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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Forecasters Warn of Life-Threatening Storm Surge; Hunt Is On For New U.S. Ambassador to U.N.; Khashoggi's Fiancee Appeals to Trump; Red Sox Eliminate Yankees, 4-3. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired October 10, 2018 - 05:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Wednesday, October 10th, 5:00 a.m. exactly in the East. We welcome all of our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world.

Breaking news: Hurricane Michael now just hours away from landing a devastating blow to the Florida panhandle. You are looking at the latest radar loop.

[05:00:01] In just the last couple of hours, Michael has grown to a category-four storm. The latest update from the weather service says it is packing 140 mile-per-hour winds. That makes Michael the most powerful hurricane to hit the panhandle in more than a century.

At least 22 counties have nearly 2.5 million residents are under evacuation orders this hour. You see mandatory evacuations ordered in 13 of the counties in red. Florida Governor Rick Scott calling Michael a monstrous, dangerous storm that could kill you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: If you're under an evacuation order, listen to it. Leave now. Do not take a chance. You don't know if roads are going to get closed. You know, we're going to do everything we can to help you, but do not wait.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: People across the panhandle preparing as best they can. You can see store shelves cleared out as residents stock up, 34 shelters opening according to the governor's office. Several hospitals closing in the areas forecast to take the hardest hit.

CNN bringing you live coverage from Apalachicola, Panama City Beach, and Destin on the Florida panhandle. And, of course, from the CNN weather center where our Chad Myers starts things off.

Chad, good morning. A new statement out from the weather service. What are we learning? CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And a new track and an unfortunate

bump in the wind speed. Now, 140 miles per hour around the eyewall itself. I can't let you focus on that 140. That's going to do a ten- mile-wide swath of destruction between Mexico beach and maybe Port St. Joe if it gets farther to the right, then up toward Panama City.

Look at the size of the storm itself. It's all the way from almost New Orleans and affecting the Florida West Coast. So, the storm turns into a 145 storm before landfall. This is 1:00 p.m. this afternoon. That's when the eyewall will likely be making landfall. That's the worst part of the storm.

But that's not the eye. We don't care about the eye. It has nothing to do with it. It could still get to Apalachicola, but probably not any farther left now.

I think Pensacola, you're completely in the clear for eyewall. That doesn't mean you're in the clear for wind. It will still be 75 or 80 miles per hour there.

Tallahassee, you think you're inland, but there's not really much between you and the coast. You're still going to get winds over 100 miles per hour. Think about what the big pine trees are going to do in Tallahassee, you are on the dirty side, as Mr. Howell has been talking about, the dirty side of the hurricane, talking about it all day.

We make a line through the hurricane. This not only has the wind speed but has forward speed, too, pushing all the water into the bays. And then this is an offshore wind, slight leave less it will take the water out of Pensacola area, out of Mobile Bay, and all of this on the other side will be pushing water on up into St. Mark's. St. Marks should likely going to have the most significant flood you've ever seen.

I was there for Dennis and I saw what happened to the grocery store. I'm truly afraid of what will happen to St. Mark's. Need to be out of there for sure.

Even if you go to Tallahassee, you're still going to get this. Everywhere that you see white there, that's 100 miles per hour or greater. That's Apalachicola, almost toward Destin.

It just depends on what angle or direction your wind's going to come from. If you're on the right, winds are from the south. If you're on the watch list, winds will be from the north.

Look at this -- Georgia, parts of North Carolina, South Carolina, winds here will be 60 to 70 miles per hour, especially some gusts. That's why the tropical storm warning has been issued.

And then this surge -- I'm afraid they may raise the surge, Dave and Christine, 9 to 13 has been the forecast all week. That's when it was a cat two, then a cat three. Now we're cat four, heading to 145. That 13 may be shy of what is going to get into the bay.

Power outages will be absolutely widespread. Maybe millions without power for a long time.

ROMANS: It was 1:00 a.m. in the morning, Chad, when the Florida governor said get out now if you're getting out. It is now 5:00 a.m. in the East. Is it too late for people to get in the car and leave?

MYERS: Not if you're running from the surge, no. You need to get out of there. The surge will kill you. Water, absolutely, way more powerful. It will drown you. It will kill you with the force of the waves on top of that.

If you're just worried about the home and have a -- about the wind and have a strong home, not an R.V., something attached to the ground by cinder blocks, you can probably hide from the storm. If you're freaked out and going, wait a minute, it was a two, now it's a four, there are still paths to the north.

ROMANS: OK.

MYERS: That's the only place to go. Like we set earlier, use an app. Talk to a policeman when you get in the car, say, hey, can I get there? Can I go to Macon? He may say, no, the trees are already down.

ROMANS: Yes.

MYERS: You know, we're already 5:00, it's dark. I don't want people driving in the wet, rain, wind, but if you fear for your life, that's when you have to go.

[05:05:02] You can't wait until 7:00. That's for sure.

ROMANS: Certainly the people who live there have never seen a storm like this. We know that. They have never seen a storm like this on the Florida panhandle.

OK, Chad. Keep us posted.

Bracing for Hurricane Michael's impact all along the coast there. Already we're seeing the storm's effects. Derek Van Dam is in Apalachicola, Florida, for us.

What are you seeing, Derek?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Once in a lifetime storm, once in a generation storm, well, certainly, one of those two are going to come to fruition here.

Christine, you won't believe this -- 292 hurricanes have made landfall on U.S. mainland soil since 1851. Less than 10 percent have made landfall as a category four or higher. So, that puts the storm into perspective. I'm in Apalachicola on Florida's big bend.

Look at this virtual ghost town behind me. The only cars that I've seen, racing up and down the street, emergency personnel. They obviously have places to go.

Plenty of businesses boarded up. We have had tropical storm-force gusts here. Of course, we know the worst is still yet to come.

Do yourself a favor. Look at the map of Florida. Look at the big bend region. We keep harping on the storm surge here because it is projected to be 13 feet. My crew and I had to literally leave our previous location because we were at four feet above sea level. Now we're at 14. We have a buffer for safety because we expect the water to rise quickly.

The "C" shape to the big bend of Florida, that's like a catcher's mitt. All the water from major hurricane Michael piles up and pushes into the shoreline. That is what makes storm surge incredibly dangerous. It is the greatest killer, the most lethal threat from any tropical system.

Vegetation around here, palm trees, we have lots of pine trees, we're surrounded by a national forest. Those trees will come down. They will cover roadways, and it will make it virtually impossible to travel around after the storm passes. Not to mention the electricity outages that are going to be a concern for the area -- Dave, Christine.

BRIGGS: Just over 2,000 people there in Apalachicola. We hope the number is closer to zero.

Derek, thank you. We'll check in with you in the next half hour.

VAN DAM: Yes.

BRIGGS: CNN's Dianne Gallagher is standing by live in Panama City Beach, the western end of the panhandle.

Dianne, good morning. What are you seeing there?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Dave, the good thing, maybe because it's early, but we haven't seen anybody out at this hour. I cannot say the same for when we went to bed last night. There were people walking around with their families, checking it out, taking sunset it it's -- sunset pictures.

Now, I want you to take a look. It's hard to see because it is dark here right now, but the sea is angry. We can see the foam coming up. The waves are pretty large. They're stretching back.

By the time this comes in, we could be looking at high tide here. So, yesterday along the beaches, they had equipment, they had volunteers, they had trucks coming and picking up any kind of thing you could find on the beach that could be a projectile, as these winds come in, because the truth is, a lot of coastal homes and hotels still have people in them. They feel like they can get high enough and far enough back, so they are staying.

Now, look, there's 2.5 million people in the area here. Not all are under evacuation orders. The people here in Panama City beach are. A lot did choose to stick around but maintained back when this was just a category-two hurricane that they'd ridden something like there out before. They talked about Eloise, the talk about Opal. Michael is not going to be like either of those it looks like. So,

there is concern that people maybe didn't get out because they thought it wasn't going to be too bad. The hope is once it's daylight, Dave, Christine, they can do the last-minute evacuations.

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

Joining us via Skype, Mark Wool again. He's the warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.

You know, we seen this hurricane, National Hurricane Center update from moments ago, and every paragraph has "life threatening" in it, life-threatening storm surge, life-threatening hurricane winds, life- threatening flash flooding.

They have not seen a storm like this along the coast. What are you hearing now?

MARK WOOL, WARNING COORDINATION METEOROLOGIST, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: We're really in uncharted territory. None of us in this part of the state have seen anything like it. There's no incidence in the historic record.

You know, storm surge, of course kills people. Most often the most deadly factor in a hurricane. We're forecasting 13 feet of storm surge. People in evacuation areas need to be gone. It's the wind that makes this most unbelievable system. We're at the high end of category four. Category five's not out of the question at this point.

Winds of that magnitude can damage well-built homes and really turn communities unlivable for a significant period of time.

[05:10:04] So, we're very, very concerned for folks that have decided to stay back and hunker down because that has proven to be a bad decision looks like at this point.

BRIGGS: Yes. And as Chad Myers and the governor pointed out, if and when the power goes out it could be out for several weeks. Why then would you indeed stay?

Talk about that wind. Could it spurn tornadoes as a result of the storm?

WOOL: Well, yes. Actually, tornadoes are often possible in landfalling hurricanes on the east side. And I believe that we'll be getting a tornado watch out any time now. I know the Storm Prediction Center is looking at that very well.

So if it's not already out it might have just come out. It will be shortly. So that's definitely another threat that to keep an eye on.

ROMANS: Gosh. There have already been evacuations. I know there's an Air Force base there along the coast. There's a lot of tourism along the coast there. The big high-rises. One hopes that those high-rises are built to withstand 140 mile-per-hour winds. WOOL: Well, yes. I mean, you know, I'm sure they were high codes,

being on the beach there. There are substantial structures. But wind speeds of that magnitude, all bet are off. We're expecting structural damage.

ROMANS: All right. No question there will be flying debris, there will be storm surge there. Flash flooding all the way into Georgia. The National Hurricane Center saying this is a very big storm. Thank you so much. We'll check with you again soon.

Hurricane Michael bearing down on the Florida panhandle. Never have seen a storm of this magnitude since records were kept all the way back to 1851. A live look on the ground, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:15:50] ROMANS: Breaking news, Hurricane Michael an extremely dangerous category-four storm, 140 mile-per-hour winds, and a life- threatening storm surge forecast here. Six panhandle airports now closed, including two in Destin, Florida.

That's where CNN's George Howell is standing by live.

What are you seeing there, George?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, Christine, don't be fooled, right? So, I just look at the radar, we're in the middle of a pocket within the bands where there's no rain coming down. The winds have calmed down a bit, too.

We haven't seen really strong winds yet. But they are on the way. You talked about this newest information that we understand of the storm, 140, up to 145 mile-per-hour winds. That is the newest information.

That packs a punch. And that's the concern really along the coastline, especially around Panama City, Panama City is where the eye of the storm is tracking. And everything east of Panama City, here in Destin, we're also going to feel the strong winds. Don't be fooled there.

But east of Panama City, that is really a zone of concern. Cities in that area should prepare for strong winds, a storm surge which is going to be problematic. The nature of this storm, it is going to pack a punch as it hits the coastline. It will move quickly inland. This is the reason people are being told to evacuate, to get out of the way, because the storm is historic in nature here, in the southeast coast.

ROMANS: Yes, just the 5:00 update from National Hurricane Center simply devastating. Life-threatening storm surge, life-threatening hurricane winds, life-threatening flash flooding, all the way into Georgia.

Stay safe, George. We'll check again soon.

HOWELL: Thank you.

BRIGGS: Now to major political news as the search for Nikki Haley's replacement is on. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations stunned Washington with an announcement she plans to step down by the end of the year.

Speculation rampant over the reason for her abrupt departure which a source says caught secretary of state Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton by surprise. Haley herself said she simply believes in term limits, and it's time to step aside.

Though one source says she wants to make more money to put two children through college. One thing Haley was clear about -- she will not be running in 2020.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: No, I'm not running for 2020. I can promise you what I'll be doing is campaigning for this one. So, I look forward to supporting the president in the next election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The president heaped praise on Haley calling her a fantastic person who has done an incredible job. Among those named to replace her is former Deputy Security Secretary Dina Powell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: She got to know the players. She got to know China, Russia, India. Actually many names.

And, you know, Nikki has been great. Nikki's going to be working with us and helping us with the choice. Plus, she's going to help us with 2020.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The president says he plans to name Haley's successor in two to three weeks. We know it will not be his daughter Ivanka who tweeted that despite her father floating her name, she does not want the job.

BRIGGS: The fiancee of missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is pleading with President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump to shed light on his disappearance. In an op-ed in "The Washington Post", Hatice Cengiz writes that Khashoggi was concerned he might be in danger when he went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to pick up paperwork for their marriage.

She's calling on the Saudi King Salman to release close circuit video from the consulate to prove her fiance left the building as the Saudis claim. President Trump has said he is concerned about Khashoggi's disappearance.

Just a terrifying story.

ROMANS: It really is.

All right. Hurricane Michael disrupting U.S. oil production. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:24:10] ROMANS: All right. Hurricane Michael will certainly be a devastating storm. It has yet to make landfall. It has -- it is already disrupting the U.S. oil.

The Gulf of Mexico a big source of oil production in the U.S. Big producers like BP and Chevron, they began bracing for the hurricane Monday, evacuating offshore production platforms in the storm's path, 75 have been cleared so far. About 11 percent of the manned platforms in the area.

Unlike oil rigs, production platforms don't move. Companies also shut down three rigs in the storm area. They moved eight others. That has cut off nearly 40 percent of oil output in the Gulf of Mexico, stemmed natural gas by 28 percent.

The production cut sent U.S. crude prices 1 percent higher, rising to just below $75 a barrel. Oil prices already feeling the pressure of tight global supply and those looming U.S. sanctions on Iran.

[05:25:03] The higher crude prices mean higher gas prices for you. Right now an average cost for a gallon of gas is 40 cents higher than it was last year.

BRIGGS: The Boston Red Sox moving on to the American Championship Series. The New York Yankees, they're staying home. The Bronx Bombers at home at Yankee stadium, rallying for two runs off Boston closer Craig Kimbrel in the bottom of the ninth, but falling just short. Game four of the ALDS, 4-3.

The rookie just out. You see on the replay. That touched off the celebration in New York. Boy, did the Red Sox celebrate.

They will face the defending champion Houston Astros. The winner heads to the World Series. The series starts Saturday. Dodgers and Brewers starts Friday night.

ROMANS: All right. Our big story, Michael. It is strengthening. We have new information about what Florida is bracing for. This could be the most powerful hurricane to hit the panhandle in more than a century. More breaking news coverage of Michael after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.