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Hurricane Matthew Batters Florida's East Coast; Trump in New Hampshire Town Hall. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired October 07, 2016 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Carol. So the good news/bad news analysis there was the good news is about halfway through things are better than were expected. The governor said you know you had those peak outages over 500,000 people, about 25 percent or so has already been restored. That's a more aggressive pace than they anticipated initially. The bad news, obviously, is that you have halfway to go.

And here in Jacksonville the advisory changed. We set up here because we thought it would be the steady hand for the duration. But now it's supposed to see the most concentrated impact of Hurricane Matthew. And what that means is maximum storm surge. We're still several hours away. They believe that will happen in the later afternoon hours.

But you look over my shoulder, you see the scenario that they're worried about. This is the St. John's River as you pointed out, Carol. And you see the bridge there. 40-mile-an-hour gusts, which is what we're getting right now. That's about tropical storm level. That's when those bridges start being impassable. So that means if you made a wrong move and didn't evacuate you now can't self-correct.

This river, the St. John's River, it's one of the few cuts that you have off the east coast of Florida. That means as the volume of water comes, it's going to raise the level here in St. John's and that will mean you'll have storm surge here. You already have a couple more feet to go for high tide. You're already just about cresting in many areas. And that's the concern. Once the surge comes there's nowhere for you to go. So we'll be keeping an eye on it here and we'll be showing you live picture of Daytona Beach, Florida, on your screen right now.

That's the current kind of critical impact of Hurricane Matthew. They've had gusting winds there in excess of 80 miles an hour. We have gusts onshore measured of over 100 miles an hour. So stay with CNN and we'll bring you the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

[09:35:57] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. And along with Chris Cuomo, he's in Jacksonville along the St. John's River. Breaking news this morning, of course, Hurricane Matthew slowly, agonizingly slowly, moving its way up the east coast of Florida. All the way almost to Jacksonville. Chris, how are conditions there?

CUOMO: Well, so far, you know, so good. We're about tropical storm level right now. Gusts at about 40 miles an hour. Everything's relative, right, Carol? I mean, obviously you don't want that. But you know when you have a hurricane headed your way and that is the current advisory that Jacksonville which was supposed to be a tangential hit is now going to see concentrated impact from Hurricane Matthew. In about five or six hours from now it'll really start to pick up in several hours.

We just heard from Governor Rick Scott. He said the good news is about halfway through this dilemma, things have gone better than expected. There were over 500,000 that lost power. About a quarter of those have been restored which is a faster rate of return than had been expected. But there's still halfway to go.

The big concern, as you pointed out, St. John's River. Why? Well because storm surge is going to be the story of damage from Hurricane Matthew and this represents one of the few cuts in the eastern coastline so the volume of water and storm surge will funnel through making this river, which is already about cresting, plus storm surge and tide, another eight to 10 to 12 feet of surge that changes the topography here. Changes power. And makes things impassable.

So that's the concern from here right now. The gusting winds, not such a big deal. They have picked up winds in excess of 100 miles an hour, especially down south in areas like Daytona Beach, that's where Boris Sanchez is. He's been getting pummeled all morning all and keeping track of it for us.

Boris, what's going on right now?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Chris. Things are quickly deteriorating here. I'm going to paint a picture of what we're seeing. After a bit of a lull we're starting to see the storm pick up. The wind moving stronger and stronger. We heard a loud bang just a few moments ago down the street from us. We have no idea what it was. It may have been a power generator. It may have been something else. I think quite honestly, something is ripping apart down the street from us because we've seen these huge chunks of sheet metal where you see those two gentlemen -- those two gentlemen walking up the street right behind them.

There's a chuck of sheet metal and we've seen several pieces of it going down the street and getting closer and closer to us.

Can you see it over there? And aside from that there are pieces of roofing insulation that keep falling not far from us. Some of them falling very close to us.

I'm going to show you a piece over here to our left that came down just about a few minutes ago or so as we were standing here. So the situation as I said quickly deteriorating. We've had to move several times. We're going to have to continue moving. And in spite of all of this, Chris, I still see several cars, what

appear to be civilians, in the street. People just walking around as I saw earlier today. Terrible, terrible thinking to be out in these conditions. Right now we're under an awning so we're in a loop. We're somewhat protected from the debris that's coming this way. But for people to be out on the street is extremely dangerous. We've seen signs flailing in the wind all morning. Power lines looking as if they're about to snap.

Another note, on the other side of our hotel we got a chance to check out our balcony a few moments ago. The waves are just huge. There's a board walk not far from here and I spoke to a gentleman last night who told me that in the last hurricane they had here in Daytona Beach, a direct hit, that became totally inundated. They're expecting that to happen again. From the looks of it, the waves that I saw, it may very likely happen.

There's also a small kind of amusement park type business across the street from here. They had really serious damage to the roof. It was starting to come apart. So again the conditions starting to get worse and worse here as the eye wall closer and closer to Daytona Beach -- Chris.

CUOMO: And it shifted west, Boris, which is another point of concern intensifying the impact. Please stay safe. I know you're a pro, you and your team. Stay where you can cover everything, but not get too exposed if possible.

All right, so that's what's going on in Daytona Beach. That's the present, which is a look at the future of what's going to happen up the rest of the east coast and here in Jacksonville, Carol.

[09:40:04] And that's why the governor was saying the I-10 corridor which cuts east to west is open and passable. Now is the time to move while you still can.

COSTELLO: Now is the time to move. Unless you live in St. Augustine because we just talked to the mayor there. She wants people to stay inside their homes. There are bridges there, too, they're going to be shut down shortly because, you know, when the winds hit 40 miles per hour they shut down those bridges because it's -- frankly it's too dangerous to cross them. So if you live in St. Augustine that's right below where Chris Cuomo is in Jacksonville.

Please stay inside your homes. Governor Scott just brought us up to day and he had some statistics to share. And I'll share those with you right now. 22,000 people remain in shelters this morning. Chris said there are no road problems. All major roads are open. That means that emergency personnel are searching those roadways to see if anyone is broken down. If you can get out and those cities that are just about in the middle of the east coast of Florida, and down south, you can go above that, please do not travel on the roadways. 600,000 people, 600,000 homes without power right now. Half of those power outages are in Martin and St. Lucie Counties and the governor said there will be more outages to come. He also said utility crews are already working to restore power. So let's talk about exactly where that storm is. How strong it is.

How far it's wiggled to the west. Chad Myers has that in the weather center.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Carol, I have a question for you. Do you have a front loading washer or a top loading washing machine?

COSTELLO: Front loading.

MYERS: OK, so you put a rug in the machine and it goes and it does its wash and all of a sudden it's trying to spin and it's on one side of the washing machine that goes clunk, clunk, clunk, and then you have to shut it off and start all over.

That's what this hurricane is doing. It has one piece of rug on the north side of the spin, and that's where the wobbles come from. That's why your washing machine wobbles. Conservation of angular momentum. If you're still not in school yet you can watch that.

Here's what we have for you here for the rest of the day. We have an area here that is lopsided. That is the rug on the wrong side of the washing machine. If this decides to rotate toward the coast, this entire eye will wobble to the left. That's the rug. If this area here, this convection to the south, then the whole thing would wobble the other way. So we're watching for this to just go around in a circle and not wobble and take the storm with it.

That's the only real risk that we have now for a significant change in where we are from where Jacksonville is, that's where Chris is seeing his rainfall. That's going to be the rest of the day. As we move you ahead from 9:30 to 10:00 to 11:00, the storm runs up the coast and eventually past Georgia and into the Carolinas. That's still a category 3, 120-mile-per-hour storm. But slightly offshore.

And if this thing stays offshore it is a huge win for America. It's a huge win for FEMA. It's a huge win for less than -- we're taking billions of dollars in damage off the table if this thing stays offshore.

Now there's still going to be flooding. There's still going to be storm surge. But there's not going to be the significant wind damage that this thing could have made with 120 miles per hour because 80 and 100 is not 120. It's a big difference. So we'll see. We hope that this wobble doesn't go left -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I hope so. I'm keeping my fingers and my toes crossed and I'm praying, too, Chad.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Thanks so much.

We're looking at pictures from Daytona Beach, Florida, and you can see even with winds of 100 miles per hour it's blowing debris into the streets. And that's why, you know, emergency personnel are warning you to stay off the streets because what if you get hit with that? Right? It would hurt. It might be -- it might injure you severely. So please, stay in your homes right now even though things seem to be calming down at the moment.

Also, power lines are down in many places. Those power lines spark when they come off those poles, right? We just got a report of a house catching on fire because of those electric lines coming down. So if you see electric line down and you're dumb enough to be out on the streets, do not touch it.

I'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:48:30] COSTELLO: All right, our breaking news this morning. Of course Hurricane Matthew. You can see what it's doing in Daytona Beach, Florida, right now. Debris blowing down the streets. It is a category 3 storm. That means sustained winds of 100 to 120 miles per hour.

There appears to be damage in Daytona Beach right now. You -- electrical lines are down. You see that utility pole there has snapped off. And you see the siding coming off buildings, at least according to Boris Sanchez. We believe what that stuff is blowing down the streets, so rescue workers are saying stay in your homes because they are -- they are battening down hatches of their own and they're not going to be able to get out and come get you if you're in trouble.

All right. Let's head to St. Augustine. That's a little farther up the Florida coast just below Jacksonville, Florida, which is just below the state of Georgia.

A reporter just a few minutes ago did a live shot from St. Augustine. His name is Chris Parenteau. He's from WJXT. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS PARENTEAU, WJXT REPORTER: And I'll tell Freddie to do it right now. Freddie, if you can zoom in to the wall there, as another gust comes through. We're trying to kind of shield the camera behind the car because of how much rain is coming through this area and how much water is coming over that wall.

And Bruce, if I heard you correctly, I think I heard you say that we just received word that that Bridge of Lions is closed. Is that correct?

[09:50:01] That wouldn't be surprising at all because like I said, as you look down there, again, Freddie, if we can zoom in, in multiple spots, you can see the flashing lights. I know it's difficult and the camera's kind of shaky right now because of how hard the wind's blowing out here but you can see those flashing lights blocking the Bridge of Lions at this end. Unfortunately I can't see across to the other side of the river to know if they have it blocked on that end but one can likely assume that if they do have it blocked on this end, it likely is blocked on the other end. And we've been gotten another deputy from the St. John's County

Sheriff's Office also on patrol in this area. Law enforcement out here in full force. While they still can be and while conditions -- actually if we look behind us now, two more St. John's county deputies heading down to this area.

We've seen them positioned all across the St. John's county area. In certain spots and in strategic spots so that they can get places that they -- planned ahead because emergency management officials said they've been working around the clock figuring out where they may need their assets to be not only during the storm but after the storm. So we've seen a lot of sheriff's deputies and St. Augustine police officers that have been in certain spots where their cars are protected but now they can make their way to places where they may be needed at times like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. That was Chris Parenteau. He's from WJXT. You see what conditions are like in St. Augustine's. I just talked to the mayor a short time ago, she said only half the town evacuated. She is very worried about the residents who decided to stay and she's urging them to stay inside their homes. So the storm is coming. Matthew is coming to Jacksonville because that's above St. Augustine. And that's where Chris Cuomo is now.

Hi, Chris.

CUOMO: Hey, how are you doing, Carol? And that's why the governor said get while the getting is good. The I-10 corridor is open, you can drive west, you can get to safety if you're in the evacuation zones. It's easy enough to find out. You can go to the Web sites for your local authorities. The word is out on your local stations. We are putting it out as well.

The concern and the story of Matthew is going to be storm surge. It's not so much about the winds as it was with Hurricane Andrew. People make a mistake of saying well, that was a more powerful storm as if this will certainly be better. We don't know that because as the water volume comes in here with the increasing bands of intensity in this storm that has shifted west, you are going to get storm surge, you're going to get flooding, and you're going to be -- unable to move. And that's when it gets really dangerous.

Jennifer Gray, meteorologist, has been detailing this for us all morning long while enduring the storm in Palm Bay in central Florida. How is it now?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Chris. We are still getting those gusts, not near as strong as we saw earlier this morning before sunrise. We had gusts of 80 miles per hour, maybe a little bit more. Now those gusts are down to about 25, 30 miles per hour, I would guess. Some people that are staying in our hotel kind of out and about now. This is a dog-friendly hotel so people are trying to walk their dogs and things like that. But still, not totally safe. We are still getting some of those gusts

and a little bit of rain. We do hear sirens off and on. So that tells us that emergency crews are able to start getting out slowly and start to assess the damage. People -- folks are urged to just stay put for right now until all the damage is assessed, especially right along that barrier island, Melbourne Beach, where people were ordered to evacuate. No word yet on when people will be able to return.

We are still in the rain. We are in that outer rain band that last rain band with Matthew. And once that passes, we should start to feel much better around here. All of the -- all of the storm surge and everything will be headed to the north, north of the storm, Daytona Beach and north where you are -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Everybody's hoping for good news. Please stay safe until it comes. We will check back with you in a little bit.

Our complete coverage here on CNN of Hurricane Matthew will continue. We are about halfway through the duration of concern. We are showing you a picture of Daytona Beach. This is the concern, what happens when these winds come ashore. They have been measured in excess of 100 miles an hour of this category 3 storm. Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:55:33] COSTELLO: All right. Hurricane Matthew, we're covering it extensively this morning. It's still a category 3 storm which means there are sustained wind gusts of up to 120 miles per hour.

These are pictures out of Daytona Beach. That's where the storm is right now. You can see it's doing a number on Daytona Beach right now. There is damage to some property in downtown Daytona Beach.

Our Boris Sanchez sees debris rolling down the street. And rescue workers are urging people to stay off the streets because there are downed power lines, they are sparking. We've had word of at least one home catching on fire because of these sparking power lines. So please, please, if you did not evacuate, stay inside your homes.

The governor also came out just a short time ago and he did fill us in on some statistics. And I just want to go through them for you right now. He said 600,000 homes are without power. Most of the power is out in Martin and St. Lucie Counties. He says that more outages will come so please be patient but utility workers already out and about trying to restore power in those places in Florida that the storm has already passed through.

All right. Let's talk a little politics now, shall we? You knew we had to do it. It is quiet on the campaign trail today as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are both in debate prep ahead of their next showdown just two days away. Clinton huddling with advisers near her New York home while Trump is continuing his work after what was reportedly a dry run in New Hampshire last night. For his part, well, Trump disagreed with that assessment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They were saying this is practice for Sunday. This isn't practice. This has nothing to do with Sunday. We are just here because we just wanted to be here. And, you know, Hillary frankly, they talked about debate prep. That's not debate prep. She's resting. She's resting.

And I want to be with the American people. I want to be with the people from New Hampshire and she wants to rest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Jeff Zeleny live in Washington with more. Good morning.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, I think Donald Trump has just averse to using the word practice. And I'm not exactly sure why. Every Republican, every even Donald Trump supporter would agree that he needed practice after that first debate. Perhaps he doesn't want to raise his expectations. But whatever, he called it -- his New Hampshire town hall, it was a dry run. It was a chance for him to take questions from a pre-selected group of supporters.

And many Republicans I've talked to who actually watched that were not as reassured as they had hoped to be but it was a sense of that. Now he is off the campaign trail. He had a small meeting this morning with his national security advisers but he is actually practicing, whether he likes to admit it or not, with Chris Christie and other advisers. And he is going to go into the weekend trying to have a better performance on Sunday.

Now for the Democratic side, the full Democratic bench is out across the country today campaigning. Hillary Clinton of course is huddled with her advisers as you said. We have Bernie Sanders out campaigning, we have Joe Biden out campaigning, Tim Kaine out campaigning and Elizabeth Warren out campaigning. All are trying to make the case for Hillary Clinton.

I caught up with Bernie Sanders yesterday in Michigan. And this is the case that he made to voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This campaign, and let me be as clear as I can be, is not about Hillary Clinton. It is not about Donald Trump. It is about you. And it's about you and your families and your communities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So there was Bernie Sanders making the case for Hillary Clinton. Now we did see Donald Trump just a few moments ago this morning at Trump Tower, I believe, in New York talking border security with a couple of small -- a small group of advisers. I believe we have some video of this that's just coming in.

Donald Trump is going to -- he's talking about securing the border here with his -- just a couple advisers here. And he was even talking about, is the election going to be secure? This is something he's been talking about again and again. Of course, we have no reason to believe that it is not, Carol, but this is how Donald Trump is spending his morning in New York City -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Thanks for filling us in, Jeff Zeleny reporting live from Washington.

And be sure to tune in to the next presidential debate this Sunday on CNN. CNN's Anderson Cooper co-hosts the town hall style matchup. That's Sunday night 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'd like to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Carol Costello along with Chris Cuomo.