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FL Governor: No Excuses, Get Out; NOAA Hurricane Hunters Return From Mission With Info; Nearly Everyone Agrees that Mike Pence Won the V.P. Debate. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 06, 2016 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:00:21] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

No excuses, get out. Florida's Governor, just minutes ago, saying if you're in the evacuation zone, time is running out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: There are excuses. You need to leave. Evacuate, evacuate, evacuate. Are you willing to take a chance to risk your life? Are you willing to take a gamble? That's what you're doing. If you're reluctant to evacuate, just think of all the people the storm has already killed. You and your family could be one of these numbers if you don't take this seriously.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. You and I know that the Governor is talking about. Hurricane Matthew's velocity is incredible. This is a live picture from Nassau in the Bahamas where the storm is now roaring ashore. This massive storm likely to be a Category 4 when it makes landfall in Florida overnight.

And as of now, Florida is bracing for a direct hit. Eleven million people now under a hurricane warning in Florida, which extends from the Florida Keys all the way into Georgia. Some 2 million people urged to evacuate and that means gridlock, so roadways clogged in south Florida.

In South Carolina where the likely impact is still two days away, officials have begun lane reversals so highways will only lead away from the coast. Some gas stations have already run dry and many grocery stores are out of stock. The shelves are bare.

CNN's Nick Valencia and Boris Sanchez are along Florida's east coast. Let's begin with you, Nick. Good morning.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. We have been out here since 5:00 a.m. this morning, and the winds are as strong as ever. Those conditions expected to worsen in the coming hours. The state and local officials have talked all about this, and some people have taken the necessary precautions.

You could see here this building that immediately faces Palm Beach, some of those residences have shuttered up their windows. Others haven't taken the warnings seriously. The Governor talked about this.

This specific area is under a mandatory evacuation. Residents are expected to be out of here by 11:00 a.m. Even some residents, though, that we've spoken to say they're planning on sticking it out. Earlier at a press conference, the Governor was clear and deliberate in his language of why he thinks it's a bad idea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT: Forecasts project five to nine feet. Now, this is five to nine feet above where you're standing. Stop and think about that, five to nine feet. That doesn't include the waves on top of that. This is five to nine feet of water. It will be over your head. Do not surf. Do not go on the beach. This will kill you.

These are all projections. It could be much worse. Time is running out. We are preparing for the worst, we're hoping for the best. And no one should take any chances.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Governor Scott talking about beaches like the one we're standing at right here, Palm Beach. Just check out those waves. Those waves have managed to swell a lot higher than we expected them to at this hour.

On a normal day, that beach would be pretty packed. But back there in the distance, Carol, that's where that hurricane is expected to come up from as it makes its way up from Haiti towards this spot where we're standing right now. That's expected to happen sometime later this evening. Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Nick Valencia reporting live for us from West Palm Beach this morning. Thanks so much.

Now, I want to bring in Ian Sears. He's a meteorologist and flight director with the NOAA Hurricane Hunters. He was aboard the aircraft that just flew into the hurricane. Welcome, Ian.

Ian, are you there?

IAN SEARS, METEOROLOGIST AND FLIGHT DIRECTOR, NOAA HURRICANE HUNTERS: I'm here.

COSTELLO: OK. Ian, so you just flew near the hurricane? Describe what you did earlier this morning.

SEARS: Hi. Yes, so I'm having a hard time hearing you. So let me tell you kind of a little bit about what we've done this morning. We've sampled the atmosphere around Hurricane Matthew this morning, trying to help the National Hurricane Center and the National Weather Service really pinpoint where Hurricane Matthew is going to be and how strong it's going to be when it gets there.

We've been flying, and you've probably heard a lot about the low tropical ridge. We've sampled that. We sampled the hurricane this morning, and we're really just trying to figure out how strong it is, how big is it going to be when it gets to wherever it's going to go, and help the Hurricane Center figure out exactly where it's going to go to.

Everybody in harm's way can, you know, listen to their emergency managers and their local officials and get out of the way of harm if, indeed, Hurricane Matthew is coming their direction.

[09:05:06] COSTELLO: So we heard the Florida Governor say this morning that Palm Beach may get a direct hit from this hurricane and that the winds will be so fierce that those winds could kill you. Is he right?

SEARS: The winds are very strong, and it's the debris of things blowing around that can definitely injure you and even kill you if you are in harm's way. So it's best to listen to your local officials and get out of harm's way if it sounds like Hurricane Matthew is coming your way.

And right now, the entire eastern coast of Florida from about West Palm Beach north is definitely under the gun right now.

COSTELLO: I'd like my director to bring in Chad Myers into this conversation because he can ask you more intelligent questions than I can. So what should we be asking Ian, Chad, about the latest information that he's been collecting?

CHAD MYERS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Ian, quickly, were you in the Gulf Stream?

SEARS: No. This morning, we sampled the southern edge of the storm, and then we've gone out to the east to see how strong the ridge is that is pushing Hurricane Matthew towards Florida and seeing if there's anything that's out there that's going to weaken that ridge that may be --

MYERS: So, Ian Sears. He was out there he was out there in this aircraft, a propeller plane because you don't fly jets into the storm itself because the plane can go out if the wind goes wrong, and he was sampling to tell us whether our models are correct or not, whether the big high pressure that is so far pushing the storm this way, whether that is actually right or not.

And so far it has been moving to the west. And that is the issue that we've been seeing all day long and all night long, is that the storm is getting closer and closer to Miami, closer and closer to the Florida east coast. Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. Chad, hold on. I know that you can't hear Ian any longer, but I do want to bring Ian back in. They lost connection with one another.

So, Ian, Chad was asking you about the Gulf Stream. What can you tell us about that?

SEARS: So the Gulf Stream is an area of extremely warm water that can provide Hurricane Matthew with the fuel to maintain its intensity and maybe even get a little bit stronger.

So as it's approaching Florida, it's going to be crossing the Gulf Stream. Fortunately, as it moves north, the Gulf Stream kind of veers off to the east a little bit, and there's some cooler waters kind of off this coast of Jacksonville.

Unfortunately, that may be a little too little too late because the winds of Hurricane Matthew are going to push water onshore, and there will be wind damage and the damage will be done by that point.

COSTELLO: So everybody's saying this is a Category 4 storm. This could be the worst hit that Florida's taken in quite some time. Are they right about that? How dangerous could this storm be?

SEARS: This is a dangerous storm. And so my message, again, is to listen to your emergency manager. Listen to the National Weather Service in your local area. Pay attention to what they're asking you to do if you're in harm's way. If you're under a mandatory evacuation, listen because, you know, we've got a crew out here of like 19 boats trying to provide the best information so the National Hurricane Center can give the best forecast possible.

And so to make, you know, what we're doing worthwhile, we just hope that everybody listens in today's day and make some really good choices when it comes to keeping them and their families safe.

COSTELLO: Now, just the last question because I'm really curious because I think what you do is very brave. So as you fly close to the hurricane center, how does it feel in that plane?

SEARS: You know, when we're flying through a hurricane and we're going through the eye wall, it can be violent at times. But we have a really good plan. We've done this a lot. We have really good pilots, really good flight engineers and navigators and a good group of technicians and maintainers that take care of our airplane.

And so when we're flying through, we go through with a really good plan. We've done this a lot of times. And we kind of just hang on and let the turbulence take us where it's going to take us. We have altitude on our side so we're not going to get pushed into the water or anything like that, but it's like a pretty violent roller coaster at times.

COSTELLO: Oh, I can't even imagine. Ian Sears, thanks for keeping us informed and trying to keep us safe. We do appreciate it.

OK. Let's head back to the Weather Center and Chad. You can hear everybody again. So, Chad, who is in the danger zone? Who needs to get out right now?

[09:09:50] MYERS: Wow, Carol, 12 million people. And I don't know how we do that at this point in time, but this storm will make an eye wall landfall. Whether the center of the eye stays offshore, there will be enough wind along the coast of 115 to maybe 145 miles per hour with that eye wall right on shore, that anyone from Fort Pierce to Stuart to India Atlantic Beach to Daytona to New Smyrna, all the way up the cost, this is a Category 4 hurricane.

The eye is getting smaller right now. The pressure is going down, which means the storm is still strengthening. And this is where the forecast cone is supposed to be, from Fort Pierce right up all the way to Cape Canaveral. And by tomorrow afternoon, still 130.

Now, remember, down here, the max winds are 145. So 140, 135, 130, everyone along that Atlantic Beach area will be scoured with this wind. There can't be anyone in a mobile home at all anywhere within, I would say, 10 miles of the ocean because nothing will be there with some of these storms if you get that direct hit.

Some buildings will be stronger than others. There will be power outages for days, maybe weeks. There will be so many people without power there's no reason to stay there. If you can grab a car, grab, you know, a ride from someone else to get on the other side of the state to find a friend or a hotel or even, you know, a school over there on the west side. They're going to start to open some shelters on the other side of the state to get people that are trying to get away from this storm out of there.

Here you go. This is Friday afternoon. It is now pounding St. Augustine and Jacksonville, and eventually will even pound Charleston as the day goes on. A lesser storm sure, 100 miles per hour, but still enough. I mean, that's still the equal to an EF1 tornado all the way up the east coast, carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Chad Myers, we'll get back to you. Thank you so much.

With me now on the phone is the Mayor of Miami beach, Philip Levine. Welcome, Mr. Mayor.

MAYOR PHILIP LEVINE, MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: How many people have heeded the warnings and gotten to safety?

LEVINE: In Miami Beach, a lot. I mean, obviously we do not have a mandatory evacuation right now in Miami Beach, but we expect to get some very, very strong winds.

We're already seeing the weather picking up, and there's rain as well. Our schools are closed. We closed the actual beaches on Miami Beach. Our fire department, our police department, our emergency operations are on full alert, fully staffed at this point. And we just tell everyone at this point to stay inside, make sure that you're heeding all the warnings. Stay off the beaches.

And next 24 hours are going to be the most important. And, of course we're here to stand by the rest of the state of Florida to help and assist any way possible.

COSTELLO: So Governor Rick Scott says, you know, get out now. Do not wait, and yet some people stay. So what kind of psychology is at play here? LEVINE: Well, I think the Governor's warnings should be heed. He's

100 percent correct. Now, obviously, in Miami Beach and Miami right now, we do not have that kind of evacuation, but anything can change.

I mean, you know, this storm is moving up the coast, expects to hit Florida not in Miami-Dade county. But, hey, as we know with Hurricane Andrew, other hurricanes, things can change on a dime. So we're telling everyone to stay informed, be vigilant and our entire operations department out there is with our people.

And of course at this point, tell them to stay inside, Carol.

COSTELLO: Mayor Philip Levine, thanks so much for joining me this morning. Emergency declarations stretching all the way up the coast. For those not evacuating, they're hunkering down. Bare store shore shelves in Columbia, South Carolina as shop owners in Charleston board up windows. We caught up with a few businesses on Georgia's coast, too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN CHERRY, WORKS ON GEORGIA'S COST: We've got water, we've got adult beverages. We're going to hunker down and ride this thing out. We're boarding up the coffee shop with OSB boards to protect windows. Most of the employees have left for the week.

JONATHAN COOPER, WORKS ON GEORGIA'S COAST: Kind of more preparation, kind of prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

TYLER CAROL, WORKS ON GEORGIA'S COST: OK. So we're going to take the boards, we're going to put them up. We're going to turn them -- put them right in front of the windows and the high board and screw them in to protect from any debris that could be flying around. It's better to be safe than sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: In just about 15 minutes, the South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is expected to hold a news conference. Of course, we'll bring that to you live when it starts.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, round two for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump just days away. How the candidates are preparing for their St. Louis showdown, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:18:31] COSTELLO: All right. This is a live shot that we're taking. Is this from Fort Lauderdale? This is from the Bahamas.

So, this is taken from the balcony, obviously, of one of the reporters' hotel rooms. It's really bad at the Bahamas right now. That's where hurricane Matthew is bearing down.

Of course, we're expecting it to make landfall in Florida late tonight, early Friday morning. We don't know which. But there have been mandatory evacuation orders in parts of Florida, and Palm Beach.

Also in Fort Lauderdale, they're going to close down the airport in just about an hour in Fort Lauderdale. So please, please, please, if you have an evacuation order from your local authorities, get out now. This storm is a monster.

All right. We'll keep you posted throughout the two hours here on NEWSROOM. But let's talk a little politics right now, shall we?

With just three days until their next face-off, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are digging in on debate prep. Clinton is taking a step back from campaigning to practice with advisers, while Trump is set to do a town hall event tonight in New Hampshire. Both coming as their running mates speak out on their showdowns earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Whatever I was able to do the other night, Donald Trump won the debate. Donald Trump's vision to make America great again won the debate. And I couldn't be more honored to have been at that table, to be articulating his vision.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We saw a debate two nights ago where his own running mate sort of threw him under the bus. Yes, I'm sure the Trump campaign is not happy with that debate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK.

[09:20:00] Still, nearly everyone says Mike Pence won the V.P. debate and Tim Kaine lost, unless, Kaine's goal was not a blue ribbon. As "The Washington Post" put it this morning, Kaine's mission was to goad Pence in compelling sound bites that the Clinton camp would, quote, "weaponize".

So, let's talk about that. With me now Patricia Murphy a columnist for "The Daily Beast" and "Roll Call", and Greg Bluestein is a political reporter for "The Atlanta Journal Constitution".

Welcome to both of you.

Thanks for being here.

So, Patricia, Tim Kaine did use attack lines to get Mike Pence to say certain things. And then the Clinton camp then used pence's words from that debate to create this ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAINE: Let's start with not praising Vladimir Putin as a great leader. Donald Trump and Mike Pence have said he's a great leader. And Donald Trump has --

PENCE: No, we haven't. DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Putin's been very strong

leader for Russia.

PENCE: Vladimir Putin has been a stronger leader in his country than Barack Obama has been in this country.

KAINE: Donald Trump didn't know that Russia had invaded the Crimea.

TRUMP: He's not going to go into Ukraine. All right. You can mark it down. You can put it down. You can take it any way you want.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's already there, isn't he?

KAINE: Donald Trump has said it. Deportation force, they want to go house to house, school to school, business to business. And kick out 16 million people. And I cannot --

PENCE: That's nonsense.

TRUMP: You're going to have a deportation force.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. So, Patricia, 37 million viewers watched that V.P. debate. But this ad will be seen by select voters in certain states. So, what's more valuable? Winning the debate? Or creating ads like this?

PATRICIA MURPHY, THE DAILY BEAST: Well, I think that winning the debate, for sure, is more important for Mike Pence. And in a debate you usually do win it on style and we saw that Mike Pence's style was a lot stronger than Tim Kaine's in the moment.

However, if it really was Tim Kaine's strategy to just goad Mike Pence into saying things that weren't actually true about Donald Trump, he really did do a terrific job. Pence was super strong. He's very calm. Had a great demeanor.

However, those of us who were watching it did notice a glaring fact that the man he was talking about as his running mate bear very little resemblance to the man he's actually running against on substance. So he said, oh, Donald Trump never said that. I don't know what you're talking about Tim Kaine.

And then when you see the Clinton campaign splice these contradictions up one after the other after the other, for an undecided voter, for somebody who took in Mike Pence's performance as something very important to them, this is an excellent way, a very strong way of undercutting that performance.

Performance is great. Substance is deeply problematic.

COSTELLO: OK. So, Greg, you agree?

GREG BLUESTEIN, POLITICAL REPORTER, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: It's really, really hard for Mike Pence to stand up there and deny what Donald Trump's saying when there's YouTube clips readily available. I think that -- I watched the entire vice presidential debate because I was paid to do so.

I'm not sure how many undecided voters watched the entire 90 minute clip but many of them will be seeing, especially in key battleground states will be seeing this 90-second clip from the Clinton campaign. So, I think it will pay long-term dividends for the Clinton campaign.

COSTELLO: Patricia, the other thing that this ad it's not using an announcer or Hillary Clinton's voice. Voice, Donald Trump's voice, and then Tim Kaine's voice. So, you say that that is effective.

Why -- why isn't the Trump campaign doing something similar?

MURPHY: We don't know why the Trump campaign does what it does. We really don't. Probably, because at least Hillary Clinton's performance was excellent. There are not too many holes you could poke in her performance.

And Tim Kaine, if we're going to -- if anybody is going to quarrel over what Tim Kaine did in the way he was acting, those are to be Trump supporters. I don't think there's a lot of value in splicing and dicing up what Tim Kaine said or didn't say because the substance was pretty much on the mark.

But we have seen the Clinton campaign again and again, their strongest weapon against Donald Trump is Donald Trump. And this is another example of that. He sells himself to voters in one way. Even his own supporters say I don't think he meant that. That's not really what he said.

I see it at his own events again and again. They tell me Donald Trump didn't say what he just did. And so the Clinton campaign is frustrated with that. And this is how they damaged him, with his own words. Quite effective I think.

COSTELLO: So this town hall debate is coming Sunday. The Trump campaign has added this late ad. It's a town hall. Maybe with a moderator. And it's sort of a practice run for Trump in preparation for Sunday.

So, what does that say to you, Greg?

BLUESTEIN: Well, it says he's taken the preparation seriously this time around. Tune-up tonight's town hall meeting in New Hampshire. And his campaign has been saying over and over again that he's preparing very seriously that he's constantly preparing is the words his campaign manager said.

He actually -- I mean town hall format is perfect for him. Energy, feeds off the crowd.

[09:20:01] And so if he was going to make a sort of debate comeback, Sunday night would be the night.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Patricia Murphy, Greg Bluestein, thanks to clothe of you.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump return to the stage for that second presidential debate live coverage starts Sunday 4:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN. Still to come, these are pictures out of Nassau, the Bahamas. Hurricane Matthew slamming the island and it's straightening.

Moments from now, South Carolina's governor set to speak. We'll take you live to that press conference, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Hurricane Matthew bearing down on Florida, sending ripples of fear all along the southeast coast.

These are live pictures you're seeing out of the Bahamas. Hurricane Matthew already being felt there.

In moments, we're going to hear from the South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley because they are waiting the effects of the storm there. She'll begin a news conference.