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Hurricane Dorian Hits the Bahamas; Food to be Served to Hurricane Victims; Texas Tired of Repetitive Mass Shootings; Odessa Gunman Identified; Hurricane Dorian Ripping the Bahamas; Tension Ignites Again Between Hezbollah and Israeli Army; China Fed Up of Chaos in Hong Kong. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired September 02, 2019 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Our special coverage continues. Hurricane Dorian hitting the Bahamas hard, heading now toward the United States.

Welcome back to viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. I'm George Howell.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rosemary Church. We are keeping a close eye on this very powerful storm.

HOWELL: The Bahamas right now they keep getting blasted, keep getting hit by the strongest hurricane to ever hit the island. Here's some video that come in, you've got the sense of what's happening there.

Dorian a devastating category 5 storm. Winds of 175 miles or about 300 kilometers an hour. It's moving at a snail's pace, crawling there and expected to stay over the Bahamas for the next 24 hours.

CHURCH: The storm has destroyed homes and ripped the roofs off buildings in the Abaco Islands. Flooding is also a major concern with the storm surge up to 23 feet or seven meters. The northwest Bahamas could see as much as eight months' worth of rain in just a few days.

HOWELL: And then take a look at this. You get a sense of how big and vast this thing is from the International Space Station. It's the strongest storm anywhere on the planet right now and NOAA released pictures of Dorian's eye wall. Wow. Right in the middle there.

And you get to see the stadium effect, that's a phenomenon that you see when you're in the middle of that storm. Right there you see the sun. Wow.

Let's bring in our meteorologist Ivan Cabrera to tell us more about that and where the storm is going.

IVAN CABRERA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Most of us will never be in the eye of a storm like that, flight level like that.

HOWELL: Yes. CABRERA: Just incredible scenes. Right now, in Grand Bahama Island, you have to imagine, you get a 180-mile-an-hour winds coming in from the north and all of a sudden it goes to zero. You got the eye. People are going to be out wandering, perhaps looking up at the stars. I mean, you'll be able to see them. And then a 180-mile-an-hour winds come back on the southern side.

So, this is going to be a long night. It's going to be a long day tomorrow and the day after that. And then we get into Florida and the Carolinas. We're going to be talking about Dorian until the end of next week, I think.

You're 175-mile-an-hour winds, that's the latest advisory. Go in a little bit tighter here to be able to see. Just incredible. Now when they get this strong. This is not a turn. This is a wobble. They wobble when they get this strong. And that is going to go up and down and up.

So, we haven't had the steering currents actually begun to lift this up to the north, but there is Freeport, and those are the destructive 175-mile-an-hour winds. And then you get to zero and then again back to 175. Gusts over 200.

And, again, an incredible picture here with the satellite -- this is the radar from Miami, 120 miles just to the east is a category 5 hurricane. The strongest so far on the planet this year, and now the second strongest Atlantic hurricane ever.

Only one topped it, Allen, back in 1980 at 191 miles an hour. So, there is our five and they are in other colors, right. We got hurricane warnings from Boca Raton heading up into Cape Canaveral.

And then we got hurricane watches that extend from Cape Canaveral through Daytona beach into Volusia County there and all the way into Jacksonville. And then the yellow you see here, tropical storm watch. Why? Well, because we think this is going to get close enough with the potential for winds in excess of 40 miles an hour, even tropical storm-force winds in Disney World for the next couple of days.

The storm surge catastrophic. Some of the islands go up 10 feet. The storm surge is going to go up twice that height on top of them. And there you see the potential for South Florida and into Central Florida, the coastline anyway there as our category 5 begins to move further to the north. It's still not done that. It's still moving due west, right?

So that turn is going to be critical and then there it goes, Tuesday 8 p.m. Look at this, a 24-hour difference east of West Palm and then east of Orlando. That turn is going to be crucial as to the effects in Florida.

And again, once the steering currents begin to pull this the hurricane doesn't steer itself, but when it gets this strong, it kind of does. It's going to have that momentum; it's going to want to continue moving west. So, this is going to be just an incredibly close call here. And then again, paralleling the coast in a potential landfall from a

-- by the time we get into Thursday and into next Friday. These are the latest computer model runs.

Again, the center, that's where we have the 175, but the hurricane force-winds extend out 50 miles and then the tropical storm-force winds extend out 150 miles. So, keep that in mind. The center doesn't have to go on top of Florida to get significant effects.

I'll leave with you this because this is our brand-new issue of the computer model, the European, that you're familiar with. And it still continues to track this storm just to the east, but notice so close those outer bands there that could contain not just tropical storm winds, but hurricane wind potential as well.

And then, of course, you get the storm surge. That water has nowhere to go but Florida. So that's going to be an issue there as well. But the crucial day for tomorrow. I know we say that every day with the storm, but that turn to the north has to happen soon --

[03:05:05] HOWELL: True.

CABRERA: -- or we're going to be in a lot bigger trouble. All right. Guys?

HOWELL: All right. Ivan, thank you.

CABRERA: You bet.

CHURCH: Thank you, I appreciate it.

Well, Hurricane Dorian made a second landfall on Grand Bahama Island, as we heard from Ivan. That was just a few hours ago, in fact.

HOWELL: That's right. CNN's Patrick Oppmann is there in resort city of Freeport. Here's his report.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The weather here in Freeport is gradually deteriorating as Hurricane Dorian moves off the nearby island of Abaco and heads this direction to the island where we are, Grand Bahama.

And we are sensing winds picking up, more rain coming, and that is just going to get worse and worse because this storm, while incredibly powerful, a category 5, the strongest storm ever to hit the Bahamas, it is also moving very slowly.

It's a deadly combination, particularly on an island chain where so many islands are very low lying. Where we are right now, the highest point on this island is only about 30 feet high, the highest point of land, and so when you hear about a storm surge of 20 feet, that means in the hours and days ahead much of this island where I am standing will be underwater. Islands around us which are more low lying will be completely submerged.

It is a terrifying prospect for the people, the many people who have decided to ride out this storm on those low-lying parts of this island. And other islands around us. So not much people can do at this point because the weather is kicking up, conditions are deteriorating, and this is a storm for the history books.

Hurricane Dorian is going to hit the Bahamas in a way that this island chain has never experienced. It is going to hit the Bahamas harder than any hurricane ever has before.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Freeport, the Bahamas.

CHURCH: Chef Jose Andres joins us now from Nassau in the Bahamas. Great to have you with us. It is, indeed, an honor to speak with you. You're with your World Central Kitchen team in the Bahamas riding out this storm out with everyone else and preparing to offer relief in the form of food for those in need. And you posted this video earlier. Let's just take a quick look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSE ANDRES, CHEF, WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: So, I want everybody to understand we are (Inaudible) in the hurricane, we are like 30 miles away. Imagine what's going on in Abaco.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: So, Chef Jose, it certainly looks a lot calmer where you are right now, but talk to us about the situation on the ground and what you're hearing about what other people are experiencing there in the Bahamas.

ANDRES: Well, here in Nassau we are OK. Heavy winds at times. Rain. A lot of rain in the last hour or two. Some -- a lot of thunderstorms. Right in my back is where probably 90-plus miles away is where the hurricane is located, where the Grand Bahamas seas and where the Abaco is.

But in Nassau what we are doing is we tried to Freeport but we couldn't. And what we are doing now here is with the help of the government of the Bahamas, with the help of advantage, which is this resort, where it happens, I have a restaurant and many other partners, we are getting ready to what may be an arrival hopefully no later than Wednesday.

So that's the situation right now. We know that Abaco suffered enormously. We saw videos. We saw photos. And the devastation was amazing. We're talking about six, seven meters of water height. The destruction because of the winds. All of the rain coming down. My God, I cannot wait for tomorrow because the people there are going to be desperate for help.

CHURCH: Yes. Because what we're learning is that Hurricane Dorian could be around that area for 24 hours. This is going to create so much damage. It's going to have a catastrophic impact on the Bahamas.

Talk to us about the shelters that you're involved in, the shelters and the kitchens, because you've got them ready to go, haven't you? How difficult is it to respond in these situations and what is your plan going forward?

ANDRES: Well, we are already stationed and we are very good at adapting. Because when you have a plan, usually like we are seeing with this hurricane, maybe the plan use breaks apart.

[03:10:05] And if you are not able to adapt, nothing will happen. The government of the Bahamas, who are ones in charge of the many shelters, in the two big islands that they are under this hurricane right now, they have between 15, 17 in one of the islands. They have seven, eight in the other.

We are talking around 50,000 people in Grand Bahama. Almost I think is 15,000, 20,000 people in Abaco and the other little islands around. So, we are talking almost 70,000 people.

So, before everything, we already knew some hotel owners that they wanted to be part of the relief, and they offered us to be using their hotels' kitchens. But now we have no communication and we need to wait in the morning to check the aftermath as soon as they can communicate with us to see that those hotels are still able to help us start cooking, and if not we have plan "b" and we have plan "c." like always, we will go like we did in Mexico Beach.

The destruction was so huge that we did use a kitchen in the middle of the field next to the National Guard and we began cooking for everybody right there, right then. As you see sometimes, the best of plans is to adapt. And we are very good in adaptation.

CHURCH: Right. And, of course, this is the strongest storm to ever hit these islands. So, for a lot of people they never would have seen the force of winds that they're experiencing right now. Are there enough shelters for everybody to go to?

ANDRES: Well, I mean, I think the government -- the government of Bahamas was having a brief conversation with the governor today. With the head of what is called Mina (Ph), which is like the Bahamian FEMA. With the minister of tourism, who is also in charge of relief efforts.

And, listen, Bahamas in their history they've been through a lot of hurricanes, and overall, they are usually highly prepared. But everybody I think understands now that this is one of the biggest hurricanes in recent memory. And when that happens, you know, sometimes all that you prepare for, you have to come up with new ways.

So, I think the international aid is going to have to come in big force. I think the United States are going to have to come here, and at the same time they have to take care, we have to take care of Florida and South Carolina and Georgia and North Carolina, the people of the Bahamas are going to be in need of a very big response by America and by the many NGOs that will start arriving here, hopefully very soon.

CHURCH: Right. And you decided to ride out this storm with everyone this time. Of course, you do have a restaurant there. Why did you decide that -- why did you decide that you needed to be there? ANDRES: Listen, we are not just a group of friends doing this. We, I

will say we -- I don't do this for a living. This is to use the NGO I created, but the people, the men and women that are a part of the World Central Kitchen they are by now, high, you know, highly trained professionals.

This year alone we've been in Indonesia, in Mozambique, we've been in the volcanos in Guatemala in Hawaii, in the fires in California, you know, we are in Colombia. Venezuela right now political reasons. Again, we are good in what we do. We know that people need to be fed, and sometimes the response is not there.

That's why we created World Central Kitchen to make sure that when there is not a response because the problems are so big that we can be there very quickly, adapt to the situation and start feeding as many people as we can as quick as we can.

CHURCH: And we salute you for all that you and your team do. This is extraordinary work. And the people of the Bahamas will appreciate it when you're providing them meals in the aftermath of this. We'll be watching. Do take care, you and your team and everyone there in the Bahamas. We appreciate talking with you.

ANDRES: Thank you.

CHURCH: Well, hurricane warnings are posted along Florida's East Coast. Even if the storm doesn't make landfall there, it's still expected to do a lot of damage.

HOWELL: An army of power trucks is already assembling throughout the state to restore electricity and mandatory evacuations start in the coming hours in parts of Florida, in Georgia and South Carolina. And Florida's governor has activated 4,500 members of the National Guard just in case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[03:14:54] TAD STONE, DIRECTOR, INDIAN RIVER COUNTY EMERGENCY SERVICES: We're expecting gusts to be category one, at least, during the current projections, but once again, our biggest concern is that -- is that storm stays offshore and as it starts to move up, it's going to be pushing an awful lot of water off the ocean into the inlets, into the Sebastian River inlet and the lagoons. It may have even the possibility it has to toss up of overtopping some dunes.

So, we just want to make sure that this is going to be a fairly significant -- very wet, very significant event as far as the water push goes.

JASON BROWN, ADMINISTRATOR, INDIAN RIVER COUNTY: I want to remind our residents to take Hurricane Dorian very seriously. It is a category 5, very powerful storm. It can be tempting to look at those spaghetti models and that track and hope for that turn to the north.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And Jacksonville, Florida is one of the biggest cities in the U.S., and it could be directly in Dorian's path.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher is there.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hurricane Dorian may still be days away from actually passing here around Jacksonville, but officials are not taking any chances. A local state of emergency goes into effect at midnight in Jacksonville and mandatory evacuations kick in at 8 a.m. for zones "a" and "b" as well as naval station Mayport.

Several of the surrounding counties also have mandatory evacuations in effect in preparation for whatever this unpredictable, as far as local officials are concerned, hurricane may bring.

They're not quite sure what the impact will be, but they look at the past and they know that Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Matthew in recent history have caused significant damage, specifically the St. Johns River in terms of flooding in the downtown and some residential areas.

So, they want people to get out of town now. If they can't leave, they have shelters that are opening up at 10 o'clock in the morning on Monday, making sure that people have, again, plenty of time to come up with that plan, get prepared and get out of Jacksonville.

Schools are going to be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. They don't want people to feel like they have to rush back after this storm goes out away from here and continues up the coast, but, again, Jacksonville asking their residents to be prepared, be ready and they'd rather them be safe than sorry.

CHURCH: And still to come, a community in Texas is in mourning. How the cities of Odessa and Midland are honoring the victims of Saturday's mass shooting.

[03:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOWELL: That the second time in four weeks that we've seen scenes like this in the state of Texas. Odessa, Texas, in the Permian Basin, a community there grieving, remembering the victims of Saturday's deadly mass shooting.

CHURCH: Mourners gathered at this vigil Sunday night. They were singing hymns and praying for the seven people killed and 22 others who were injured.

HOWELL: And we have new details about the gunman. The New York Times reports that he had been fired from his trucking job just a few hours before he went on this shooting rampage.

CHURCH: Police have not yet determined a motive and are still investigating. Rylee Carlson has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): I am heartbroken by the crying of the people of the State of Texas. I'm tired of the dying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RYLEE CARLSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Texas is reeling in the aftermath of another mass shooting. As the state and the nation mourn, authorities are working multiple crime scenes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL GERKE, POLICE CHIEF, ODESSA POLICE DEPARTMENT: Please understand this is a different type of active shooter that we were involved with because he was mobile.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Governor Greg Abbot visited the wounded and the people treating them Sunday. Three of those victims are law enforcement officers and one is a 17-month-old girl. She's in satisfactory condition and will have surgery Monday to remove shrapnel from her chest.

The names of the dead have not been officially released, but authorities say they ranged in age from 15 to 57.

Among them, 29-year-old USPS mail carrier Mary Granados. Her sister tells CNN she was on the phone with her when she was shot. Authorities believed she was killed with an AR-type weapon and identified the shooter as 36-year-old Seth Ator. Officials say his vehicle switch was behind reports of a second shooter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GERKE: There are no definitive answers as to motive or reasons at this point, but we are fairly certain that this subject did act alone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: In Odessa, I'm Rylee Carlson.

CHURCH: Well, as is often the case after a mass shooting, Democrats are renewing their calls for tougher gun laws in America.

HOWELL: That's right. Among them, the U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren in a tweet. Warren saying that she urged the Senate majority leader to allow a vote on gun safety legislation now. Adding, "every day you wait, more tragedies happen."

In the meantime, the U.S. president says that he is working with Congress to end gun violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Looking at a lot of different things. We're looking at a lot of different bills, ideas, concepts. It's been going on for a long while. Background checks.

I will say that for the most part, sadly, if you look at the last four or five, going back even five or since or seven years, for the most part as strong as you make your background checks, they would not have stopped any of it. So, it's a big problem. It's a mental problem. It's a big problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Natasha Lindstaedt is a professor of government at the University of Essex. She joins us now live from Birmingham, England for more on all of this. Thank you so much for being with us.

NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Thank you for have me.

CHURCH: So yet another deadly mass shooting in this country, and now the White House is apparently working on some kind of solution to gun violence, but we just heard President Trump say background checks for the most part would not have stopped this or past shootings, so what would a White House plan look like and how can we have any confidence that anything is going to be done?

LINDSTAEDT: Well, we don't know what a White House plan would look like because you can tell from the clip of Trump speaking, he's incredibly vague.

[03:25:03] He's not listing anything that's very specific, and he's not also referring to the House bill that was passed back in February, which Nancy Pelosi is hoping will go to the Senate and finally get passed there.

And they're urging Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader there, to take a hard look at that and understand that, you know, you have 90 percent of the American public that supports background checks, and that's what the bill would be trying to implement.

Stricter background checks for people. Trump was talking about background checks positively, finally after the two shootings in Ohio and Texas earlier in August, but then he sort of, did an about-face after he had a chance to talk with the NRA.

So there's deep concerns that he's just going to talk very vaguely about background checks, but then not really do anything, and in the same quote where he's saying we're looking at all these different things, he then finishes the quote off by saying, well, actually, that's not really going to do anything about it. We have more of maybe a mental health issue.

But when we look at studies that look at mass shootings, only 20 percent of shooters are suffering from mental health issues, so it's not just a mental health issue, it is a gun issue and one that he doesn't seem to be serious about tackling with actual specific ideas.

CHURCH: Right. And this latest shooting in Texas came a day before that same state introduced new, more relaxed gun laws. Yet the state's governor said he's tired of the bloodshed, tired of the dying, and action is needed, but the politicians say one thing and do another, don't they? So how many more deadly mass shootings will it take for leaders of

this country to find the political will to take some form of action?

LINDSTAEDT: Well, that's a great question, but I think the issue is that there is a very different philosophy about how to solve the problem.

So, if we look at the State of Texas, they believe that solving the problem is through having more guns, and the law that they passed, the regulations that they passed were to try to make it easier for gun owners to have their guns in a place of worship or to have guns at a school. Or to prevent landlords from prohibiting gun owners from storing their guns in their apartments or storage areas.

So, the Texas lawmakers think that the solution is we just need more guns and more guns are going to prevent these mass shootings from occurring. But simulations have shown that even if you have a gun on you in some of these mass shooting situations, there is not really much that you would be able to do to prevent that.

We looked at the state of Florida after the Parkland hit that happened there at the students where it was an outpouring of people being incredibly upset about what happened there. They decided to pass a red flag law. These laws have 70 percent support when it's initiated by the police and 77 percent support when it's initiated by a family member.

And what this means in the case of Florida, the police can work with the courts to seize the weapon of anyone that is at risk to themselves or to anyone else. And it can be temporary or until they believe that that person is well enough to return the firearm to them.

They've already had 2,500 risk protection orders and they believe that this is a way to prevent these types of killings from happening.

CHURCH: It will clearly become an election issue for 2020. We will see what pans out. The public will have an opportunity to place their vote on this. Natasha Lindstaedt, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.

HOWELL: And we continue covering the breaking news this day, this big, massive storm that's headed toward the United States at a snail's pace, but will pack a punch as it goes right up along the coastline. We'll get advice from a storm chaser about how to stay safe. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:30:00]

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to viewers here in the United States and all around the world. You're watching CNN Newsroom live. I'm George Howell.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rosemary Church. We want to check the headlines for you this hour.

HOWELL: The mass shooting that we've been following in the State of Texas. The New York Times reports the gunman from that shooting on Saturday, quote, "had been fired from his trucking job a few hours before carrying out that attack."

In the meantime, this the scene in Odessa, Texas. Mourners there coming together for a vigil for the seven people who were killed, 22 others injured in this mass shooting.

CHURCH: Chinese state media are warning Hong Kong protesters that, quote, "the end is coming." They're addressing anyone who attempts to disrupt Hong Kong and antagonize China. It comes the day after demonstrators blocked transport links to the city's international airport. Twenty-five flights were cancelled and there was gridlock for hours.

HOWELL: If you are along the southeast coast of the United States, you are watching out for Hurricane Dorian. It is creeping along. Could spend the next 24 hours over the Bahamas, bringing heavy rain and sustained winds of 170 miles per hour. That's nearly 300 kilometers an hour.

This is the strongest storm to ever hit the islands. Dorian ripped roofs off of homes and brought widespread flooding. We continue to track it for you.

Joining us now to talk more about what's happening is Mike Theiss. Mike, a storm chaser and National Geographic photographer in Vero Beach, Florida. Good to have you with us, Mike.

MIKE THEISS, PHOTOGRAPHER, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: Hey, George. How are you doing this evening?

HOWELL: Mike, good. I want to get a sense, though, of what you're seeing on the ground. Obviously, the preparations are under way. This storm inching ever closer. And we understand it's already made landfall in Grand Bahama Island.

THEISS: Yes, that's correct, and its city heading due west. And with that trajectory, the Grand Bahama island is going to receive northerly winds that are going to go from north to south. And if it keeps heading west all the way through Freeport, it's going to be catastrophic damage.

I mean, it's already going to be that way up the eastern end of the island, but there is a chance that the entire island can get devastated. Now until it makes that north turn, Florida needs to really watch as close as well.

We know that the north turn is going to happen, but we don't exactly know exactly when. One little degree or two can make a huge difference of impact on the beaches here. So, the plan is to follow it up and document it up the coastline of Florida right now.

HOWELL: Mike, tell us more about that, again, for our viewers in the U.S. and around the world exactly what you do when these storms come in. What is your plan?

[03:35:05] THEISS: The plan is, we have the hurricane vehicle, and the plan is to intercept to the eye wall and eye, if it does make landfall. If it doesn't make landfall, we're still going to get to the closest proximity we can to it to document the wind speeds and the barometric pressure that is happening within the storm.

This storm has been really tricky. We almost went to Puerto Rico to get science information. We almost went to the Bahamas. But we ended up back here in the U.S. with the HERV that has all the equipment on it. So, anything that happens along the east coast, we will document it.

HOWELL: Mike, what are you expecting from this particular storm? Because even if it makes -- or when it makes that hook to the north, that side of Florida, the coastline will still be under the dirty side, the worst part of the storm.

THEISS: Well, if it stays just offshore, that side won't be quite as bad, but it will still bring the big waves, the big surf, but it's going to be bad regardless. I mean, what's happening also right now is the wind field is expanding. So now that center doesn't even have to get as close for us to see hurricane-force winds. They have evacuated already this Vero Beach area. This entire coastline is under mandatory evacuations just for that reason.

HOWELL: What are you seeing there on the streets and in the neighborhoods? Do you get a sense, Mike, that most people decided to take heed and get the heck out of there or did a lot of people decide to stay and wait this out and see what happens?

THEISS: Right. From what I've seen here in the Vero Beach area, especially right on the coastline and the Barrier Island, it's completely boarded up. It's vacated. I mean, everybody has left here. They've gone back to the mainland. They've heeded the warnings, which is very good to see.

I think they're seeing what's happening in the Bahamas and also, they realize this storm is an historic storm. This is something you don't want to mess with. So just evacuate and be safe.

HOWELL: And for those who are still on the knife's edge deciding whether to stay or whether to go, what do you advise them? You know, are the highways pretty filled up right now?

THEISS: Right.

HOWELL: How bad is the traffic?

THEISS: The traffic actually in the Vero Beach area is not bad at all.

HOWELL: That's good.

THEISS: And there's plenty of gas currently. But if you heed the warnings of your officials. If in your area they ask you for mandatory evacuation, I would do it. I would highly suggest listening to what they say. You know, safety is number one.

HOWELL: Mike, you know, you talk about flooding, and that is a big concern. This is a very slow-moving storm, and as it sits over land it will dump a lot of water. Is that something that you think will be a big issue with this particular one?

THEISS: It could be. Again, it depends on how close that center actually makes it to the coast, but flooding is definitely going to be one of the hazards. There is a lot of rain associated with it. Already this area of Florida has received a lot of rain just from their typical summertime thunderstorms. And it's already very saturated here.

We've had the high tides recently, too, that are bringing the water up much higher. So, a combination of all these things is going to cause big problems on the Florida coastline if it keeps heading west. I'm going to watch it closely.

Until it starts making that, you know, strong north turn, we need to assume that it's going to make it, you know, it's going to touch the coastline. Because we don't want to be caught off guard by a storm that is this strong.

HOWELL: Mike, I've been out there with you in, you know, covering these storms, riding through these storms, documenting what happens. One thing that I've learned that I think you would agree, each storm has its own personality, right? Some are more about flooding, as we just raised. Some more about the winds. What's your expectation for this one?

THEISS: My expectations for this one for Florida, is when it makes that north turn and goes along, you know, either whether it's just offshore or on the coastline, wherever it is, we're going to have very strong, gusty winds. There is going to be beach erosion. There is going to be possible storm surge waves, depending, again on how close it gets, but it's very crucial in how close it gets.

If it stays far enough offshore, we'll see gusty winds and rain, and maybe it won't be too bad, but if it gets closer to the coast, it could be devastating. I mean, right on these beaches and this coastline, that wind will just come right off the water and just go right down the beach line and cause erosion. We just got to pray it doesn't, you know, it makes that north turn very soon.

HOWELL: Mike Theiss will be on the roads documenting what happens as Dorian gets closer. Mike, we appreciate your time. We wish you safety as you do your work as well.

THEISS: Thanks. I appreciate it, George.

CHURCH: And we are following the most serious cross-border exchange between Israel and Hezbollah in years along the Lebanese border. A live report next.

[03:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHURCH: Well, tensions remain high along the Lebanese border after the sharpest escalation in more than four years between Hezbollah and Israel.

HOWELL: Iran-backed Hezbollah says that it attacked an Israeli army base and the nearby military vehicle. Israel then responded with artillery strikes and helicopter fire.

We have team coverage on this story with our Oren Liebermann. Oren, live in northern Israel and our Ben Wedeman across the border in southern Lebanon. Oren, starting with you. Fair to say this is the most serious cross-border exchange we've seen between these two nations since 2015. Where to things stand now?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At the moment, we hear a drone overhead and the Israeli military, the IDF remains on elevated alert in northern Israel. But aside from that it's a very, very different story now than it was just 24 hours ago on Sunday afternoon when Hezbollah in Lebanon fired anti-tank missiles at northern Israel.

One of those anti-tank missiles hit a building in this military headquarters right here behind me. Another struck a military vehicle about a quarter of a mile away from where we're standing. The IDF says there were no injuries or casualties in those strikes.

The IDF responded with a series of artillery fire, some 100 shells they say at the area from which those anti-tank missiles were fired as well as other military targets in southern Lebanon. They also say they used what they called very limited helicopter fire from northern Israel into southern Lebanon.

But just two hours after this all began, so by about 6.30 local time last evening, the IDF lifted all the restrictions on civilian life in northern Israel. And that is a very strong indication that Israel expects, at least for now, that this round of fighting, though sharp though it was and how quickly it escalated, is over at least for now.

We've spoken to a number of people here including the local leader of the town we're standing in and he says, look, this border is tense. People are used to be at being tense. And once they got the all-clear most people here are trying to and returning to a sort of normal life as quickly as possible.

Though as I pointed out, the military does remain on high alert. And there has been essentially a threat given to Hezbollah that this is us holding you responsible for Iran leading your actions and we'll see how you act from here.

[03:45:02] So at this moment we can sense that there is a bit of quiet here. We'll see how quiet and how long it lasts, George.

HOWELL: Oren Liebermann live for us. Now across the border to our Ben Wedeman. Ben, what's the sense there? Is there a feeling that there is de-escalation as well on that side of the border?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: George, certainly looking around it does appear to be much calmer and less tense than it was yesterday. Yesterday, for instance, these fields behind me which were hit by the Lebanese arm -- according to the Lebanese army by more than 40 Israeli shells were on fire. The fires were put out last night by Lebanese -- the Lebanese fire brigade.

In fact, they were doing it in such a very open area. So, it appears that there have been assurances received on both sides that at least for now the hostilities have come to an end.

Hezbollah had said that it would take revenge for an Israeli strike last weekend on a facility outside Damascus that resulted in the killing of two Hezbollah commanders. Also, last weekend, there was an incident where two drones, it's believed were Israeli, crashed into the southern suburbs of Beirut where Hezbollah has a significant presence.

And certainly, yesterday what we saw in this spot were local inhabitants cheering on Hezbollah for the strike on that armored vehicle. So, there is a lot of pride in this part of Lebanon in Hezbollah. Support for Hezbollah, which in 2006 was able to essentially fight the Israeli army to a stalemate.

The Israeli army, of course, backed by the United States not lacking in any military equipment. Hezbollah is backed by Iran. But to a much lesser degree than Israel receives from the United States.

But there are also vivid memories of what happened in the 2006 war. I was here in 2006 during the war, and many of the villages and towns in southern Lebanon were utterly destroyed. More than 1,000 civilians killed. So, people as much as they may take pride in what Hezbollah is doing do not want to see a repeat of what happened in 2006. George?

HOWELL: It is important to, you know, remind people of that. Ben Wedeman, live for us. And Oren Liebermann as well. Gentlemen, thank you for the reporting. We'll keep in touch with you both.

CHURCH: All right. We want to bring you some live pictures now from Hong Kong. Student protesters holding a rally there. Now it comes after a weekend of protests and Beijing losing patience.

China's state news agency says the end is coming for demonstrations that disrupt Hong Kong and, in their words, antagonize China, and Hong Kong's security secretary says the protesters are now showing, quote, "signs of terror." Police and protesters got into heated battles in the streets Saturday.

HOWELL: Demonstrators threw petrol bombs and burn barricades as police shot water cannons and tear gas to disburse the crowds there.

Our Will Ripley gave us this report from the frontlines of the confrontation.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right now, riot police have just moved out of this area, and you can hear the crowds shouting at them, cheering as they go. This has been a really extraordinary scene out here because protesters

were determined to stage some sort of a disruptive event at the Hong Kong airport, but they weren't able to get inside the airport.

Let's get over here. Because security around the airport is only allowing in passengers and flight crew, so what the protesters did instead was they caused disruption around the airport. They set up barricades, set them on fire. The streets were gridlocked. The bridge to the airport completely impassable for hours.

People had to get out of their cars and walk, people with their suitcases and luggage had to walk sometimes more than an hour just to make their flight.

And now the riot police who came to this station had really nothing to do because all of the protesters who came into the MTR vandalized, spray painted, set off the sprinkler system, they all left before the police even arrived.

So now officers are leaving after -- we didn't see them make any arrests here, as far as we can tell, and they move on to the next location where the next group of protesters might pop up inside.

And police don't really know what the protesters are going to do next. That's been the whole point of this protest movement. Move quickly, mess things up and get out before the police arrive. They feel that this is a sustainable model to make their point.

[03:50:00] Thirteenth consecutive weekend of protests here in the Hong Kong, and even though the crowds are smaller, the protesters are more aggressive and this shows no sign of dying down.

Will Ripley, CNN, Hong Kong.

CHURCH: And we will get you one more update this hour on Hurricane Dorian. Bearing down on the Bahamas right now. Heading for the eastern coast of the U.S. and find out how cities in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina are getting ready. We're back in just a moment.

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HOWELL: People along the Southeast Coast of the United States are on high alert this morning. Hurricane Dorian lurching closer and it's packing quite a punch. A powerful category five hurricane, it's creeping across the Bahamas right now.

CHURCH: Maximum sustained winds of 170 miles or close to 300 kilometers an hour. The storm destroyed buildings and ripped the roofs off houses in the Abaco Islands before moving on to Grand Bahama Island.

Well, residents all along the U.S. East Coast are bracing for Dorian's impact, and for many under threat, this isn't the first storm they've endured.

HOWELL: CNN's Ana Cabrera spoke with a family in Wilmington, North Carolina. They remember what it was like when a powerful storm hit there less than a year ago.

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[03:55:07] CHRISTINA DOWE, RESIDENT, WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA: I really don't know what to think. I'm just kind of on edge right now. I'm trying to get prepared for it.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: How are you preparing?

DOWE: Well, we're just trying to get perishables, getting water, getting flashlights, just trying to get the necessity things that we need so we can be better prepared than it was last year.

CABRERA: So last year there was obviously quite a bit of damage at your house. Do you feel like the house that you have now is better prepared to sustain potentially, you know, storm-force winds?

DOWE: I pray it is. I mean, I don't know because, I mean, it's sturdier than what I had last year, but, you know, no one can really tell on how strong it's going to hold up, you know what I'm saying?

CABRERA: Right.

DOWE: So, all we can do is pray.

CABRERA: And what is your plan? Obviously, we know the hurricane is still potentially a few days away and it's still unclear exactly where it's going to hit if it makes landfall in the U.S. That's still a possibly. What is your plan.

DOWE: Well, I mean, we plan to stay here, me and the boys. I don't know, like, where we would go to get away from it because I don't want to leave and then we can't get back. So, I mean, we're just going to buckle down and just pray that everything works out better than it did last year.

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CHURCH: That's what all these families are trying to do. Thank you so much for joining us for our special coverage of Hurricane Dorian. I'm Rosemary Church.

HOWELL: And I'm George Howell. Early Start is next with more coverage on this massive storm headed toward the United States. Stay with us.

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