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CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip

Soon, Category 4 Hurricane Makes Landfall in Florida; NWS Says, Take Cover Now, as Helene's Eye Wall Hits Florida; Cat 4 Hurricane Helene Strengthens to 140 Miles Per Hour. Hurricane Helene Barrels Along Florida's Coast. Aired 10-11p ET

Aired September 26, 2024 - 22:00   ET

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

[22:00:00]

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. I'm Abby Phillip in New York. Our special coverage continues tonight of Hurricane Helene, a monster Category 4 storm that is now moments away from making landfall in Florida.

At this moment, it is too late now for folks along the coast to evacuate. Officials warn that the winds and the storm surge will be catastrophic in some areas. The word that they are using is unsurvivable.

Helene could be the strongest storm on record for the Big Bend region, and we are already starting to see A major surge in these cities.

So, we have our anchors and our correspondents. They're fanned out as it is now hitting, and we have Chad Myers as well with the latest forecast in the CNN Weather Center.

Let's go first to John Berman. He's out in Tallahassee in the so- called dead-on hit zone. John, what's happening where you are right now?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, the winds have really started to pick up, Abby, over the last half an hour, the rain really coming down here. You can see it pulling up all over the water here. And I think you can get a sense of these trees being to really lean over and blow. And that's the real concern here in Tallahassee. It is the wind.

You know, Tallahassee has steam storms pass over, but never really was sustained hurricane force winds, the likes of which they are expecting here in just a few hours. Thousands and thousands of trees could come down, officials say, with hundreds and hundreds of road closures. Again, these will be hurricane force winds, maybe 100 miles per hour.

In this relatively urban area, 200,000 people live here. All these live oaks line all the avenues and near their houses. That is what they're most concerned about. We're about 20 miles inland. So, when this storm makes landfall 20 miles south of here as a Category 4 storm, it will really only be the beginning for places like Tallahassee. They have moved people into shelters for mobile homes and lower lying areas here, evacuated some students from Florida State University housing into shelters. Public transportation has been closed for a long, long time. And this city closed down and awaiting this long, long night.

The wind speeds here, I think, are approaching tropical storm force at this point. They've had gusts of 35 miles an hour or more, 45 would be tropical storm. That's certainly going to happen here, I think, over the next few hours, as this rain just continues to pour down. They've had more than six inches over the last day. Expecting, I think, another six inches, it will make for a very dangerous situation here overnight, Abby.

PHILLIP: Yes. I mean, you mentioned the evacuations that are ongoing. Do you get the sense that the town, the city, has actually heeded the warnings that this could be a kind of storm that most people there have not seen in a long time?

BERMAN: Yes. Look, I don't think anyone in Tallahassee has seen a storm like this, period, full stop, because of what's happening. It's moving so quickly it will pass over Tallahassee is a pretty powerful hurricane.

In Leon County where Tallahassee is, the evacuation orders were really just for mobile homes and manufactured housing, not the widespread evacuations you see further closer to the coast. But the difference is the number of people who live here, right? Taylor County, where this storm could make landfall, the whole county has 20,000 people. Tallahassee alone, which is in Leon County, has some 200,000. So, a lot more people here could be directly affected, even if down along the coast they may see the areas of greatest danger.

But, Abby, I do think people are paying attention to the sense that maybe they didn't leave the city, but certainly at this point, they're at home and they're going to have to wait this out throughout the night.

PHILLIP: Yes, I hope everyone does listen, because this is not one of those things that you want to just go with your gut. Listen to the officials that are telling you what to do here.

John, we're going to get back to you soon as you continue to wait for this landfall, which we are expecting to happen sometime in the next hour.

Coming up next for us, CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam, he's in Apalachicola, Florida, where potentially there are extremely damaging storm surges expected. Derek, what are you seeing where you are?

[22:05:01]

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Abby, I'm going to be quite frank with you. You know, the fact that we're about 40 miles, 50 miles roughly west of where the most powerful part of Hurricane Helene is and we're feeling these types of winds, I'm worried about what it's going to look like in the morning at first light across the Big Bend area.

We know how powerful this storm is and the most extreme part of the storm about to make landfall. I think it's important to put it into perspective for our viewers. Just from a meteorological standpoint, Hurricane Ian in 2022 came ashore with a central pressure of 941 millibars. Remember, a lower pressure means a stronger hurricane. Hurricane hunters now flying through the I have recorded reading sub 940 millibars. So, the storm could be coming on shore more powerful than Ian did when it came ashore just south of Fort Myers.

So, there's this extreme wind warning and I kind of want to walk you through that because this is the National Weather Service reserves that wording and those warnings for only the most extreme events, and this is one of them. They ask people to treat it as if a tornado was approaching their household or their business, if they did not evacuate with an extreme wind warning. This is about, I hate to use that adjective over, but it is about as considerable, extreme and most dangerous part of this storm with, you know, these winds that will easily peel back the roofs of houses, obviously build up the storm surge in the very shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico that we've seen already setting records from Tampa Bay northward. This surge is going to come in with a vengeance because of the power of the wind that's pushing upon the tops of the ocean here.

So, people need to be prepared to ride out, several days without power, if not longer. And, Abby, we know too that it's not just a coastal storm. We've been covering this for several days now, but we are very concerned about the copious amounts of rain that this will dump across the Southern Appalachians and to Central Georgia. And there are a lot of trees in this area, and it's not going to take much to topple them in this very, very saturated environment. It won't take much more rain to flood much of the southeast. Abby?

PHILLIP: Yes. I mean, Derek, based on what you're seeing in these conditions, I mean, is your concern, your biggest concern right now that the strength of this wind? And we heard John Berman saying where he was in Tallahassee, that mostly the evacuation warnings were for, you know, manufactured homes, maybe mobile homes. Other people were asked to sort of shelter in place. Do you think that the infrastructure where you are can withstand the kinds of winds that you're expecting?

VAN DAM: In Franklin County, where I'm located in Apalachicola, it's a mandatory evacuation for all residents and all visitors. Of course, not everybody decides to leave. And a lot of the infrastructure here does involve mobile homes that cannot hold up to 100 mile-per-hour- plus winds. You got to understand when we talk about Category 4 hurricanes and the Saffir-Simpson scale where we measure the destruction potential of a hurricane. They use the word catastrophic for a reason because that's the type of damage that you get with these extreme winds on the northeastern quadrant of those eye walls, the ones that are making landfall right now, the ones that the National Weather Service has reserved for this extreme wind warning.

We're 50 miles or so west of those most extreme winds. And thank goodness we are, because we can continue to report for you with electricity. That's a miracle. But I am sure of it that the power numbers, the amount of number of people without power this evening is going to double, quadruple as the storm moves inland. It knocks out the trees and creates the hazards far away from the coastline. Abby?

PHILLIP: Derek, we will continue to check in with you. Thank you very much for that.

Chad Myers is in the CNN Weather Center with more on the latest forecast here. So, Chad, tell us what you're seeing there. What is this storm preparing to do?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The eastern edge of the eye wall itself, which was where all of these winds that we're talking about. That's where the winds are, in the eye wall, about to come on shore right now, very close to Steinhatchee, Florida. And then, that has just slightly shifted to the east over the past couple of hours, and it's on the right side of the cone, not the left side of the cone.

[22:10:07]

Now, you cannot take a sigh of relief, Tallahassee, but it does not appear that you will get both sides. You're not going to get the north side and the south side of the eye itself, but, Perry, you will. Valdosta, you likely will.

Winds here are already approaching 60 and 70 miles per hour. Even down to the south is still blowing Sarasota at 55. The highest surge ever at Clearwater Beach is happening right now. That includes the super storm that happened back in the 90s, never got that high, even when that storm rolled up the East Coast.

So, here is the radar. There's the center of the eye. Officially, landfall is not going to happen when the eye wall touches. The center of the eye, the middle of this eye right here has to cross over land. That's when they will call landfall itself. That's what landfall means. But by that time, Abby, half the damage has already been done, because, you know, right, half the storm will already have been on shore. And this area right through there where that high wind warning is, that's the area that is coming on shore at this hour.

Now, for 95 percent of that area, it is a nature area. It is. There are towns in the way, but there aren't cities in the way like Tampa or Sarasota. So, yes, this is the second storm that they've seen this year. And it seems like the third one in two years. Look at how much rainfall is still to come, high wind, high rain pushing up the mountains and still all the way to -- Macon, Georgia, is in a hurricane warning because they are going to get hurricane conditions, and they're hundreds of miles away from where this thing is going to make landfall.

Because it is moving so quickly now, the wind is not going to die off. It's not going to have time to die off. It's going to keep right on going and mowing all those trees that Derek was talking about. All those trees are going to be coming down one after the other, even if it's just big branches. Abby, we're talking about millions of customers without power by the time this is done, seriously. PHILLIP: It's a huge swath of geography here that could be affected by these winds and the rain, as you pointed out. Chad, continue to stand by for us.

We want to go now to Franklin County, Florida, where they've been under a mandatory evacuation since Wednesday at noon. But some locals have chosen to stay put and ride out this storm. One of them is Nancy Plymel Campagna. She is currently in St. George Island. Nancy, thank you for joining us.

First of all, we just want to know, are you safe? And what is it like right now outside of those windows?

NANCY PLYMEL CAMPAGNA, ST. GEORGE ISLAND, FLORIDA RESIDENT, NOT EVACUATING HOME: We feel safe. We have a place in Greenville, Florida that has been through two hurricanes this past year and the year before. So, we feel a lot safer being on the island than being at. The farm that we call it because of all the trees and all the wind it just cannot withstand. Pine trees and wind just do not go together.

But here on the island, we feel safe. We're in a home that's strapped down with hurricane straps and we're on pylons. And so we feel a lot safer here than we do down in Greenville.

PHILLIP: Are you starting to see the effects of the storm where you are? And what does it look and sound like?

CAMPAGNA: Right now, there's a lot of rain and the wind is starting to pick up, but it has not been as bad. We had about two weeks of solid rainfall. So, the grounds were already saturated and then now the hurricane has just made it even worse.

We are looking at some -- the storm surge, and that's one of the things that I'm concerned about, especially on the bay.

PHILLIP: Yes.

CAMPAGNA: It seems like the bay has a lot of -- you know, we have a lot of damage on the bay.

PHILLIP: Yes. I mean, I wonder, I know you say, compared to your other property that is in a more kind of wooded area, or there's more tree life around you, what are your concerns at this point? I mean, is it flooding, storm surge? And what are your contingency plans if those things come to pass?

CAMPAGNA: Well, we hope that we're -- you know, when Hurricane Michael was here, the next day, the water had receded and we were able to get in and start the cleanup. And so that's what I expect for tomorrow, you know, when the sun comes up. We'll just start the cleanup process.

[22:15:00]

And during Hurricane Michael, we had 5.5-foot of water in our home on the bay. So, I'm probably expecting that much or less. And then we'll just -- we'll start cleaning up.

PHILLIP: And, Nancy, do you have an idea of what you will do if you do need help at some point?

CAMPAGNA: Well, we have people coming down, like once they make it down, my brother's coming, he's got a skid steer that he'll come and help clean up and pull the sand out, and pull the mud and the dirt out, and then just start picking up all the trash, all the leaves and everything else that gets, you know, thrown around.

PHILLIP: All right. Nancy, well, we certainly hope that you and your entire family remain safe in the middle of this extraordinary storm. Thank you very much for joining us.

CAMPAGNA: Thank you.

PHILLIP: We're going to go now back to John Berman in Tallahassee, Florida, which is, as we told you earlier, in that dead hit zone.

Plus, we're getting word about a boat rescue in Fort Myers Beach.

This is CNN special live coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:20:00]

PHILLIP: We're back now to our special coverage of Hurricane Helene right now lashing the coast of Florida. We are just getting word that the eye wall is moving ashore, and the Category 4 storm is now moments away from making landfall.

I want to go back now to Tallahassee, Florida, where John Berman is starting to feel those bands. Also with us is Emergency Management Director for Leon County Kevin Peters. Leon County is also the home of Tallahassee. And, John, I know you have some questions for Kevin as well, but, Kevin, I just want to start with you.

We do expect this landfall to happen shortly in the 11:00 hour. Can you tell us about what conditions are like where you are and what are the things that you are expecting to see in the coming minutes and hours as we expect landfall to happen?

KEVIN PETERS, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR, LEON COUNTY: Yes, thanks. And we've been seeing rainfall with this storm well in advance. We've had rain all day in Tallahassee, even starting last night up on to the west end of our county, we've had up to eight inches of rain. But over the last hour so, we've seen our gusts wind gusts get up to a tropical storm force strength. We just heard from the National Weather Service their peak gusts in Tallahassee has been 43 so far. So, it is starting to get stronger here in Tallahassee,

PHILLIP: And in one county, emergency managers are advising people who had decided not to evacuate. Just write their name and date of birth on their legs so that their body can be identified. That's a pretty stark warning. I wonder how dangerous will the storm be for the people who stayed behind. And certainly there are some people who are not on emergency or mandatory evacuation notices. Do you think that those people really are safe to stay in place?

PETERS: One of the most dangerous aspects of a tropical system is the storm surge. And the county that issued that warning and all the counties south of us here in the Big Bend, they're expecting up to 20 feet of storm surge. That's 20 feet above ground level. The National Weather Service has put it very well. It is not survivable to have a storm surge. So, if you had not evacuated, you left yourself in a very dangerous situation.

PHILLIP: John Berman is with us, Mr. Peters. I'm going to let John ask you some questions. John, go ahead.

BERMAN: Kevin, nice to speak with you. I think your accommodations here in Tallahassee might be a little better than mine are right now. We're standing out here and I am feeling those gusts, which do feel like they're approaching tropical storm force. You said 43 miles an hour, 45 would be tropical storm force. It clearly does seem to be about to happen here, specifically in Tallahassee. What are you most concerned about? And what are you prepared to do the minute the storm passes and it's safe to get out?

PETERS: Yes. You know, obviously the high winds are going to affect the trees in our community. We will have trees that fall down, they'll bring down power lines, they'll block the roadways.

Throughout the day, our crews have been staging their emergency equipment and we have personnel throughout the community. So, as soon as this storm clears our area, and the winds are at a level that are safe enough, we're going to immediately get out onto the roadways, begin cutting the debris, making the paths or responders can respond to emergency calls. They can begin the to assess and begin to make repairs to the infrastructure network. So, we have everybody staged and ready. We just need the storm to pass by.

BERMAN: Yes, it hasn't done it yet. I can tell you that we're getting our strongest gusts so far. These are almost definitely tropical storm force coming in right now.

When you talk about the staging, staging the power crews, we saw them driving in overnight last night, really all around Northern Florida. It's also interesting in the hotels and the various places in Tallahassee where we're staying, we've got fire crews from Miami standing by waiting. They've been waiting today because tomorrow morning they expect to go out. And their target, they tell us, will be local hospitals in case those hospitals don't have power and patients need to be evacuated. How important is the planning for storms like this?

PETERS: Yes. We've been communicating and coordinating with all of our community partners, such as our local hospitals since the weekend, sharing information, making sure that everybody that is part of our emergency response process knew what the forecast was going to be.

[22:25:12] We were providing them the updates throughout the week, so everybody could be as prepared as possible.

BERMAN: And I keep glancing, just so people know, I keep glancing over in this direction. That's where the wind is coming from right now. One of the things you do have to be careful about standing out in the wind like this is debris, but so far everything seems to be okay. No loose things flying about here.

We talk about the danger with the storm surge in the areas. South of here along the Big Bend area storm surge, it could be 15 to 20 feet. Those people who stayed behind, when do you think you might be able to reach them?

PETERS: Well, some of the firefighters you were referring to are probably part of search and rescue teams. We know that the state has brought numerous search and rescue teams. As soon as the winds die down, those teams are going to go into to these impacted counties and they're going to conduct that initial urban search and rescue mission to do as best they can to find survivors and rescue them for those that may have stayed behind in coastal counties.

BERMAN: And I'll throw it back to Abby in a second here, but I guess my last question is, what are these nights like for you? Is it just an up all night, standing by the phone, watching the monitors, you know, hoping your power doesn't go out?

PETERS: We have a room full of professionals here with us in the Emergency Operations Center. We've been activated for a few days now. They are very long days but it's a lot of people working together, sharing information and doing everything we can to keep our community as safe as possible.

BERMAN: Well, I certainly appreciate the work you do, and I know the people here in Tallahassee do as well. Sorry, Abby.

PHILLIP: Thank you, John. And thank you, Kevin Peters, for joining us, and we'll continue to check back with you as this goes on.

John, before you go, I do want to bring in Chad Myers for just a moment because he had a question for you. As everybody can see, you're standing out there as this storm is starting to come ashore here.

MYERS: It certainly is, Abby. I mean, we already have now the eastern eye wall that's on shore here, very close to the town of Steinhatchee,we've been talking about for, you know, I've been the last hour and a half or so. But there's John right up there in Tallahassee. And every time one of these bands comes by, the winds pick up when the band goes by and then it kind of calms down, then you wait for the next one.

John, are you ready for this one here? This one's probably 45 minutes away. That's probably your first gust over, I would say, hurricane force. So, be ready for that. It is coming, sir.

BERMAN: Well, thank you for the warning, Chad. You know, we've had the 40 to 45-mile-an-hour one so far, but nothing hurricane force as of yet. As I said, this is going to be a long, long night for the some 200,000 residents of Tallahassee. We really haven't seen anything like this.

MYERS: No. And the trees in that town are so beautiful. I was in that town when I was covering Ivan in the flooding of St. Mark's when Ivan was 100 or so miles away in Pensacola and I got to spend the night in Tallahassee just one night. And I had to walk around and look at the moss and look at the trees and, you know, the fact that it hasn't been hit in so long.

It's like a place in the west that hasn't had a fire in a long time. There's so much that is there, nothing that has been knocked down yet. And that's what I think you're going to be waking up to tomorrow morning, if you even do get any sleep. A lot of these trees are going to -- at least the weaker branches are going to be on the ground, which means you're going to see the power outages come down with those weaker branches, because the power lines are going to come down all night long.

BERMAN: Yes, Chad, no doubt about that. Thanks so much, Chad. You know, Abby, they say thousands and thousands of trees could come down here.

PHILLIP: Yes, I mean, that's going to be extraordinary to see in the morning. We just hope that you and everyone else, as you make it through the night, you stay as safe as possible.

John, Chad, both of you stand by. We're going to be back with you as the storm continues to make its way onto land.

Joining me now, though, is Florida chief financial officer and the state fire marshal, Jimmy Patronis. Jimmy, thank you for joining us. There are a number of mandatory evacuations all around the state of Florida. Do you have a sense of in the places where this is the most critical, the most life saving? How many people really have heeded these warnings?

JIMMY PATRONIS, FLORIDA CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER AND STATE FIRE MARSHAL: So, we've heard numbers, say, like, St. George Island, that's Franklin County, that's due south of Tallahassee, where you've had as many as 70 individuals that have been identified that have decided to weather the storm on the coast there.

You know, the real challenge is the urban search and rescue teams. That means they're going to have to use helicopters because the storm is so severe that those individuals will have to be rescued.

[22:30:01]

The stubbornness and reluctance that people have during times like this are what put our first responders at risk. When we ask them to evacuate, literally to evacuate 100 miles, 10 miles to a local shelter is more than adequate to save a life.

PHILLIP: We just spoke to someone who's in St. George and she told us that she felt like once the water came in, maybe five or six feet, it would recede quickly in the morning and then they would begin clean- up. When you hear that, I mean, what do you think?

PATRONIS: So, I was on the beach, it's a Fort Myers beach, hours after Hurricane Ian made land shore. In Fort Myers Beach, there was a huge contingency of people that decided not to evacuate but there was also over a hundred loss of lives because of those that were few to evacuate.

So again, I hope for the best but know that we will have some instances where the reluctance people have to heed the warnings are going to have very grim outcomes.

PHILLIP: That's unfortunately a reality of these terrible storms that are increasingly hitting this part of Florida that typically does not see this kind of destruction. Jimmy Patronis, thank you very much. You continue to stay safe. We'll check back with you, as well.

Coming up next, we're going to take you live to Tampa where the storm surge is already hitting high levels. Our reporter is there right now in the middle of this. This is CNN Special Live coverage of Hurricane Helene.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:35:56]

PHILLIP: Right now, Hurricane Helene is barreling along Florida's coast. CNN's Carlos Suarez is in St. Petersburg, Florida which saw record levels of storm surge. Carlos, what is the situation there as the storm is now starting to make landfall?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Abby, this part of Pinellas County was really hit hard by the flooding. You can see just behind me how much of the debris litters this one neighborhood that we are in. This white stuff that you kind of see at the top of the water here, we believe that to be a part of a dock that broke in half a few feet from where we are back here.

As you noted in St. Petersburg, there was a great deal of flooding. We've been driving around town here late into the hour and we know that the power for a good part of the city is out. As for in neighboring Gulfport where we were earlier in the day, that part of Pinellas County saw anywhere between four to eight feet of storm surge and a lot of this water is still coming in.

Even though the storm is far to the north of us, the forecasting tells us that a lot of this water is not going to recede, Abby. until tomorrow morning. And then of course, once daybreak comes, we'll get a better look at the damage and of course, the recovery effort that will soon then get underway. Abby.

PHILLIP: So, Carlos, I want you to stay with us. We have with us also Tampa Fire Chief Barbara Tripp. Barbara, thank you for joining us. Tell us what you are seeing right now and what is your sense of the severity of this storm? It's starting to move in. It's to the north of you all right now, but what are you seeing there?

BARBARA TRIPP, TAMPA, FL FIRE RESCUE CHIEF: Well, actually Tampa has been affected by a lot of the storm surge. We are actually experiencing anywhere between five to eight feet border that's been coming inland. Some of our low-lying properties that we have evacuated personnel, we're looking on the cameras and I tell you, it is very devastating.

PHILLIP: You said five to six feet there. We are starting to see Helene generating that level of storm surge in a lot of places. And just last year there was Hurricane Idalia and it damaged hundreds of homes at just four feet of storm surge. So, what are your concerns? The night is progressing. We'll wake up in the morning and see the damage. What are you expecting to see?

TRIPP: Well, we had to close all of our bridges coming in and out of Tampa that's actually leading to Pinellas County. And some of the things that we hope individuals do not do is get out there in that weather. We still send winds that's up to 40 -- 50 miles an hour. We've had to slow the first responders out from responding to some of the calls.

So, the biggest concern we're going to have is to see how much of flooding, how much of water damage, how many buildings have been affected by all of the water that has come into the Tampa Bay area.

PHILLIP: And Carlos, I know you're still here with us. You have a question for Barbara. Go ahead.

SUAREZ: Yes, that's right, Chief. So, I've covered a number of hurricanes the last three years and we've always come either to Hillsborough County or Pinellas County. I'm curious what the flooding situation looks like in Bayshore Drive. That's one of the areas that normally we go to, we visit, we pre-position there because we know it's in that evacuation area.

We know it tends to flood even just during a normal thunderstorm and so, I'm curious. I'm in Pinellas County, so I'm on the other side of the bay. You're over in Tampa. What's Bayshore Drive looking like? My understanding is early in the day, it was pretty flooded.

TRIPP: Yes, that's one of the areas we talked about is forcing this extensive flooding in that area. And basically, Bayshore is definitely closed off. It is underwater.

PHILLIP: Carlos and Barbara Tripp, please, both of you --

SUAREZ: Yes, so --

PHILLIP: Carlos, you're still with us?

SUAREZ: No, no, I mean, the only -- yes, yes, of course. I think, the only other question I would have to follow up with that is, I know a decision as to the storm has obviously clear, you know, are part of Florida before any of these bridges reopen.

[22:40:05]

But I don't know if the Chief has a sense of exactly when that might happen. I know that there was some concerns about not just the wind involving some of these bridges but also some of the flooding.

And so, I'm curious if that decision might be made, you know, come daybreak or exactly when some of these bridges might reopen because as you all been talking right now, if you live in Pinellas County, you really can't cross over Tampa Bay and you can't get down to Bradenton.

TRIPP: Well, basically, the bridges would not be open until it's safe and cleared. We expect the wind gusts, as well as the flooding to kind of dissipate probably by early morning, probably about six to seven o'clock. We do have what we call our crews that will go out and assess the damage before they give the residents clearance to be able to return to their home.

SUAREZ: Thank you.

PHILLIP: And Chief Tripp, one quick question before you go -- before I let you go. You mentioned that Bayshore Drive is flooded, basically, at this point. Do you have the sense that the evacuation warnings in that area were heeded?

TRIPP: We have a couple of shelters open so we do know some of the residents -- I don't know exactly where they come from but we do have shelters opens that have housed some of the residents during the evacuation zone.

So, we're hoping everyone did get out of that area. We've had first responders to respond in certain areas down in South Tampa where Basho is. But at the moment, I really don't know the numbers that did not evacuate.

PHILLIP: All right, Tampa Fire Chief Barbara Tripp, thank you very much. Carlos Suarez, thank you, as well. We'll be back with both of you as the storm progresses. I do want to note that we did just get word that record storm surge has pushed water to the highest level ever in Tampa Bay.

The storm continues to be extremely dangerous and moving quickly into the state of Florida. We're going to go back to Apalachicola where the storm is about to hit hard. You are watching CNN's continuing live coverage of Hurricane Helene.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:46:35]

PHILLIP: We're now moments away from the category four Hurricane Helene making landfall in Florida but the impact is already being felt where our reporters are stationed tonight. Derek Van Dam is in Apalachicola, Florida along with Apalachicola Police Chief Bobby Varns who's standing by for us.

Derek, I want to start with you. The winds do look like they are picking up. The rainfall is still coming down there. Tell us what you're experiencing.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well look, Abby, we're about 50 to 60 miles away from the most intense part, the center of Hurricane Helene. But as you said, landfall is imminent of this storm but I think it's an appropriate time to remind people that even though you've got this eye moving on shore, it may become calm for a brief moment in time.

But that does not mean you go outside and inspect your property, inspect your belongings because the winds will change direction and come back with a vengeance on the other side but from a different direction.

So, a lot of people forget that when they go through a large eye like Hurricane Helene as it makes landfall now. But here in Apalachicola, you know, even though we're well away from the center, we're still feeling the impacts of very intense winds.

This surge component here, not as much of a concern, even though we were about 3.6 feet above normal tide levels earlier, low tide. We haven't seen any flooding on the roadways aside from the drainage within this area from the heavy rain that continues to fall, Abby.

PHILLIP: And we also have Chief Bobby Varnes here with us from Apalachicola. Chief, there is a mandatory evacuation warning in Franklin County where you are. Does it look like people have heeded that warning?

BOBBY VARNES, APALACHICOLA, FL POLICE CHIEF: A lot has, some hadn't. Pretty good bit of people has left. There's always a few that's going to stay.

PHILLIP: I wonder what kind of assets do you have standing by tonight for anything that might need to happen either tonight or in the morning?

VARNES: We have several officers out with the county and the city. And we just really wait until in the morning so we can see, to assess the situation, see what all we got. I don't think we have a lot of damage. I feel like we got pretty lucky this time around.

PHILLIP: Derek, you're still with us. Go ahead and ask a question.

VAN DAM: Yes, I'm just wondering what type of power do you have across Franklin County and into Apalachicola because we feel pretty fortunate right now to have power where we are just off of Hummer Street. What kind of reports do you have coming out of the city?

VARNES: I think most of the county has power. I know in Apalach, everybody pretty much has power except one little section where the traffic light is in the middle of the town. I think of possible transformer blue right there, but that's the only place we know of right now.

VAN DAM: And aside from a couple of tree limbs and palm ferns that have blanketed the roadways here, have you seen any significant damage in Apalachicola specifically?

[22:50:00]

VARNES: No, Sir. We, like I say, got a few winds nothing major. We did have one tree fall in a yard but it didn't hit the house. We're very fortunate. We've been through a lot of hurricanes and with this one, we're very lucky.

VAN DAM: You know, I think the same cannot be said, unfortunately, for our neighbors to our east. You know, we're thinking about Taylor County right now, Perry, the town of Perry. They're taking the brunt of the northern eastern eye wall. And, you know, this is the area where they are getting these catastrophic winds. Are you going to be sending any of your resources there tomorrow at first light? Do you have any plans for that?

VARNES: We're a really small agency but the Sheriff's Office usually always sends stuff over there and we'll try to contribute what we can with them. I have a lot of really good friends over that way. I'll make contact with them to see if they need something and we'll do what we can to help them.

VAN DAM: You know, if I can be quite frank and honest, you know, I am worried about what we're going to see tomorrow morning with the power of this storm that we know is coming to shore right now. And it's going to be an all hands on deck, Abby, as local sheriffs and local police agencies maybe pool together the resources to help the communities that are going to be most impacted by the storm.

PHILLIP: I think - I think that's -- that's right. This is a very powerful storm, a very dangerous storm. Derek Van Dam and Chief Bobby Varnes, thank you both very much. Please stay safe out there. I want to go back to John Berman, back in Tallahassee, Florida.

John, you know, we're just getting word this hour about 780,000 people without power as a result of this storm. You are out there, the wind has been picking up, the rain has been continuing. What are you now experiencing as we are waiting for the storm to start making its way onshore?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, the sustained winds now are really what is noticeable. The wind just keeps on coming and coming and coming. It isn't so much those waves and the bands that we've seen. And the rain is just a sort of a steady, relentless rain.

And that number you just cited, about 780,000 customers without power, that's going to go up. And I think it's going to go up by a lot. Because as far as I can tell there still is power here in Tallahassee and this would be one of the biggest population centers affected by this storm, so far.

And the storm, the main part of the storm has not even passed over Tallahassee yet. We still are going to get the worst of it here with those trees coming down into the power lines and that could knock out power to thousands and thousands more. Just for reference, Hurricane Michael, a few years ago which passed well to the west of here, well to the west of Tallahassee, it knocked out power for about 90 percent of the customers in this city for several days and this is going to be a direct hit or a near direct hit on Tallahassee itself. So, they're going to be many, many more thousands who I think end up waking up without power tomorrow morning, Abby.

PHILLIP: And John, what are -- what's your sense of what local hospitals are doing? I mean, do you see the evidence of the pre- positioning of resources that might be needed once there is light after this storm?

BERNMAN: Yes, absolutely. Lots and lots of pre-positioning of resources. As I mentioned before, even in the hotel we're staying in, there are firefighters from Miami who are looking at all the hospitals here in contact with them to see if they are going to need anything in the morning when the light comes up.

You know, hospitals in general, they have generators, they make contingency plans in case the power goes out. Where it gets into a problem situation is if it's out for several days, you know, a week or so, and it's just too early to tell that right now.

Right now, it looks as if the center of the storm may move a little bit to the east of Tallahassee. Chad Myers was mentioning which means that the eyewall may pass over Tallahassee only once, instead of twice, instead of getting at the north and the south. That may make things slightly better here but I think it'll be some time before we know for sure, Abby.

PHILLIP: All right, John Berman, stand by for us because we are moments away from landfall and the brand-new update on the forecast, we'll give you that when we are back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:59:14]

PHILLIP: Hurricane Helene is about to make landfall in Florida imminently. I want to bring in Chad Myers. Chad, tell us what this new track is going to show.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, I think we're going to probably move it slightly off toward the right which may take a little bit of wind away from Atlanta, maybe a little bit of wind away from Macon, but put it into Augusta, Georgia, into Greenville, maybe back into Asheville, raising the numbers off toward the east as we kind of take that track and move it off toward the east, just a little bit.

The storm has been on the right side of the cone most of the night, but now really right in the middle of the cone. And we don't have landfall yet. And I know the one side of the eye wall is on land but that does not qualify as landfall.

The middle of this thing has to get overland. And I say land because you can't really tell the difference between a mangrove swamp and land in this area but we will probably get this called within, I would say, the next 15 to 20 minutes.

[23:00:08]

We're still going to have significant amounts of flooding all the way up the Apalachians. We're going to have four to six inches of rainfall that will come down tonight. The chances of flash flooding are high. Abby.

PHILLIP: All right, Chad Myers, thank you very much. Our special coverage, of course, is going to continue of this storm with Laura Coates. Her show begins right now.