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Hurricane Matthew Lashes Florida's Coast; Hurricane Forecast; Georgia Coast Braces for Storm Surge; Storm Targets Charleston Tomorrow; Georgia Braces for Storm. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired October 07, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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


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[14:00:24] VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell here in Jacksonville, the city that the governor of this state of Florida, Rick Scott, says that he is most concerned about getting the worst of Hurricane Matthew, still a solid category three storm with sustained winds of 120 miles per hour. In just the last few minutes, we've seen an uptick in the winds. We have seen an increase in the rain here with those outer bands continuing to come here to this city.

Now, we know that the winds have caused a considerate number - a considerable number of power outages across the city. Now above 60,000 customers without power according to JEA, the power company here.

The bridges, many of the bridges have been shut down along the intercostal, but still not the bridge over my shoulder. We're told by the mayor, Mayor Lenny Curry, that the Main Street Bridge here over the St. John will be shut down when the winds sustained at 40 miles per hour. But we are seeing gusts that are coming in at about 35 to 40 miles per hour.

We also know that the major concern here beyond the rain that's coming down and the wind is the storm surge. That when that storm surge comes in, small communities here, San Marco here in downtown Jacksonville, the community of Riverside, they will likely see the worst of that storm surge. And because the St. John's River stretches far into Nassau County, which is north of Jacksonville, down into Clay and St. John's counties, and it will reach into those canals and tributaries, many other communities will also see the impact of the storm surge. You're going to see the kick-up of the wind as this storm gets closer.

But let me take you now about 35 miles south to the city of St. Augustine, the nation's oldest city. There was a mandatory evacuation for that city and for good reason. And we're seeing the reason now. Streets, flooded. I mean they look more like rivers. More like the river behind me. And we know from the mayor that a significant number of people who live in that city took heed to the warning, to the request to leave, but so many didn't. Here's what she said about a bed and breakfast there where there are some people who are refusing to leave.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How you guys doing over there?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't hear you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys doing OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're doing good. We're moving up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you worried? Are you worried?

Yes.

Have you called -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you called for help?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you called for help?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not yet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many - how many kids are in there?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's 20 of us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty? You guys own the restaurant?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: You know, one of the parts of this state that was really under the gun as the sun came up was the space coast, Cape Canaveral, of course we all know from where that shuttle program so many years ago, now that's shut down, took off. But just south of there, we've got our Ryan Young, who is showing us some of the concerns there along the Barrier Islands.

Ryan, give us an idea of the damage this storm did as it passed through and what you're seeing now.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Victor, as you know, we tried to make it down here, down A-1-A (ph) and there we were several blocked. There were officers who had blocked the road so people couldn't do what we're doing, basically kind of surveying what's going on because we have seen more people take to the roads.

And just in the last five minutes or so, the wind is starting to pick back up. We actually have a monitor out here and we were able to see the fact that the gusts have been over 50 miles per hour.

As we walk back this direction, though, and we wanted to show you this, this is a gas station that clearly had some damage done. You can see parts of the sign that it's actually blown apart. Now, you see this large collection of cars? We - when we first got here, no one was here. The sheriff's department is having sort of a briefing as we speak right now to talk about how they're going to handle operations later on. If you look over there by the wall, you can see the collection of officers that have gathered here to talk about the night's operations and how things are going. When I talked to a few of the officers before, they said, for the most part, things have been going well.

Now, we've noticed damage on larger structures, like buildings like this one where we're seeing the roof tilings blown off and partial roofs gone, but no real significant damage. Mostly signs, like this Chevron sign that you see here, Victor. So that is the good news. And as we got closer to the water, we did see the high waves, but it didn't really breach the sideways (ph) at all. And it didn't look like any of the water had pushed into any homes along the waterway as well.

So what we've been doing is just driving along the coast just to make sure, to see how people are doing. The one thing that we've noticed, it seems like most people have been staying off the roads. We do see a few cars going by. Some of them are just making sure the power is still on. Victor, we're still watching it because, obviously, people are wondering what will happen in the next few hours.

[14:05:16] BLACKWELL: Yes, of course, the other concern, Ryan, beyond the people on the roads there, if they stayed in their homes, if they heeded that request, that warning to leave, especially the barrier islands, because we know the Florida coast, that little jut (ph) out, that point out of Cape Canaveral and where you are, do we know if most people took heed to the request to get off those islands?

YOUNG: Yes, so we - we talked to a few people.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

YOUNG: And I talked to a woman who's be here all her life and she said, look, I do not want to leave my home. She says, I do not want to go. She said her kids have been calling from up north begging her to leave. She finally went to a hotel. We actually bumped into a whole group of people from Wales who said they were coming in for a vacation. They wanted to be here in Florida. They say this rain is nothing to them, but they did understand the significance of it, but they went for a walk and they were say, look, the hurricane's past, they don't really see this as being a big deal and they did not want to lose all the money they spent for their vacation.

But when you understand that there are people who are worried about their homes, you can see the difference between someone worrying about a vacation and worrying about their home. Today the winds are strong but we haven't seen anything significant. And talking to police officers, we haven't heard about any loss of life or anyone being injured so far.

Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, Ryan Young for us there on the Barrier Islands there on Cocoa Beach, just south of Cape Canaveral. Ryan, thanks so much. We'll check back with you.

We know that here in Jacksonville there were about two dozen calls for help overnight. And as we get into the later hours this evening and Hurricane Matthew comes closer to the river city here, that there will be even greater concerns for the almost half of the residents here in the city who decided to stay. We know from the mayor, Lenny Curry, that 450,000 people estimated got out of the city, headed west, maybe to Lake County, or Lake City, or headed north.

Let's go now to meteorologist Chad Myers to find out what's coming and when.

How far away is this storm now because we're feeling the increased winds and seeing the rain pick up here, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I would say, Victor, your closest approach to the center of the eye is still four hours from now. And I know right about this point you're at high tide, but I don't think there's going to be a low tide. Not for the next four hours. The wind will continue to push the water into the St. John's River, just like it's pushing it into St. Augustine right now.

That is probably the hardest hit area that we can find is St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest city. The water is in downtown, a couple feet deep, running through the cities, all the way into the back bay as well. And we're seeing that because the wind is pushing the water in this direction and has been pushing the water for many, my hours now. So we're piling the water up here along the coast. If the coast wasn't there, the water would keep right on going around and that's how a hurricane goes. But because the bay itself is getting in the way, that's what we're seeing. That's the problem that we're going to see for the rest of the day. That water is going to pile up in St. Mary's Georgia, in Brunswick, in Savannah, but, you know, Savannah's a little bit elevated. So we're talking about Tybee, a little bit down the river, and then also up toward Charleston and Myrtle Beach.

It's still a big hurricane. It's still about 100 miles per hour. So this thing continues to move to the north, pile water up, and will for many, many hours. We don't get it to Charleston until 8:00 tomorrow morning. That's how lumbering slow this storm is and how lumbering slow it's going to continue to be.

The wind for you probably is 75. That's the highest you're going to get there in Jacksonville or St. Augustine or Amelia Island. And then it kind of makes - it looks to me like because the land turns quickly, quickly, more quickly than the storm is going to turn, that Charleston is really in the middle of where we think that the landfall will likely be, and that's where the biggest pileup of water will be later on this afternoon.

Do we have a lot of wind damage coming in? No. Do we have, you know, an F-1 tornado coming in? Probably, no. Probably not likely.

BLACKWELL: All right.

MYERS: The damage going to come in with the water, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Chad, let me jump in here. And you mentioned Charleston there. Thank you so much for that update from that 2:00 update.

I want to go now to Charleston where officials are giving us an update on the situation there. Let's listen in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Time to leave the city is quickly coming to an end, and we expect weather conditions to begin to deteriorate this evening and worsen throughout the night. This will be a dangerous storm. If you have made the decision to stay, please prepare and take appropriate precautions. Please insure that someone knows your plan and that they are responsible to check in on you after the storm has passed.

And tonight, as conditions worsen, please remain inside and do not venture out as this storm will create dangerous - very dangerous conditions. We expect a record-setting high tide around midnight tonight and it will be no time to be out and about. There will be water everywhere.

[14:10:18] And with that, I'd like to turn it over to Chief Mullen (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mark, and thank you, as Mark said, for your assistance in continuing to get information out to our citizens.

BLACKWELL: All right, we're listening here to the - we're listening to the officials there in Charleston, who were saying that, you know, as the conditions deteriorate late into the night, they're saying simply the same thing we've heard from other city managers and emergency officials throughout the day and overnight, that there comes a point when it just becomes too dangerous to send their first responders out to help you. So make sure there in Charleston that you alert someone and have them check on you throughout the evening and into early tomorrow morning.

Now, this is an emergency for the entire southeastern coast. States of emergency declared in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina.

Let's now go to Georgia. And we have on the phone with us Dennis Jones, who is the chief of the emergency management there in Chatham County.

I understand that there was an evacuation order for Chatham County, including the city of Savannah. Do you know, just an estimate, how many people heeded that call to get out of the county, to get out of that area?

DENNIS JONES, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR, CHATHAM COUNTY, GEORGIA (via telephone): Well, right now with a population of a little over 850,000, we estimate that we've got about 75 percent participation rate in the evacuation process.

BLACKWELL: OK, 75 percent there, which is a good number considering what we're hearing from other cities. What's the major concern for your team now?

JONES: Well, right now we've concluded our evacuation operation. We're finishing up any of the last people who may have been on the roadway. We're also looking at sheltering those people who decided at the last minute or who are deciding now that they need to have a place to go. And we're also encouraging people to basically just make sure that they're in a safe location. Make sure that they understand the risks that are going to be imposed over the next several hours as this storm approaches.

We've got our emergency operations center activated. Several of the municipalities have their emergency centers activated. And right now our focus is again situational awareness, making sure we know what the conditions are throughout the community, and we're also starting to plan our reentry operations. So we're taking a focused effort in the emergency operations center to make sure that we can get critical assets back into the county to render the area safe and then also restore essential services so we can get the general public back.

BLACKWELL: All right. Of course our call to your team and every team that's out working to keep everyone safe, you be safe as well. Dennis Jones there with the Chatham County emergency management operations. The county including the city of Savannah, of course. People who have been to that city know that there is a beautiful riverwalk there, a low-lying area. Hopefully that area completely clear as we know that storm surges up and down the southeastern coast will be the major concern.

We, of course, will continue to watch the storm as it comes along the coast here. We're going to take a quick break, continue our special coverage live from Jacksonville. We'll be right back.

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[14:17:24] BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell live in Jacksonville, the city that is in the bull's-eye of this solid category three Hurricane Matthew that is continuing to scrape the eastern coast here of Florida. We just spoke with our meteorologist here who tells us that the winds out at Jacksonville Beach are now gusting at 60 miles per hour, a strong, strong tropical force - tropical storm force gust there.

And, you know, we've talked so much about the storm surge. The surge there at the beach, five to nine feet. And we're told that that will stick around for the next six hours or so as the storm comes just off the coast here.

Now, I can tell you from here in the city, alongside the banks of the St. John's River, I'm seeing just over my shoulder here, flooding here in the parking lot. Some localized flooding in the streets here. The National Weather Service in Jacksonville put out a tweet not long ago calling for people to move to higher ground. An alert that people need to get to some higher space as the storm surge comes in, the rain continues. That, in effect, that flash flood warning in effect until 6:15. Now, the question of course is, where does the storm go next after

Jacksonville? Again, states of emergency on up the coast, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina.

Let's go to South Carolina now, to the city of Charleston, where our Brian Todd is.

And, Brian, how are they preparing?

Do we have Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're not in break?

BLACKWELL: All right, seems like we're having a bit of difficulty getting Brian Todd there.

But let's go down in -

TODD: Victor, the storm has started in earnest right now. They told us that the - you know, this tropical storm force winds would start to be felt about last hour. We're starting to get pelted with rain, as you can see.

We talked to one captain of a boat here who told us a short time ago this is what he's worried about. This is one of the marinas just north of Charleston. You see that mooring post right there, the one with the triangular top. He's worried that if the water levels top that or maybe get a little higher, that a lot of these boats are going to be released and start washing onto the streets and onto the buildings here.

You can see, this is on the Ashley River. These water levels are already starting to rise. And we're, you know, we're in low country here in South Carolina. This is just clearly right at sea level and some areas here are below sea level. They are really worried about a storm surge that could get to eight to 11 feet, which really could cause some serious wash-over of these banks over here on to the streets, toward the buildings over here and then, you know, cause serious flooding even inland.

[14:20:02] As I said, we were just starting to get this right now. And, look, we've already got some wash-over here into the parking lot, so we really have - are into this really - I'd say maybe less than an hour of starting to feel the really earnest effects of the storm here in Charleston and already some effects of possible flooding seen here.

Evacuations are key. Governor Nikki Haley told us a short time ago, 310,000 people have evacuated. That's about half of the people they've asked to get out. So she's not too pleased with that. She's saying it's not enough, but the window for getting out of here is closing dangerously fast.

Here's another thing I want to show you over here. This is the James Island Connector Bridge. When winds get to 40 miles an hour and above, bridges like this one that are 65 feet or higher above the water are going to close. It's just too dangerous to be on them. First responding teams have told us that at the height of the storm, they are not going to be able to get to people. One local police captain told us on one of the barrier islands yesterday that when winds get to 40 to 45 miles an hour, he is not going to be able to put assets on the street. So when people get stranded, when they get to be, you know, in some really tough going with this storm, they are not going to be able to count on first responders to get to them immediately, Victor.

BLACKWELL: And, Brian, thanks so much there in Charleston.

We heard from officials in a news conference just a few moments ago that if you are in Charleston, they are asking you to make sure you contact someone who can check on you throughout the night when the storm is at its worst because, as Brain said, those first responders will not be able to get to you.

Let's go now to the city of Savannah, and we have our Sara Ganim there who is with the Chatham County officials there, the sheriff's office.

And, Sara, we spoke with Dennis Jones, the head of the emergency management department there, who says that there is a 75 percent participation rate in the evacuation order there compared to what we're seeing in Charleston, what we're seeing here in Jacksonville, and farther south in Florida, that's pretty impressive. But, still, that 25 percent is of great concern. What are you seeing and hearing?

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, all morning, Victor, we were seeing people evacuate and heed that warning. And, like you said, yes, we're out with first responders. We're with the Chatham County Sheriff's Office, Major Tommy Tillman here, who's been driving around, making sure that people who are still here are safe, making sure that homes where residents have evacuated are safe. They're making sure there's no looting happening. That people who are out are not - in vehicles that have broken down, stuck in stranded water.

Can you tell me some of what you've been seeing out here?

MAJ. TOMMY TILLMAN, CHATHAM COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: We're starting to see a few limbs down, some dead limbs, and the water starting to puddle on the road. Fortunately, we've encountered very few vehicles on the roadway. It seems that most people are either staying inside or heeding the warnings and have already evacuated.

GANIM: Victor, we're on one of those barrier islands. We have seen some people, and have definitely seen some water begin to rise. These first responders who are still out here won't be out here all day. There's a mandatory curfew going into place as the sun sets, right? When do you make the decision when it's time to pull your guys off the road?

TILLMAN: We're constantly monitoring the conditions of the road and the - and the weather. The wind is also a factor as road - water starts to rise and puddle on the roadway, we'll start bringing our people off. It's just - it doesn't make any sense to put their lives at risk when we're going to need them later on. GANIM: And, Victor, you know, everyone from city to state officials,

to even the president of the United States warning people here in the Savannah area that there are places that could see a storm surge up to 11 feet. That's a lot of water. And being out here on those barrier islands, you can see how much damage can be done with very little bit of water.

What have you seen in the past in flooding and surges like this?

TILLMAN: Well, we've had water come across the roadways, especially out towards Tybee Island. When the water - when it gets high enough, it will actually cover the roadway, not just a little bit, and it will be under water, like a foot of water. That's what we're anticipating. That's why the road to Tybee has already been blocked off. People can't get out there, even if they wanted to. And, quite frankly, once it gets that high, they won't be able to get off the island. So they'll be stuck no matter how bad the storm gets out there.

GANIM: Just a few hours ago, Victor, officials here saying this is the final few hours for people to listen to those warning and evacuate. Still, we had talked to residents who were very upset that there were some elderly family members who were going to try and stay behind. Some people had neighbors with kids who were going to try and stick it out.

This area hasn't seen a storm like that in many, many years. Is that something you hear from residents who are - who are going to try and stick it out?

TILLMAN: That's right. They think that, oh, it's missed us in the past and they've got a - gotten us all worked up and nothing happened. We left for no reason at all. But, you know, it's just to keep people safe.

[14:25:06] With storms like this, you don't know where they're going. I know the track has changed many times and a storm this big hugging the coast, all it takes is one degree of change and it will be right here on our laps. And it's something that you don't want to have to endure.

GANIM: You guys heard Major Tillman say it. Once the conditions get bad enough here, they're going to bring the first responders off the road. And so people who are still here should listen to that warning to get out while you still can.

Major Tillman, thank you so much for having us.

TILLMAN: Thank you.

GANIM: Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, Sara Ganim there in Savannah, riding along with Chatham County first responders, trying to make sure they can batten down as much as they can before the storm makes it up into Georgia.

I'm here in Jacksonville where we're still about three to four hours out, according to Chad Myers, until we feed the worst of Hurricane Matthew. But we are seeing conditions here continuing to deteriorate. Trees falling here. I'm seeing some localized flooding just from where I'm standing. A flash flood warning continuing until 6:15. And power outages, according to JEA, the power company here, now above 70,000 customers who are without power here.

Up next, after the break, the politics of the storm. We all remember back in 2012 how then Superstorm Sandy made its way to the center of the political debate. Will it come up in the political debate on Sunday between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton?

I'll toss it back to Brianna Keilar in Washington after the break.

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