Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Hurricane Coverage; Storm Changes Campaign Plans; Bracing for Hurricane Sandy; Politics of the Storm; Superstorm Scenario Puts Millions on Alert; Racing Against Time
Aired October 28, 2012 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, everyone, for joining us. It's the top of the hour. I'm Don Lemon here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Two words for you that's going to dominate the news right now about to make life miserable for millions of people. I'm talking about hurricane Sandy.
Look at that sideways rain and a wall of wind. The outer banks of North Carolina are just starting to feel the first punch of this hurricane. Now, this storm is huge and is headed ashore.
There are some questions for you, where exactly will it make landfall and will the people who did not evacuate be prepared to handle it? President Obama got a full briefing at FEMA headquarters today. Look at it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a serious and big storm. And my first message is to all people across the Eastern Seaboard, the Mid-Atlantic going north, that you need to take this very seriously.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The president is saying to take it seriously, you should. The CNN severe weather team in place -- reporters all along the shore and also Chad Myers here with me. Sandra Endo is in Ocean City, Maryland, coming to you in a minute. And then Chad Myers coming to you in minute as well here on CNN.
But we want to update you on something first and we want to go to the outer banks where George Howell is on the beach. He's in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.
So, George, tell me how the conditions have changed in the past few hours. I have seen you very wet, getting pelted you and I've you see a little bit dryer. What's happening now?
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, look, while you were talking we had a bit of a break and then the wind came back. And we are talking about the winds here. We are talking of winds up to 40 miles per hour plus we just lost the light. We'll keep going, though. Strong winds that keep coming through this area. And also the rainfall.
Now, when you look at the radar, Don, we are in an area right along one of the biggest bands, it's the entire tidewater area. We are talking about Norfolk, we are talking Virginia Bach, we're taking about the outer banks here where we are. This area has been getting hit and hit hard by this storm for the last 24 hours.
Don, from what we understand, it will continue throughout the night. Get a little worse throughout the night before it starts to get better.
And the winds are starting to shift. The winds initially were coming in from the East now coming in a bit from the north and we'll start seeing winds from the west. I'm sorry, from the east, the north and then from the west as this storm continues to pass through this area, Don.
LEMON: Hey, George, standby. Let's talk to Chad really quick. We'll go out to other reporters.
But, Chad, he is getting pelted there. It's really moving through. What's happening where he is right now?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Three hundred miles from the center.
LEMON: Really?
MYERS: That's what he's feeling. That's the rub with this storm. You can't focus on the eye because it does not have an eye.
LEMON: Right.
MYERS: You focus on the width of the wind and 300 miles on either side of the center of this hurricane, winds or tropical storm force or greater. That's a 600-mile swath of damage.
LEMON: Hey, George, do you feel it intensifying, like from your last live shot, do you feel it continuously to -- the shot is dark, it's OK, we can still go to him. Do you feel it there?
OK, we lost the shot because of the weather.
All right. Let's move on. Let's go to Sandra Endo now in Ocean City. Sandra Endo is in Ocean City. And she's about 200 miles north of where George is.
What are you seeing there as you talk to me and Chad Myers?
SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don and Chad, we have been feeling the effects of hurricane Sandy already here in Ocean City all day long now. Steady winds up to 27 miles per hour. Steady rain just pelting down all day long. And we are here on the balcony of an Oceanside hotel to give you perspective of what you're seeing right now, where it's close to high tide and you can see the fierce waves behind me right here along the shore.
And this is really what local officials are worried about, the high tide and the combination of this long duration of the storm that they are expecting. They are expecting about 36 hours for hurricane Sandy to really come through this area and just to show you over here as well, they have evacuated this entire area of downtown Ocean City. And that evacuation deadline is fast approaching.
We have seen people flee town all day long. And they have opened up local shelters in this county where we are hearing about 40 people resorted to shelters already. But, clearly, they have been preparing for this and also have learned from last year's hurricane Irene.
Here's the local mayor.
All right, well, we talked to the local mayor earlier and he said that they have been preparing. They are under 24-hour operations right now trying to keep those lines of communication open with residents here who chose not to evacuate, as well as keeping up-to-date with everything that's going on in terms of emergency responses and any type of damage that may come because of hurricane Sandy, Don and Chad.
LEMON: All right. Sandy, standby. We have Chad Myers here again. And, Sandy, you can play along in this as well.
So we have Sandra, Chad, is in Ocean City, Maryland, 200 miles north of George. George is getting pelted at this point. How long before Sandy starts to feel what he's feeling?
MYERS: There are arms on this storm.
LEMON: Right.
MYERS: Almost like, you know, you see a picture of a hurricane, you see the spiral bands. That's what we have with the storm. Let me walk over here because I want to describe what you're going to look. You're going to look at this for the next 36 hours.
So, I want to know -- I want you to know when you see it what you're seeing. There's the center of the storm right there, Don. But wherever there's color, that's where it is storming. That's where it is raining. And that's when the rain will bring down the wind. So when you get a cell, there's even one right there coming onto long Island. When you get a cell with a little color and rain, it will translate all of this wind back down to the surface.
Now, it's not windy right here. It's not windy here, even though this is much closer to the center than this. It is windier here because of the storm around it, the arms around it. And these will rotate around and the winds will eventually go right through New York and into Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the like.
LEMON: The size again of this thing?
MYERS: It is 300 miles from the center to the edge of the 50 to 55- mile-per-hour gusts. LEMON: Yes. As Fred last said when she was handing off to me. She said it's 200 miles from North Carolina, about 500 miles from New York City. And that people all the way from Maine -- from North Carolina to Maine, when was the last time or have we ever seen a weather event like this on the East Coast of this magnitude?
MYERS: No, we have not. The last thing that was even close was the perfect storm.
LEMON: Yes.
MYERS: Because there's not only this hurricane. There's another low pressure that's going to energize it more. We've got a low here that should make a snowstorm, and it will. Then all of a sudden you have a hurricane coming in and they are going to merge.
So we have not seen this, except for the storm perfect storm. The difference between this storm and perfect storm, the perfect storm never made landfall and it stayed in the ocean the whole time and did that much damage. This will make landfall and make more damage.
LEMON: And we are sure it's going to be a fish storm because of the models.
MYERS: I don't -- it's going to hit something. I'm not totally convinced it is going into D.C. I think it will be north of there, Cape May to Central New Jersey for the eye. But here's what I said. The problem is: don't worry about the eye. It is not windy in the eye in some spots, it's windy away from the eye wherever the storms are, and those storms reach out 300 miles from the center.
LEMON: When you say Cape May, that's almost like Grand Isle, Louisiana, it sticks out in New Jersey. So for everyone storm, when I worked in Philadelphia, everyone went to Cape May because that's where you get the best pictures.
Help me talk to -- speaking of best pictures, help me talk to George Howell, George is back.
MYERS: He's back?
LEMON: Yes.
And, George, you're aware, you said you were getting pelted and lost the light because of the rain, I'm sure. And now your shot went down because of the weather and you're back. How intense is this getting moment by moment? How -- are you feeling the intensity moment by moment here?
HOWELL: Don, absolutely. Again, we are feeling these winds. Wind gusts anywhere from 40 to 50 miles per hour at times. And you're right, this is the area that has really been getting the brunt of this storm. When you look at the way the storm has been traveling, most of it offshore, as Chad described, but right there on those outer bands of the wind field, we are feeling the strong winds as they come in. And that's what people will start seeing in the metro areas as this storm hooks a left.
So, again, you know, what we are seeing here in North Carolina, and now more here in the tidewater area, this is what will be coming as the storm makes land.
LEMON: Hey, George --
HOWELL: So officials here are keeping -- yes?
LEMON: George, I don't want to complicate things, but I'm not sure if your photographer can show us around, but show us where you are standing and what you're seeing from your vantage point there.
HOWELL: And, Don, we'll do the best we can with the lighting. Everything kind of blends back there but I'll show you what's happening with the Atlantic. Take a look back there.
If you can see the water out there, it's rough. It is really rough. There was a beach out there, Don, yesterday. We walked that beach. The beach is gone. And beach erosion is going to be a big issue here with this particular storm system.
Also, when it comes to the storm surge, Don, that's what a lot of people are concerned about on this island. Storm surge where we are could get anywhere from four to six feet. Also, on the other side of the island is a concern about flooding. On the south side, flooding from all the water that the storm pushes in and then it comes back. That cause a lot of flooding. That's what people saw here with Irene when it came through.
LEMON: All right, George, standby. Don't go anywhere.
Do we still have Sandra Endo just to show a picture, the difference, Chad, between Sandra's picture and George's picture. If you put them together side by side, you can see, it's still sunny, Sandra, you're on now. But it still sunset happening where Sandra is. And then look at that just 200 miles away. That's definitely a contrast there.
MYERS: Sandra, I know you can hear us looking at the camera, your beach is gone. About two hours ago you had 300 to 400 feet of sand between you and the water. Where did it go?
ENDO: Yes, that's what local officials and the National Weather Service is actually concerned about -- beach erosion here. And they are comparing and anticipating hurricane Sandy to hurricane Gloria back in 1985, which it destroyed the boardwalk. So they are certainly going to look for that storm surge damage to possibly happen because of hurricane Sandy.
And, of course, beach erosion with the mixture of high tide, again, and this long storm, that is what they are really concerned about because the storm surge could affect this region, devastatingly, and certainly they are hunkering down bracing for the worst. And, of course, the worst is not going to hit this area for another 24 hours or so.
LEMON: All right. We'll stand by, Sandra. Thank you very much. Don't go anywhere.
We'll be getting to Sandra, George Howell as well, of course, meteorologist Chad Myers. Chad is in charge. He's going to be helping me here. We're going to be on for a long time, Chad. So get rested, afternoon break, take it now.
All right. Thanks, everyone. More on this when we come back, but with hurricane season reaching the end, a lot of people weren't ready for this.
We're going to talk with General Russel Honore who dedicated his life to helping others be prepared after his experience with hurricane Katrina. Remember that? Here's live in studio with me just moments away.
And, you know, this storm is throwing a big monkey-wrench into the race for the White House. Battleground states are in hurricane Sandy's path. Which candidate does the storm help or hurt?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: This is your place for breaking coverage of hurricane Sandy and the election. We will be carrying this at least until 11:00 p.m. Eastern tonight, possibly longer if it warrants, because this storm is forecast to be a monster when it makes landfall. Don't go anywhere. A lot of people said they are holed up in hotel rooms and stuck at airports and they are watching us. We're going to carry you through this until it is over.
So let's -- this is a live picture now from Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, courtesy our affiliate WSOC. Look at the surf.
You know, we are keeping a close watch on hurricane Sandy for you, but we want to take a minute to update the race for the White House right now. We have a new CNN national poll of polls, the average of three new daily tracking polls. It shows Mitt Romney with a very slim lead over President Obama, 48 percent to 46 percent.
Hurricane Sandy playing havoc with the travel plans for both President Obama and Mitt Romney, both those campaigns. The president is leaving D.C. tonight before the weather worsens. And instead of tomorrow as first planned to get down to Florida. Mitt Romney also having to change his itinerary.
That's why we are going now to CNN's Jim Acosta always with the Romney campaign. He's been traveling with him.
So, Jim, the storm already having an impact on where you're going, isn't it?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That is right, Don. For the final nine days of the campaign, you can throw out the white dry erase board and perhaps take the Doppler weather radar and lay it over the battleground map because that's how going to be how we track this campaign heading into the homestretch here. Both campaigns, if you add them together, have scrapped roughly a dozen campaign events so far between the president and Mitt Romney. Mitt right now is heading to the gymnasium here in Marion, Ohio. He has an event here tomorrow morning, and then is getting out of the state.
But, Don, it's going to be very interesting to watch the final days of the campaign because of this storm. You saw the president also canceling events here -- not here in Ohio, but his campaign events that were scheduled for today. Instead of those campaign events, he went to church and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to check on storm preparations there.
Now, the very interesting question that comes up next in this final stretch of the campaign, Don, is where are these candidates headed next?
We know Mitt Romney is going to be in Ohio tomorrow morning and goes to Wisconsin after that, but then it is sort of a guessing game. A senior Romney adviser was asked by reporters earlier today, you know, what are you doing in terms of watching this storm? They said, that's basically what they are doing right now, they are watching this storm, they are assessing where they are going next based on this campaign schedule that's been thrown up in the air.
And, Don, what is also interesting is the optics of the final days of this campaign. Will the president get out there and be surveying storm damage instead of campaigning? And at the same time, what will the weather do to early voting. That's something we are looking at -- in these final days.
Obviously, the Obama campaign has expressed concern about that. We heard David Axelrod on CNN "STATE OF THE UNION" earlier today saying that may have an effect on their campaign.
So, Don, we're going to be watching all of this as we're heading into the final days. It is one of those situations -- you know, 2008 was a wave year for the Democrats.
LEMON: Yes.
ACOSTA: 2010 was a wave year for the Republicans. The wave this year is from hurricane Sandy it appears, Don.
LEMON: Hurricane Sandy, it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out, how this affects the election. If people don't have power, what they do? It's unprecedented.
I think we're going to check on that and talk with to our political folks to see if there's precedent when it comes to storms and changing the election or the difference it makes.
Jim Acosta, travelling with the Romney. Thank you, Jim. We'll get back to you.
You know, with forecasters calling for a day and a half of hurricane- force winds, imagine that -- rain, even snow. How are people supposed to prepare for this? We're going to talk to General Russel Honore, the man who commanded the military in the chaos after Katrina. There he is live in action. And he's live in studio with me, moments away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Welcome back to CNN's continuing coverage of hurricane Sandy, as hurricane Sandy barrels toward the Eastern Seaboard. Live pictures here now from Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, courtesy of our affiliate WSOC.
I also want to get you live now to New Jersey and show you what is happening there. This is the podium but moments away, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will be giving a live briefing to his residents, really to the nation. New Jersey expected to be right in the path of the storm. Chris Christie holding a live press conference moments away. We'll carry for you live here on CNN.
You know, a lot of people said that they weren't expecting a storm this big, this late in the season. Now the rush is on, as always, to get supplies. And they do it in the last minute. Some stores already running low. People looking for bottled water, you are finding some empty shelves there.
Look at that boat. Trying to get them out and get them safe. Despite mandatory evacuations in areas of New Jersey, Delaware, some people are bound to stay in their homes as they always do. And we know the answer to that, that's a bad idea, right?
With me now: General Russel Honore. I'm sure he will second that.
General, you commanded the military in New Orleans as a general there. Should people prepare differently for this storm than they do? Because there are different elements with this. Is there a different preparation for this storm?
GEN. RUSSEL HONORE, U.S. ARMY (RET): Well, we have gone into this storm for the last few years since Katrina to encourage people not only have a three day's supply at home, but maybe have three to five days supply of food and water on hand for an event just like this.
LEMON: Because usually when you have this event, it is further south, warmer, there's no snow involved. This is cold weather, possibly snow and power outages for days.
HONORE: Right. We have the combined effect of wind, surge, rain -- all this is going to cause flooding along the coast. With the backside of the storm creating snow and ice.
LEMON: Yes.
HONORE: So, unlike the summer hurricanes we face --
LEMON: Right.
HONORE: -- with a storm coming through, cutting the lights out and everybody survived. Now, you have to survive through cold weather on the backside of the storm, one that this generation of Americans probably have not -- most of this generation -- have not experienced in the past is a cold front with snow and ice on the backside of the storm.
So be prepared for going to a shelter. If your home -- if you don't have some redundancy in your home, like a generator, or you have anyone in your home at risk, an elderly person, young child or someone that's elderly or sick.
LEMON: Yes, or at the very least, you can do is get out of the way of the storm, right? If you're going to --
HONORE: Absolutely.
LEMON: What about people? Just look right into the camera and tell me, what about people who aren't expecting this storm to be big? They will say, General, every time you tell us it will be big and nothing happens. The last one that hit the Eastern Seaboard wasn't that big, what do you say to the folks in that camera right there?
HONORE: Yes, listen to the experts. That's like me saying, I don't need to wear my seat belt and nothing will happen. This is coming. It's going to big.
Expect the worst case scenario. Expect this storm to turn the lights out, keep you in your home for two to three days because of the sustained wind. It will knock power lines down. Much of this is we have a lot of trees in the northeast corridor.
We have a large -- millions of people that all have the same objective, they want to leave. And if they try to leave too late, the roads are going to get congested. So, you're going to shelter in place, stay in place, work with your neighbors, make sure to check on your neighbors and the people on your block. And form that local citizen team to take care of one another.
LEMON: Don't underestimate this. So, when dealing with Katrina, the issue was, remember, evacuating people and getting them on buses and out of the city -- they shut down the subway system. Mass transportation, public transportation in New York City subways, trains, buses, doesn't that make it harder for people to leave if you do that? But yet, at some point, I guess you got to shut it down to get to shelter.
HONORE: There comes a point in time when you have to close it down to not put that infrastructure or structure in danger of losing it longer than you have to on the backside of the storm. But, you know, when we say mandatory evacuation, what that means, Don, is it is a big suggestion to people that you leave.
LEMON: Right.
HONORE: Because most of our constitutional laws don't give the government-elected officials the authority to force people to leave. So what government does do: control the transportation, control the roads, control the buildings. So this is a way to encourage people to leave.
LEMON: And when they tell you, you know, to basically get out, that means to get out because they have done all they can.
HONORE: Right.
LEMON: And someone like Chris Christie -- we have the box on the screen --
HONORE: Right.
LEMON: -- because we are waiting on Chris Christie, the governor of New jersey, he said it last time when there was a hurricane barreling towards New York and New Jersey, he said, I'm telling you, get out if you don't. I'm paraphrasing.
HONORE: Clear message.
LEMON: You are not right, I don't want to say a bad word to people.
So, listen, you have this new book called "Leadership" where you talk about making decisions in the wake of Katrina and other decisions you have made.
As you're watching all of this preparation, you're watching people like Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City, you're watching the people down on the coast, are they -- are they making the right decisions?
HONORE: They are going in the right direction. In today's world, we have large numbers of people living in concentrated areas and very dangerous places where water can easily get into and cause flooding and mass destruction, leaders must have decision superiority. And many of them are demonstrating that. See first, understand first, act first.
And these are not popular decisions because you get people to do what they don't want to do, which is leave their homes with the storms coming. And this storm is not like any other this generation of people have seen in America. They must listen to those leaders.
And the leaders must talk effects, Don. We must say how many feet of water we expect to surge where. We must say this is how many inches of snow we are going to get here. This is how fast the winds are coming through. Your lights will be out.
So, don't talk category and codes, talk effects.
LEMON: Talk to what people can understand.
HONORE: Talk effects.
LEMON: Thank you. So, "Leadership in the New Normal". I keep it on and read a little bit of it every night. But it's about making decisions. And general says it appears everyone is making the right decisions so far when it comes to this storm. General, stick around with us. You're the man to help us through this for the coverage, and General Honore is going to be with us throughout the evening here on CNN. Thank you, sir. Back with you in a moment.
Hurricane Sandy forcing the presidential campaigns to make detours. Ahead, we're going to look at how the storm could help or hurt the candidates.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right, everyone. Half past the hour now, almost half past the hour.
And we are in the early hours of what everyone, everyone says will be a seriously disruptive storm when it crashes into the East Coast. So far, hurricane Sandy is just dumping rain on the Carolinas and Virginia, but things will go from bad to worse very quickly in the coming hours. So, make sure to stay tuned. We'll cover it for you.
Power out along the Eastern Seaboard and in about 30 minutes, all subway service in New York City will stop. Emergency officials there are taking no chances and are preparing early for possible flooding. We're going to get more details from New York that is coming up.
New York and New Jersey, in a full fledge state of alert right now, a state of emergency has been declared in New Jersey and Governor Chris Christie was the first to announce mandatory evacuations and state offices have been closed for tomorrow.
Live now, pictures, there you see it. West Trenton, New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie to hold a press conference coming soon, and we're going to go now to Alison Kosik, Asbury Park, New Jersey, where she is watching this storm.
They are a code red there for evacuations, Alison. So tell us what it's like where you are.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. There are mandatory evacuations up and down the Jersey coast, especially right where we are in Asbury Park. And you know it is dry. There's no rain but the wind is certainly picking up. The gusts are getting much stronger, almost knocking me over a little bit.
Over my shoulder that's the Atlantic Ocean. You're seeing it churn even stronger now. You can't see it because -- because day has turned tonight, but take my word for it. It looks like an angry sea at this point.
So here at Asbury Park there's a movie theater, there are restaurants, I have seen a casino along the way here as well. All of it is shut down and same with gaming in Atlantic City. Gambling, the casinos in Atlantic City all shut down and that's a huge economy drivers. So that's a big deal that those facilities have closed down. Along with public transportation. The commuter rails here in New Jersey have shut down as well. Don, you know what, I talked with the sheriff of Monmouth County, the county where I am in right now. He said the two big concerns for this area, especially right here along the Jersey shore, are the wind and the storm surge. The storm surge expected to come tomorrow. The big worry, of course, that four to eight feet of water could slowly cover this area. Flooding the area. That is a huge concern of course. And of course, the wind, the big worry there, has knocked out power -- Don.
LEMON: All right. Alison Kosik. Alison, stand by because as the governor gives the press conference, I'm sure we're going to want some reaction from the ground, from you, to hear what people are saying in New Jersey.
And as we keep watch on Hurricane Sandy, want to take a minute to consider how this storm, really, how it is going to affect the race for the White House. Have you thought about that is the power is out? How are people going to get to the polls?
There's a live picture of the White House right now. You know there are two men vying, one to stay in that residence and another one wants to be the president, the person who lives there. Mitt Romney and President Obama.
So I'm sure they're watching us very closely at this hour. This has really changed their travel plans. They were living in some of those swing states along the coast, had to move their operations out and go further inland. Ohio, Wisconsin, and then now back to Florida since they are out of the storm's path.
CNN contributor Ana Navarro, L.Z. Granderson here. L.Z., also a senior writer for ESPN. Ana, of course, is a Republican strategist.
So, guys, welcome back. Great conversation last night. Let's continue on now and talk about the storm. How is the storm is going to affect President Obama, Mitt Romney beyond where they hold campaign rallies.
First to you, Ana.
ANA NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Listen, Don, I'm from Florida. I'm a veteran of hurricanes and hurricanes are political season. It is hurricane politics 101. You have to be in charge. I think the best thing President Obama can do right now is exactly what he's doing, which is suspend some of the campaign events and be in the White House, be in charge.
I want to give him kudos on one thing, which is that the administrator of FEMA, that he picked, Craig Fugate, is a man who worked here in Florida. He was in charge of Emergency Management Services in Florida, well-known to Floridians, he's now -- he worked under Jeb Bush actually in Florida as a real pro.
I think President Obama deserves points for having chosen somebody that is a professional instead of a political crony. But it is very important. It can make or break careers. There are points where politics and hurricanes meet and it can help or they can collide. And they can break careers. We all remember Governor Blanco in Louisiana, what a disaster that was.
LEMON: Yes. Yes. We remember all of that. And -- so, listen, a Republican praising the president, a Democrat, it happened here on CNN.
L.Z., so let's talk about the ground --
L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, sir.
LEMON: Let's stick with the ground game here. Because this -- you know, we're talking about the imaginary, you know, scenarios for after the disaster happens. You know, what happens after, can people get to the polls? Will the power be out? Will there be blockage in the roads? All of this. We don't know. I mean it's pretty far to forecast out, you know what, seven, eight, nine days from now of actual election day, but this is really throwing a monkey wrench into the plans that not only the candidates have but also people going to the polls and voting. Some people don't know what they are going to do because they are out of their homes.
GRANDERSON: Absolutely. And you know, it's not really about seven or nine days ahead. I mean some of these states that might get impacted later on in the week are looking at some of the early voting states, right? So, for instance, Maryland has already canceled their early voting for Monday. If you were planning on voting not on next Tuesday but some time during this week, power outages could impact your plans. And it may -- if you were planning on voting earlier and you've made plans to be out of town, you may be scrambling now for an absentee ballot. And there's no power. How do you get a ballot for that? So this has long-term effects that we'll start seeing much, much sooner than next week.
LEMON: And let me go back to you, L.Z., because Ana talked about Craig Fugate, right, who was the emergency management down in Florida. Do you remember last time during Isaac when down in Louisiana Mitt Romney hit the ground, got there faster than the president. The president, you know, said he had to balance his, you know, his duties of the nation to a storm and was criticized for getting there late.
This time he visited FEMA already so they're well aware of what the optics are like in this situation.
GRANDERSON: Well, you may also remember that Mitt Romney got there early but he also left with criticism because reportedly he told a woman whose house was submerged under water to go back home and call 211. So hopefully if he does decide to go and show up into some of these locations, that he has a message that's a lot more compassionate but doesn't look as if he's definitely trying to be compassionate but just trying to be himself. That will bring the nation a lot of comfort as we're trying to deal with this horrific storm.
And you're right, the president deserves to be criticized for that because it -- in a campaign season what you can't do is look as if you don't care about the people you're supposed to be serving and not being on the ground early after that hurricane made it appear as if he wasn't -- didn't care about the people as much as himself and his own political ambitions.
LEMON: And Ana, you kind of responded to this, saying, you know, there is a balance here in your last statement. So I don't have to get you to comment on that, but what I do want you to talk about is what I talked to L.Z. about. What about the ground game? What about the early voting? What happens?
I know these are all imaginary scenarios, but as far as early voting goes, as L.Z. said, this is affecting that right now. Election day, a little bit further out, but there are some people who can't get to the -- get there to early vote and they may not ever make it to a polling place.
NAVARRO: Well, you know, Don, that's a hypothetical question as you will say, and it's a bridge we'll have to cross when we get there. You could probably -- you might see changes in the early voting hours. There might be extensions of early voting. There might be more days added. There might be more days to get your absentee ballots.
You know, it all depends on just how bad this is, how long it lasts, what the effect is, but you know it's something that I think at this point is where the ground game becomes very important. Obviously, President Obama is not going to be able to be campaigning in some of these states. And we are talking about at least two, Virginia and Pennsylvania, swing states being affected.
But possibly much more than two. We could see New Hampshire affected depending on how high this thing goes. We could see Ohio affected depending how far in it goes. So it is a very significant thing for presidential politics and also for state politics.
LEMON: Yes.
NAVARRO: We've got some very close races in places like Connecticut and like Massachusetts.
LEMON: Stand by, guys, we have to get to other stuff, but I want to say here. Federal law says the election has to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. So end of discussion, I think, except for what Ana said, maybe some late votes, they'll extend that. We don't know. We don't know.
OK, guys, thank you. We'll check back in with you.
You know, much of the east coast already being drench by Sandy. Ahead, we're going to tell you what areas are bracing for the worst of this storm. Don't go anywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. Here it is. As we told you, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie holding a briefing there on Hurricane Sandy. Here's what he said so far. It just started just a moment ago. He said he's spoke on the the president. He asked President Obama to make a pre- landfall state of emergency for New Jersey. Done. And he said, he obviously had a conversation with the president. He is filling people in on what he would like to see happen.
Chris Christie, listen.
(BEGIN LIVE FEED)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: Inside the home shelter should be your first option. If you feel the need to be sheltered outside the home, first try to go to friends or relatives. If that does not work, go to your local OEM to see if they have a local shelter that is available and has space. If they don't, go to the county shelters, which are listed again at -- nj211.org.
If that's unavailable when you get to a county shelter, if it's filled, the state will be able to transfer you to a state-sponsored shelter somewhere else in New Jersey.
Also, if you're being evacuated and you have a pet, bring your pet with you. We'll get you to a pet-friendly shelter so that you don't have to worry about leaving your pets behind. You should also bring supplies with you, clothing, whatever comfort needs you might have, try to bring those with you.
Of course, don't load your entire house onto the back of your back and try to carry it. It will be difficult for you to move and for us to move you, but things that you might need for a couple of days will be acceptable.
For the -- for senior citizens out there and those who are disabled, if you're being evacuated, please immediately tell the emergency staff about whatever special needs you might have. We need to know that upfront so that we could get you to the right place. Bring any medications or any special devices that you need with you so that we don't have to worry about trying to supply them to you once you're sheltered in place.
So, if you haven't already, I say, the next few hours, the next four to five hours are your last chance to get ready before the storm gets going. By tomorrow morning we are not going to want people going out on the roads to try to prepare themselves for the storm. So I started talking to folks yesterday. So got a few hours left, four to five hours left, and then things will start to get a little bit dicier out there.
Tomorrow morning the weather is going to turn ugly here. And we want everybody to stay off the roads. Again, you know, we can't emphasize this enough, don't try to go out there to be a hero or act as if there's nothing going on here. Something is happening. It is important. And we need to have you stay inside for the day tomorrow. Tomorrow will be -- tomorrow and tomorrow evening will be the worst times of the storm.
State government offices will be closed tomorrow, with the exception of emergency personnel involved in hurricane preparation and response. State government staff should stay home tomorrow unless called in to help us with the hurricane. Please -- state of police, please stay home tomorrow.
As I said earlier, decisions regarding whether schools will be open are made on at the local level. However, I was briefed by Commissioner Cerf just a short time ago that he has been conducting conference calls today with county superintendents of schools regarding decisions to close schools. Of the 590 school districts statewide, as of about 20 minutes ago, 350 of those districts have decided to close tomorrow. And 247 have decided to close on Tuesday.
(END LIVE FEED)
LEMON: All right. That is the governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie. And I think the quote here is, "don't go out there and try to be a hero tomorrow." Because he said the weather is going to start getting progressively worse, and especially tomorrow morning. He said if you haven't already evacuated in the next five or six hours, you need to do it, you need to do within the next five or six hours.
Again, the governor saying that he called the president, spoke with the president today and ask for a pre-landfall state of emergency, which was declared. He said all state government offices in New Jersey closed tomorrow. And that probably, Chad Myers, probably means early voting as well if it's a state-government office, but we'll get further clearance on that.
So Chad Myers is here. Obviously, this is a massive storm moving very quickly. You said pretty much unprecedented in the perfect storm sense because now you've got wind, rain.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right.
LEMON: Surge, snow, power outage, what else?
MYERS: You put all of that over the most populated part of America.
LEMON: Yes. Which is Manhattan.
MYERS: There you go.
LEMON: Or the northeast corridor.
MYERS: Philadelphia, Wilmington, D.C., Baltimore, Washington, D.C.
LEMON: Boston.
MYERS: And all the way up to Boston.
LEMON: Right.
MYERS: You take that whole I-95 corridor.
LEMON: Right.
MYERS: How many millions of people -- it seems like over 67 million in the path of some damage. That's just incredible.
LEMON: And you heard the mayor, Michael Bloomberg, he'd said, was is it, zone one or zone A, he said.
MYERS: A.
LEMON: He's getting to turn the water off in the building, shut the power down. He's saying mass transportation, done within a few hours in New York City.
MYERS: Right. And if you're going to evacuate, you have to think about where you want to go. Not just any place, because you want to go, if you're evacuating because you're afraid of storm surge, you want to evacuate to some place much higher. And then all of a sudden the swath from Maine to almost North Carolina for damage, you don't want to get yourself in more trouble. You don't want to evacuate to some place else that's going to have something else, because we're going to have so many trees down.
LEMON: Right.
MYERS: There'll be million of trees down. There'll be millions of people without power for days if not weeks. You can't put all those power lines back up. Plus, if it's windy for 48 hours, and that's the forecast, the linemen aren't going to be back up there putting those power lines back up. So this is going to go downhill rather fast. And so many people are going to be affected. We've never seen something affecting so many tens of millions of people.
Let's go to Zone A. New York City.
LEMON: That's the zone I was talking about.
MYERS: There's Lady Liberty. Here's Zone A. All the way from here right to Coney Island all the way up to Rockaway, all the Rockaway beach areas. We'll fly you on over to here the other side, right here. Here's Battery Park City, here's Battery Park. Probably under water with the storm. Didn't go under water with Irene but by a foot, this is forecast to be feet higher than Irene. All the way up down and here's the East Side River. Here's the east side.
We'll talk about South Street Seaport on up here under the bridges. All of this along the waterway at least flooded if we get that 11-foot surge. And then we're back up here, this is Belmont Island, Roosevelt Island, we're OK. And some turn up here, Red Hook would be right here. That's where Red Hook is.
All of these areas are in that Zone A where you must be gone. They are going to turn off power, they're going to turn off the heat and all of this, all of a sudden if all this water is surging into New Jersey as well, I know this says Zone A, that's New York, but on the other side of the river, it's going to flood as well. We'll keep you up-to-date.
LEMON: Chad Myers, good stuff. Chad, don't go far, because I need you here to help me out. Chad is standing right behind me, that's why I'm looking over my shoulder here.
If you've ever any -- our audience, if you don't live in New York, if you've ever visited New York City, you know how huge the subway system, mass transportation system, how big the city is there. This is no joke. When they close down subways, buses and mass transit systems in New York City, they are not playing around. That is a huge undertaking. It is rarely, if ever, happens.
And people, you know, they are rushing to stack up as many sandbags as possible before the storm, but that may not stop the floods from ruining homes. We're going to look at the frantic preparation that is straight ahead.
Live pictures now, this is Ocean City, Maryland. Look at that surge. If that doesn't tell you that there's something impending, I don't want to say doom, Chad Myers, but look at the surf, what does that say to you as you look at it?
MYERS: High tide and it's full moon, that's rough.
LEMON: And there's a hurricane on the horizon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: OK. Look at this. This is Kill Devil Hills, WSOC. That's our affiliate reporter. We're not talking to him, they are talking to him, but we just wanted to show you. Look at, he's out in the elements there, and just to show you pretty close to the beach. How he's getting whipped around. And this thing is still hundreds of miles -- at last check about 200 miles from North Carolina, and there is that reporter getting whipped around.
This is what's heading his way, up the Eastern Seaboard, this monstrous hurricane that they are saying now is a perfect storm because not only will it have rain and wind and surge, it's going to create some snow, and nor'easter -- I don't know what you call it, I'm not a meteorologist. But it's certainly going to be interesting.
So, everybody, sit tight, watch the coverage. If you're in a place where you don't have to evacuate, I should say, sit tight. If they're telling you to get out, you need to start making preparations within the next couple of hours depending where you are.
We're going to continue on with our live coverage now of Sandy and also how it's affecting the election because President Obama has declared a state of emergency in Maryland where up to a foot of rain is expected there. Now people are racing against time to protect their homes and that's where we can find Athena Jones. She's in Annapolis.
Athena, you obviously it's getting -- you're getting rained on there. It doesn't appear to be as bad as it is in -- North Carolina, Kill Devil Hills. The storm surge, though, could be huge for people. Are they worried where you are?
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don. Well, you're right. I mean and the rain did pick up a few hours ago. It's lessened a little bit now. People say that this is an area that floods very, very easily. You hear a lot of talk about what happened in Hurricane Isabel, businesses have plaques on their walls showing how far the water came up.
Right now people today were getting sandbags to protect their homes and businesses. We were able to speak to a coffee shop owner here who said he's hopeful that they are not going to get the worst of the flooding but he was getting prepared anyway. Let's listen to that for a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GROVER GEDNEY, OWNER, CITY DOCK COFFEE: What we're expecting is we're not expecting floods coming up, but we have some sandbags here just in case which we'll be putting in front of the doors and on the sides there just to keep if any rain water or heavy, heavy winds blew the rain toward the building, and keep us dry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: And, Don, certainly that coffee shop owner and all the other businesses around here are hoping that he's right and that it doesn't end up being too bad here but we're just going to have to wait and see -- Don.
LEMON: All right. Thanks Athena in Annapolis.
From Annapolis to North Carolina to New York to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Boston, all over, we've got it covered.
There you're looking at live pictures. Lady Liberty and look at this. This is Kill Devil Hills again as Hurricane Sandy rolls in. Live to North Carolina to the coast next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Just shy of the top of the hour, shy of 7:00 p.m. Eastern here on the east coast, and as of right now the subways in New York City are shut down. There's a lot going on. In two hours the buses will shut down. The city is in emergency mode getting ready for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy.
The most populous city in the U.S. virtually shutting down. No Broadway shows tonight, same for tomorrow. The United Nations closed tomorrow. Stock Exchange closed for physical trading, I should say, and that's tomorrow. All schools canceled tomorrow. Extra ambulances, the National Guard, they're headed into Manhattan, but that's New York City.
That's just one city. Millions of people up and down the coast preparing for the storm in every way they can. So let's get the very latest now from -- for Sandy's track. Chad Myers is here. Still a category 1.
MYERS: Right.
LEMON: Still -- but we shouldn't let that number fool us, right? It's very dangerous.
MYERS: It's as deep pressure-wise as a category 2 or 3.
LEMON: Right.
MYERS: But one thing we're not talking about this storm as we were talking about Irene, if you remember rattling windows in New York City.
LEMON: Right.
MYERS: Windows blowing out of high rises. We're not going to see that type of wind event because it's turning into a hybrid storm. There's cold air -- there's cold air in Atlanta. There's cold air all up and down the East Coast. That cold air is wrapping into this storm. And you would expect that to kill it, but actually it's turning into a nor'easter. A nor'easter that actually turns to the left and comes right onshore. Not unlike --
LEMON: A hurricane that turns into a nor'easter?
MYERS: Yes, yes. Or think of it this way. A storm that would be a snowstorm that's coming down right through here that sucks in all of this humidity, moisture, and energy of a hurricane. They combine and they become more than the sum of the parts. It's like one plus one equals three with this system. There's the center. There's not even an eye. It hasn't really gotten much deeper for many, many days now. Same story, but everywhere that you see this convection, that's where the winds are really picking up. There's more wind 200 miles away from this storm than there is 50 miles away from the storm because there's no convection. It's spinning but it's not impressive. It is a storm that will come onshore and make so different opinions on where this thing is going to go. It's such different -- winds coming in here in Boston. There will be waves that will be 25 feet, 25 feet. I mean, you're seeing breakers coming in here on Cape Cod.
And then we're talking about the storm surge that may fill in here. We're talking 12 feet of water that may pour into the East River and also into the Hudson River and maybe back toward the Bronx.
And then we're talking about flooding through here because we could see 10 inches of rainfall. The wind blowing away from land here as it makes somewhere plus or minus 50 miles from Atlantic City and then snow back on this side where West Virginia may pick up 60 inches in the higher elevations.
It's so difficult to get your mind wrapped around the potential for this storm and we've been watching it for days and days and days. It's still going to be an 80 mile-per-hour storm as it makes its way onshore. A very convincing storm and then it doesn't move much for 48 hours. So if it's raining, it's going to continue to rain. If it's snowing where you are it's going to continue to snow.
And if it's blowing, and it will everywhere, trees are going to continue to blow down. As the trees blow down, Don, they're not going to be able to put line crews in the way of the wind to put your lines back up. Once your power is out, it's going to be out for a couple days no matter what. LEMON: When you're -- when it's done, it's done.
Chad, stick around.
