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Don Lemon Tonight

Tropical Storm Florence Really Battering The Carolinas Right Now; There Was A Very Real Possibility That This Administration Was Going To Possibly Replace The Head Of The Federal Emergency Management Agency, Fema, Brock Long Because Of Some Possible Improprieties With Travel. Aired. 12m-1a ET

Aired September 15, 2018 - 00:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, HOST, CNN TONIGHT: I'm Don Lemon. A little past midnight here in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where you can see the wind is whipping up. Tropical storm Florence really battering the Carolinas right now. I have the wind meter up that I've just gotten here just to see what the wind speed is and the storm gusts.

Really now up to 25, 26, almost 30 miles an hour wind gusts. This is the biggest that we've seen pretty much so far here in South Carolina, here where we are I should say in Myrtle Beach. And then up the beach just a little bit, about 10, 15 miles we'll find our Nick Watt.

Nick, I don't know what the wind is like where you are, what the conditions are like, but they've deteriorated here over the past hour or so.

NICK WATT, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Yes, that's right, Don. I mean, we're about 15 miles up the coast from you and it is similar. You know, all day we were getting battered by winds coming from inland, coming off- shore, and actually, you know, this morning about 5:00 a.m. I was trying to grab a few hours of sleep and the wind was so strong it was actually moving our house, which is up on stilts as a flood defense, but maybe that's not such a good idea in strong winds.

But then, at about 5:00 or 6:00, everything went a little bit calm and then suddenly, the wind started coming onshore. Look at this now. We are still maybe a couple of hours away from high tide and the water is already up and past the normal high tide level, and the real fear here is that we're going to get a storm surge, that we're going to get high tide coinciding, these onshore winds, and that could push the water, Don, into the town of North Myrtle Beach.

It has happened here before. It happened back in 1989 with Hurricane Hugo, and it could well happen again. Now, there are about 2000 people we think who have hunkered down and stayed in their homes in North Myrtle Beach to try and ride out the storm. We can - most of the power is out. I can see a couple of places, a couple of streetlights. It has kind of have been on and off all day, but emergency officials said to us most of the day, listen, it is not safe for us to go out, so you guys are on your own unless you are in a life-threatening situation.

As I mentioned, there was that lull in the afternoon so the fire department went out, checked on a few people and then the wind picked up again and it is now too dangerous. So these 2,000 people, they're on their own through this wet, windy night. Hopefully North Myrtle Beach will not be inundated but that's the fear, Don. That is the fear.

LEMON: All right, Nick Watt, thank you very much. Be safe out there. I want to get to my colleague now, Martin Savidge. MARTIN SAVIDGE joins us from Wilmington. Martin, what are the conditions like where you are?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: They're improving here, Don, and that's to be expected, of course, as the storm comes to you. It is moving away from us. But there are new dangers that are now beginning to pop up, and that is tornado warnings and tornado watches. Tornados are often a spin-off of the kind of weather you have, we tend to think of the massive thing of the hurricane, but there is the very specific threat of tornados, and that appears to be more and more a reality tonight.

Of course, on top of that you have got the deluge of rain that continues to come down, the run-off that is going to affect all of the waterways here in a couple of days. It is almost like you face a second storm surge, only, this one is going to be predominantly fresh water as all of that water has been draining and falling and will reach all the rivers and that eventually make its way down to the ocean.

That's another problem they've got to face. On top of that, we are dealing with issues in many parts of the state without electricity. There are tens of thousands - actually, I think half a million people that are without electricity in this state. It is obviously most of the coastal areas. Wilmington itself, there are large swaths without electricity. We were out near Wrightsville Beach. We tried to get out there, it is a barrier island, we could not. It is still too dangerous to cross the bridge there. But there are reports of structural damage. There's certainly reports of significant beach erosion on the Atlantic Side and they've also had problems with water inundation coming from both the inter coastal as well as from the Atlantic Ocean.

[00:05:12]

SAVIDGE: But again, if you are driving, and you shouldn't be, most areas are under curfew including here. It is too dangerous. It is so dark out there you cannot see those dangers which include massive trees that have come down across major roadways. There are also large pools of standing water that you can go driving right into in a hydro plane in that sea because there are those street lights and then the traffic lights aren't working as well.

So that's an addition to all the other dangers of trees that continue to come down as a result of ground that's super-saturated. They literally uproot and you have already reported today on the deadly, disastrous impact of that in Wilmington and other places. So this continues to be a statewide - actually, multi-statewide disaster and we are a long way from seeing the end of it. I know it has been said time and again, but it bears being repeated

because even if you think that the wind and the rain is leaving your area, there are many, many other hazards perhaps that you haven't even thought of. Don.

LEMON: All right, thank you very much. I appreciate that, Martin Savidge. Also out covering this is CNN's Ed Lavandera. Ed Lavandera joins us now from Jacksonville, North Carolina. What are you seeing there, Ed?

ED LAVANDERA, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, you know, it is just simply amazing, Don, that 48 hours - more than 48 hours after we started to seeing the first bands of Hurricane Florence coming on shore in this part of North Carolina - we are on the north side, the topside of this storm, and really this is the area that started seeing the very first effects of this storm system moving on shore.

So there are several hours ahead in terms of rainfall compared to the rest of North Carolina and South Carolina coast, and simply exhausting just in the amount of rain that has fallen. You know, many people going to bed tonight hoping that by the time they wake up tomorrow it will be down to the last few trickles of raindrops, but we'll have to wait and see exactly how that pans out. It is really causing problems.

We were in the town of New Bern, North Carolina, Don, throughout most of the day. This is the area where there are more than 300 people had to be rescued from their homes because of neighborhoods that were being flooded out. These were people who stayed back for a variety of reasons, either they were stubborn or didn't have the means to get out of these neighborhoods and chose to stay back. You know, you saw a fleet of volunteers and professional swift water rescue teams descend on these neighborhoods and pull out.

You even saw a guy, like we met Jason Weinman who ten years ago had bought an old military-style troop transport truck that sits super high off the ground and he descended on that neighborhood to drive through the high water to get into the neighborhoods so that he could transport people out of their flooded-out homes. So you saw stories like that unfolding throughout the day in this town, but as people go to bed tonight, Don, and they continue to see these sheets of rain continue to fall heavily, not just on the coastline but inland as well, you know, they're waiting to see just how much worse the flooding situation is going to get.

The good news is in some of the areas we saw where even if it stopped raining for a little while, it seemed like the floodwaters would recede rather rapidly, so that is a good sign, but most importantly what needs to happen here is for the rain to stop. But as you can see, picking up ata moment's notice that we're seeing once again here tonight, Don.

LEMON: All right, Ed Lavandera, thank you very much. Downtown Myrtle Beach we'll find my colleague Drew Griffin where the flood threat is still very real. Drew. DREW GRIFFIN, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Very real, Don, but I think we have

to realize that what my colleagues don't any power. Myrtle Beach really has come through this unscathed so far. Yes, they have got some debris on the street that they are going to have to clean up, but these sandbags never came into play during this storm. The wind has been dying down gradually as the storm passes. The big really concern - it is not a threat to Myrtle Beach, but the concern now according to officials is all of the flooding that's going to take place in the rivers that would potentially block the roads that access Myrtle Beach.

That's going to be a problem for all of the evacuees who are now really wanting to come back and also for all of the supplies that this town usually needs just to run -- the gas, the groceries, everything else. So I think that officials here believe they have come through the hurricane portion of this storm pretty well, Don. Now it is this aftermath that they have to deal with, the inland flooding not only for the people who are in the low-lying areas who are going to have homes flooded out, but also for all of the access roads where you can actually get around and get material moving around this portion of South Carolina.

[00:10:08]

GRIFFIN: As of right now though, things look pretty good and like I said, unbelievably the power is still on.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much for that, Drew Griffin. We really appreciate it. Listen, we want to get to a story that is breaking as this storm was moving toward the Carolinas. There was a very real possibility that this administration was going to possibly replace the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, Brock Long because of some possible improprieties with travel. I'm going to get now to Michael Bender who joins us now from the "Wall Street Journal" to talk to us about that.

So Michael, fill us in on what happened.

MICHAEL BENDER, WALL STREET JOURNAL: Hey, Don. Yeah, rain and wind, it is flooding in southeast US, there's a real storm brewing back in Washington and it is around Brock Long, the director of FEMA. We've been told at "The Journal" that Brock Long has been traveling back and forth between Washington and the FEMA headquarters and his home in, coincidentally, North Carolina - Hickory, North Carolina and not only has he been going back and forth, but he's been bringing a crew of FEMA staff with him, several SUVs worth of staffers driving him back and forth, a 400-mile trip back and forth, and he was warned not to do that, that this is against the law, it is illegal.

And this is maybe the most stunning detail of the story so far, is that after he was warned not to travel with FEMA staff back to his house, the Inspector General at the Department of Homeland Security had Brock Long tailed. He was put under surveillance and they followed him back and forth between his headquarters in DC and his home. The Inspector General has briefed top White House officials, and this was in just days ago as Hurricane Florence was barreling toward the US and ultimately John Kelly was the one who said, we have to wait for this report, Brock Long has denied any wrong doing, there's no final report, and there's a major storm coming at North Carolina and South Carolina right now. So we will see how this plays out maybe once this storm passes.

LEMON: It is interesting because you say they had him under surveillance. He knew that it was illegal. He still continued to do it, and as I understand -- correct me if I'm wrong, Michael, is that the Chief of Staff, John Kelly, kept him in the position until this investigation is through?

BENDER: That's right. Brock Long has maintained throughout this whole time that he's done nothing wrong, and part of his defense has been that past FEMA directors have done it, too. If that is true, that would still be - that would still violate a Federal statute as the general counsel of DHS and the Inspector General have already told Mr. Long. But that said, John Kelly, you know, he's a military guy. He is a four star general. He's inside the White House and, frankly, at DHS and FEMA they see a certain honor in John Kelly's decision to give Brock Long his say.

You know, there are some people who say perception is reality, right, in politics and the mere fact of these allegations should force Long out of his position. John Kelly said no, we're going to wait to see what final report says. We're going to let Brock Long defend himself and, most importantly, we're going to get through this storm that's hitting North Carolina right now.

LEMON: All right, Michael Bender with the story breaking for us in Washington. Michael, you framed it right. There's a storm brewing in the Carolinas and one brewing in Washington as well with the FEMA director. We'll keep on top of it. Our coverage is going to continue here from Florence in just moments, and we'll get an update on exactly what tropical storm Florence is doing to this area to this area - pounding wind and rain right now.

[00:15:00]

LEMON: The wind whipping up in Myrtle Beach here from tropical storm Florence. You know, there are people who are actually out in these storms chasing them, and one of those people is Mike Theiss. He is a hurricane chaser. That's his specialty.

Today I wanted to know why he did it, what he's been seeing. He has been out here for days, chasing this particular hurricane. Here is our ride-along.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Look at this. When you see this, you can hear the wind and you can hear the rain coming in. I mean this is rain that is blowing sideways.

MIKE THEISS, HURRICANE CHASER: Oh yes.

LEMON: And it is a tropical storm now. THEISS: Oh yes, this is very tropical rain and tropical wind. On my

drive over here to get up here, I had winds - I had white-out conditions. Big trees were falling down. You know, I can't get my arm around how big these trees were. If any vehicles were under there, you know, you would be trapped.

So I did manage to get my way down here, and it is much clearer here but as the winds pick up tonight we could have some trees come down here as well.

LEMON: Do you ever end up helping with rescues, Mike?

THEISS: I do. A lot of times - you know, it hasn't happened as much hurricane chasing, but tornado chasing, many, many times, we are chasing a tornado and then we're first ones the scene because we're chasing and we end up - we turn into search and rescue mode.

LEMON: I've been telling people on the air all day, the hurricanes usually come through, obviously they don't move as quickly as tornados do, but they come through and they move on.

THEISS: Right.

LEMON: And then you get the remnants. This one is just hitting here.

THEISS: It is just sitting here. It is agonizing. Everybody just wants it to get over with. But, you know, yes, that's the thing about it. Some move slow, some move fast, some have a little eye, some have a big eye like Francis that hit Florida ten years ago. They're all different. This one is definitely going to have a story to tell and it will make history.

LEMON: But the thing is the sitting is the problem, especially when it comes to flooding.

THEISS: Right. The sitting, the constant rain, you know, just rain. The water has nowhere to go. The ground is very saturated and, again, that's what I saw with those giant trees that were coming down. It may not have been so much the strong wind as much as the soil is so soft and then just a little bit of wind would knock them over.

[00:20:14]

LEMON: All right. So how do you - tell me what you do here? How do you figure this out?

THEISS: Okay. So I have - this is a radar loop. You can see there's the eye. This was an image from a little bit earlier. It doesn't still look quite like that but I wanted you to be able to see the representation. When I left Wilmington earlier, which is up here, I literally stayed inside that eye and followed it all the way down to a certain point and then I got stuck behind a tree that fell and all of a sudden the eye wall came.

Remember, you've got that calm eye with the strong winds wrapping around it, so once you're in that eye, you're trapped. At some point, you have to go through that eye wall to get back out of there.

LEMON: You can see all of this debris on the road here. This is from - this is winds.

THEISS: Yes, this is all from wind, big tree branches. A little bit further north, there are giant trees that are just completely laying down and blocking the road, but this is going to continue all through tonight and in part of tomorrow as well. Of course, further north in the New Bern area, I have some friends that are up there that are helping to actually rescue people right now, and it is really bad up there.

You know, we predicted this could happen if the forecast was correct, and it looks like the rain forecast was correct.

LEMON: Also the issue with this is that because it didn't make landfall at a three or a four or even a two, right?

THEISS: Right.

LEMON: The next time, there's a concern ...

THEISS: yes.

LEMON: Of what?

THEISS: Well, that's what I always worry about. People get a little frustrated and they say, "Oh, that was all hyped up, it wasn't as bad." Well, the computer models, a lot of them were showing it would be that bad. If it were as bad as some of the models showed it, you would not survive staying in the coastline. So at the end of the day, it is for your own safety.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Yes, Mike Theiss joins me now. Mike - and he has been kind enough to give me his wind meter. I have been wondering why - this wind is really picking up. This is as strong as we've seen it in Myrtle Beach, right?

THEISS: Oh, yes. The winds have really picked up over the last several hours since I arrived here. I think the winds are going to continue to increase here throughout the night.

LEMON: Yes, that's about 33 miles an hour, that's the wind gusts. We can get our meteorologist to figure out exactly what is going on. But the bands that are coming through and this is exactly what was predicted.

As I was driving around with you, we saw lots of things down. We saw trees, we saw little inland flooding. You drove from where? You were at Wrightsville Beach when it made landfall?

THEISS: That's correct. I was in Wrightsville Beach when the eye made landfall there and it had winds of 87 miles per hour I measured it with the HERV, but then I decided to follow the eye. I stayed inside the eye and drove all the way down here to Myrtle Beach. On the way, I encountered trees in the road. Luckily, I had a chain saw with me. I was literally out there cutting up trees out of the road to get here as well as flooding was going on, and the winds were picking up and blowing debris in the road. It was a treacherous haul down here.

LEMON: You called the vehicle the HERV?

THEISS: That's correct, the Hurricane Eye Wall Research Vehicle. Myself and Jon Bowser decided to develop this because we wanted to record extreme winds within the eye wall of a hurricane. Sometimes hurricanes make landfalls in areas that don't have weather stations, so we want to be the mobile to record these winds for historical data.

LEMON: I'm going to bring in - stand here with me, Mike. I want to bring in now our meteorologist, Allison Chinchar. Allison, we are getting these giant wind gusts here. Tell us what is going on.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, METEOROLOGIST, CNN: So the big reason that you are seeing it is that the storm itself is shifting. If you think about it, think of the power outages for example. For the majority of the day, Friday, we really saw those large numbers in North Carolina because that's where the center of the storm was located.

But now that you're starting to see that shift where the center of circulation continues to move into areas of South Carolina, the power outage numbers are going up there. It's the strongest portion of that storm is now shifting into areas of South Carolina, so naturally you are going to see those winds begin to increase, especially along those coastal regions.

So your areas like Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach as well. I would like to point out too, Don, Mike talked about part of the reason they do this is because they want to go to places where they don't have those weather stations, that they can get data. But one of the other things we've noticed is even the places where the weather stations exist, they've gone off line because they've lost power.

So it is also very important for what he is doing because it gives us that data to know where this storm is going and get that fresh information as well.

LEMON: Yes, our meteorologist said because of the power outages some of the information that they needed has gone offline. They actually get the information from people like you and from your truck, and the National Weather Service, they use you in their reports, right?

THEISS: Yes, they've used my data in the past including Hurricane Charlie when we recorded a barometric pressure of 942 milli-bars. We were mobile and the only ones that recorded that low rate there in Charlotte Harbor. So yes, the National Hurricane Center will occasionally use our data. It is all calibrated equipment so it is verifiable and so that's the purpose is to be mobile and try to get into that eye wall.

[00:25:15] THEISS: Now, I developed it with the windows protected in the way I

did because to penetrate the eye wall is very dangerous. There's lots of flying debris everywhere. So you have to be able to get into that zone to get in there to record these winds.

LEMON: And you developed the truck after you said you were stuck, you had a very close call and it pretty much destroyed your car, and you went to an expert and said, "Listen, I want to do this, I want to develop this vehicle," and that's how you put it together?

THEISS: That's correct. After Hurricane Charlie in 2004, I was in just my regular car with no armor on it at all and I recorded a Category 4 make landfall and shred a gas station to pieces while I'm sitting in my vehicle. So I said, "You know what, I need to armor a car so the next time I do this, I have a lot more protection."

LEMON: So when you are in that, let's just say if you were out in this, do you try not to get into winds like this? Do you try to stay within the eye wall or do you allow yourself to be in conditions like this so that you can get the reading?

THEISS: Yes, no, I try to get into the eye wall. I'm trying to get into those places that most people don't go to record this data, and I'm also trying to get into the calm eye, the center of the storm. But the only way to get to the calm eye is first you have to go through the eye wall.

So it is a double whammy because you go through the eye wall, you get into the eye, you collect the data and then you have to go through the eye wall a second time.

LEMON: All right, Mike, thank you so much. I appreciate you letting me ride around with you and giving us the information.

THEISS: Any time.

LEMON: You be careful out there.

THEISS: All right.

LEMON: Allison, thank you very much, and Allison Chinchar is our meteorologist. You can see Allison, man, these wind gusts are unbelievable. I want to get now to the mayor of New Bern, Dana - I'm sorry. Dana Outlaw. Pardon me.

Mr. Outlaw, listen, I know that you have had some major flooding in the area. You've had some - many rescues. I have spoken to you quite a number of times throughout our broadcast here. What's going on now? Have you been able to get all of the people out of New Bern that you were trying to rescue?

DANA OUTLAW, MAYOR OF NEW BERN: There's probably still about 30 residents that are not - have not been rescued. We have gotten about 300 that have been rescued. Three days prior to the storm, we really mobilized the ideas about how we were going to get out and get the word out through Facebook and our state channel, the media, and in addition to that we went out with fire trucks with a PA system, with a National Guard vehicle and two recreation buses with our Recreation Department, and we just were going door to door, our police officers were going door to door asking people to evacuate.

In addition to that, if they were not home we would leave them flyers. I helped a lady over to a shelter and there was a lady next door and I rolled the window down and asked her did she want a ride with us. She said "No, I got my car right here, I'm going to wait a while, and not knowing whether or not the roads will be passable. This is what was going on a little bit.

And New Bern has not had a major hurricane like this since probably Hurricane Hazel and so, think just - we're just a little bit cultured that these things don't happen in New Bern and they actually - this has been proven that 10.5 feet of water in New Bern, North Carolina.

LEMON: Oh, any gosh. Well, you guys are really getting it there. Three hundred rescues, that is amazing. 30 more that you believe that you have to do. Listen, mayor, I'm going to let you go. We appreciate you joining us. We may have to get back to you to get an update from you. But, again, that is the mayor of New Bern, Dana Outlaw. He has really had a hectic day when it comes to this particular storm.

Listen, people are riding this storm out and we're going the talk to one of them just on the other side of this break. We are back with our continuing coverage. Keep it here on CNN.

[00:30:33]

LEMON: To add insult to injury to all of the flooding, all of the winds here, 750,000 people without power, and that number is expected to go up and they're not exactly sure when they will be able to get people their power back because this storm is just sitting here.

One person who can attest to that is my colleague, Miguel Marquez. We find him now in Carolina Beach. Miguel, power outages, wind, rain. All of the elements have come together here. This is it.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Yes, Carolina Beach has really been hit very hard by Florence over the last 36 hours or so, and finally this storm is starting to release its grip on this city and on this area. I think you guys are still feeling it quite strongly down there, but finally the wind is starting to taper off, the rain is certainly less right now.

But they have a long, long way to go. This is a town that has seen roofs blow off, that have seen walls come down. They've seen a lot of trees that are down. They won't know the full extent of it until morning. They are still dealing with flooding in certain areas, of beach erosion for miles along the beach here, which is going to be difficult for a town and an area that survives on its beach and it is known for its beach, but two feet of sand is now just completely washed away down there.

In the morning, authorities will be able to get out and figure out how bad the flooding is, how bad the damage is to the surrounding area and figure out when they will be able to get people back in here. There's one way in, one way out. About 600 people of the 6,200 that live here rode out this storm. Tomorrow, we will get a full account of how they did. Don.

LEMON: All right. Miguel Marquez. Take care of yourself. We appreciate your reporting. Listen, as I've been saying, people have been riding this storm out. One of those people who rode it out, still riding it out, John Krajc.

[00:35:12]

LEMON: John, you're originally from North Carolina. Come on in here. Originally from North Carolina, but now you live here in Myrtle Beach. Why did you decide to stay?

JOHN KRAJC, RESIDENT: I made a promise to myself a long time ago, Don, that if there was a big hurricane and I had the opportunity to ride it out, I would stay and if I could help afterwards I would be here. And there is going to be a lot of people that need help after the storm so I want to be here to help.

LEMON: How are you feeling about your decision now?

KRAJC: I feel pretty good. We got really fortunate in Myrtle Beach. The whole time it was forecast as a Category 4 and got really close to the coast, and now we're down to a tropical storm - a lot of lives were spared.

LEMON: You've been here the entire time. This is probably the worst of the winds, so far, don't you think?

KRAJC: Yes, this is more comparable to Hurricane Matthew back in 2016.

LEMON: So tell us what you have been seeing as you're riding the storm out.

KRAJC: The biggest thing is, minimal damage compared to two years ago when we had Hurricane Matthew come through. A lot of wind, a lot of water, but not near as much water as we saw. So I have not seen as many trees down throughout the city of Myrtle Beach. I've heard a few power outages on the way, but I'm curious to see what will come tomorrow?

LEMON: How is your home faring? Are you there alone? Are you with family?

KRAJC: So, I am actually at my dad right now, too ,but I am in old Air Force base housing so they're pretty solid.

LEMON: Oh these are the ones right here.

KRAJC: Yes.

LEMON: Yes, I went through that neighborhood the other day. I saw there's plywood up that said, "Florence Go Away." I don't know if you saw that house.

KRAJC: Well, Florence can go away.

LEMON: It's going away now. It is you and your dad here?

KRAJC: Yes.

LEMON: So you are fine. That's a low-lying area and those are single-story homes. So if there is flooding ...

KRAJC: Luckily our street has never really flooded. They flood a little bit until the city stormwater catches up, but it is the inter coastal areas and the Waccamaw River that really needs to be concerned about flooding over the next few days.

LEMON: So, as you have been listening, I am sure - you still have power, right?

KRAJC: Yes.

LEMON: And the people who are in their homes, some people are being rescued, did that draw any concern for you?

KRAJC: Not for me. North Carolina has been hit with a lot worse than we are right now. Our heart goes out to them from the city of Myrtle Beach and we've been really fortunate like I said and we haven't had a lot of water issues yet.

LEMON: Thank you very much, John. We're glad you are okay. We're glad your dad is okay as well. I want to get now someone else who has been riding this out. Michael Helman and he joins us now. Michael, how are you faring?

MICHAEL HELMAN, RESIDENT: I'm doing well so far. Fortunately, you know, the house is still intact. We didn't have any water. The general neighborhood is not in good shape at all. I mean, there's massive trees that have been here for decades and they're de-leaved and de-branched and broken in half. It is pretty sad actually.

LEMON: I understand that you're in a mandatory evacuation area. You didn't leave, your dad didn't. Tell us exactly where you are and the conditions.

HELMAN: Well, the storm is still pretty - the winds are still pretty high here. You know, we are probably getting gusts up to 50 or so. I don't know, I don't have any wind meters or anything like that, but we had a bunch of flooding earlier today that we were able to kind of help stave off a little bit, trying to keep the storm system - there was so much debris that a lot of the storm drains and stuff were clogging with the debris and keeping the water from being able to flow out.

So we were out circulating around trying to keep some of that stuff open as well as pulling, you know, limbs and branches out of the road way.

LEMON: I understand that you've lost power?

HELMAN: Oh, yes. Yes, it went off about 8:45 this morning and has been out ever since.

LEMON: So, listen, can you get out if you want to? Are the roads flooded where you are?

HELMAN: No. Well, we are actually on an island, and so the authorities closed the bridges to those islands when the winds get above 45 miles an hour. So if you don't evacuate at some point, you know, you are forced to stay. At some point, it may open up. I really haven't been out in too many areas, you know, wandering around with winds at 70, 80 miles an hour, it is not a prudent idea.

So I don't know. Tomorrow at first light, we are going to get out and once the winds get down really and get out and assess the area and how much, you know, how much damage. There's neighbors that have been asking us, you know - there's about four or five of us that actually stayed and neighbors asking us, "Hey, can you go by and see, is there any damage to my house, you know, any flooding and stuff like that?"

So we're trying to help the folks out in the neighborhood as well, you know, with getting them reports and things about how their homes are doing.

LEMON: Mike, any idea when that evacuation order might be lifted?

HELMAN: No idea. I mean it is going to depend basically on services and accessibility. I mean the area I live in, I'm not on the beach but I'm about a quarter of a mile from it. And to get to it, you have to go down a road that's along the beach.

[00:40:12]

HELMAN: And these latest winds since the eyes moved past us here in Oak Island and started going westward, those winds have been pushing all the water up against the beaches, so it's hard to say whether those roads are going to be accessible or not. I mean, once the winds die down ,I am sure we'll have crews to clear up, but it's possible that you can't get out now because the roads are blocked.

LEMON: Michael, we thank you for joining us and we wish you the very best. Stay safe, okay?

HELMAN: Thank you very much.

LEMON: All right, we're going to be back with our continuing coverage of tropical storm Florence right after this.

[00:45:00]

LEMON: There you go. That is what the ocean looks like, the Atlantic Ocean looks like in Myrtle Beach. But all over this area, Florence has been really battering the Carolinas. I want to get now to my colleague, Brian Todd. He joins us now from Wilmington. Brian, you have been riding all over the area and you have seen some

pretty interesting things over the last couple of days. I know last night you got a really good look out on the roads, what is going on. I'm not sure how much you have been able to drive out tonight and see.

BRIAN TODD, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, Don, we have patrolled around the Wilmington area quite a lot today, witnessing ...

LEMON: All right. We lost Brian Todd. Brian Todd is in Wilmington. Again, he's been - he's also been able to witness some of those rescues that have been happening. Brian also witnessing some flooding as well. I got a chance to go out with storm chasers and also with police to survey some of the neighborhoods around Myrtle Beach, and some - there are some areas that are bad, but considering they fared well. I should say worse than others is a better way of putting it.

There was some flooding, there were some downed tree lines. There were some power lines that were down as well. And then, so we've got Brian Todd back I think. Brian, can you hear me? Do we have you back? No Brian Todd. Listen, we're going to continue on here. We're going to talk to some of the business owners who are having to deal with this, having to deal with the loss of money, also being displaced. A lot of their - especially if you are a restaurant owner, you've got food in the freezers, you've got no electricity and you probably lost that as well. We will continue on the other side of this break with our special coverage of tropical storm Florence.

[00:50:16]

LEMON: Sadly, in this storm we have had loss of life. We have had loss of property and really we have had loss of business as well. Because there are - this is a tourist area. Here in the Carolinas. Also Charleston. And let's go to Charleston right now. I want to go to Adam Randall. Adam is the owner of the CODFather and they specialize in fish and chips.

I understand, Adam that you were out yesterday. We spoke and you were helping with some of the rescuers serving them meals. And today, I am wondering, what's going on and I want you to talk to me about how much business and how much money business owners are losing. This is going to hurt.

ADAM RANDALL, OWNER, CODFATHER, PROPER FISH AND CHIPS: Yes, I mean, it's going to hurt a lot. Today was kind of like a ghost town in Charleston where I was especially. I think most people have boarded up and gone home. Not a lot of businesses were open. We didn't have a particularly great day. And we're actually going to be closed tomorrow due to the weather. So there's another day that we're going to lose.

As far as dollar wise, I have to put the cost of this at probably in excess of $10,000 for me already. And it hasn't even started stopped raining yet and it doesn't look like it it's going to.

LEMON: All right. Sorry about that. So listen, talk about also the loss of power. I know you lost power for a little bit. You were concerned because you said you had thousands of pounds of fish that you needed to obviously keep cold. But then some of that you decided to go out yesterday and just give it out to the rescue workers.

But when you lose power - when business owners lose power. That really hurts. You lose lots of product and lots of stock.

RANDALL: Yes, that's right, I mean, obviously, we are mandated by - health and safety temperature and cold storage limits are a big requirement with that. You have to hold your food and your products at the correct temperature. And the minute it breaks the threshold, it's trash as far as they're concerned. It has to be disposed of. So it can add up just throwing things away that's spoiled by losing power.

LEMON: So listen, talk to us about what folks there are saying. I know that you guys haven't really gotten the brunt of it. What are you dealing with there?

RANDALL: Actually, we're not really dealing with that much. I don't know if there's more going to come through tonight. It's already nearly 1:00 in the morning. It's windy. Gusts of wind. A little bit of rain on and off. Not anything really like you're probably seeing in Myrtle Beach and definitely, nothing like what North Carolina is seeing.

LEMON: Yes, so listen, I'm not a business owner, but is this an insurance situation? Does your insurance company help out - do the insurance company for businesses help out in this?

RANDALL: No. Not really. I know my policy personally. My multiple is set at 72 hours. So basically what that means is the first three days, I'm on my own. Obviously, you have to be close business for it, and after also, so they kind of write these policies in the way that it favors themselves, but like I said the other day, you just have to take the rough with the smooth.

LEMON: Thank you very much, Adam. We appreciate it. The owner of the CODfather in Charleston and he is really indicative of what's happening up and down the coast here in the Carolinas. If you drive down Ocean Boulevard here in Myrtle Beach, you will see business after business. Hotel after hotel just closed. Many of them boarded up. When you see that, that means there's no income. Not only for the owners but for the people who work there.

[00:55:16]

LEMON: Those people aren't getting paid as well, they're not getting a salary. And listen, people here - many people don't have means. And so they're going to have to deal with suffering from that. Not being able to have a paycheck and also having to repair their homes and fix up whatever property loss that they may have. All of this comes at a cost. If it doesn't come at a physical cost with people sadly who are losing their lives, it comes with a fiscal cost for the community and for the people who live here.

The winds have picked up here within the last two hours here in Myrtle Beach. So this is what folks are dealing with, the inundation of water and wind. And they are going to be dealing with it for quite some time. This thing has been sitting on top of the Carolinas just for days. It is going to continue to sit and just dump water on it.

That is it for our coverage here in Myrtle Beach Carolina, I'm going to hand it over to my colleague, George Howell, who is going to pick up our coverage from here, George.

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