Return to Transcripts main page
Nancy Grace
Sandy Hits the New Jersey Coast
Aired October 29, 2012 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hurricane Sandy, we just made three passes through the storm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hurricane Sandy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The word I`m using for this storm so far is relentless because it has just been nonstop raining...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The winds are really increasing down here, tropical storm-force gusts up into the 50, 55-mile-per-hour range and building.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not a soul to be seen except for the wind whipping back and forth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s intensifying out there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Superstorm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Superstorm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Superstorm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Major coastal flooding.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a very serious storm.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At 90 miles per hour.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 370,000 people have been told to get out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Massive waves crashing on these protective (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bad morning. We`re expecting it to get worse. And the worst is yet to come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Breaking news tonight. At this hour, the Northeast corridor braced, millions on high alert, hurricane Sandy at its most powerful pitch as we go to air, slamming the mainland, hundreds of thousands already evacuated, those left behind now braced to take on Sandy.
We are live and taking your calls. Straight out to Mike Galanos, HLN anchor, joining me in Atlantic City. Mike, tell me what you see.
MIKE GALANOS, HLN ANCHOR: Well, right now, Nancy, the rain has picked up again. We had a little bit of a lull. Now, earlier in the day, 90-mile- an-hour winds were practically knocking me over. The threat right now, Nancy, is the flood waters. The tide is rising -- storm surge.
Look at this, Nancy. Look at the splashing. That`s about three inches of water. As I continue to walk, we`re talking -- it just keeps getting deeper and deeper, until I`m probably a foot into it. And the ocean is right behind me. So that storm surge water continues to come up.
The mayor of Atlantic City was so upset that some people were still here because he was driving around two, three feet of water. Now it`s probably five, six feet of flood water. Dangerous situation here, Nancy.
GRACE: Straight out to meteorologist Tom Sater. Tom, what can you tell me the predictions are for Sandy at this hour?
TOM SATER, METEOROLOGIST: Well, the predictions right now are for heavy rainfall to continue inland. The highest rainfall totals we`ve seen from areas of Delmarva, of course around Atlantic City, as well, making its way inland. The mountain snows, that`s another entirely different story.
But as far as the storm surge is concerned, those levels are reaching historic levels. 1960, it was Hurricane Donna. The benchmark at Battery Park in New York was 10-and-a-half feet. It`s over 8 right now. It continues to rise. King`s Point, New York, is at 12.4 feet. So we`ve never seen thatbefore. We`ve never seen an area of low pressure drop so low in its measurements north of the Outer Banks. So that is unprecedented for us.
Now, the storm, which was tropical, morphs into this nor`easter/winter storm. The amounts of rainfall I believe are going to be really the bigger story, and the windfield, which is so great it`s twice the size of Texas. If it was a country, it would be the 20th largest country in the world.
The heavy rainfall not only in the D.C. and Baltimore inner harbor area, now making its way in toward Ohio. They had flight delays in Cleveland and Chicago with this.
We`re going to find, I believe, the biggest problem in the next 24 hours, with the exception of the storm surge, will be massive flash flooding, river flooding. So we`re already starting to see the river levels rise rapidly.
But the winds, with all the leaves on the trees right now, we`re going to down -- see them, downed power lines. The trees are going to be uprooted. We`re talking about rainfall totals that could reach over a foot. If the storm slows down in Pennsylvania like these computer models want to show us, that means an inch an hour for maybe 24 hours.
So Nancy, it`s just multi-faceted from flooding rainfalls to storm surge to power outages due to winds. And it`s going to continue for the next couple of days.
GRACE: You know, I really don`t care about somebody`s flight being delayed. What I care about is flooding and people actually dying in this. That`s my concern right now.
Out to Bernie Rayno, senior meteorologist at Accuweather.com. Bernie, I`m trying to find out what is in store for New York and the Northeast corridor.
BERNIE RAYNO, ACCUWEATHER SENIOR METEOROLOGIST: Well, New York City, the wind`s going to continue to blow between 50 and 60 miles per hour over the next four to five hours. The heaviest rain, though, will be south of New York City. But Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., we`re going to continue to get the blinding rain and the wind gusts between 50 to 60 miles per hour.
And as Tom talked about, flooding is going to be a concern across most of northern parts of Maryland and back into Pennsylvania. And the storm surge, that has been catastrophic, and that, unfortunately, is going to continue north of the storm track into the central New Jersey coast, with the water funneling in toward the Battery of New York City.
GRACE: Joining me right now, Bob Van Dillen, HLN meteorologist, joining me, Asbury Park. Bob, what is it like there?
BOB VAN DILLEN, HLN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, let me tell you. Let me get the camera because the camera is just blowing around. I got to tell you this. We`re in Asbury Park. We`re 50 miles south of Manhattan. And we were out here doing our live shots by this railing right here. I`ve got to be honest with you, it`s just too dangerous to get out there right now. These winds are easily hurricane strength and they`re pushing me around. I`m getting the snot knocked out of me.
But if you look behind me, look at the water coming up over here. That`s the storm surge, Nancy. The storm surge is -- (AUDIO GAP) -- go down until the wind stops blowing. Well, that big first wave came over the grass right there. You`re looking at the historic Asbury Park boardwalk getting overtopped right now. There`s a big wave right there going right over the top of the boardwalk and smashing down.
That first wave came by, Nancy, it was like a jailbreak. The rest of the water comes rushing in. You can see it here. It`s gone at least two or three blocks inland. We are surrounded in our hotel by water. We`re not getting out anytime soon until this storm surge actually goes down.
It`s a full moon. That -- (AUDIO GAP) -- in another 35 minutes -- (AUDIO GAP) In Atlantic City, it`s going to top out at 9 -- (AUDIO GAP) It`s gotten worse with the wind, too.
But the one thing, we don`t have any more rain right here. All the water you see hitting me, it`s all salty. Tells me it`s the ocean spray hitting my face. It`s not actual rain, Nancy.
GRACE: Has everybody evacuated?
VAN DILLEN: (AUDIO GAP) -- trying to snap some pictures down by the -- (AUDIO GAP) -- cops were right on them right away. You could hear the sirens coming up. They were right on me a couple times -- (AUDIO GAP) -- CNN and HLN, I`m OK. (INAUDIBLE) But everybody else, man, forget about it. And -- (AUDIO GAP) -- you can`t be out there. It`s just not safe.
GRACE: Sandy officially making land, hitting land as we speak. And joining me there in Asbury Park, New Jersey, Bob Van Dillen.
Back to you, Tom Sater. What is making Sandy different from every other storm?
SATER: Well, that`s a great question, Nancy. This system is not just tropical, which it was, but it has morphed into something that we typically do not see, and that is when a tropical system merges with energy and cold air coming in from the west, that now it is a nor`easter. Now it`s a winter storm.
Look at the winter storm watches and warnings. When I show you the amounts of snowfall that are possible in the next 48 hours -- our scale does not go any higher than this dark purple, Nancy. That`s well over 20 inches. We`re talking two, three feet of snow.
So if you think we`re going to have power outages with just winds, can you imagine how long hundreds of thousands of residents could be without power because they`ve got to plow the roads, they`ve got to get the crews to, you know, chop up the trees and saw them up, then restore the power?
This is what we don`t see. That`s why this is so unusual, Nancy. We don`t have snowstorms. If we didn`t have anything east of this, this snowstorm alone would lead every newscast in the country because it`s so early and so devastating. So that`s just one aspect.
We could go on and on and on. It is so multi-faceted, and it`s so hard to let everyone know what the weather`s going to be like in your neighborhood.
When you look at this crane here, keep this in mind. For the thousands of residents that live in high-rises, if it`s a 65-mile-per-hour wind at the surface, you have to couple (ph) that. As it goes higher in elevation, the winds are stronger. So 65 at the surface is 140 miles per hour when you get up to the 80th and 100th floor. So that`s why we`re really watching every little element of the storm.
GRACE: Joining me right now, just evacuated from that building, the street across from where the crane is swinging, Rita Cosby. Rita, what happened?
RITA COSBY, WAS IN BUILDING NEAR CRANE THAT COLLAPSED: You know, Nancy, it was a very scary scene. I`m a veteran journalist. I was in the apartment building right across from that crane. I saw the crane kind of swaying a bit. In fact, I had actually talked to the building manager the day before, mentioning there could be an issue. But I was worried the whole crane was going to come off.
And suddenly, as I`m looking outside -- I`m just, you know, maybe 100 feet away -- I see the arm of the crane literally falling down right in front of me. And at that point, I just thought, Run, because you don`t have a judge of distance. You think maybe this crane is going to come just crashing into our building.
We started running. Then the next thing we know, NY -- New York Fire Department basically got into the building almost immediately. They actually saw it. They said they were driving by and actually saw the crane coming over.
It was such -- you know, this is the biggest residential building in New York. It`s the tallest. And it`s one of the most luxury locations in New York. There`s going to be a Hyatt downstairs, hotel, and then on top, the apartment building there alone, the penthouse was going recently for about $90 million. They`ve been under construction.
And the firefighters have said that there`s no way that they can stop that crane. They think it`s probably going to fall, sadly.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mandatory evacuations now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m really thinking about getting out. But hoping to get out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unprecedented in the size of storm surge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a hurricane wrapped in a nor`easter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Massive and wide.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m nervous. I`m very nervous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are live and taking your calls. Straight out to Ed Rappaport, National Hurricane Center deputy director. What can you tell us tonight, Ed?
ED RAPPAPORT, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: The center of Sandy made landfall just a few minutes ago near the Atlantic City area. And that`s really kind of academic at the moment because regardless of whether the center came ashore now or in a little while, whether it`s a tropical system or not, it`s not going to change the impact that it`s going to have on the East Coast from the mid-Atlantic northward. Very significant concern about storm surge flooding from the area of landfall approximately north and eastward.
GRACE: Out to you, Ellie. I understand that there are cars actually floating down Wall Street?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): That`s right, Nancy. "The New York Times" is reporting that cars are being seen floating in the flooding in Lower Manhattan.
The power and the torch that lights the torch of the Statue of Liberty has gone out at about 7:00 o`clock. There is also Con Ed, the power authority in New York City, shutting down areas of the city, including Lower Manhattan, which would include Wall Street.
We`re also getting a confirmation of one confirmed fatality, Nancy, in New York City. This is a man who was struck by a falling tree in Queens. That just came in just this minute.
GRACE: We are taking your calls. To Michael in Florida. Hi, Michael. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Nancy. My concern is the crane that`s jeopardizing people`s lives right now. I`m a crane specialist, a class A operator. The thing is that is a crane operator error, why the incident occurred, and that gentleman who operated that crane can be held criminally liable.
GRACE: I still don`t understand, Rita Cosby. Let me go back to you on the crane. What happened?
At this hour, everybody, Lady Liberty goes dark. Right now, Sandy is slamming into the Northeastern corridor, hundreds of thousands evacuated. Cars are literally floating down Wall Street.
So Rita, with the crane, what happened? Was it the winds? What went wrong?
CROSBY: Well, and I think your caller is absolutely right. I told you I was concerned about the crane yesterday before the even hurricane hit. And then at around 2:30 today, I was looking at the crane. I mean, talk about -- it was almost a scene out of a movie. And I saw it shaking. And then it toppled over the arm. But the question is, why was it not secured?
GRACE: Back to Mike Galanos joining me. He`s there in Atlantic City. Mike, has everyone evacuated?
GALANOS: Most everyone, Nancy. But there were still 500 or 600 people in shelters. There are some that stayed in their homes, very unwise that they did that. And at one point, the mayor, who went to check on the shelter, couldn`t even get back to where he wanted to be because he ran into two and three feet of flood water, downed power lines, and basically told those folks who were at home, Hey, it`s too late now to try and get to a shelter. You`d better stay home and hunker down.
The best way to go was to get out. I talked to some folks who did. They are so happy to be way inland, and they`re in hotels with friends and family and they`re safe and sound. That`s the way to go. And word to the wise for the next storm that comes our way.
GRACE: Mike Galanos, Atlantic City hit very, very hard, many parts totally under water. Do you believe that the city is equipped to deal with it?
GALANOS: They are to a point, Nancy. But you know, I talked to the Coast Guard, and they had to tell people as they were getting calls -- and this was early in the day -- that they couldn`t get to them, as well.
Again, Nancy, as you look at this, if I step off that curb, that`s four or five inches right there. And if I continue to walk toward that ocean -- this storm surge along with the high tide, it is just unthinkable how deep it could be in some places.
Again, they`re expecting five, six feet of flood water, and the Coast Guard told me, as well, that there was cars -- and this was earlier in the day before this hit -- literally under water. That`s how bad it is.
GRACE: Back to the National Hurricane Center deputy director Ed Rappaport. Ed, explain to me where is the eye? Where is the eye of Sandy right now, the center of the storm?
RAPPAPORT: Well, the center of the storm right now is about where I have this circle here, making landfall on the New Jersey coast.
But actually, in some ways the center is inconsequential. This is a very large storm extending from New England down to the mid-Atlantic. You`ve been talking about the storm surge threat from New Jersey mainly northward and eastward, but that`s for the next 12 to 24 hours. After that, we have a new threat that will be coming to us, and that`s going to be a large area of rainfall that could induce significant flooding, 10 inches of rain possible in this area.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sixty million people affected by this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Losing power. Everybody`s in the dark.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you`re wanting to get out, you can`t. It`s too late.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The winds are just so strong and so wide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are live and taking your calls. Very quickly, I want to go back to Ed Rappaport. Do you believe that the state and municipal governments are ready? Did we learn anything from Katrina?
RAPPAPORT: We have a close working relationship with the emergency management community. The National Weather Service forecast offices work with their local emergency managers. We do, as well, the state managers. And we have also a very good relationship with FEMA.
We all learn from previous experiences, and my hope is that even though it`s relatively rare in the Northeast, that all folks learned, emergency management as well as the public, from Hurricane Irene last year.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Nancy, New York. Hi, Nancy. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I haven`t got a question. I just wanted to thank and give all praise to the guys and ladies that are out there in the storm, keeping us updated and trying to tell us that we should do what we`re told to do to stay safe and keep everybody at home or in shelters. But all you -- all the news reporters and weather people that are out there, I think we should say thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Thank you to all of you guys and ladies out there.
To Tom Sater. What`s your biggest concern right now?
SATER: My biggest concern? Let me give you three. How about 80-year-old Ethel that lives in Manhattan five blocks in, and there`s water lapping at her door? She doesn`t know what to do. Her windows are rattling.
How about the family of 10 that live in the high terrain in West Virginia that can`t see out their window because of blizzard conditions and several inches of snow on the ground and their lights are flickering?
How about the farm family in rural Pennsylvania that lives by a babbling brook, and now before long, they may be blowing bubbles because the water is quickly rising?
There is fear because this is something we haven`t lived through, a storm of this magnitude. There are so many elements here. We can get through this, but it`s going to take some time. Nancy, we`re going to be talking about this for weeks.
If folks get into this extreme cold back behind this and they`re without power for 10 days, you know, 14 days, could it be, dare I say, three weeks in some cases? I mean, there`s downed trees and there will be more. There`s rising waters and there will be more. There are strong gusts of winds. We just had a gust unconfirmed 100 miles per hour in New York. JFK, a confirmed gust of 73 miles per hour.
Sure, this may be inland, but this is just beginning now and it`s going to take several days. We`re going to have lake effect snows in parts of the Great Lakes. The wind chill values back behind this system in some areas are going to drop well into the teens. And if you`re without power for several days, it`s going to really, you know, put your patience to the test here.
GRACE: In addition to the feet of snow, for instance, in West Virginia, Bernie Rayno, where do you expect to see the heavies concentration of rain? And why is that so dangerous?
RAYNO: Well, the problem is, is the rain is falling so heavily now, and it`s going to be sitting in some areas for a long period of time. I think the problem is flash flooding. Not river flooding, flooding along the creeks and the streams, and also in low-lying areas. So that`s going to be a big problem.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Really a crazy day here. Tropical storm-force gusts have been up into the 50, 55-mile-per-hour range, and building.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Not a soul to be seen except for the wind whipping back and forth.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It`s intensifying out there.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Superstorm.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A superstorm.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Superstorm.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Major coastal flooding.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a very, very serious storm.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ninety miles per hour.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Three hundred and seventy thousand people have been told to get out.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Massive waves crashing on these protective sand dunes they have out here.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Bad morning. We`re expecting it to get worse. And the worst is yet to come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I`m hearing in my ear we are just getting in touch with Gary Tuchman. He`s at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. What`s happening?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The rains are still coming down heavily here, Nancy, and the winds are still up to 50 or 60 miles per hour. But they were 80 or 85 miles per hour before and the rains were even heavier. So we think it`s improving. What we have behind us is a very angry ocean. In all the hurricanes I`ve covered I`ve never seen waves like this in the Atlantic. I`ve seen waves like in this Hawaii but never in the Atlantic Ocean. We see the size of the waves that we`ve seen here in the storm.
Here in Rehoboth Beach, which is in Delaware, a lot of people referred to it as America`s summer capital. Because it`s two hours from Washington, D.C., a lot of politicians, a lot of bureaucrats, a lot of employees of the federal government come here during the summer. It`s a town of 1300 people but during the summer there are tens of thousands of people.
Right now what they`re dealing with here is intense flooding in many of the neighborhoods. Many houses are flooded. Many streets are flooded. Cars are under water. But as of now no injuries whatsoever. There`s a great deal of relief they haven`t had any reports of any injuries. There`s lots of power out. But they`re hoping that it`s not as bad as they thought it could have been when we heard all the talk about the storm arriving in this area. Nancy?
GRACE: Gary Tuchman joining me at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. You say that you`ve never seen waves like what you`re seeing right now, ocean waves, like that except in Hawaii.
Gary, you`ve covered a lot of hurricanes and a lot of storms. What makes these waves so different?
TUCHMAN: Well, it is a lot about this storm that`s different. First of all, yes, the waves are -- have just been immense. I mean we`ve seen 20 to 25-foot waves behind us here on Rehoboth Beach. But what`s also something we`ve never experienced before is we frankly have never been this cold covering a hurricane. Traditionally the hurricane season starts June 1st, ends November 30th. It`s very rare to see a powerful hurricane in October or November.
And the wind chill right now is probably in the upper 30s. So we`re walking around in water trying to get shots. We`re actually quite cold. It feels like a combination of a winter storm and a summer storm. And in a sense that`s exactly what it`s been. This has been a very unusual hurricane.
What`s frightening about any hurricane we`ve covered, Nancy, is we don`t really find out until a day or two or three later about the casualties, about people who may have died, people, we haven`t heard the final numbers. So we`re hoping for the best because what`s so concerning about this storm is how it worked its way up the east coast and it affected all the major population centers in the northeast, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York City. Norfolk.
So that`s the concern. And then the end results of the storm are going to the Midwest, too, Columbus, Cleveland, even Chicago, Lake Michigan is supposed to get some effects from this in the next day or two. This is affecting so many people throughout this nation.
GRACE: Gary Tuchman, how many people have evacuated there at Rehoboth Beach?
TUCHMAN: Yes. Very impressive to see. There`s almost nobody walking around this town. Like I said, year-round there are 1300 people here but there are always people on vacation. So you have thousands of people here in Rehoboth. There`s lots of beautiful stores and quaint hotels. It`s a very charming place to visit.
There`s almost nobody here except for members of the news media and the police. And that`s impressive. People took this very seriously as well they should.
GRACE: Joining me also, Ryan Smith with HLN`s "EVENING EXPRESS." He`s right in the center at Battery Park.
Ryan, tell me what you`re seeing.
RYAN SMITH, HLN`S EVENING EXPRESS: Well, Nancy, the big problem in this somewhat residential area right at the tip of Manhattan, it was the wind and the rain earlier. Winds whipping around 50 miles an hour. But now it`s the flooding.
Nancy, I want to show you this. The water level is about 13 feet. And as I walk out, this is the middle of a park in Battery Park. Just a couple of hours ago it was lush, green, people were walking around. Now you can see the water is coming all the way up to my knees. And if we turn the camera over there, it`s flooding over the side of the river bank right here that`s right around the Hudson River.
Now the problem with this flooding is it`s not only, Nancy, possibly electrical problems. They`ve already had power outages all over this area. It`s also --
GRACE: Wait a minute, Ryan. Wait, wait, wait, wait.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: You`re standing there in Battery Park down by the Hudson and the water has come up out of the Hudson River? You`re standing in what was a park?
SMITH: Yes. Yes. Standing right in a park. And you`re seeing this water come up, and it`s three feet higher than the previous record, all the way back from the `60s. That`s how high the water level is here in Battery Park.
GRACE: You were saying something about electrical problems?
SMITH: That`s right. As the water comes up and floods, I talked to Commissioner Ray Kelly a little bit earlier for the NYPD. He said as the water level comes up one of the problems you have is, will it disrupt the electrical systems. Con Edison is shutting down power in different areas because they don`t want to damage their equipment. But that leaves you in a catch 22. Folks who are still down here might have power issues and if the water continues to flood it could become more and more dangerous and possibly cause other problems with the power.
GRACE: Joining me right now, you see Ryan in Battery Park. Also Gary Tuchman at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
We are taking your calls. But I want to go back to Bernie Rayno, senior meteorologist, AccuWeather.com.
Bernie, for those just joining us give me an overview.
RAYNO: Well, again, we had Hurricane Sandy make landfall just south of Atlantic City last half hour or so. We`ve been looking at the pictures and the videos of the catastrophic storm surge that is occurring not only along the New Jersey coast, not only in the Maryland and Delaware beaches but also up towad New York City.
What makes this storm historic, Nancy, is also the track. Coming into the east. And that`s why we`re getting all of that water pushed into Battery Park.
Take a look at the radar. It`s not only the storm surge now on the western side of the storm. We have the torrential rains falling. Baltimore, Washington, Pittsburgh, across Pennsylvania, and along with this rain we`re getting wind gusts of 40 to 60 miles per hour from New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., all the way back into Pennsylvania.
GRACE: Back to Ellie. Ellie, I understand the latest number is more than 2.8 million people without power.
JOSTAD: Right, Nancy.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Frankenstorm Sandy.
JOSTAD: That`s right. Just a jump in those numbers. That`s 11 states affected, including Washington, D.C. 2.8 million without power. And that number has just gone up in the last couple of minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This is the big one, folks. We`ve got our eye on Hurricane Sandy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m pretty sure we`re going to be without power and all that stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks like it`s going to be a pretty bad storm.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A lot of people leaving their homes, having to evacuate --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How worried are people in this community?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m very concerned.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are live and taking your calls. I want to go straight out. Joining me right now, Christopher Vaccaro, spokesman from NOAA`s National Weather Service.
Christopher, thank you for being with us. Weigh in.
CHRISTOPHER VACCARO, SPOKESMAN, NOAA`S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: As all your other guests have been saying, this is just a colossal storm that`s been so diverse from the coastal storm surge flooding which continues to the heavy rainfall that will produce flooding and river flooding for the next several hours and even days. And even the rainfall`s reaching as far west as Detroit, Michigan, and Ohio.
This storm is colossal. And then also when you get into the Appalachians, into West Virginia, especially, heavy snowfall will accumulate two to three feet. And you factor in the winds, you have a blizzard. So it`s just a tremendous storm, and we`re really urging people to stay indoors at this point. All of your preparations should be completed, and you should be in safe shelter riding out this storm.
We`re only about halfway through this storm. We have at least another 24 hours before things begin to ease up a bit.
GRACE: To you, Steve Bayer, national spokesman for the Red Cross, you`re at a shelter right now on Long Island. How far away are you from Manhattan? And tell me the conditions there.
STEVE BAYER, NATIONAL SPOKESMAN, RED CROSS: Nancy, we`re about 30 miles, 32 miles from ground -- from the Battery Park. And the conditions here are very, very windy and very, very rainy. We`re hoping for a little bit of letup in the next couple of hours.
GRACE: And what is the shelter providing for people that come there?
BAYER: Well, people who come here are -- are offered meals. Tonight we served them Italian food, things like that. For lunch we served them sandwiches. They`re entitled to a cot, they`re entitled to a blanket, and they`re entitled to peace and a safe place to be. They`re also able to take a shower because this is a university athletic facility. And so we have locker rooms, men and women`s locker rooms. And we offer these people the chance to take a shower and change their clothes, which in many cases is going to be more important as the day goes on.
GRACE: Everyone, we are now in touch with the Red Cross, who of course is on the ground at this hour. Lady Liberty, the Statue of Liberty, goes dark. There are cars floating down Wall Street, water rescues under way.
Out to you, Tom Sater. Water rescues?
SATER: Well, yes. And most likely they will continue to occur. I mean I don`t know the statistics on this, Nancy, but if you figure for every eight to 10 phone calls that are made to emergency services there must be one water rescue. And this is going to be the beginning.
Think of all the hundreds of command centers and municipalities and small towns, the tens of thousands of first responders and emergency workers out there that are going to be working for days on end. Yes, there will be water rescues. We`ve had rainfall totals in the last 48 hours, six inches in Dover, 7.7 in west -- Cape May. Over eight inches in Rehoboth and Atlantic City. It was a record in Atlantic City, by the way. Went back to 1908.
But the amounts of rainfall that will continue -- you asked me earlier what was my greatest fear. And if I was to talk about the forecast in my greatest fear is remember the last time, Nancy, we chatted it was Hurricane Isaac in Mississippi, Louisiana, the system stalled. So in the next, say, three days the amounts of rain that you see here and the storm surge problems, even though that may subside, my greatest fear is that the storm system slows down, bogs down in Pennsylvania before it moves towards eastern Canada.
We`re talking about unbelievable amounts of rainfall. We`re looking at an inch an hour for 24 hours. A rapid rise in your streams and your rivers. Water lapping at not only over the banks but at doors and of course several, several hundreds of thousands live there. Not to mention the power outage. Sure, we`re looking at five to 10 inches with isolated 10 already in the Delmarva area, but it`s going to be Pennsylvania. It`s going to be up to New York. So that is a concern.
And there will be water rescues. There`s no doubt about it. Can you imagine when the winds start blowing and it downs a power line and someone sees the transformer catch fire? I mean, these are all going to lead to calls to emergency personnel.
GRACE: And speaking of, out to Mike Brooks, HLN law enforcement analyst, former police detective, and fire chief.
Mike, thank you for being with me tonight. Mike, hundreds of thousands out of power already. All right? And it`s just starting. How does that infect -- how does that affect law enforcement`s ability to do their jobs?
MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST; FMR. D.C. POLICE DET., FBI TERRORISM TASK FORCE: Well, you know, when you`re going to lose power, Nancy, you lose alarm systems. You lose a lot of other things. You lose street lights. So, you know, that really hampers law enforcement. But most cities along the East Coast, from D.C. all the way to Boston, they have probably double what they usually have on duty and are working very closely with the fire departments.
And, you know, Nancy, you talk about a water rescue. Right now in Brooklyn they are having to rescue one of their own. Fire station 206 at 201 Grand Avenue in Brooklyn is being flooded. They`re having to rescue those firefighters with boats. But they have seven swift water rescue teams that they have in place as part of their plan for this, Nancy. So they`re being taxed to the maximum. And also with water rescues in Rockaway Beach and other parts of Brooklyn.
But they were ready for it, and -- but they`re being taxed. You know, with the crane incident, incident down in Chelsea with the building collapse, and a three-alarm fire going on right now on City Island in the Bronx. They`re being taxed. But you know, they`re not going anywhere. They`re going to be there. They`re going to have people call 911.
GRACE: Everybody, we are live right now as Sandy hits. The eye of the storm now hovering. To Jeffrey Tomlin, joining me. Transportation expert.
Jeffrey, thank you for being with us. You know, when I heard the trains were down in New York, I mean, my father`s a railroad man. I knew that -- I then knew it was bad. Explain to me the biggest threat to transportation and why that`s so serious.
JEFFREY TOMLIN, TRANSPORTATION EXPERT: I think the biggest threat, Nancy, is the fact that all transportation systems are being affected. Whether you want to be on the road or in a train or in a subway or in a tunnel or whether you`re trying to move freight or deal with shipping, it is all going to be shut down and it`s going to be shut down for days.
GRACE: Why the flight delays?
TOMLIN: Well, the flight delays are happening, well, all over the country, and in fact much of the world right now, which is because so many of the flights and global traffic pass through New York, Washington, Philadelphia, and other cities. Many of our airports are low-lying facilities, LaGuardia, JFK, are sitting just a few feet above sea level. So those airports are closed for flooding.
The rest of the air system is being shut down because of the severity of the winds. It`s affecting every mode of transportation.
GRACE: Jeffrey, I understand that water is now on the landing strips at JFK. Explain.
TOMLIN: That`s right. The JFK airfield is low-lying, as are many of our nation`s airports. When the storm surge came in, it swamped the entire airfield. And that`s going to be creating not only temporary damage but potentially, depending upon the severity of the surge, long-lasting damage to those airfields. The airline crews will have to be out there inspecting. Yes.
GRACE: Jeffrey Tomlin is joining in, everybody, and taking your calls. Explain to me how rain or water makes a railroad shut down.
TOMLIN: Well, as we saw in Hurricane Irene in Vermont, we know that some of the most dramatic damage is going to be a result of storm surge. But perhaps the greatest damage is actually going to be as a result of the wind and rain. Bringing down trees, many of which still have their leaves. Cutting of the electrical wires that are powering the train systems in the northeast. And very importantly, urban flooding that`s going to be undermining potentially the many, many, many small bridges that will be affected.
GRACE: At this hour more than 2.8 million without power due to Superstorm Sandy, 2.8 million outages in 11 states and D.C.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It just continues to get worse. Seems by the minute. We`re just taking a pounding here.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Conditions are just worsening by the hour.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Madison Pier. Look at the waves out there. That`s what Hurricane Sandy is doing and it`s way off shore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Dennis Sherrod, storm chaser, extreme weather videographer.
Dennis, thanks for being with us. Where are you and what do you see?
DENNIS SHERROD, STORM CHASER, EXTREME WEATHER VIDEOGRAPHER: I`m out on the island. Right now I am at the Valleys Casino in the middle of the road. The water has come up and over the roads across much of Atlantic City. It continues to rise slowly. It`s not as bad as New York, it doesn`t seem. But all the roads here are going underwater. The evacuation route is now closed off. And it`s my understanding that part of the boardwalk has been destroyed also.
GRACE: Tell me, is there anybody else around? Or are you pretty much the only guy out there?
SHERROD: It`s starting to look like I`m the only one out here. I`ve seen only police -- and fire department and some city workers. And other than that, it appears I`m the only one out here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Monster of a storm.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The rain is certainly coming down.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Right now it`s windy, it`s blustery.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Heavier pelting like almost sleet hitting me in the face.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It`s so important for us to respond big and respond fast as local information starts coming in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re telling everyone who are in low-lying areas in Jersey City that they should ASAP relocate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need people to leave. We`ll protect the property. They have to leave.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Heeding the warning and we`re going. And I`m hoping that I have a house when I come back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kind of scared.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our biggest concern is always the ocean breaching that dune.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re not expecting floods coming up but we have sandbags here just in case.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Water, toilet paper, paper towels, paper plates, paper cups, flash lights.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are nervous. We`ve loaded up with water, batteries, and maskin tape, duct tape.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We do have a water issue in the basement sometimes. So we just came -- I came down to grab a couple of sandbags.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Preparation, whatever we can do to minimize any damage to homes and the city in general.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: At this hour 2.8 million without power as Sandy hits land. Seawater rushing into battery tunnel at this hour.
Ellie, what can you tell me?
JOSTAD: Some more flooding reports in lower Manhattan. Especially now in New York City all the MTA bridges and tunnels are now closed. We`ve heard a report that seawater is actually rushing into the Brooklyn battery tunnel. That`s the tunnel that goes from south Brooklyn to the tip of Manhattan.
We`re also hearing about flooding in several subway stations. Looks to me like most are in lower Manhattan. However, one of these, Clark Street, that is in Brooklyn. The F lines affected two and three. This is the thing that they`re really concerned about, was the possibility of water in those subway stations.
GRACE: And, Ellie, why is that so dangerous that the water is going into the subway stations?
JOSTAD: Well, the sea water can cause damage to those tracks, to the equipment, switching systems. And that was the warning is the worry was that if we got water in those subway stations, that there would be traffic problems, subway shutdowns for days after the storm.
END
