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Matthew Heads Towards Florida as Category 4 Hurricane; Florida Residents Evacuate Ahead of Hurricane Matthew; Residents in Charleston, SC, Board Up, Evacuate; 30 Former GOP Lawmakers Vow Not to Vote Trump. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 06, 2016 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00] CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: So when Bay St. Louis and Pass Christian and Biloxi got blasted with the 25-foot wall of water, that's what all the damage came from. The water came up in Lake Pontchartrain, failed on the levees on the back side, not the river side, on the back side where Lake Pontchartrain is attached to New Orleans, and that's where New Orleans flooded. So the surge came from the previous strength of the storm when it was in the loop current, before it lowered itself down to category 4. We don't think about Katrina as a wind damage storm. There was some. But we think about Katrina as a flood event, a storm surge event. Katrina killed people because the water came in. It didn't kill that many people because they were hit by flying debris.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I remember it well.

All right, thanks very much. We're going to get back to you, Chad.

Depending on, of course, Hurricane Matthew comes in, the devastation could be unlike anything we've seen in years.

Joining us on the phone, Florida Senator Bill Nelson, who is in the Orlando area.

Senator, thanks. I know you're incredibly busy.

Is Florida ready for the worst right now?

SEN. BILL NELSON, (D), FLORIDA (voice-over): We are. I have enlisted a number of energy operation centers. I'm just arriving at the one in Orange County, which is Orlando, and they're prepared. The president just signed the pre-event emergency declaration. That puts more resources and supplies being prepositioned.

But, Wolf, we're looking at a monster. The last real monster we had in Florida, certainly, Charley in 2004, but the real monster was 1992, Hurricane Andrew. Remember what kind of devastation it wracked south of Miami in a relatively unpopulated area and it still do so much damage.

BLITZER: So what do you need right now? The president has signed this emergency declaration. What else do you need now to brace for this, Senator? NELSON: We need, at the end of the day, a lot of prayer. If this

thing will just glance off the coast to Cape Canaveral, it will certainly tear up the coast, and the storm surge up to nine feet, you combine that with high tide, that's going to be quite a wall of water. And just like you were describing Katrina with the breaking of the levees, lo and behold, what we have here is a storm surge coming right off the Atlantic Ocean, which could be absolutely devastating. He will not only come straight over the dune line, but it will fill up all the inland waters that, in fact -- such as the Indian River Lagoon. So people will get some storm surge even if they're not right on the ocean.

BLITZER: Senator Nelson, good luck to you. Good luck to everyone in Florida and up the east coast of the United States. What a monster this storm is already.

Thank you very much for joining us.

NELSON: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, we're going to have much more on the breaking news. This massive hurricane is barreling towards the United States right now. At least 26 million people under hurricane watches or warnings as we speak. Take a look at live pictures Jacksonville, Florida, and from the Bahamas right now as well. Traffic is heading away from the area in Florida. Understandably, these pictures are from Jacksonville. You see most of the cars moving away, away from the coast right now.

Florida Congressman Pat Murphy is standing by. He'll join us live when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:38:14] BLITZER: Let's get back to the breaking news coverage right now. Hurricane Matthew, we're following it very closely. A category 4 storm with winds of at least 140 miles per hour. It's heading towards the east coast of Florida.

Our own Sara Sidner spoke to a business owner boarding up his business.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL MYARA, CRUISIN CAFE BAR AND GRILL: The barricade for the hurricane. Get ready before it gets here.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Your not staying open, are you?

MYARA: Yes, we are.

SIDNER: Seriously?

MYARA: Seriously.

SIDNER: Aren't you worried? MYARA: Worried of what? What is going to happen? Worse than this?

We can't do more. We're going to try to hunker down here. It's safer than my house.

SIDNER: How much work is it going to be to get this place as safe as possible?

MYARA: It's been almost three days. We're working on it. We have to do the whole thing, the whole sign and everything. The problem is finding wood. That's the biggest problem to find the plywood. I mean, we're looking at --

(CROSSTALK)

SIDNER: Were they running at right now?

MYARA: About $15 a sheet for 40 now.

SIDNER: Whoa.

(CROSSTALK)

SIDNER: How long have you been here?

MYARA: 25 years.

SIDNER: 25 years?

MYARA: Yes, and we've been through a lot of them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are we doing it? Do you want to (INAUDIBLE)?

MYARA: We've been through every single one of them. This one, I know it's going to be a bad one.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Good luck to Daniel.

Congressman Patrick Murphy represents Florida's 18th district, an area right in the path of this storm. He's joining us via Skype from Palm Beach Gardens just south of Jupiter.

Congressman, you know that area is supposedly going to be hit really, really hard where you are right now. What are you bracing for?

[13:39:53] REP. PATRICK MURPHY, (D), FLORIDA: Yes, Wolf, well, thank you. I was just at the Martin County Emergency Operations Center with our governor -- that is just north of Jupiter -- talking to the officials there. We are preparing for the worst. Most folks in Florida, I don't think have eve seen a storm like we're going to get. Most of the storms as you know cut across the state of Florida. This is perhaps going to be the worst-case scenario where it makes landfall around the Palm Beach area and heads up to Jacksonville as a category 4. That will be catastrophic. We're urging everybody that can still leave to please evacuate. Do

not mess around. Don't try to be a hero. Get on the road. The roads are clear. The roads are safe. The tolls have been waived. Get to a safe location.

BLITZER: What's the biggest dangerous fear? People not heeding the warnings to evacuate? Thinking they can simply ride it out?

MURPHY: Yes, unfortunately, a lot of folks think it's going to be a big thunderstorm or aren't quite prepared for what the sea level rise will be, what the storm surge will be like, what the winds will be like, what it's like to lose power. And beyond that, what happens right after the storm, when there are so many downed power lines. It makes for a very dangerous circumstance. A lot of folks have been, unfortunately, killed post storm.

I remember as a child growing up in the Florida Keys when Hurricane Andrew hit and the devastation we felt there. This could be as bad if not worse.

So we hope people evacuate. There's no reason to be here. Get your pets, get your animals, board up your house and get on the road immediately.

BLITZER: A lot of people presumably can't do that whether they're elderly or handicapped. What can you do for them?

MURPHY: I was actually just at a shelter a little while ago. Most of the shelters have been opened up. Most of them, so far, about 50 percent capacity. They all have room for people. Call a family member, call your local law enforcement. They have firefighters on standby to give people rides. The shelters are open. They have food. They have generators. They're prepared to handle a lot of folks.

BLITZER: Florida Governor Rick Scott has activated 3,500 members of the Florida National Guard. What is their major assignment?

MURPHY: Yes, well, it's, number one, for life safety. We'll also be ready to hand out water, to hand out tarps, to be prepared right after this system. Tomorrow morning, early, this storm should be out of the Palm Beach area and heading up the coast. They'll be there on stand by. And some storms, we've had looting, so they have to be prepared to protect the businesses and families. God forbid it becomes that bad.

But we are going to stay in touch with the administration. I was told that the president did approve resources for this storm. We are grateful for that. And I think we're going to need all the help we can get from the federal, state and local governments working together.

BLITZER: All right. Congressman Pat Murphy, in Florida, good luck to you. I know you're right there in the bull's-eye where this storm is likely to hit.

Thanks so much for joining us. MURPHY: Thank you.

BLITZER: All right, coming up, we'll have more on the breaking news. Hurricane Matthew threatening to flatten homes from Florida all the way up to the Carolinas. We're going live to Charleston as businesses board up, residents start to evacuate.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:47:33] BLITZER: Right now, in South Carolina, hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing eight coastal counties under emergency mandatory evacuation orders.

Brian Todd is joining us from Folly Beach, South Carolina, outside Charleston.

Brian, not just in Florida, but in South Carolina, in Georgia, the governor said that people are getting out, but not fast enough. What do the folks where you are saying and what are they doing?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, a lot of people here, having experienced hurricanes, they say they want to ride it out, see what happens in Florida and make their decision from there. They may not have the luxury of doing that. Governor Nikki Haley said a short time ago about 175,000 people have evacuated from this Charleston area. She says that really is not enough.

You see some of the surge of the waves coming in here, the conditions. The storm surge later on, Wolf, expected to be four to eight feet. I'm going to tell you, show you where the danger is posed with that. These are low-lying dunes over here. Most local experts and residents tell us when the storm surge really hits, the storm is going to carry the waves well other the dunes, well other the fences, and into the roads over there, which flood very easily.

So 175,000 people evacuating. Not enough in the governor's mind. They want at least 200,000 more to get out.

Now, we're on Folly Island, one of the barrier islands protecting Charleston. We're told a lot of residents here have left but still some people have stuck around -- Wolf? A little bit dangerous right now.

BLITZER: The state began what are called these lane reversals on Interstate 26 to speed traffic out of the coastal area where you are. Is that helping?

TODD: It's helping quite a lot, Wolf. The governor is pleased with how it's gone. A lot of people have gotten out that way on Interstate 26. They've closed the eastbound lanes coming into the Charleston area to eastbound traffic. You can only go west. And a lot of people got out yesterday, a lot of people getting out today. But one thing to remember, there are a lot bridges in this area with high spans, 65 feet and above. When the winds get to 40 miles an hour and above, those bridges are going to automatically shut down and there are those bridges at 65 feet and above. So if people want to make the late decision to get out, they may not have the luxury if the winds are that high -- Wolf?

[13:49:49] BLITZER: Brian, be careful. We'll stay in close touch with you as well.

We're staying on top of the breaking news, the latest on Hurricane Matthew.

Also coming up, we're just three days out from the second presidential debate. 33 days from the U.S. election. Some in Donald Trump's party are turning against him, actually, choosing to vote for Hillary Clinton over their own candidate. The blistering letter and why dozens of these former Republican congressman signed it. That, and a lot more coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're keeping a very watchful eye on Hurricane Matthew right now. We'll update you on that in a few moments.

But I want to turn to politics. We have brand new reporting, first here on CNN, 30 former Republican lawmakers, -- Republican lawmakers -- have signed a letter saying they can not and will not vote for their party's candidate, Donald Trump. They write, and I'm quoting, "Every candidate for president must be judged rigorously in assessing whether he or she has the competence, intelligence, knowledge, understanding, empathy, judgment and temperament necessary to keep America on a safe and steady course. Donald Trump fails on each of those measures and he has proven himself manifestly unqualified to be president." That, from that letter.

Let's talk about that with our chief political correspondent, Dana Bash, who broke the story, and David Catanese, the senior politics writer for "U.S. News & World Report."

There have been several of these letters coming forward but this is another one, another embarrassment for Trump.

[13:55:34] DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: There was a feeling these letters would stop. The Never-Trump movement lost a lot of steam as Donald Trump started to close in on Hillary Clinton, and the fact that there's a former Republican operative, Andrew Weinstein, who has been continuing to carry the torch of the Never-Trump movement and he helped to get these former members together.

I'll read you more of this letter because it's incredibly strong: "In nominating Donald Trump, the Republican party has asked the people of the United States to entrust their future to a man who insults women, mocks the handicapped, urges that dissent be met with violence. Every day brings a fresh revelation that highlights the unacceptable danger in electing him to lead our nation."

Now, these are not household names. They're former members of Congress. But there are some who are sort of pillars in their districts and many of the districts are in swing states, battleground states, like Iowa, Pennsylvania and so forth. And I should say that they all say they won't vote for Trump. Some will vote for Hillary. Some will just leave it blank. Some will write in another candidate.

BLITZER: Interesting.

How is this likely to affect, if it will, Sunday night's big debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump?

DAVID CATANESE, SENIOR POLITICS WRITER, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT: I don't think this will affect the debate. It is a pile on. It's another news cycle that he's going to lose today because of this, having to answer this, and he can't afford to lose more news cycles with 33 days to go.

I will note you don't see -- it would be much more powerful if 30 members sitting in Congress today --

BASH: Absolutely.

CATANESE: -- came out and said that. But the more likely you're on the ballot, the more likely you are to stay neutral and not come out against Trump, which is telling because Republicans are fearsome of their own voters.

But Sunday night is very important for Donald Trump. It's the last of two remaining chances to change the trajectory of the race. He needs to score a victory. And because it's a town hall, he has to do things he is not prone to do -- show empathy, compassion and connect one on one with voters.

BLITZER: We did learn today that Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, Saturday, will go out with Donald Trump and campaign. He's the top Republican in the U.S. Congress but this is basically the first time.

BASH: Yes, they're going campaign-ish.

(LAUGHTER)

I was told last night Donald Trump is going to be the day before this big debate he will be in the state of Wisconsin, which I don't know how much of a swing state that really is for him.

BLITZER: Pretty Democratic.

BASH: Yeah. But he's going to be there. And it's actually a Wisconsin Republican event, sort of a festival they do annually, and it will be a lot of well-known people, Republicans in Wisconsin. The House speaker; the Republican National Committee chair, Reince Priebus; the Senator there who's in a very tough reelection race, Ron Johnson; the governor, Scott Walker; and Donald Trump will be there. What we don't yet know, Wolf, is whether they'll share the stage, or if they'll have a made-for-the-cameras photo-op moment of the two of them there. We don't know how that will play out.

BLITZER: Wisconsin is -- is Wisconsin in play right now? CATANESE: It's probably not. There has been some polling that showed

him within a couple of points but that was prior to the first debate. He has taken a hit everywhere in all these swing states. That's the real problem.

But it's important for him, frankly, because of Dana's reporting on these congressmen to show solidarity with Republicans. I think Trump wants to be next to Paul Ryan. He needs those Republicans. He needs Republican-leaning, Republicans, not hard-core Republicans that are wavering, suburban women in Ohio. That's why the Trump campaign want this is and why this event is important if he can get --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: And we'll all be in St. Louis Sunday night. We'll be watching.

He has to stand up and answer a person's questions face to face. Not as easy as it sounds.

CATANESE: Frank Luntz, the redeemed pollster, told me in some reporting for this, this week, that he should hug someone to show empathy. That he needs that type of moment. Because you don't see Donald Trump doing these --

BASH: Show him John Kasich clips.

CATANESE: Right. And then show empathy and emotion.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: He's got a practice session in New Hampshire.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: And that' what he'll be doing tonight. He'll be practicing a lot of that thing, learning how to interact with style.

BLITZER: Practice, practice, practice.

(LAUGHTER)

All right, guys, thanks very much.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is next.

For our North American viewers, NEWSROOM with Brianna Keilar starts right now.