Return to Transcripts main page
Don Lemon Tonight
Hurricane Florence Getting Closer; Multiple Readiness Efforts Being Done Throughout The Carolinas; President Trump Claimed That Approximately 3,000 People Did Not Die In Puerto Rico. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired September 13, 2018 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: You already have a lot of water on the ground here. It's been a rainy season. Storm surge, more rain sitting on top of you. The pressure of time. That is what creates trees falling, foundations collapsing, and people being stuck in conditions that can be tricky and tricky for first responders. Now, just south of us in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina you have Don Lemon. Don, what's it looking like down there? What are they telling you is heading your way?
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Well, it's a monster storm heading our way, Chris. I think you're exactly right. People get caught up on that whole thing of what category it is. It's a cat 2, cat 3, or cat 4. That is really not the issue, especially when it comes to this storm that we've seen doubling in size, Chris. The big problem, the big problem here is going to be that storm surge.
You know how most people die. In storms. It's water. It's drowning. It's really not the wind so much. Although that is an issue when it comes to projectiles and such, but it's really that water, and you can't outrun it. And if you get into a place where you can't get above it or you can't stabilize, you're in deep, deep trouble, Chris. We had been seeing the winds take up here and then they go back down. The band's going in and out. But we're really on the edge here. You may be a little bit closer to it. I think Anderson is probably going to get it before each of us. What have you been saying? I know I've been out. I haven't really seen a lot of folks out.
CUOMO: Thank god for that. You know look, it just doesn't take much, even on calms, I'm hearing you right now, Don, but I'm not seeing you. We don't have your shot. It takes so little for Mother Nature to disrupt what we see as normal. The numbers are that the storm is about 65, 70 miles east-southeast off the coast of Wilmington. That is where Anderson is, but the storm is so damn big that it brings weather a lot of different directions and exposing people to lots of different types of concern. Here in north Myrtle Beach and you in Myrtle Beach proper, what do they call it, the grand coast? The grand strand of where all these beautiful --
LEMON: Grand strand, yes.
CUOMO: The concern is that the grand strand, the problem for us here on the grand strand is going to be water over time. And the people who stay behind, and I've seen a lot of them here, there's a curfew in effect right now, because even when an evacuation is mandatory they can't lawfully force people to leave, but they can enforce a curfew. So, 7:00 to 7:00. When we see cars driving by. People are here and are being put to sleep by this storm because it doesn't seem that bad and they've heard category 2, maybe 3. They are not worried, but what happens, Don, when it's 20 or 30 hours of water in a place that already has a high flood plain?
LEMON: Yes, absolutely right. Just sitting here. Chris, I don't want you to go anywhere. Let me officially start the show and get back to you and I want to bring in Anderson as well. Let me do this, this is "CNN Tonight." I'm Don Lemon. We thank you so much for joining us. This is our breaking news right now. It's hurricane Florence. Slowing to a crawl really as it absolutely batters the Carolinas tonight. And it's going to get worse. Trust us. It is going to get worst. Landfall is expected early to midday tomorrow. I am in Myrtle Beach. Chris Cuomo is in north Myrtle Beach. And here's Anderson Cooper. Anderson is in Wilmington for us right now. So let's talk about this. Good evening, gentlemen. I've been watching your coverage all night. Great job. Anderson, I've been seeing you getting more rain actually than Chris. I think of the three of us you're going to see it first.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: I'm like a wet dog is what I feel like right now. Everybody who is out here is just sopping wet. It's just the steady rain. We've been seeing some rain bands, some wind coming in really throughout the day. There was a little bit this afternoon, but it's become kind of a steady -- you know, it's not quite -- it's more than a drizzle. It's not really a downpour at this point, but it is deceptive. Because as you know, as we all have been reporting and hearing from officials up and down this coastline, this is a multiday event.
We're talking 24 to 36 hours. We're talking eight months of rain in three days here in Wilmington. There is a lot to come. This is just the very early hours. By afternoon tomorrow when we're expecting this to make landfall as you said, Don, this thing is slowing to a crawl. There's already going to be an awful lot of water on the ground. And on top of that that storm surge which we're all watching so closely.
LEMON: And when you get a storm surge that could get up 12, 13 feet, I mean, that is as high as -- I'm up on the second floor here. That is really as high as this, but Anderson, Chris and I were talking about this. People talking about the winds a lot, because the category, it talks about the winds. Think about Katrina. Think about a number of other storms that we've covered where they've sort of stalled. They start moving slowly. Many times when they move slowly like that they pick up speed, they start gaining speed and that is a lot of water -- a lot of water that they're keeping in that system and then it starts pushing that water ashore, and that is where the real problem comes in.
[22:05:00] COOPER: Yes, and you know, I was talking to the mayor, and it surprised me a couple hours ago. He was saying it's going to be Tuesday before the river -- this river here, Cape Fear River, actually crests. So even when the, you know, big rain stops, the big wind stops, Tuesday is when -- on Monday the water's still going to be rising on the river. People are still going to be without power. And there's going to be a lot of water on the ground. And you know, I just worry about people who've been cooped up in their homes for days and days getting in. So you want to get out on the street and run into trouble. As you've been saying, that is where the real trouble in all these hurricanes happens for people. That is where the fatalities happen.
LEMON: Yes. I'm not sure, we still have Chris? Is Chris still with us?
CUOMO: Yes. I'm here. I'm actually looking at the radar.
LEMON: You are. What are you seeing?
CUOMO: Yes, I'm looking at the radar and I'm talking to one of the NOAA guys. I know that I'm on camera, but Anderson's making good editorial points and I'm just trying to get us some information. If you look, if you put up the latest radar, you see what the problem is headed our way, my friend. We see big bands on the northeast side of this storm. Those are going to come in behind us. OK? So they're not going to hit the coastline proper the way they are in Wilmington. Now, is that good news? The man I'm texting with right now from the NOAA says no. Because that is going to create inland flooding where you have on average less than 15 percent of people, homeowners have flood insurance. Then we're going to get hit with the dirty side of the storm in our face, and you're going to have a combination effect that is going to last 16 to 24 hours. And that is where they're getting worried, Don, that right now it doesn't seem that bad. This is not your future.
LEMON: You guys have been on television a lot. I'm not sure if you've had the opportunity to listen to local media. Whenever I come to something like this I turn on the television or local radio stations and get all the information. And Anderson, every station when I had the break between the show that we did earlier and this one, every single meteorologist I turned to on every single channel has been saying basically the same things. I've been here for 15 years, I've been here for 20 years, I've been here for 25 years, and I have never forecasted this much activity in the mid-Atlantic or the Atlantic at one point. This is a lot of water coming through, this is so unusual. Have you noticed that? Have you been able to check that out?
COOPER: Yes, I think this is a water event. I mean, again, you look at the category of the storm, it's not a category 4 in terms of wind, but this is just going to be a water event. And maybe it doesn't come across even on television for viewers, because you're not seeing the trees at this point being toppled over. You're not seeing signs being ripped off like we've seen in other hurricanes in past years, but just the amount of water. I mean, I'm curious to see it. I'm worried about it. I don't really know what that is going to look like. We've certainly -- we've seen big flooding events obviously in New Orleans and elsewhere.
You know, in Houston last summer at Harvey which we all covered, but just something that is going on at this level for so many days, for so many hours. It's just hard for me to predict what Wilmington is going to look like. I know -- according to the mayor, this whole area we're in right now is going to be -- there's going to be water on the ground here, that the water's going to come up. We're not sure what's going to happen to those boats. We talked to two people who are going to be riding out the storm in their boat right now which they live on. They feel good about this marina, because they feel it's been built to a category 4 level, but in past hurricanes there have been other marinas, because this is relatively new, there have been other marinas in Wilmington that have been just destroyed.
The docks ripped apart and the boats ending up on the street, because of the surge, because of the rain and the wind. So, I think there is -- the story is yet to be written about this storm. This is very early hours. We're just getting kind of glimpses and peaks. And I think tomorrow morning when we're all on the air, tomorrow afternoon we're going to have a much better sense of the landscape, what's covered, what's not, and what the next 24 hours will bring.
LEMON: Hey, Chris, I believe the quote from Anderson, I don't want to misquote him, was either wet rat or wet dog.
COOPER: A rat would do as well, actually.
LEMON: I want to see what -- what's happening by you? Are you getting any rain at all? Take us on a little tour of where you are if you can.
CUOMO: Listen, you know, Don, the problem is the worst thing possible is happening right now for preparedness. Nothing. This is a beautiful breezy evening. We've been watching a waxing crescent moon come up here.
[22:10:02] The storm is not present. There's a breeze, but the shoreline is calm. Not unlike where you are. You know, Anderson was reminding us of Katrina. We remember the point and the compelling nature of his coverage there. If we remember what it was about, there was a lot of social injustice that went on there and a lot of politics, but there was also a component that I'm really afraid could be revisited on this situation with Florence. Time. People were trapped in bad situations. Preparedness was an issue there. Here it's going to be circumstance. And right now people stayed here. Local officials will stay only about 10, 15 percent. I have a hard time believing that unless everybody who stayed came to just our one section of a nine-mile beach today, because there were hundreds and hundreds of people here today.
Now, if this flood event is what they say it is and if the saturation point is as sensitive as they worry and the duration is what they anticipate on this stretch of the coast you could be stuck for days. And now we get into that real problem for first responders. We understand that the federal government has dispatched almost all of its FEMA teams. OK? I think there are 28. A couple are in Hawaii, but I think most of them have been dispatched to this area. The good men and women we were with during Irma, they're in Columbia, South Carolina, but they can't get out until winds are under about 50 miles an hour. So if you can't do rescue until under 50 miles an hour and you're
going to have 50-mile-an-hour winds for about 10, 12 hours, what does that tell you? People stuck in bad situations. God forbid. For a long time. So right now it's beautiful, my friend, but what happens when it changes? And everybody who made that decision to stay now may have to pay.
LEMON: Yes. I'm just looking at some of the stats here. I've been down to pick it up. Highest possible storm surge, 8 to 12 feet. That is pretty tall. Possible surge. That is in Jacksonville and New Bern and also in Wilmington where Anderson is and also Carolina beach, 7 to 11 feet. That is nothing to mess with.
I went out with a police officer today taking me around to neighborhoods. They've been going around telling people you've got to get out. The problem for them is -- well, most people listen, but the problem is they really just can't kick someone out and say you've got to go and kick them out of their house. The problem is that when those people get in trouble, if they do, they put those police officers and those emergency responders and those rescuers in trouble and those folks would like to go home to their families. So again, if you have that window, then you can get out, you should get out now and save yourself a whole lot of trouble. Just don't do it.
Anderson, we're going to get back to you because we know it's coming closer to you first. Chris, you're going to be next. It'll get to you. And then it will get to me here as well. So stick around, my friends. Thank you very much. We're going to see you a little bit later. I just want to tell our viewers that CNN's reporters are live all across this storm zone tonight. And we're going to keep you covered here live. There they are up on your screen. So let's go now to my colleague Brain Todd. He is in Hampstead, North Carolina. From what I understand, Brian from watching you earlier getting knocked around a bit, what's the situation there now?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Don. We're on old landing road, a road which has gotten flooded from the storm surge from the inter coastal waterway. We've had to pull away from that area, but we're going to head back to the area that is getting flooded. You know, we are across the inter coastal waterway from some of the barrier islands. And we've talked about how people can get trapped on the barrier islands.
Listen, you can get trapped in these mainland areas as well. We're showing you how you can get trapped. This road goes to and from the inter coastal waterway to some of the main roadways. There's a car up ahead, but he is right next to the water's edge. We're going to probably pull up right next to him. This is how you get trapped, when the conditions get so bad and all this debris hits the road. If you decide at that point that you want to get out you're probably way too late to get out. We'll take you to the water's edge to give you an updated shot of just how the water is inundating this road. We'll pullover. My producer David Chortel pulling over. I'm going to get out of the vehicle. We have a three-camera vehicle here that can take us all over the place. I'll try to give you an idea of the storm surge. Don, I can tell you as this car here, these people are just kind of
taking a look at the storm surge. We're getting hit with another really heavy band of wind here. The rain has lightened up just slightly, but we expect that it's going to come back. The storm surge has increased the flooding of this road a little bit since we were here last. These people are observing it. They may want to try to get out soon, but again, this is the inter coastal waterway. This is old landing road. I'm not sure -- these people are trying to pull out.
So I'm going to try to get out of their way. We also have marsh areas all along this road. These marsh areas, Don, are getting overwhelmed with water too. You can see the storm surge pushing through here. And again, when people make the decision to leave too late, this is some of the stuff they're going to be going through. These people in this vehicle are having a good time, but they're going to have to get out of here pretty soon. Because we showed you some of the conditions on this roadway. I'll see if these people want to talk to us. Just a second.
[22:15:12] LEMON: Yes. They may be a bit embarrassed, Brian.
TODD: How are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, man.
TODD: What made you decide to come out here and see the storm?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We live right up here at the top of the road and this is our sound where we've grown up and lived all our life.
TODD: Are you worried about your home? How far up are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just right up here about three roads, and we live in a trailer, but we got a bunch of stuff packed around us and strapped down good and all the windows are boarded.
TODD: OK. You're from here. So tell us how bad this storm surge you think -- is this going to come up way past us?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our water is -- that island that you barely see right there is usually about six or seven foot out of the water. And we see it's only just about -- there's another 50 foot of road right here.
TODD: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then maybe another 40 or 50 foot of like gravel. And that water's way up here.
TODD: Are you worried about your safety? Are you having second thoughts? Do you want to get out?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I've been through three or four of them like this.
TODD: What's your name, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Paul Smith.
TODD: All right, Paul, good to meet you. I'm Brian from CNN. Good luck to you guys. Stay safe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm heading home.
TODD: All right. Do that. OK, Don, there you have it. One family living near here. They live in a mobile home. They're going to ride this out. They know this place pretty well, but again, they're taking a real risk. Don?
LEMON: Brian, you and I both know after having covered these thing things, I'm glad they turned around, because the worst thing you can do is try to drive through that water. You don't know how deep it is. And I'm glad they didn't do it.
TODD: Absolutely, Don. You know, that is a good point you're making, because you're always warned, you are always told that is what kills people in hurricanes. It's the water and people driving through standing or rushing water on roadways because they just misjudge how deep it is, how fast it's moving and how quickly a surge like this can come up. This has come up fairly quickly. It is not too deep yet, but it gets a lot deeper just behind me.
It's just the way people misjudge this kind of thing that ends up killing them in situations like this. So, it is a good point that you make, you are not going to drive through this. Don't drive through standing or rushing water on the roadway, but again, if you're making the decision to get out this late and that is what you're going to try to risk, your life is in your own hands.
LEMON: All right. Brian Todd, thank you, nice work there. Brian, we are going to get back to you as well. Remember, I think it was during Irma that Drew Griffin and his crew were doing a live shot and this guy mistook I think a creek or a river for a road. Do you guys -- do you remember that, people at home? And then he turned into the creek or the river and his truck started going down river, Drew catching a live shot. They all put something in to pull the guy out, but that was unbelievable.
That is what happens, you should never try to drive through that on a road, because you just don't know what's in there. You don't know how deep it is. You don't know where it's going. I am so glad that they turned around, Paul Smith. I'm so glad they turned around. Thank god for that.
Miguel Marquez is in Carolina Beach, North Carolina for us. Miguel, watching you earlier, we saw some of the earlier bands coming through. The first and the beginnings of the bands. What is there now, I note that you're not far from this Brunswick nuclear plant that they're keeping a close eye on.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they are shutting it down, it is probably shutdown right now. There are two units, that they have shutdown, just a precaution, they are expecting those winds to hit 75 miles of sustained winds. We are moving toward that. We're about a half hour southeast of where Anderson is right now where they're not seeing too much rain here. The rain has been coming down very subtly. The wind is starting to pick up and become more steady. And that is the big thing. You get a lot of those gusts from time to time, but that sustained wind, once you -- it's like a sideways waterfall coming at you basically. That is when it becomes very, very difficult to operate in these conditions.
That is when it's difficult for first responders to go out and respond to anybody who may be in trouble there. Carolina Beach, 6200 people live here, the town manager says maybe around 600 people have decided to wait out the storm. The waves have been building all day. The rain is now coming down much harder. And the wind is starting to pick up. And the biggest concerns they have, as you guys have been discussing, is water. Storm surge at about 11 feet.
The tide comes in at about 5 feet here. Pile on top of that 20, 30 perhaps 40 inches of rain in some areas they're expecting, and big swaths of this town are going to be underwater. They're expecting a lot of damage to certain homes here. This parts of this town flood in any event, during even much less rain and much less weather and they're expecting similar floods now.
They also expect this town will be cut off for least five to seven days when it's all said and done.
We're in an area we expect to be flooding here in probably the next in the coming hours. We're now getting a very heavy band coming through here right now. So it's only going to get worse as the night goes on.
But this storm just moving excruciatingly slow. They expect it to be where we are right now in the storm much earlier in the day. Now it looks like it's going to hit at night and into tomorrow and they're going to have a long-term issue on their hands.
They have emergency services here. They have the ability to respond by boat once they need to. But right now everybody hunkering down, waiting to see how bad this thing gets. Don?
LEMON: So, Miguel, how often is this happening now that it's coming on strong and receding?
MARQUEZ: It's becoming -- it's becoming more steady. It's been going now for about an hour, hour and a half. What you're seeing right now is the strongest it's been. But it has come on much stronger. The bands were -- they were -- a lot of time between bands earlier in the day. And now it's a fairly steady drumbeat of rain and wind.
The one thing we are not seeing, though, that you often see in these storms is higher sustained winds. We're getting gusts probably in the 40s, maybe 50 miles an hour but we're not seeing that sustained wind that just really becomes difficult to work in, really becomes difficult to talk, really becomes difficult -- I mean, you can't even -- it stings you typically when it starts moving that fast. And we're not there yet. And I think the city here is waiting to make that call as to when the
emergency services will no longer be able to come out, they'll have to shut down the bridge that comes into town. And at the rate we're going right now it's going to be pretty darn soon. Don?
LEMON: All right. Miguel Marquez, stand by. Be safe. We're going to get back to you. I just want to go now to CNN's Diane Gallagher. Diane is in New Bern, North Carolina. Diane, I understand that you had to relocate just within the last hour because the water was coming in so fast. When last I saw you I think it was on Chris's show, you were knee deep in water if not more, if not deeper.
DIANE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Don, actually, we've had to relocate twice now in New Bern since we started doing live shots. About noon today we finally have gotten to higher ground and farther inland. We're about four miles inland now and we're really experiencing the outer bands.
I'm going to step out just a bit so you can kind of get an idea and see. But I mean, the wind is howling. It is almost a haunting sound that's coming by every once in a while you can hear that sound, that you know that wind is really high powered.
More so than that, than this wind we're seeing though, now, we're experiencing these transformer blows. The sky lights up almost like the 4th of July. About every five or six minutes now, Don, we're seeing these bright blue lights that light up the sky.
We don't have power at the hotel we're staying at. We ended up leaving downtown New Bern because the water started rising so quickly so, fast, so high and then all the power went out and it became very difficult for us to be able to leave. So we had to get out of there. We were able to come back here.
And at this point now this has kicked back, I am so glad we got out when we did because if this type of condition was happening while we were down there we would have been stuck. There's no way we could have gotten out.
And it pains me to know there were people who were still coming down there, Don, when we were leaving to just look at things. They told me they were here just because they wanted to see us. And you could -- I mean, look, I'm not like super tiny.
Again, I'm almost six feet tall. So the wind is really starting to move us along here. It is powerful. And we are four miles inland now because we had to get to higher ground.
To give you an idea, those of you farther south from us right now what you're about to be experiencing take a listen and take a -- there's another transformer. I'm not sure if you can see it, but the sky keeps lighting up blue with these transformers blowing around us here.
The emergency manager tells me just before the storm rolled in they did provide some water evacuations for people who needed rescuing. Even though initially they weren't going to do that, they did go and have to rescue some people.
Don, there are going to be some more people who are going to need that and aren't going to be able to get it from emergency officials because they're going to also have to get to a safe place during the storm as the peak is coming in.
LEMON: All right. Diane Gallagher, stay safe there. We're going to get back to Diane.
Let's get a little bit more information. This is already serious. This is the calm before the storm, so to speak.
[22:24:59] Some of the areas that you're seeing here on CNN, they're getting those outer bands that are coming. And believe me, much worse is coming. That storm is creeping and possibly building speed. Possibly building speed there in the Atlantic.
In North Carolina 12,000 people are in 126 shelters tonight, 12,000 people in 126 shelters tonight. And that's from the Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina. Also 102,308 people so far without power in North Carolina. And that's from the North Carolina emergency management
Expecting storm surges of up to 13 feet, 13 feet here. So a serious situation under way. We're going to be right back with much more on our breaking news tonight.
We're covering hurricane Florence for you. The storm of a lifetime slamming the Carolinas. People here bracing for landfall. Which could come in a matter of hours. We're going to get an update from the mayor soon. The mayor of Myrtle Beach.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: We are back now with our special live coverage. The breaking news recovering hurricane Florence here on CNN.
I want to turn now to Mayor Sammy Phillips. Mayor Sammy Phillips is the mayor of Jacksonville, North Carolina, joins me right now by phone. Mayor, thank you so much. How are you doing?
MAYOR SAMMY PHILLIPS, JACKSONVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA: We're holding up pretty good here. It's blowing real hard right now. We're getting some gusts here.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: As I --
PHILLIPS: Pretty tough out here.
LEMON: I understand there's a mandatory curfew in Jacksonville in effect until 7 a.m. on Sunday. Tell me about that, mayor.
PHILLIPS: OK. We started the curfew at 7 p.m. this evening. But I don't know if there's that much time because this storm is going to last a while. And then, you know, in the aftermath there's going to be to have some immediate steps taken to restore power, to clear the roadways.
And so the reason of -- so the curfew is because we don't want people to be out during this period of time where we're trying to get everything cleaned up and straightened up, you know, where it's safe for people to be out.
LEMON: Yes. You said that you are seeing some wind and you are seeing some rain there. Talk to me a little more about the conditions you're under right now, mayor.
[22:30:02] PHILLIPS: Well, we have this pretty heavy gust right now. My wind gauge is registering 60 miles per hour on the gust right now. And it's raining pretty solid right now.
LEMON: Yeah.
PHILLIPS: You know -- I heard your one reporter talking about seeing the flashes in New Bern from the transformers. And we're seeing the same thing here. A lot of people have lost power here. But it's probably going to get progressively worse through the night.
LEMON: Yeah. We -- I talked about the power outages just moments ago before we went into the break. Also, Mayor, I think you -- you know, there's a tornado watch for parts of North Carolina, including over Jacksonville, something that you're paying very close attention to, I am sure.
PHILLIPS: Absolutely. That's one of the byproducts of hurricanes is they can spawn tornadoes. I haven't heard of any reported yet. But they had issued a warning.
LEMON: All right. The Mayor of Jacksonville, North Carolina, Mayor Sammy Phillips, we thank you for your time. We know it's very busy. We may be getting back to you throughout our coverage here on CNN. Again, we appreciate your time. You know the army corps of engineers preparing tonight for the response to Hurricane Florence.
So joining me now on the phone is Colonel Robert Clark. Colonel Clark is the Wilmington District Commander, Colonel, good evening to you. Thank you so much. Listen, you -- tell me about the efforts that you're responsible for here. And you're assigned to them by FEMA, is that correct?
COLONEL ROBERT CLARK, COMMANDER, WILMINGTON DISTRICT: That is correct in part, but I mean -- let me first start by saying thank you for having me on. And my concern is what I have been hearing all along, is the surge in inland flooding. And we have multiple authorities. So we have authority under our civil works program, in which we're responsible for navigable waters.
And then we also have that under the Stafford Act. We are FEMA's engineers and we are postured to support FEMA and local and state and other federal governments where possible. And let me tell you some of the things we're doing. We have subject matter experts embedded with the state right now with debris, experts -- roofing experts, housing experts, water -- waste water experts, dam safety experts, critical facility, and infrastructure experts.
We have members from our 249th Prime Power Battalion that are staged out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, that are out working with the local state under FEMA, setting out temporary generators in preparation for the storm. So we are prepared and postured to support as needed. We have planning and response teams already identified and postured throughout the region.
I spent four months commanding the response element in the Virgin Islands. I hunkered down on the Virgin Islands during a cat five storm. I understand the seriousness of Florence, as well as the entire army corps of engineers. About an hour ago, I just got off the phone with Lieutenant General Semonite. He called me up and asked me what do I need.
But this isn't just the Wilmington District providing support to the great state of North Carolina. This is the entire enterprise of the United States army corps of engineers, 43 district commanders online, asking how we can support. I am communicating to my fellow commanders up to the north, Colonel Pat Kinsman and to the South, Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Pelledini. So that's how...
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: What are you hearing from them, Colonel? What are you hearing, anything from them? Are they giving you any updates on situations there?
CLARK: Yeah. They're in the same situation. They're well postured to support both their local and state partners, as well as other federal agencies. You know part of our civil works mission we support the U.S. Coast Guard. We are postured with survey vessels that are standing by with crews nearby. And when the weather's permitting, we'll get our survey vessels out into the ports to help with the U.S. Coast Guard.
We also have these subject matter experts that are going to get out there and do an assessment right when weather permits. The thing you're thing about, help the local and state governments understand the conditions. And then we have (Inaudible) that do modeling and simulations. And they're providing us data -- real-time data that we can turn around and help.
So that's pretty much what (Inaudible) -- but my message to everybody is we have the army corps of engineers made up of 34,000 professional departments of army civilians, technical civilians, and they're standing by to provide support where and when asked and needed.
[22:35:01] LEMON: And we know how important you guys are when it comes to infrastructure, when it comes to -- remember down in New Orleans as well and the floodgates all over really this country, the infrastructure. We thank you for your time. We thank you for the service that you're providing to the country. We need you to get back to work. And if we call upon you, we hope that you'll answer to help our viewers through this storm coverage.
Thank you, Colonel Robert Clark from the army corps of engineers. When we come right back, Hurricane Florence inching closer and closer to the Carolinas, fears of a catastrophic storm surge, life- threatening flooding. I am going to talk to some of the officials who are working to keep people safe in this storm. Don't go anywhere. We've got it covered for you right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Welcome back, everyone. This is our breaking news coverage. Hurricane Florence, dubbed the storm of a lifetime, beginning to -- beginning its assault on the Carolinas tonight. Landfall expected sometime tomorrow. It's been pushed back because that storm is just kind of crawling in the Atlantic, creeping, slowing down.
And that's going to bring a whole lot of water with it. The slower it gets, the longer it stays out there. That means sadly more water for the people in the Carolinas. I want to bring in the Mayor of Myrtle Beach, Brenda Bethune. Mayor, thank you so much for joining us. I know it's a very busy time.
BRENDA BETHUNE, MYRTLE BEACH, MAYOR: Appreciate it.
[22:40:08] LEMON: I have been speaking to you for the last couple days. What's your biggest concern? First of all, how are you doing?
BETHUNE: I am hanging in there. I am tired, but I think everyone is at this point, and just anxious. Anxious about what's coming, especially after seeing the images before I came on with you of our neighbors in North Carolina. It's scary what's happening.
LEMON: Yeah. What's your biggest concern, Mayor?
BETHUNE: The water. The fact that this storm is coming in on us with two high tides and the amount of rain that it's going to produce. And that is just stalling. And we don't know what to expect. And hopefully, it will be better than what we're seeing. But I hate for anybody to be experiencing what North Carolina is right now. And I just hope and pray that that's not the case for us.
LEMON: You can see -- look at those images right there. And again, this thing hasn't even made landfall. We're still getting the outer bands. And for anyone who is saying what's going on, where is it, what's happening, what do you say to them? They're underestimating the power of this.
BETHUNE: It's a mistake. We cannot underestimate this storm. It is massive. It is covering literally two states. And it would be a huge mistake to underestimate the devastation and the power that this storm has.
LEMON: Yeah. I had a chance to go out with a police officer tonight from Myrtle Beach. We drove around the neighborhoods. Many people are gone. There -- I saw houses boarded up, plywood on houses. I just saw some people out walking their dogs. I was also concerned by that, but also by the construction cranes that are still up.
BETHUNE: I am told that they will withstand this storm. And I sure hope that's the case. But as far as the people walking around, at this point, we can't do anything more about it.
LEMON: Yeah.
BETHUNE: We have really stressed this week for people to evacuate and the importance of that.
LEMON: Right.
BETHUNE: We did so up until today. And all we can do is now ask that they just stay in their houses.
LEMON: Yeah.
BETHUNE: This is not the time to be outside taking pictures when this storm hits, because anything can happen and we can't get to them if they do need help.
LEMON: Yeah. Mayor Brenda Bethune, thank you so much.
BETHUNE: Thank you.
LEMON: I appreciate it. This is crunch time for you, so good luck to you, all right. If you need anything, you know how to get with us.
BETHUNE: Thank you.
LEMON: The Mayor of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Brenda Bethune. I want to go back to my colleague now, Anderson Cooper. Anderson is about 14 miles up the coast in Wilmington, North Carolina. Anderson joined me earlier. He's joining me now. Anderson, before -- I want to talk to you about something that you were reporting on today.
I was standing there listening to you and we were talking about, you know, the President of the United States and his tweets. Before we get to that, can you give me an update of the current situation where you are?
ANDERSON COOPER, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Yeah. I mean it's, you know, it's what it's been for the last couple of hours. It's water (Inaudible) at point. I mean obviously, we've been getting some gusts of wind here, but it is really just the driving rain that continues. It's been really continuing unabated for the last couple hours, going to be all through the night.
We expect all through tomorrow, you know, into Saturday. No telling really exactly how long and how much water is going to end up on the ground. But as you've been reporting and as Chris has been reporting, you know, this is going to be several tide cycles, high tides and low tides. It's not just one or two here.
There is, you know -- as I said before, the story of this storm has yet to be written. We really don't have a sense -- you know, you can hear from meteorologists. You can look at the radar. But it's not clear exactly where the water's going to be. The Mayor of Wilmington is talking about 20 inches, 30 inches, 40 inches of rain, of water in some places, eight months' worth of rain in the next three days.
So there's a lot still to come. It is still very early hours. And I think what the Mayor you were just talking to said is so important. Do not underestimate this storm. You know, it is really -- it's just miserable out right now. It's not the worst, you know, certainly we've ever seen or even maybe people here have ever seen.
But the length of it, the size of it, just the slow motion of it, the slow movement of it, you can out walk this storm. That means it's just going to be sitting here for a long time, Don.
LEMON: Yeah. And you're exactly right there. I mean -- you know we were talking about the winds. Just anytime you have storm force winds, it doesn't matter what category it is. Storm force winds, nothing to play with. And that's what we are approaching right now. So Anderson, let's talk about this. I think we all woke up this morning and were a bit surprised by what was coming from the President's Twitter feed.
You know, he tweeted, falsely claimed that nearly 3,000 Americans did not die in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria. It's his -- this is the latest conspiracy theory from him where his information is just wrong and the lack of empathy is just unbelievable, at least to me.
[22:45:12] COOPER: Yeah. I mean you can call it a conspiracy theory. You can just call it a lie, which is what it is. I mean, he said, you know when he was there that the death toll was -- you know, according to the governor was 16 or 17. He said it was anywhere I think from 6 to 8 to 17 or 18. So he was even underestimating it in his tweet today.
But we all knew even then how low that estimate was, that death toll was, the official death toll. And for the last year, the official death toll is at 64. Now, CNN sued the government in order to get access to mortality statistics. We actually had to sue in order to get access because they didn't want reporters, researchers to have access.
The governor of Puerto Rico said that he was willing to give researchers access to mortality statistics. The Harvard researchers who did a survey with universities in Puerto Rico, they said the government of Puerto Rico actually didn't give them access and made it hard for them to get access to correct mortality statistics.
And it wasn't until a George Washington University study that the government of Puerto Rico acknowledged 64 was not the death toll. They're saying the estimate of 2,975 is the official death toll. But that's an estimate. I mean this is done by, you know, looking at years of mortality statistics in years prior to the storm, and then in the months after the storm this past year.
So for the President to deny this, I mean, you know, I was talking to a woman who lost her mom, whose mom died in a hospital because the hospital lost power. The mother had three heart attacks, couldn't have surgery, and died. For the President to do this, I mean it's a slap in the face not only to the dead. I mean it's disrespecting the death of nearly 3,000 Americans.
It's a slap in the face to the families whose lives have been forever changed and whose lives will never be the same. To not even give them the respect of acknowledging how their loved one died and what was part of the cause, I just find incredibly disrespectful. And I can't imagine what so many families must be going through in Puerto Rico tonight who are just sitting there, who lost their father, who lost their mother, who lost their grandmother, maybe lost a child.
And suddenly the President's saying, you know what? They just died of old age. That's just not the case, you know. It was a lack of access to basic medicine. It was a lack of access to electricity, to ventilators, to medication that they needed to sustain themselves, to dialysis. We know this. I mean it's -- I wish I could say it was surprising, but it was certainly shocking.
LEMON: Yeah, Yeah. Not so surprising, but again, shocking. And every day, you think well, it's not -- this can't get worse, or this President -- I mean listen. This is me speaking, not more to reality. If you look at the studies, and these are done by academics. These are not done by politicians, right? He politicized it.
And as a matter of fact, in his statement, Anderson, he said this was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising billions of dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico. If a person died for any reason like old age, just add them into the list, bad politics.
I love Puerto Rico. He's politicizing it. I guess he's saying, you know, the Democrats did it. Democrats are the cause for the storm. Maybe they whipped up the winds and all the rain that caused the storm. I just don't understand it. And I think you're absolutely right to call a lie a lie.
COOPER: You know, Don, Ethel Freeman was a woman who was brought to the convention center in New Orleans in the days after the storm. Ethel Freeman was 91 years old, if my memory serves me correctly. She was in a wheelchair. She was brought by her son, who I believe was Herbert Freeman Jr., if I remember his name correctly.
But Ethel Freeman was brought there by her son because they were told there were going to be buses that were going to take them to safety. And the buses didn't show up. Not on the first day, not on the second day. The buses didn't show up for days. And Ethel Freeman died in a wheelchair sitting outside the convention center waiting for buses.
And her son was told to put a blanket over her head and wheel her to the side of the convention center, and that is where she sat. And he put his cell phone number in her pocket, and he wasn't called for months even after they had found her body. He had no idea what had happened to his mother's body. It took months. Ethel Freeman didn't die in the storm. [22:49:50] She died in the days after the storm. And yet, she was
killed by that storm and by neglect. And so for the President to claim that people don't die days and weeks after a storm, it's just insulting. It's disrespectful to the dead and it's disrespectful to the living.
LEMON: Yeah, and it's a new low. Anderson, very well said. Anderson, you stay safe. We're going to get back to you because our coverage is going to continue. Anderson Cooper in Wilmington, North Carolina, everyone. Here in Myrtle Beach, we're bracing ourselves for the storm that is on the way here. So I want to bring in now Chief Joseph Hill.
Joseph Hill is the Police Chief for Horry County, South Carolina, where Myrtle Beach is located. Chief, I appreciate it. I have been here for -- since this morning. Curfew is in effect. Horry County Police Department tweeted out the curfew, of course. So talk to me about that. All hands on deck, right?
JOSEPH HILL, POLICE CHIEF, HORRY COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA: Yes, sir. Don, welcome to Myrtle Beach. And yes, curfew is in effect from 7:00 at night to 7:00 in the morning. And we did that and (Inaudible) to make sure that folks are safe, officers can traverse, and we keep looters at bay.
LEMON: You're telling residents to think before they call authorities. What do you mean by that?
HILL: Well, if you are having emergency situations, whether that's a medical, someone is breaking into your house, someone is, you know, injured, call 911. But if you have a question, we have the nonemergency line. You can call 915-5150. And that way, we can funnel that information, get you some help, and so you're not clogging up vital lines of 911.
LEMON: Yeah. Are you getting, Chief, any emergency calls yet?
HILL: We are. We're getting some calls. Matter of fact, I just got a text from the Myrtle Beach police chief, and we've got some possible looters in an area. Dispatch is down there. We're getting some medical calls. People are anxious. We've been dealing with this since Sunday. So yes, we are still fielding police and medical calls.
LEMON: All right. Chief Joseph Hill, Chief, thank you so much from Horry County, we appreciate you joining us here. Good luck to you. We may be calling on you throughout our coverage as well. We hope that you'll pick up the phone or at least come out to see us if you have the opportunity to get you on camera to give folks an update. Thank you so much, OK?
HILL: Take care, Don. Appreciate you letting me get on the air.
LEMON: Absolutely, absolutely. So listen, not much you can see here, I am going to step out of the way here if you want to look. Not much you can see here. The beach I was on earlier is just over my right shoulder here. The waves are starting to crash in, 11:00 p.m., 11:00 p.m. is going to be high tide again.
That's just moments away, about eight minutes away, less than eight minutes away. But again, folks, I still see some people who are out on the beach. Earlier, police told me that the beach wasn't necessarily closed. But what's closed is the water. They don't want you to get into the water. And as this thing gets closer, of course, the beach will be closed, as well.
You won't be able to get back on that beach without getting into trouble with some police officers and some authorities. So our coverage is going to continue here. We're in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We have our crews up and down the coast here in the Carolinas, including Anderson Cooper and Chris Cuomo. Our hurricane coverage of Florence pummeling the Carolinas with wind and rain continuing now, I am going to talk with the Mayor whose town is already flooding. That's after the break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:55:00] LEMON: Back now live with our breaking news. We're in Myrtle Beach. Flooding heavy, you've seen it in New Bern, North Carolina, that is north of Wilmington. And on the phone now is Dana Outlaw. Dana Outlaw is the Mayor of New Bern. Mayor, thank you so much for joining us. You're already experiencing some major flooding. It could see 9 to 13 feet of storm surge? Are you there, Mayor? Can you hear me?
All right, we're not hearing the Mayor. Again, we were trying to get Dana Outlaw, the Mayor of New Bern. You have been seeing really some flooding there. New Bern has lost power in some areas. You've seen the flooding. You've seen our reporters there, some of them having to move around several times because the flooding is so bad.
And that's really just the beginning of all this. You can expect more of that as that storm just is sitting out there and gathering up more water and more water. Updates are coming from emergency officials, including the power company, the utility companies. Over 100,000 people now so far out of -- without power now.
Also 12,000 people at least in a dozen or so shelters around North Carolina, just the beginning, the calm before the storm if you can call this calm. Our special coverage, our live coverage continues at Florence right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: OK, everyone. Top of the hour, let's restart this. This is CNN Tonight. I'm Don Lemon. We're live in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
