unofficial report of sustained winds near 60 miles per hour along the coast. Again, we think that the highest winds will be about 100 miles per hour along the Outer Banks.
COSTELLO: All right, we want to bring Chad Myers in right now.
Chad has a quick question for you, Ed.
Go ahead -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ed, good morning.
I've been watching some of the remarks now coming over from the latest hurricane hunter aircraft. What are you finding now with this latest flight?
RAPPAPORT: Well, we haven't seen much change in intensity really over the last 12 to 24 hours. The central pressure has been roughly the same. We do have a large wind field. Again, we have hurricane force winds extending out about 100 miles.
What's a little different in this case is that we don't have it all packed right in near the center and very intense near the center. Instead, we really have category one and patches of category two winds extending out about 100 miles from the center to the north. So much of that's going to overspread eastern North Carolina today.
COSTELLO: So hunker down.
Ed Rappaport from the Hurricane Center in Miami.
Many thanks to you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
