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CNN Crossfire
Hurricane Isabel Shuts Down Washington, D.C.
Aired September 18, 2003 - 16:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TUCKER CARLSON, CO-HOST: Not rain, not snow, not sleet, not even a hurricane can keep us off the air.
CROSSFIRE begins right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: CROSSFIRE. On the left, James Carville and Paul Begala; on the right, Robert Novak and Tucker Carlson.
In the CROSSFIRE: Hurricane Isabel comes to Washington. Who's ready? Who's already wet? And who is going to help clean up this mess? Our hurricane team is ready to brave the strong winds and political currents -- today on CROSSFIRE.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(APPLAUSE)
ANNOUNCER: Live at the George Washington University, Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson.
PAUL BEGALA, CO-HOST: Hello, everybody. Welcome to a special eye-of-the-storm edition of CROSSFIRE.
Hurricane Isabel's eye came ashore over North Carolina's Outer Banks a couple of hours ago. This huge storm -- it's about 600 miles across -- is still very dangerous and it's heading right for us. So, today, here in Washington, we're not Democrats or Republicans. We're wet. We're windblown. Most of all, we're worried, because, you see, here in Washington, we are weather wimps.
But our own Tucker Carlson is no wimp. He is outside as we speak, just daring Isabel to come and get him.
Tucker, I dare say you're taking your life in your hands out there, aren't you?
CARLSON: For journalism, Paul, I'll do it.
I and our intrepid crew are about the only people here. Washington is absolutely deserted. The federal workers are gone. City workers are gone. Looking down the street, there is not a single person on the street, no cabs, no traffic at all. There's a light breeze and it's drizzling.
(LAUGHTER) BEGALA: So, Tucker, Washington has come to a standstill over a few drops of rain. That's usually what happens when the snow hits. But where's the storm? I thought this was supposed to be the most hot air since President Bush's last State of the Union address.
(LAUGHTER)
CARLSON: Actually, it's -- it's -- I'll ignore the jibe and tell you, I -- honestly, I see the storm coming right down, I think, 21st Street now.
We're going to go to Orelon Sidney at CNN Center in Atlanta to find out when the big storm is going to get here -- Orelon, tell us.
ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, there it is.
(LAUGHTER)
SIDNEY: You're standing in it.
But most of the action is to the south of you. This is what's happening now, center of the storm still just to the north of Cape Hatteras. So you can see that the center of the storm, the strongest winds, well away from Washington, D.C. We're continuing to watch it move northwest, though, at 20 miles an hour. That's pretty fast for a storm that has moved inland.
And the last report, the wind speed was down to 95 miles an hour. But that's in a pretty small area, about 115 miles either side of the center. So you're not going to see these very gusty winds in D.C. just yet. But there is an inland tropical storm warning in effect for that area, continuing, up to, believe it or not, the New York metro area. And heavy rain is going to be your big problem.
Watch out for the rainfall later on tonight. They're even talking about storm surge potential as we go through the Chesapeake Bay into the river and across the city. So you could have some areas along the river with some flooding problems as you head through the next 24 to 36 hours.
Right now, we continue to see hurricane warnings in effect all the way northward to the Chesapeake Bay. Once you get to Chincoteague, that turns over into a tropical storm warning and extends up to just about Long Island -- Tucker.
CARLSON: OK, Orelon Sidney in Atlanta, thank you. It looks like we can look forward to more. And, again, I can see it.
We go back inside to our dry correspondent, Paul Begala.
BEGALA: Tucker, thank you.
We've got CNN correspondents up and down the East Coast covering this story.
And let's go now to Brian Cabell, who is Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina -- Brian.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paul, it looks as though the worst is over here. Probably, the worst was maybe two hours ago. But the winds, I would say, have died down.
It was probably a Category 1 hurricane when it hit here. Winds are still fairly strong, the rain probably not quite as great as was expected. They were talking about six to 10 inches. It has not been that much.
Now that the worst is over, let's take a look around. You can see, most of these buildings that were shuttered, that were boarded up, seem to have done quite well. There's one building over here under construction where the facade was blown off about two, three hours ago. But it's, for the most part, standing. There's also a sign over here that came down a little while ago as well.
But the greatest destruction we've seen came a little too close for liking for us. Our own motel right over here, where we've been staying, the facade there came off, along with some insulation a little while ago. Debris littered the parking lot for a while, people a little bit scared, wondering if more was going to come down, but it did not; 125,000 people evacuated from the Outer Banks over the last couple of days. A mandatory evacuation took place.
But, we're told, probably half of the residents here, the hearty ones, decided to stick it out. A lot of them, we're told, were going to leave if it was a Category 3 or a Category 3. But when it went down to Category 2, 105 miles per hour, people said they could handle that. And, indeed, it looks as though they have handled it. The last we heard, no major injuries. There's scattered damage all around the Outer Banks, power outages everywhere.
We don't have power. We probably won't have power tonight. But, for the most part, not too bad. It looks as though we've made it -- Paul.
BEGALA: Brian Cabell, thank you from are for that report from North Carolina, where, as, Tucker, Brian pointed out that 125,000 North Carolinians had been ordered to evacuate. No such order given in Washington. And yet Washingtonians fled the city today.
Tucker, you're in a deserted downtown. They left like a bat of a bureaucracy, didn't they?
CARLSON: Yes, they did. It turns out that, when federal workers don't have to come to work, they don't.
I see a couple college students wandering down the street, but that's it. A little further to the south, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, 650,000 homes and businesses are now without power. The state has been pretty hard-hit.
We go now to CNN's Jeanne Meserve in Virginia Beach -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Tucker, the storm has really picked up here.
The winds have become very intense, so intense that the city of Virginia Beach has now pulled its emergency responders off the streets. Police, fire, EMS, they are not out there. They said, if there is a life-threatening call, they'll have to evaluate it on a case-by-case basis. Officials here in the city say they may not put them back out on the street until after midnight because of these extraordinary conditions.
The head of emergency operations in the city of Norfolk has been with the city for 32 years. He said these are the worst hurricane conditions in his city he has ever seen. Part of the problem is, of course, the water. You can see the surf behind me. Usually, that's 50, 75 yards away from this boardwalk. High tide was about three, four hours ago. And the waves are still washing up over this boardwalk.
The storm surge is yet to come. It is going to be quite something to see how far the water comes at that point. There's been a lot of wind damage. We watched the roof on the hotel next door come right off. I see another piece that's now hanging. We saw windows blow out of the hotel a block in back of us, a lot of trees down, a lot of power outages. It is going to take quite a while for the city of Virginia Beach to recover from this one -- back to you.
CARLSON: Jeanne, that's a very dramatic picture behind you. There are a lot of ships in that area. What's become of all of them? Have very gone out to sea? Are they at port? Where are they?
MESERVE: The big ones have gone out to sea. The Navy sent about 40 of its ships out earlier this week. The Coast Guard went through the port evaluating the ships that were there. And some of them were sent out as well.
When I got here on Monday, there was sort of a caravan of ships going down the coast, seeking to ride the storm out in the ocean. And then there are also the small boats, of course. A lot of people took their boats out, feeling they'd be safer in their front yards. But some couldn't get away in time, and they're tied up at marinas. We went down and checked one of them. Although the water has gotten very, very high, the boats at this point appear to be secure at that particular marina.
Some others along the coast here are probably more exposed. And there may be some problems there -- Tucker.
BEGALA: In Washington, there was a story in "The Washington Post" this morning that the police chief in Virginia Beach warned residents who didn't want to evacuate that, if they stayed, they should actually write their name in permanent ink on their arms, so that they could find them later. Did you encounter people who were staying behind?
I think we've lost Jeanne Meserve.
Jeanne, can you hear me? MESERVE: I'm sorry. Can you repeat the question?
(LAUGHTER)
BEGALA: Jeanne, we're told that there's a hearty group of Virginia Beach residents who have ignored warnings and stayed behind. How are they faring?
MESERVE: Well, I'll tell you. Not only did some people stay in their (AUDIO GAP) boardwalk. This has been closed since about 9:00 this morning.
And there have been people out here, like us, risking the winds. And we've even seen people down in the water wading out into the big surf, taking incredible risks with their lives. But the emergency people aren't out here anymore. The police for a while were responding and shooing them off and sending them away. But since they've been pulled back, there's nobody enforcing. And so they've just been wandering out there.
I must say, since winds have been picked in the last half hour or so, most of them seemed to have cleared away.
BEGALA: Jeanne Meserve, a remarkable report. Thank you very much for bringing that to us. Thank you for your courage there in Virginia Beach.
Tucker Carlson -- not exactly facing the same conditions outside in downtown Washington, D.C., Tucker.
(LAUGHTER)
CARLSON: There is no surf behind me, Paul. There's no danger of me being tossed into the ocean and swept away. And that's the way we like it here in Washington.
We'll be right back on a special wet edition of CROSSFIRE. More hurricane coverage when we return.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Welcome back to CROSSFIRE. From the inside, I'm Tucker Carlson.
BEGALA: And from the outside, I'm Paul Begala.
CARLSON: How do you like it out there, Paul?
BEGALA: Well, Tucker, the wind has really picked up. It may be as much as five miles an hour now.
The storm clearly has not really hit Washington hard. But the winds are beginning to pick up. And there's a little bit of rain, but nothing like what Jeanne Meserve was dealing with out in Virginia Beach.
We want to go now to somebody who is covering the real storm. Ed Lavandera is reporting from Topsail, North Carolina.
Ed, how is it there?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paul, it's starting to look a lot better here.
We've been on the southern edge of the storm ever since it started to make its way onshore. And that's the place where you want to be if you have to be in a hurricane like this. These dunes here are built to protect the homes on this island from the storm surge. There had been some concern, officials here on the island, that perhaps the storm surge would bust over this dune here and cause flooding here on this very small island. But that has not happened.
We've driven most of the day around parts of this part of North Carolina. And, for the most part, everything seems to be holding up well. We've seen some areas where the roads are littered with debris, a few downed trees, a few downed power lines. But, for the most part, considering what kind of a storm, a Category 2 hurricane, was coming this way, everything seems to be holding up very well.
Now the storm moving northward, toward where you're at,Paul. And, of course, the quicker this storm moves, the better off. The concern now is flooding. If this storm doesn't sit in one place for too long, that flooding won't have time to unfold itself. And that would be very good news for a lot of the residents from here, North Carolina, to Virginia up to D.C. and Maryland as well. So that's something we'll be looking for.
And, Paul, as a fellow University of Texas alum, this isn't the kind of stuff they teach us to cover in journalism school -- Paul.
BEGALA: No, Ed, a fellow Longhorn. But, of course, I grew up on the Gulf Coast of Houston. I can remember Hurricane Alicia, which brought high winds.
But, also, you said that the storm speed is actually making the flooding less likely. Now, why is that, because it's heading inland faster?
LAVANDERA: Yes. The quicker it moves inland, the better off it is. If it starts moving very slowly, it sits over one area for too long, which just allows that rain to continue to fall and fall in that one location. And that's why you get the inland flooding as such a concern.
A lot times, hurricanes like this can tend to stall over an area for a while, which happened a couple years ago in Houston. If you remember, downtown was flooded a couple of years ago just because of a tropical storm. So the quicker this things moves, the better off everyone will be.
BEGALA: Ed Lavandera, from Topsail Beach, North Carolina, thank you very much for that report.
Let's go in now to the safety and comfort of the CROSSFIRE studios inside in Washington, D.C., and Tucker Carlson -- Tucker.
CARLSON: Oh, yes, I'm the armchair observer for this story. Paul, thank you.
Washington, D.C. has closed down in anticipation of Hurricane Isabel. Has everyone overreacted?
Stepping into the CROSSFIRE to talk about that is Barry Scanlon. During the Clinton administration, he was director of corporate affairs for Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA. He's now a member of James Lee Witt Associates.
(APPLAUSE)
Mr. Scanlon, thank you for joining us.
BARRY SCANLON, JAMES LEE WITT ASSOCIATES: Thank you.
CARLSON: How about that? Given that, at least in some parts of the Southeastern coast, that the worst seems to be over, have we overreacted, closing down the entire federal government in anticipation of this?
SCANLON: I don't think so.
I think they've got to make the decision that's best when they're making that decision. Yesterday afternoon, they had to think about the schoolchildren that would be on buses this afternoon, that the Metro might be closed and people wouldn't have a way to get to work and get back to work. And they have to make decisions that are in the best interests of public safety.
BEGALA: Barry Scanlon, it's Paul Begala outside.
SCANLON: Yes, sir.
BEGALA: First off, is it a good idea to be standing outside in a hurricane holding an electric microphone?
(LAUGHTER)
SCANLON: Well, you'll have to make that own decision for yourself. But I think Jeanne Meserve probably needs a raise pretty soon.
(LAUGHTER)
BEGALA: Yes, absolutely.
Actually, let me ask you a serious question. That is about driving through standing water. There's really not much of a storm now in Washington, but they are predicting high winds and heavy rain. What should people do when they're driving? SCANLON: Well, they shouldn't drive through standing water.
What we have found over our time when I was at FEMA is, more than half the people who die in a flood die in cars. So, they shouldn't attempt to cross water. Even a couple of feet of water can sweep a car or a truck away. So they shouldn't even attempt to do it.
CARLSON: Give us some other ways that people can die in hurricanes, apart just from driving through standing water.
(LAUGHTER)
SCANLON: Not taking it seriously.
(CROSSTALK)
CARLSON: OK. That's No. 1. Give me four more.
SCANLON: Four more.
(LAUGHTER)
SCANLON: On the spot.
Well, they should protect their homes better, put on hurricane shudders. They could have emergency kits and plans for their families. They should have better building codes to make sure that they build in the right way and that they don't build right on the beach. And I'll give you three. How's that?
CARLSON: That's pretty good.
SCANLON: We'll find a fourth.
CARLSON: The big bad wolf one.
SCANLON: That's right.
CARLSON: House of sticks doesn't work.
Barry Scanlon, thank you very much for joining us. We appreciate it.
SCANLON: Thank you. Thank you.
CARLSON: Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
CARLSON: And now back to Paul Begala, risking life and limb for CROSSFIRE -- Paul.
(LAUGHTER)
BEGALA: Tucker, thank you. And thanks to Barry Scanlon.
In just a minute, we'll have an update from Wolf Blitzer on all the hurricane news up and down the East Coast.
And then, your intrepid CNN CROSSFIRE crew will get hurricane coverage advice from a real pro, someone who actually has been in real storms, CNN's Jeff Flock.
So stay with us.
(APPLAUSE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWS BREAK)
(APPLAUSE)
CARLSON: Welcome back to our foul weather edition of CROSSFIRE. From the inside, I'm Tucker Carlson.
BEGALA: And from the outside, I am Paul Begala.
We are waiting for Hurricane Isabel to arrive here. Wolf Blitzer told us a minute ago it hit the Eastern Seaboard with 100-mile-an-hour winds. It hasn't exactly arrived in D.C. yet, Tucker. We're high and dry.
CARLSON: Are you surviving out there, Paul? Or are you ready to evacuate to a shelter somewhere, like everyone else?
BEGALA: I'll tell you, I watch these reports from our real reporters and I'm humbled. I don't even like being out in a stiff breeze. And they've really impressed with their coverage
(CROSSTALK)
CARLSON: Well, nobody in Washington does. If you live in the Outer Banks, I can see going indoors. But I wonder why everyone in Washington, where it's just a little moist outside, is staying home today.
BEGALA: Because we're weather wimps.
Let me go to somebody, though, now who is definitely not a weather wimp. Tucker and I in Washington cover political storms all the time, but one CNN reporter in particular has probably covered more hurricanes than anyone else. And he is Jeff Flock. He's reporting live now from Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.
Jeff, first, tell me what's going on in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: Say that one again. Sorry.
(CROSSTALK)
BEGALA: Jeff, first -- Jeff, how are things in North Carolina? FLOCK: How are things in -- oh, how are things in North Carolina. Well, obviously, I made a vocational error to start with here, so -- today, though, it was a good day for hurricanes, because, obviously, we still don't know the full extent of the damage, but this is the kind of hurricane you want to cover.
I've been on hurricanes like Andrew and Hugo. You wouldn't be standing out here. But this is a Category 2 storm, maybe, in some places, not even that intense. So you can afford to stand out in it, sort of drink in the beauty of nature and experience that, but not to get anybody hurt or too much damage done. So this is a good day.
BEGALA: Jeff, is this something you really enjoy or did you just do something to annoy the executives at CNN?
FLOCK: No.
(LAUGHTER)
FLOCK: Well, I've done plenty of that over the course of time.
But, no, my first memory as a kid is of a hurricane that struck New Jersey. I grew up on the coast of New Jersey. And I've always loved storms, experiencing them, being out in them. And we spent this one with a bunch of storm chasers. In fact, I don't know. Steve, are you able to see?
This is their vehicles over here. We've been showing these on CNN. These are guys that chase storms and research storms and want to learn about them. So I enjoy the same sort of thing. So this is a vacation for me. Don't let anybody know that. But it's a good time.
CARLSON: Jeff, it's Tucker Carlson in Washington. We've got a studio full of dry people here fascinated by your wetness. And one of them wants to ask you a question. Here she is.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. My name is Sarah Antosk (ph) from Concord, Mass.
And I was just wondering what was the craziest or most unusual object that flew by you when you were reporting or covering a hurricane?
FLOCK: The things that have flown by me?
(LAUGHTER)
FLOCK: Well, I'll tell you, Hurricane Bertha some years ago -- generally, most storms are like this one, where you get the wind coming off the water, so you don't get too much coming at you.
But, occasionally if you get the wind spinning around, you start to get debris. And we began to get pieces of siding off. And it was a big piece of metal that kind of went by, which, I suppose, if that hit, it would probably not be a good thing. But I'm just looking around on the ground here for anything funky. But pretty much garbage is pretty much all I got. Sorry. I don't have anything more interesting than that.
CARLSON: Jeff, we've got -- no, that's good enough. We've got other audience question.
Yes, sir, for Jeff Flock?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. My name is Jordan (ph). I'm from Syracuse, New York.
And I was just wondering if you thought the constant emphasis on storms like Isabel causes more unnecessary alarm with the public, rather than being an effective means of informing the public of possible dangers?
FLOCK: Well, I was thinking that. I heard you, the debate earlier about overreacting.
And I think the answer is, yes, of course, we overreact. And I think we probably should overreact. Think of all of the past storms that have hit through history, where there hasn't been much of a reaction or people haven't known much about it. Yes, do people know too much about hurricanes today? Yes, maybe they do. But that means they know enough. In the past, we didn't know enough.
And I think the worst thing you can do is under-react to a storm. Sometimes, we take some criticism for standing out in it. They say, well, what the heck are you doing? You look like a fool and all that sort of thing. But I think people really understand what storms are about because of this sort of thing. So maybe we do some good along the way.
BEGALA: Jeff Flock, you certainly do. You got one cool job and you're one brave guy. Jeff Flock, in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, thank you for that live report.
We're going to take a quick break in just a minute. And then, when we come back, some of our viewers have fired back their own heavy hot winds about CROSSFIRE.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEGALA: Welcome back to this slightly moist edition of CROSSFIRE.
Time now for "Fireback," where our viewers goat to rain on our parade -- Tucker.
CARLSON: Yes.
And the first up is from Toronto, Canada. It's a country to the north, where they know bad weather. Christine from Toronto writes: "Will Tucker be able to compete? Is his usual blustery hot air going to be upstaged by Hurricane Isabel?"
At this point, I don't think Isabel is any match for me, to be honest, at least in Washington, D.C.
BEGALA: Tucker, as you speak, Isabel is beginning to get angry. God is definitely a Democrat, because it's starting to rain as my Republican pal comes out here.
Just to mock us, though, there are several dozen students here from George Washington University.
(CHEERING)
BEGALA: Didn't your parents ever tell you not to go out and play in a hurricane?
CARLSON: And not one in foul weather gear, Paul. These people come out in T-shirts. So there are tough people left in Washington.
BEGALA: There are a few that are tough. They're mostly college students.
(LAUGHTER)
CARLSON: I hope you all are here when it snows, too, because everyone else is home in tears, stocking up on bottled water and flashlights.
BEGALA: And gold bullion and shotgun shells. This is a city -- this is the weather-wimpiest city in America, I have to admit.
CARLSON: That's exactly right. And I have to say, I think the supermarkets are in on it.
BEGALA: The most powerful city in the world filled with fraidy- cats.
CARLSON: Yes. Four days before it rains, get to the supermarket, stockpile on flashlight batteries.
(LAUGHTER)
BEGALA: An embarrassed Paul Begala. That's it for CROSSFIRE.
CARLSON: And from an even wetter position, I'm Tucker Carlson.
Join us tomorrow for more CROSSFIRE.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 18, 2003 - 16:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TUCKER CARLSON, CO-HOST: Not rain, not snow, not sleet, not even a hurricane can keep us off the air.
CROSSFIRE begins right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: CROSSFIRE. On the left, James Carville and Paul Begala; on the right, Robert Novak and Tucker Carlson.
In the CROSSFIRE: Hurricane Isabel comes to Washington. Who's ready? Who's already wet? And who is going to help clean up this mess? Our hurricane team is ready to brave the strong winds and political currents -- today on CROSSFIRE.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(APPLAUSE)
ANNOUNCER: Live at the George Washington University, Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson.
PAUL BEGALA, CO-HOST: Hello, everybody. Welcome to a special eye-of-the-storm edition of CROSSFIRE.
Hurricane Isabel's eye came ashore over North Carolina's Outer Banks a couple of hours ago. This huge storm -- it's about 600 miles across -- is still very dangerous and it's heading right for us. So, today, here in Washington, we're not Democrats or Republicans. We're wet. We're windblown. Most of all, we're worried, because, you see, here in Washington, we are weather wimps.
But our own Tucker Carlson is no wimp. He is outside as we speak, just daring Isabel to come and get him.
Tucker, I dare say you're taking your life in your hands out there, aren't you?
CARLSON: For journalism, Paul, I'll do it.
I and our intrepid crew are about the only people here. Washington is absolutely deserted. The federal workers are gone. City workers are gone. Looking down the street, there is not a single person on the street, no cabs, no traffic at all. There's a light breeze and it's drizzling.
(LAUGHTER) BEGALA: So, Tucker, Washington has come to a standstill over a few drops of rain. That's usually what happens when the snow hits. But where's the storm? I thought this was supposed to be the most hot air since President Bush's last State of the Union address.
(LAUGHTER)
CARLSON: Actually, it's -- it's -- I'll ignore the jibe and tell you, I -- honestly, I see the storm coming right down, I think, 21st Street now.
We're going to go to Orelon Sidney at CNN Center in Atlanta to find out when the big storm is going to get here -- Orelon, tell us.
ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, there it is.
(LAUGHTER)
SIDNEY: You're standing in it.
But most of the action is to the south of you. This is what's happening now, center of the storm still just to the north of Cape Hatteras. So you can see that the center of the storm, the strongest winds, well away from Washington, D.C. We're continuing to watch it move northwest, though, at 20 miles an hour. That's pretty fast for a storm that has moved inland.
And the last report, the wind speed was down to 95 miles an hour. But that's in a pretty small area, about 115 miles either side of the center. So you're not going to see these very gusty winds in D.C. just yet. But there is an inland tropical storm warning in effect for that area, continuing, up to, believe it or not, the New York metro area. And heavy rain is going to be your big problem.
Watch out for the rainfall later on tonight. They're even talking about storm surge potential as we go through the Chesapeake Bay into the river and across the city. So you could have some areas along the river with some flooding problems as you head through the next 24 to 36 hours.
Right now, we continue to see hurricane warnings in effect all the way northward to the Chesapeake Bay. Once you get to Chincoteague, that turns over into a tropical storm warning and extends up to just about Long Island -- Tucker.
CARLSON: OK, Orelon Sidney in Atlanta, thank you. It looks like we can look forward to more. And, again, I can see it.
We go back inside to our dry correspondent, Paul Begala.
BEGALA: Tucker, thank you.
We've got CNN correspondents up and down the East Coast covering this story.
And let's go now to Brian Cabell, who is Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina -- Brian.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paul, it looks as though the worst is over here. Probably, the worst was maybe two hours ago. But the winds, I would say, have died down.
It was probably a Category 1 hurricane when it hit here. Winds are still fairly strong, the rain probably not quite as great as was expected. They were talking about six to 10 inches. It has not been that much.
Now that the worst is over, let's take a look around. You can see, most of these buildings that were shuttered, that were boarded up, seem to have done quite well. There's one building over here under construction where the facade was blown off about two, three hours ago. But it's, for the most part, standing. There's also a sign over here that came down a little while ago as well.
But the greatest destruction we've seen came a little too close for liking for us. Our own motel right over here, where we've been staying, the facade there came off, along with some insulation a little while ago. Debris littered the parking lot for a while, people a little bit scared, wondering if more was going to come down, but it did not; 125,000 people evacuated from the Outer Banks over the last couple of days. A mandatory evacuation took place.
But, we're told, probably half of the residents here, the hearty ones, decided to stick it out. A lot of them, we're told, were going to leave if it was a Category 3 or a Category 3. But when it went down to Category 2, 105 miles per hour, people said they could handle that. And, indeed, it looks as though they have handled it. The last we heard, no major injuries. There's scattered damage all around the Outer Banks, power outages everywhere.
We don't have power. We probably won't have power tonight. But, for the most part, not too bad. It looks as though we've made it -- Paul.
BEGALA: Brian Cabell, thank you from are for that report from North Carolina, where, as, Tucker, Brian pointed out that 125,000 North Carolinians had been ordered to evacuate. No such order given in Washington. And yet Washingtonians fled the city today.
Tucker, you're in a deserted downtown. They left like a bat of a bureaucracy, didn't they?
CARLSON: Yes, they did. It turns out that, when federal workers don't have to come to work, they don't.
I see a couple college students wandering down the street, but that's it. A little further to the south, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, 650,000 homes and businesses are now without power. The state has been pretty hard-hit.
We go now to CNN's Jeanne Meserve in Virginia Beach -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Tucker, the storm has really picked up here.
The winds have become very intense, so intense that the city of Virginia Beach has now pulled its emergency responders off the streets. Police, fire, EMS, they are not out there. They said, if there is a life-threatening call, they'll have to evaluate it on a case-by-case basis. Officials here in the city say they may not put them back out on the street until after midnight because of these extraordinary conditions.
The head of emergency operations in the city of Norfolk has been with the city for 32 years. He said these are the worst hurricane conditions in his city he has ever seen. Part of the problem is, of course, the water. You can see the surf behind me. Usually, that's 50, 75 yards away from this boardwalk. High tide was about three, four hours ago. And the waves are still washing up over this boardwalk.
The storm surge is yet to come. It is going to be quite something to see how far the water comes at that point. There's been a lot of wind damage. We watched the roof on the hotel next door come right off. I see another piece that's now hanging. We saw windows blow out of the hotel a block in back of us, a lot of trees down, a lot of power outages. It is going to take quite a while for the city of Virginia Beach to recover from this one -- back to you.
CARLSON: Jeanne, that's a very dramatic picture behind you. There are a lot of ships in that area. What's become of all of them? Have very gone out to sea? Are they at port? Where are they?
MESERVE: The big ones have gone out to sea. The Navy sent about 40 of its ships out earlier this week. The Coast Guard went through the port evaluating the ships that were there. And some of them were sent out as well.
When I got here on Monday, there was sort of a caravan of ships going down the coast, seeking to ride the storm out in the ocean. And then there are also the small boats, of course. A lot of people took their boats out, feeling they'd be safer in their front yards. But some couldn't get away in time, and they're tied up at marinas. We went down and checked one of them. Although the water has gotten very, very high, the boats at this point appear to be secure at that particular marina.
Some others along the coast here are probably more exposed. And there may be some problems there -- Tucker.
BEGALA: In Washington, there was a story in "The Washington Post" this morning that the police chief in Virginia Beach warned residents who didn't want to evacuate that, if they stayed, they should actually write their name in permanent ink on their arms, so that they could find them later. Did you encounter people who were staying behind?
I think we've lost Jeanne Meserve.
Jeanne, can you hear me? MESERVE: I'm sorry. Can you repeat the question?
(LAUGHTER)
BEGALA: Jeanne, we're told that there's a hearty group of Virginia Beach residents who have ignored warnings and stayed behind. How are they faring?
MESERVE: Well, I'll tell you. Not only did some people stay in their (AUDIO GAP) boardwalk. This has been closed since about 9:00 this morning.
And there have been people out here, like us, risking the winds. And we've even seen people down in the water wading out into the big surf, taking incredible risks with their lives. But the emergency people aren't out here anymore. The police for a while were responding and shooing them off and sending them away. But since they've been pulled back, there's nobody enforcing. And so they've just been wandering out there.
I must say, since winds have been picked in the last half hour or so, most of them seemed to have cleared away.
BEGALA: Jeanne Meserve, a remarkable report. Thank you very much for bringing that to us. Thank you for your courage there in Virginia Beach.
Tucker Carlson -- not exactly facing the same conditions outside in downtown Washington, D.C., Tucker.
(LAUGHTER)
CARLSON: There is no surf behind me, Paul. There's no danger of me being tossed into the ocean and swept away. And that's the way we like it here in Washington.
We'll be right back on a special wet edition of CROSSFIRE. More hurricane coverage when we return.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Welcome back to CROSSFIRE. From the inside, I'm Tucker Carlson.
BEGALA: And from the outside, I'm Paul Begala.
CARLSON: How do you like it out there, Paul?
BEGALA: Well, Tucker, the wind has really picked up. It may be as much as five miles an hour now.
The storm clearly has not really hit Washington hard. But the winds are beginning to pick up. And there's a little bit of rain, but nothing like what Jeanne Meserve was dealing with out in Virginia Beach.
We want to go now to somebody who is covering the real storm. Ed Lavandera is reporting from Topsail, North Carolina.
Ed, how is it there?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paul, it's starting to look a lot better here.
We've been on the southern edge of the storm ever since it started to make its way onshore. And that's the place where you want to be if you have to be in a hurricane like this. These dunes here are built to protect the homes on this island from the storm surge. There had been some concern, officials here on the island, that perhaps the storm surge would bust over this dune here and cause flooding here on this very small island. But that has not happened.
We've driven most of the day around parts of this part of North Carolina. And, for the most part, everything seems to be holding up well. We've seen some areas where the roads are littered with debris, a few downed trees, a few downed power lines. But, for the most part, considering what kind of a storm, a Category 2 hurricane, was coming this way, everything seems to be holding up very well.
Now the storm moving northward, toward where you're at,Paul. And, of course, the quicker this storm moves, the better off. The concern now is flooding. If this storm doesn't sit in one place for too long, that flooding won't have time to unfold itself. And that would be very good news for a lot of the residents from here, North Carolina, to Virginia up to D.C. and Maryland as well. So that's something we'll be looking for.
And, Paul, as a fellow University of Texas alum, this isn't the kind of stuff they teach us to cover in journalism school -- Paul.
BEGALA: No, Ed, a fellow Longhorn. But, of course, I grew up on the Gulf Coast of Houston. I can remember Hurricane Alicia, which brought high winds.
But, also, you said that the storm speed is actually making the flooding less likely. Now, why is that, because it's heading inland faster?
LAVANDERA: Yes. The quicker it moves inland, the better off it is. If it starts moving very slowly, it sits over one area for too long, which just allows that rain to continue to fall and fall in that one location. And that's why you get the inland flooding as such a concern.
A lot times, hurricanes like this can tend to stall over an area for a while, which happened a couple years ago in Houston. If you remember, downtown was flooded a couple of years ago just because of a tropical storm. So the quicker this things moves, the better off everyone will be.
BEGALA: Ed Lavandera, from Topsail Beach, North Carolina, thank you very much for that report.
Let's go in now to the safety and comfort of the CROSSFIRE studios inside in Washington, D.C., and Tucker Carlson -- Tucker.
CARLSON: Oh, yes, I'm the armchair observer for this story. Paul, thank you.
Washington, D.C. has closed down in anticipation of Hurricane Isabel. Has everyone overreacted?
Stepping into the CROSSFIRE to talk about that is Barry Scanlon. During the Clinton administration, he was director of corporate affairs for Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA. He's now a member of James Lee Witt Associates.
(APPLAUSE)
Mr. Scanlon, thank you for joining us.
BARRY SCANLON, JAMES LEE WITT ASSOCIATES: Thank you.
CARLSON: How about that? Given that, at least in some parts of the Southeastern coast, that the worst seems to be over, have we overreacted, closing down the entire federal government in anticipation of this?
SCANLON: I don't think so.
I think they've got to make the decision that's best when they're making that decision. Yesterday afternoon, they had to think about the schoolchildren that would be on buses this afternoon, that the Metro might be closed and people wouldn't have a way to get to work and get back to work. And they have to make decisions that are in the best interests of public safety.
BEGALA: Barry Scanlon, it's Paul Begala outside.
SCANLON: Yes, sir.
BEGALA: First off, is it a good idea to be standing outside in a hurricane holding an electric microphone?
(LAUGHTER)
SCANLON: Well, you'll have to make that own decision for yourself. But I think Jeanne Meserve probably needs a raise pretty soon.
(LAUGHTER)
BEGALA: Yes, absolutely.
Actually, let me ask you a serious question. That is about driving through standing water. There's really not much of a storm now in Washington, but they are predicting high winds and heavy rain. What should people do when they're driving? SCANLON: Well, they shouldn't drive through standing water.
What we have found over our time when I was at FEMA is, more than half the people who die in a flood die in cars. So, they shouldn't attempt to cross water. Even a couple of feet of water can sweep a car or a truck away. So they shouldn't even attempt to do it.
CARLSON: Give us some other ways that people can die in hurricanes, apart just from driving through standing water.
(LAUGHTER)
SCANLON: Not taking it seriously.
(CROSSTALK)
CARLSON: OK. That's No. 1. Give me four more.
SCANLON: Four more.
(LAUGHTER)
SCANLON: On the spot.
Well, they should protect their homes better, put on hurricane shudders. They could have emergency kits and plans for their families. They should have better building codes to make sure that they build in the right way and that they don't build right on the beach. And I'll give you three. How's that?
CARLSON: That's pretty good.
SCANLON: We'll find a fourth.
CARLSON: The big bad wolf one.
SCANLON: That's right.
CARLSON: House of sticks doesn't work.
Barry Scanlon, thank you very much for joining us. We appreciate it.
SCANLON: Thank you. Thank you.
CARLSON: Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
CARLSON: And now back to Paul Begala, risking life and limb for CROSSFIRE -- Paul.
(LAUGHTER)
BEGALA: Tucker, thank you. And thanks to Barry Scanlon.
In just a minute, we'll have an update from Wolf Blitzer on all the hurricane news up and down the East Coast.
And then, your intrepid CNN CROSSFIRE crew will get hurricane coverage advice from a real pro, someone who actually has been in real storms, CNN's Jeff Flock.
So stay with us.
(APPLAUSE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWS BREAK)
(APPLAUSE)
CARLSON: Welcome back to our foul weather edition of CROSSFIRE. From the inside, I'm Tucker Carlson.
BEGALA: And from the outside, I am Paul Begala.
We are waiting for Hurricane Isabel to arrive here. Wolf Blitzer told us a minute ago it hit the Eastern Seaboard with 100-mile-an-hour winds. It hasn't exactly arrived in D.C. yet, Tucker. We're high and dry.
CARLSON: Are you surviving out there, Paul? Or are you ready to evacuate to a shelter somewhere, like everyone else?
BEGALA: I'll tell you, I watch these reports from our real reporters and I'm humbled. I don't even like being out in a stiff breeze. And they've really impressed with their coverage
(CROSSTALK)
CARLSON: Well, nobody in Washington does. If you live in the Outer Banks, I can see going indoors. But I wonder why everyone in Washington, where it's just a little moist outside, is staying home today.
BEGALA: Because we're weather wimps.
Let me go to somebody, though, now who is definitely not a weather wimp. Tucker and I in Washington cover political storms all the time, but one CNN reporter in particular has probably covered more hurricanes than anyone else. And he is Jeff Flock. He's reporting live now from Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.
Jeff, first, tell me what's going on in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: Say that one again. Sorry.
(CROSSTALK)
BEGALA: Jeff, first -- Jeff, how are things in North Carolina? FLOCK: How are things in -- oh, how are things in North Carolina. Well, obviously, I made a vocational error to start with here, so -- today, though, it was a good day for hurricanes, because, obviously, we still don't know the full extent of the damage, but this is the kind of hurricane you want to cover.
I've been on hurricanes like Andrew and Hugo. You wouldn't be standing out here. But this is a Category 2 storm, maybe, in some places, not even that intense. So you can afford to stand out in it, sort of drink in the beauty of nature and experience that, but not to get anybody hurt or too much damage done. So this is a good day.
BEGALA: Jeff, is this something you really enjoy or did you just do something to annoy the executives at CNN?
FLOCK: No.
(LAUGHTER)
FLOCK: Well, I've done plenty of that over the course of time.
But, no, my first memory as a kid is of a hurricane that struck New Jersey. I grew up on the coast of New Jersey. And I've always loved storms, experiencing them, being out in them. And we spent this one with a bunch of storm chasers. In fact, I don't know. Steve, are you able to see?
This is their vehicles over here. We've been showing these on CNN. These are guys that chase storms and research storms and want to learn about them. So I enjoy the same sort of thing. So this is a vacation for me. Don't let anybody know that. But it's a good time.
CARLSON: Jeff, it's Tucker Carlson in Washington. We've got a studio full of dry people here fascinated by your wetness. And one of them wants to ask you a question. Here she is.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. My name is Sarah Antosk (ph) from Concord, Mass.
And I was just wondering what was the craziest or most unusual object that flew by you when you were reporting or covering a hurricane?
FLOCK: The things that have flown by me?
(LAUGHTER)
FLOCK: Well, I'll tell you, Hurricane Bertha some years ago -- generally, most storms are like this one, where you get the wind coming off the water, so you don't get too much coming at you.
But, occasionally if you get the wind spinning around, you start to get debris. And we began to get pieces of siding off. And it was a big piece of metal that kind of went by, which, I suppose, if that hit, it would probably not be a good thing. But I'm just looking around on the ground here for anything funky. But pretty much garbage is pretty much all I got. Sorry. I don't have anything more interesting than that.
CARLSON: Jeff, we've got -- no, that's good enough. We've got other audience question.
Yes, sir, for Jeff Flock?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. My name is Jordan (ph). I'm from Syracuse, New York.
And I was just wondering if you thought the constant emphasis on storms like Isabel causes more unnecessary alarm with the public, rather than being an effective means of informing the public of possible dangers?
FLOCK: Well, I was thinking that. I heard you, the debate earlier about overreacting.
And I think the answer is, yes, of course, we overreact. And I think we probably should overreact. Think of all of the past storms that have hit through history, where there hasn't been much of a reaction or people haven't known much about it. Yes, do people know too much about hurricanes today? Yes, maybe they do. But that means they know enough. In the past, we didn't know enough.
And I think the worst thing you can do is under-react to a storm. Sometimes, we take some criticism for standing out in it. They say, well, what the heck are you doing? You look like a fool and all that sort of thing. But I think people really understand what storms are about because of this sort of thing. So maybe we do some good along the way.
BEGALA: Jeff Flock, you certainly do. You got one cool job and you're one brave guy. Jeff Flock, in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, thank you for that live report.
We're going to take a quick break in just a minute. And then, when we come back, some of our viewers have fired back their own heavy hot winds about CROSSFIRE.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEGALA: Welcome back to this slightly moist edition of CROSSFIRE.
Time now for "Fireback," where our viewers goat to rain on our parade -- Tucker.
CARLSON: Yes.
And the first up is from Toronto, Canada. It's a country to the north, where they know bad weather. Christine from Toronto writes: "Will Tucker be able to compete? Is his usual blustery hot air going to be upstaged by Hurricane Isabel?"
At this point, I don't think Isabel is any match for me, to be honest, at least in Washington, D.C.
BEGALA: Tucker, as you speak, Isabel is beginning to get angry. God is definitely a Democrat, because it's starting to rain as my Republican pal comes out here.
Just to mock us, though, there are several dozen students here from George Washington University.
(CHEERING)
BEGALA: Didn't your parents ever tell you not to go out and play in a hurricane?
CARLSON: And not one in foul weather gear, Paul. These people come out in T-shirts. So there are tough people left in Washington.
BEGALA: There are a few that are tough. They're mostly college students.
(LAUGHTER)
CARLSON: I hope you all are here when it snows, too, because everyone else is home in tears, stocking up on bottled water and flashlights.
BEGALA: And gold bullion and shotgun shells. This is a city -- this is the weather-wimpiest city in America, I have to admit.
CARLSON: That's exactly right. And I have to say, I think the supermarkets are in on it.
BEGALA: The most powerful city in the world filled with fraidy- cats.
CARLSON: Yes. Four days before it rains, get to the supermarket, stockpile on flashlight batteries.
(LAUGHTER)
BEGALA: An embarrassed Paul Begala. That's it for CROSSFIRE.
CARLSON: And from an even wetter position, I'm Tucker Carlson.
Join us tomorrow for more CROSSFIRE.
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