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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Hurricane Dorian Devastates Bahamas; Florida Feels Impact of Hurricane Dorian. Aired 4-4:30p ET

Aired September 03, 2019 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:01]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: But he knows so many of the people in this tight-knit diving community in Southern California.

CHRISTINE DENNISON, FOUNDER, EXPLORINGWOMEN.COM: It's very close.

(CROSSTALK)

DENNISON: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Christine Dennison, thank you so very much for your expertise. I appreciate you.

DENNISON: Thank you.

BALDWIN: And thank you so much for being with me.

"THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts now.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Very few people have ever experienced what Hurricane Dorian is doing to the Bahamas right now. And thank God for that.

THE LEAD starts right now.

Destruction everywhere. Just in, the first look at the damage in the Bahamas, as seen from above, showing an almost total wasteland after a two-day thrashing from Hurricane Dorian, while, on the ground, CNN is on the scene as frenzied rescue efforts are under way, as crews and boats pull desperate families from rooftops.

Plus, new today, a high school in Santa Cruz is mourning its missing classmates, as crews give up the search after a boat goes up in flames off the California coast. Today, the serious questions about what more, if anything, could have been done to save the victims.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We're going to start with the breaking news, powerful Hurricane Dorian now headed towards the Florida coast, leaving catastrophic conditions behind in the Bahamas. We're getting our first look from the air at the devastation, miles

and miles of damage, neighborhoods reduced to strewn pieces of debris, almost appearing like trash littering the ground, but what looks like matchsticks, those are pieces of roofs and doors and what used to be homes. We can only hope at this point that the families who live there escaped and made it out safely.

Some of the debris, of course, surrounded by floodwaters, Hurricane Dorian the strongest hurricane to hit the Bahamas as far as we know. It lashed the island for two straight days, moving just 30 miles in 30 hours, killing at least five people, with that death toll regrettably expected by experts to rise precipitously.

The storm destroyed or damaged some 13,000 homes. It ripped off roofs and pushed ocean waters right up into towns, right up into homes. As a result of Hurricane Dorian's stall over the Bahamas, it has been downgraded to a Category 2.

But, at the same time, the hurricane is expanding, its powerful hurricane-force winds stretching well beyond its eye wall. All that strength puts it on a menacing path towards Florida, towards Georgia, and towards the Carolinas and the United States.

From the destruction in the Bahamas to the race to get ready along the East Coast, CNN is covering it all.

I am going to start with CNN's Patrick Oppmann, who has been doing incredible reporting for us. He's live in Freeport, Bahamas.

And, Patrick, you just got back from viewing this devastation firsthand. Tell us what you saw.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake, for the first time today, after being battered by the storm for days and days, it was finally safe enough to go out.

We were not able to access much of the island. There were so many other places that we wanted to go. But the streets were still underwater or blocked by cars. We did get to the area where regular Bahamians have decided to stage their own rescue mission with jet skis and small boats.

Let's go ahead and I will show you what we saw there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OPPMANN: We are walking out to staging area where they are bringing people in from the communities out here that have been flooded, sometimes one at a time.

You can see there are still hurricane-force winds and rain coming down on us, and yet these people are going out and pulling people from their houses, from on top of their houses, and saving their lives.

Look, there is a little baby here, a boy. They are covering him up and protecting him. I assume this is his mother. Come through, come through, come through. Good job.

And they are going on a jet ski, because sometimes the boats -- ma'am, how are you doing? How are you doing? You made it. You're safe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes.

OPPMANN: How high did the water get?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was up to the first floor.

OPPMANN: You are safe now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

OPPMANN: So, as she was saying, the water was up to the first floor of her house.

Many people here told us that the water came in so quickly into this neighborhood, you wouldn't be able to tell from what you're looking at here, but there are hundreds of houses back there. The only way to get the people from the houses is from small boats and jet skis.

What's going on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we are trying to do the rescue here in Freeport after the hurricane.

OPPMANN: How many people are out there still?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A few hundred.

OPPMANN: A few hundred?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. A lot of homes are over here.

OPPMANN: And it's tough to get out there and get them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it's tough.

OPPMANN: How long are you going to keep doing it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Until we get everybody. We are Bahamians. We are not going to stop until we get everybody in.

[16:05:03]

OPPMANN: This is all-volunteer. People are coming. They're bringing their jet skis. They're bringing their boats. They are going to get their neighbors, they say. Everyone says they know of people. They say it's very hard to navigate because there are, of course, no more streets.

And yet they are doing it. You don't see anybody from the government here. It is all very ad hoc, people coming with what they have, the jet skis they have. They are dealing with horrible weather conditions. It's not safe to be out in a boat right now. It's not safe to be out here at all, and yet they say they know people are out there.

There are people who have lost their lives out there, we are told. They have brought back at least one body. And they say they will not stop until they get everybody.

They have hours, if not days, of work ahead of them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OPPMANN: And, Jake, while we were out there, we were still feeling hurricane-force winds.

We tried to get in the boat, but they had to suspend the rescue operations after several jet skis flipped over. They said they hope to try later today to keep bringing people in, again, in just a few boats and jet skis. It's not organized by the Bahamian government. It's not organized really by anybody.

But these brave people are putting their lives on the line to bring their neighbors in from these houses. They said they would not get everybody, though, Jake. They said there are still hundreds of people out there.

They only brought in several dozen today. There's more people than there are boats. And many of those people have to spend another night out there trapped in their homes.

TAPPER: And, Patrick, you spoke with a man who watched his wife drown in front of him. These storm survivors are going through just horrific, horrific ordeals.

OPPMANN: Yes.

His name is Howard Anderson -- sorry -- Howard Armstrong. He's a crabber. He's very well known in the community, as his wife. He said that they ended up riding out the storm as the water came up on all the way on the first floor of their home on their kitchen cabinets.

The kitchen cabinet his wife was on collapsed. He was holding her in the water. She had hypothermia. And, finally, he said, she just slipped out of his arms, she drowned.

He barely got out of his house. He has not had anything to eat, he said. He didn't want anything from us. He was just waiting there to see if his wife's body would be brought in.

Completely traumatized. Other people said that their family members are missing or had even been seen taking away by the storm surge. It's going to take a long time before a full accounting can be done here of how many lives were lost in the storm.

And, again, people are trying to carry out these rescue missions in conditions that are just not safe. But they say they have no other option. TAPPER: And, Patrick, you tell us that the destruction to the Bahamas

is worse than expected. Tell us more about that. Why is that?

OPPMANN: Yes.

It's just that it's impossible to get so many places. The flooding is still so deep. And this storm is -- the worst of it has passed, but we are still feeling some hurricane winds. And it's really a story about the flooding.

This island, it is so low. It's only 30 feet high in the highest point of land. And so much of this island is still underwater. And we were in a big truck, and still it was impossible to get almost everywhere.

We have heard stories, reports that people are in terrible shape at the hospital here, the main hospital, Grand Memorial. We were not able to get there. We have heard other stories of people who are completely cut off, whose houses were swept away.

We tried to get to those neighborhoods. We were not able to get there. And we have not heard any word yet of anybody coming in from the outside. The airport, of course, is underwater. But, more importantly, there are many neighborhoods here that are completely underwater.

And we have not heard a word if there were people there and if they have survived.

TAPPER: All right, Patrick, great reporting. Stay safe, my friend.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

[16:11:45]

TAPPER: CNN's Brian Todd is in Sewall's Point, Florida, an island stretch just north of West Palm Beach.

And, Brian, that area surrounded by two rivers and the ocean. You said the hurricane is starting to push all that water up into town.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jake.

And this is an example of it. We are in Sewall's Point, on Sewall's Point Road. And that is one of the rivers that you just talked about. This is the Indian River Lagoon. But you have got the St. Lucie River that's kind of catty-corner to this and converges with this, along with the Atlantic Ocean.

And that storm surge is pushing this water up. This was -- this has actually receded a little bit from a while ago, but the water was coming straight from the river into this street. And then it goes down these streets here.

We counted about 10 square blocks of this area that were flooded. And we did ask a lady who lives down this way whether this is normal even after a normal rainstorm. She said, no, this is not normal. These streets are not normally flooded to this degree.

So they are still dealing with this, even though, as Tom mentioned, these bands are starting to pull away. We're starting -- we're still getting hit with some of those bands.

But, as Tom just said, this is saturation. This area can't take much more of this rain. So this is not -- they're not really well-equipped to deal with this right now, even though they're lifting somebody the evacuation restrictions. People are coming back into the neighborhoods.

But, again, this is what you're coming back to. So they have to be very, very careful, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Brian Todd, thank you so much.

Joining me now is FEMA Senior Administrator James Joseph, live for us at FEMA headquarters in Washington.

Thanks so much for joining us, Mr. Joseph.

JAMES K. JOSEPH, SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR, FEMA: We have seen the track of Hurricane Dorian changing almost daily.

Now that the storm is moving on from the Bahamas, are federal resources in the right places right now to help people during and after the storm?

JOSEPH: Hey, Jake, thanks for having us on tonight.

And first and foremost, my condolences, thoughts and prayers to everyone impacted in the Bahamas, as you have been reporting, just a tragic event there.

And, yes, we do have the resources. We have pre-positioned personnel in the state emergency operations centers several days ago, well in advance of the track making its way, the storm making its way now. And we have been embedding with the governor's offices, working with the governors of the Southeastern states and working with their state emergency management officials to assess any gaps that they may have in their plan and to help -- help them fill that.

TAPPER: How do you decide where to send the resources, given the fact that the track continues to change?

JOSEPH: Yes.

And with the track that's been moving so significantly, that we're also moving our resources as well. So, while we had some resources in Florida that may relocate, we have resources right now up and down the coast, from Florida, up to Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina as well.

And we will continue to reposition as needed, where the greatest needs might be. TAPPER: So your organization, FEMA, announced earlier that it has

recalled some people who had -- who had been sent to Puerto Rico. The storm was expected to make landfall there.

And some of those people have since been sent to Florida. Have you also moved people from Florida to Georgia or the Carolinas?

JOSEPH: Yes, so we're continuously assessing, based on where this storm track goes and where we see the greatest impact will be.

You know, we're looking in some areas along the coast seven-foot-high storm surge. We're looking at tropical-force storm winds in parts of Florida and hurricane-force storm winds, based on the forecast now, in the Carolinas, based on how close that's going to go to the coast.

[16:15:01]

So, we continue to remain nimble, Jake. We'll move the resources throughout the states wherever they need to be.

TAPPER: James Joseph of FEMA, thank you so much. Good luck. And best wishes to all the people working so hard to try to keep Americans safe, as the storm makes its way to the U.S. Really appreciate your time today.

JOSEPH: Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: You saw just some of the rescue efforts underway in the Bahamas and to get people vital supplies such as food or water. Up next, we're going to talk to celebrity chef and philanthropist Jose Andres who's there in the Bahamas right now hoping to get food to the many victims.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:20:18]

TAPPER: We're back with breaking news in our world lead.

The first look from the air of the utter destruction in the Bahamas. Neighborhoods reduced to rubble. One witness telling CNN that hundreds of people remain trapped on the roofs. They are waiting for rescue.

Hurricane Dorian now moving towards the East Coast of the United States, threatening states such as Florida and Georgia, and North and South Carolina.

CNN's Randi Kaye is live for us in Fort Pierce, Florida, which is north of West Palm.

And, Randi, the city is right along the coast. What's it like there now as Dorian is moving towards you? RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've been standing out here at the

Fort Pierce inlet, Jake, and we've been experiencing some really heavy rains as the bands have been coming through. As you know, even if Dorian doesn't make landfall here, we are certainly feeling the effects of those very wide-ranging hurricane-force winds.

As we came into town, everything was boarded up. The restaurants, the gas stations are all closed. So, we could tell people are ready.

But sometimes you can't always be ready for everything. Take a look at what we found here as we came across this area. That's a sailboat stuck on its side, obviously. We can't tell if it had come off its mooring out in the distance where some of these other sailboats are also anchored or if it was here and now, it just tipped on its side.

It doesn't seem to be going anywhere, but it is certainly a concern. So, it's not just the human toll, but it's also the property -- the human loss of life, the loss of life that people are concerned about, but also the loss of property, loss of homes, loss of boats certainly for a big boating community here.

Jake, back to you.

TAPPER: All right. Randi Kaye in Fort Pierce, Florida.

I'm joined on the phone now by Ben Malik. He's the mayor of Cocoa Beach, Florida. That's north of where Randi is. It's just east of Orlando, directly on the water.

Mayor Malik, I understand that right now, you're out surveying your town. What are you seeing in Cocoa Beach right now?

MAYOR BEN MALIK, COCOA BEACH, FLORIDA (via telephone): Well, we're starting to see some of the outer bands start hitting in our area. And I'm out with chief, Deputy Chief Justin Grimes and our (INAUDIBLE) folks (INAUDIBLE).

And basically the town is pretty well secure. Everything is boarded up. Like a ghost town, which is very eerie, and seeing that we're very much a tourist destination.

And just making sure we look -- we had to close off the beach earlier. We had some folks that were trying to get into the ocean, which is probably not a good idea. We've got literally 12 to 15-foot surf out there and expecting 20-foot surf by tonight.

TAPPER: Well, people are trying to get in the ocean with 15-foot waves. What is your concern? People like that, is that your biggest concern right now?

MALIK: Well, right now, it's just not -- you know, being a little complacent. You know, people that have lived in Florida a long time just get a little complacent with these things. And even though it's, you know, considerably offshore, we are still going to get tropical- force winds for, you know, 12, 15 hours, which we are going to see some certainly some power outages and I'm really worried about the coastal erosion and potentially flooding.

TAPPER: I know there are evacuation orders in place. You said it's like a ghost town. Did ever resident heed the warnings? Obviously, the ones in the surf didn't.

MALIK: No. You know, at the end of the day we can't force people out. But -- so hopefully, as these bands come in, we're just advising people to please stay inside. And once the winds reach 50 miles per hour, unfortunately, we can't come get you if you get in trouble.

TAPPER: What would you get -- this is a rough estimate, what percentage of your town do you think remains in their homes, remains in Cocoa Beach?

MALIK: You know, I would say 30 percent. And given the devastating pictures we saw from the Bahamas, I think people took caution and, you know, left. I know my family, my wife and son and my daughter in Orlando are riding it out there.

TAPPER: All right. Mayor Malik, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it. Our best wishes and thoughts with the people of Cocoa Beach. Appreciate it.

MALIK: You bet. Take care.

TAPPER: As Hurricane Dorian targets the East Coast, we're going to take a closer look at why this hurricane is behaving differently than previous ones.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:29:25]

TAPPER: We're back with breaking news and a look at just how much Hurricane Dorian inundated the Bahamas.

This is video from inside a hospital in Freeport. All that water essentially took over the emergency room. Hurricane Dorian is the second slowest major hurricane ever since recorded. That pace means that the Bahamas have been bombarded for days, leading to severe flooding and much, much more.

Let's bring back CNN meteorologist Tom Sater.

And, Tom, Hurricane Dorian is now moving only five miles per hour, you told us.

TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Uh-huh.

TAPPER: Why? Why is it such a slow mover?

SATER: You know, the lack of steering current, something we had once before. Thirty hours to move half away cross the Grand Bahama Islands. The one that was moving slower was -- [16:30:00]