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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Hurricane Florence Barrels Toward the Carolinas; Hurricane Maria Aid Still Stuck on a Puerto Rican Runway; Pope to Meet with U.S. Church Leaders; Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired September 13, 2018 - 04:30   ET

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

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[04:30:13] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Disaster is at the doorstep and it's coming in.

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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Hurricane Florence on its final approach to the Carolinas. The storm moving at a very slow pace. Once the storm arrives, some areas will see hurricane conditions for a full 24 hours. They're going to start seeing tropical storm-force winds later this afternoon.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Alex Marquardt. It's now 30 minutes past the hour. Great to be back with you on this very, very busy morning.

Hurricane Florence is closing in on the Carolinas. Storm has weakened slightly down to a category two. But that does not change the expected effects. A huge storm surge and rainfall measured in feet, not inches. Forecast to create life-threatening conditions. The warning officials are giving residents is crystal clear, leave immediately before the window to escape closes. More than 10 million people are living in areas under warnings or watches for hurricane or tropical storm force winds.

ROMANS: States of emergency declared in the Carolinas, in Georgia, Virginia and Maryland. Airlines have canceled at least 800 flights along the East Coast in anticipation of the storm. The National Hurricane Center says waves out at sea and the strongest part of the storm are as high as 83 feet. And seven nuclear power plants right in the path of Florence.

Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri is checking Florence for us in the CNN Weather Center. What can you tell us?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, the last couple of hours, I've noticed the storm system has been kind of going through a restructuring process but potentially we're getting what is called an eyewall replacement cycle and I wouldn't be surprised in the next, say, 30 or so minutes when we get the next update, changes with this storm maybe buffing it back to category 3. Remember at 111-mile-per- hour, one-mile-per hour stronger than this would be categorizing it at three but again it doesn't really change what the storm has to offer.

Look at the northern fringe of this. Once you slice the storm system much more convection, much more thunderstorm activity. On its northern periphery, as we've had a lot shear enter the southern tier of the system over the past like 12 or so hours that has brought it down to where it is now at category 2. But unfortunately the energy is in motion and unfortunately this becomes this slow motion disaster once it approaches land because the steering environment really, really slows down.

At 17 miles per hour right now is a progression. We think that might drop down to, say, four or five miles per hour after it moved to shores sometime around, say, 24 to, say, 30 hours from right now instead of Friday morning. But we'll begin to see some of those tropical storm-force winds. They do extend about 300 hundred miles from the center so you'll see those right around the outer banks as early as shortly after sunrise. Those are tropical storm gusts. And then you're your way into the afternoon and evening hours, and even later on tonight.

So you'll see hurricane force-winds being felt from Wilmington towards Morehead City, and again notice how this really expands to tropical storm force winds. And all of this of course pushes inland here very slowly as we go into the overnight hours of tonight, into the early morning hours of tomorrow and the number one weather killer is of course become storm surge with a storm that especially fails to move along and sits there right on the coast, and continues to really batter this region by pumping quite a bit of water right into the bays and inlets and the coastal communities from the cape down towards the Hatteras region.

And between nine to 13 feet, that's what we're expecting across some regions and work your way a little farther toward Nag's Head Hill and Kill Devil Hill. And Nag's Head up to 2 to 4 feet in some of those spots and work your way farther towards, say, Charleston. Generally 2 to 4 feet, few years around Myrtle Beach, 4 to 6 feet.

What does that mean? 4 to 6 gets water right up to the first story of your home. Up to 12 feet the water goes into the second story of your home. So certainly some of those beaches will be washed away down near Charleston. And some of the communities right on the coast there and near Myrtle Beach will begin taking on water and big time destruction possible in the Wilmington region.

But the 12-foot storm surge that's in the forecast. That's one part of the story. The other part is this very little progression after landfall tomorrow morning because we think this storm may for a 12- hour period travel about 50 miles. You run the numbers, that's a little more than 4 miles per hour or essentially what an average walking speed of a person. So unfortunately it sits there, it's battering the coastal communities with 12-foot storm surge and at the same time drawing moisture in from the warm area right there off the coast and bringing in rainfall maybe 20 to 25 inches.

I wouldn't be surprised some areas get 30 inches of rainfall. And in fact historically speaking you can look very closely at data that exists for hundreds of tropical systems that have made landfall. When they go 5 miles an hour, on average they produce 30 inches of rainfall. When they go 20 miles per hour, it drops down to about 5 inches of rainfall. And this is going to be near the top of the chart and we will set some records in the rainfall department across this region, and storm surge becomes a number one weather killer typically with tropical systems and rainfall is the number two aspect of the flash flooding.

And you notice this whole area right on the coast is off the top of the charts there when it comes to what we have to offer in the rainfall department. And that has not changed one bit. And regardless, if this storm were to be categorized down to category one in the next 24 hours before landfall, this would not change whatsoever because the energy has been moving along with it for a couple of days now.

[04:35:06] MARQUARDT: Right. Yes. Very important point. We talk so much about the wind, but it's really the water that does the most damage.

All right. Pedram Javaheri, thank you so much. We'll check in with you a lot today.

All right. Well, more than a million people in the Carolinas have been told to leave. One regional power company, Duke Energy, is planning for the worst. The company expects as many as three million homes in the Carolinas will lose power during the storm. That's 75 percent of their customers.

In Carolina Beach, the only bridge connecting the island to the mainland is now closed. Officials fear that as many as a thousand of the 6300 residents are planning to ride out this storm in the town which is less than five feet above sea level.

Out meteorologist Derek Van Dam is live in Carolina Beach.

Derek, we're just heard that storm surge could reach as high as 13 plus feet.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And that means where I'm standing right now, storm surge this time tomorrow, I will be under water completely. And with the town at five-foot above sea level and the 13-foot forecast storm surge, that only means trouble. You don't need to be a mathematician to figure that one out. This is the main concern for this low-lying area and all the low-lying parts of the coastal regions of North and South Carolina.

I am on Carolina Beach. It's a very narrow thin island separated from the main part of land by this bridge that is closed off and authorities here have warned the residents that decided to stay down -- stay here and ride out the storm that they need to be prepared to not have electricity and have no services for five to upwards of seven days after Hurricane Florence finally leaves. So that really just puts it into perspective what authorities are expecting.

They have been going around door-to-door at residents that have had their lights left on to see if was indeed anyone home. They still have the opportunity to leave over the bridge that connects this area but they cannot return back to the island. That's the only stipulation.

We know that this area is prone to flooding and they are no strangers to major hurricanes here. They know the threats.

Christine and Alex, back to you.

MARQUARDT: No stranger but they've got a hell of a storm heading their way. Our thoughts with them.

VAN DAM: Yes.

MARQUARDT: Those who decided to stay behind. And Derek, best of luck to you. We know that -- it'll be -- you have a few hours and days ahead of you. Thanks very much.

ROMANS: Yes. Stay safe, Derek.

All right. South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster lifted mandatory evacuation orders for three counties earlier this week. Then the storm track for Florence shifted further south.

We get more from CNN's Drew Griffin in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Alex, this is Ocean Boulevard, Myrtle Beach. Usually crowded right now. Myrtle Beach tonight under a curfew, mandatory curfew that started at 10:00 last night actually and it now goes into tonight, of course.

This area really caught somewhat off guard by the change in direction. They thought they were going to have a glancing blow. Wednesday morning that forecast changed and now they realized they could be a direct hit of Florence.

The businesses were ordered shut at 5:00 last night. They boarded up, they sandbagged as best they could. You could see that up and down this street here. They are concerned not just about the surge that could come in and the wind that could come in from the ocean which I can see in the dark. You can't see it here. But also just the sheer amount of rain they expect is going to fall because of the slow-moving nature of this.

But I want to show you something else. This big Ferris wheel. It's kind of an iconic spot here in downtown Myrtle Beach. There are no cars on it. They took all the cars off of that Ferris wheel during the daylight hours, shipped them away so that they could hopefully put them back on a fully intact Ferris wheel when this thing is all over.

But right now hundreds of people are in shelters. 1300 across the state. Probably more than that by now. As South Carolina, Myrtle Beach, awaits for slow-moving Florence to come in and move out -- Christine, Alex.

MARQUARDT: Some pretty haunting scenes down there in Myrtle Beach. Our thanks to Drew Griffin.

Now President Trump is echoing the dire warnings about Hurricane Florence. That was after he touted what he called an incredible success responding to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico last year where the death toll now stands at nearly 3,000. The president says he is already hearing good things about preparations for this storm.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tremendous people working on the hurricane. First responders, law enforcement and FEMA. And they are all ready and we're getting tremendous accolades from politicians and the people. We are ready. But this is going to be one of the biggest ones to ever hit our country.

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[04:40:05] MARQUARDT: As part of the federal government's response to Florence, the Centers for Disease Control opened its emergency operations center in Atlanta overnight.

ROMANS: Hurricane Florence has the potential to be one of the most expensive hurricanes to ever strike the United States. Nearly 759,000 homes in the Carolinas and Virginia are right in the dangerous path of the storm. According to preliminary analysis from Core Logic, worst- case scenario, more than $170 billion to rebuild.

As landfall approaches, wireless providers are rushing to prepare for the crushing demand post-storm. The major providers AT&T, Sprint, T- Mobile and Verizon, they are deploying support crews and machinery to insure cell towers remain operational.

Some tips for consumers in the path of the storm, you're going to want to fuel your devices obviously with a maximum amount of power and information, prep your phone, fully charge those battery, turn on low power mode, have plastic bags available to keep your phone waterproof. Consider installing an offline walkie-talkie app and rescue apps from the Red Cross. Book mark and set up push alerts for emergency messaging and finally download maps for your area.

MARQUARDT: All right. Well, breaking overnight. Six people are dead, including the suspect in a shooting rampage that started at a Bakersfield, California, trucking business. Authorities says that it started with a confrontation between a husband and wife and another man. The husband shot and killed the man, then turn the gun on his wife. After killing three others nearby officials say the gunman carjacked a vehicle. The woman and child inside that vehicle were able to escape. And when police finally confronted the shooter, he then turned the gun on himself. His motive and his relationship to the victims is still unclear.

ROMANS: All right. The former --

MARQUARDT: Awful.

ROMANS: Yes, terrible. The former head of the National Security Agency says the Helsinki

summit was a missed opportunity.

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MIKE RODGERS, FORMER NSA CHIEF: He opted to go a different direction. That's certainly his right as the president, but I wish we had taken advantage of that opportunity.

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ROMANS: What Mike Rodgers said the president told him about Russian hacking.

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[04:46:16] MARQUARDT: President Trump has signed an executive order intended to punish foreigners for interfering in U.S. elections. The president has been widely criticized for downplaying and even repeatedly denying Russia's attack on the 2016 election. His new executive order allows the director of National Intelligence Dan Coats to identify foreign governments, companies or individuals responsible for election meddling, and it authorizes the Treasury Department to then apply new sanctions.

ROMANS: But Democrats and Republicans say the order doesn't go far enough. And former NSA chief, Mike Rodgers, thinks the president had his chance to make a real statement at the Helsinki summit and he let it slip away.

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RODGERS: I thought there was an opportunity here that we could have taken advantage of that moment. He opted to go a different direction. That's certainly his right as the president but I wish we had taken advantage of that opportunity. But that could have sent a very powerful message.

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ROMANS: Admiral Rodgers told the crowd at the Hayden Center in Virginia that he gave the president detailed briefings on the Russian hacking efforts. But Mr. Trump responded by saying, quote, "Mike, you know I'm in a different place."

MARQUARDT: Essentially telling him to move on.

Well, voters head to -- voters in New York head to the polls today for the marquee primary which is pitting incumbent Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo against his progressive challenger Cynthia Nixon, the former "Sex and the City" star. This race has turned ugly in its final hours. The governor is under fire for a mailer that state Democrats sent to 7,000 addresses in Jewish community. That mailer suggesting that Nixon is anti-Israel and has been, quote, "silent on the rise of anti-Semitism." ROMANS: Jeff Fager, the long-time executive producer of "CBS 60

Minutes," is out amid accusations of inappropriate sexual conduct. CBS News president David Rhodes says the move is not directly related to those allegations but that Fager violated company policy. Fager tells CNN his contract was terminated because he sent a text to a CBS reporter demanding fair coverage in her story about his alleged sexual misconduct.

CBS News reports the text actually warned her to, quote, "be careful." That people trying to harm him lost their jobs,. The allegations against Fager included unwanted touching which he denies. His departure comes just days after CBS CEO Les Moonves stepped down following allegations of sexual misconduct.

All right. The big Apple reveal. We'll tell you about the Xs, the Xs Max, the Xr, when we get a check on CNN Money. XS.

MARQUARDT: Xs.

ROMANS: The game of Xs.

MARQUARDT: Max.

ROMANS: It sounds like tennis so much. I can't get over it.

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[04:53:33] MARQUARDT: All right. President Trump claims his administration's response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico last year was what he called an unsung success but nearly a year after the storm millions of desperately needed bottles of water you can see them right there are sitting untouched on a runway.

CNN's Bill Weir has more from San Juan.

BILL WEIR, CNN HOST: Just for a moment imagine you spent months getting water from a pipe into a creek or collecting rain water to keep your family alive, and now imagine you discover all that time there has literally been millions of bottles of bottled water, fresh water sitting on an airport runway unused.

That is the story that is outraging so many Puerto Ricans this week after a local law enforcement official posted pictures of what looked like thousands of pallets parked on an abandoned runway in an airport in Saba, about 45 minutes south of San Juan here. We went looking and it wasn't hard to find and you can see why.

It is literally a runway full of bottled water and it seems to be also an exercise in blame. FEMA put out a statement that says look, it's just our job to get the resources to the island. This is a supply issue, this is a distribution issue, pushing responsibility off on the local Puerto Rican government. Meanwhile the Puerto Rican government put out a statement that says FEMA delivered 20,000 palettes of water, that's anywhere between 30 million and 40 million bottles of water that they didn't need. In other words it came too late. [04:55:03] By our reporting it wasn't until they started distributing

that water in May that people complained of foul odor and taste which then set off a series of water tests, and all the while that precious resource is just sitting there in the Puerto Rican sun.

I'm Bill Weir in San Juan. Back to you.

ROMANS: What a mess. Bill, thank you for that.

In just over an hour, Pope Francis will meet with a delegation of U.S. bishops and cardinals to discuss the Vatican response to an escalating sexual abuse scandal that has ensnared church leaders around the globe.

CNN's Delia Gallagher live in Rome with more -- Delia.

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine. Yes, this is going to be a tricky conversation because the bishops say one of the things they want to talk to the Pope about is a full investigation into former Cardinal McCarrick, and who knew what when about allegations that he sexually abused seminarians for years but was allowed to go through the ranks and become a cardinal. And those allegations directly implicate also Pope Francis and the Vatican who have so far not responded.

The other thing that the bishops want to talk to the Pope about is some kind of streamlined process for reporting bishops who are accused of cover-up to the Vatican, what happens with the investigation and how there is going to be a penalty or justice for them.

Now one test case, Christine, on this will probably be the archbishop of Washington, D. C., Cardinal Wuerl who now says he is coming to offer resignation to Pope Francis. Cardinal Wuerl, as you know, has been really at the center of much of the outrage for allegations that he mishandled sexual abuse cases and how -- those are allegations by the way that the cardinal denies, but he says he's still going to offer his resignation to the Pope. And how that case is handled, Christine, will probably set the tone for what the Vatican is going to do with these cases going forward -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Delia Gallagher, thank you so much for that.

Fifty-seven minutes past the hour. Apple announced three new iPhones at yesterday's big event in California. CEO Tim Cook said the signature device is getting an upgrade and new size options.

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TIM COOK, APPLE CEO: This is iPhone Xs. It is the most advanced iPhone we've ever created.

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ROMANS: The Xs will have a 5.8 inch screen. The Xs Max will have a 6.5 inch screen. The devices don't have a home button, they feature face ID not a finger print scanner anymore, and the cameras have upgraded features as well.

Apple also surprised the audience by announcing a third lower end iPhone called the iPhone Xr. It has simple features and a lower price tag. Apple also showed off an upgrade to its 3-year-old smart watch. The Apple Watch series 4 now has a 30 percent larger edge-to-edge display with curved corners, also with a thinner and two times faster.

So that's what happened at the big Apple reveal.

MARQUARDT: They've also unveiled their most expensive phone ever.

ROMANS: Yes.

MARQUARDT: So --

ROMANS: Absolutely. All right. Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

MARQUARDT: And I'm Alex Marquardt. Live pictures of Hurricane Florence right there bearing down on the Carolinas. The winds starting to pick up. That shot in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.

"NEW DAY" starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Thursday, September 13th. 5:00 in the East Coast. Alisyn is in New York. I'm John Berman in Hope Island, North Carolina, where Hurricane Florence is beginning to bear down on the East Coast, Alisyn. And as we drove here today, house after house along this beach side island here boarded up. Most people -- most but not all have gone. They are ready for what could be a harrowing 48 to 72 hours ahead.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: It sounds like it, John. And I mean, from what you were saying earlier when we spoke, it sounds like FEMA is getting in position. They are getting ready.

BERMAN: We have seen signs that FEMA is here. That FEMA is ready. Because they know that this is a storm the likes of which that this area just has not seen. We have a brand new update from the National Hurricane Center, which we'll get to that in just a moment.

I want to show people some fresh pictures of what this storm looks like. We've got some -- this is a satellite imagery. You can see the outer bands now of this storm bearing down. Particularly on the outer banks. Those are islands off the coast of North Carolina. 200 miles north of where I am right now.

People are beginning to feel this storm. This is Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. You see that flag just at a 90-degree angle right now because the winds, they are coming and they will be fierce. And it's not just the strength of this storm which right now we understand is about a category two. It is the duration. This storm will essentially stall out just off the coast here as it makes landfall, turn south. It will hit the coastline for 24 hours or more. People could be feeling storm force winds, tropical storm force winds or hurricane force winds for 24 hours or longer.

That is a serious problem and we will tell you why.