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Cat 1 Hurricane Ian Makes Landfall In South Carolina; Climate Change Increased Hurricane Ian's Rainfall; Dow On Track For Worst Month Since March 2020. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired September 30, 2022 - 15:30   ET

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: OK, that's good to know Marty Lawing, thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us and tell us what's happening in Fort Myers.

And if you're looking for ways to help the victims of Hurricane Ian, you can go to Cnn.com/impact. So, hurricane Ian just made landfall in South Carolina that's just south of Myrtle Beach. We're going to take you there live to see what's happening, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:35:16]

CAMEROTA: Hurricane Ian just made landfall in Georgetown that is just south of Myrtle Beach where the storm surge is still a big concern. And, of course, the hurricane force winds. Let's check in with CNN's Nick Valencia he has been there live for us. How are the conditions now, Nick?

Nick, can you hear us? Yeah. You won't be surprised we're having communication difficulties during the hurricane. We'll check back with Nick as soon as we possibly can. Jennifer Gray is meanwhile in our CNN Weather Center. So, Jennifer, what are you seeing with the storm right now?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, the storm has pushed inland as you mentioned, still getting those tropical storm force winds, still getting some very heavy showers, especially across South Carolina, North Carolina on into Virginia. But you can see the storm is now pulling inland so the coast is actually clearing up and these last couple of frames. The storm surge is going down. So, the storm surge has gone down about a foot and Myrtle Beach. On top of that, you have an outgoing tide. So, the water level in total has gone down about three feet. So that is good news there.

Things will continue to improve especially along the coast as we go forward over the next couple of hours. The rain will diminish by later this afternoon into this evening. And so, all of this will be pushing inland. It will still be breezy along the coast and inland locations, but it will be improving. And that's the good news.

So, we have our top three storm surge ever across North Myrtle Beach. This has surpassed East IES today throughout this storm. So, this storm will rank number three as far as the highest storm surge Myrtle Beach has ever experienced. Here are those storm surge totals, still getting a little bit in some of those places. But like I mentioned, steadily improving as we move forward.

Tornado watch until 10 o'clock, that's something to note as well as these outer bands continue to make their way on shore. There's a lot of rotation in these. So, we are going to be on the lookout for possible spin ups throughout the afternoon and early evening hours, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, obviously keep us posted about that. Jennifer Gray, thank you very much for the update.

OK, let's see if Nick Valencia who is in Myrtle Beach if you can hear us. Nick, can you hear us? If so tell us what the conditions are?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I do. I have you now. Wind is, you know, continuing to be a factor here, Alisyn, making communication very difficult. I'm a bit distracted here because this off camera. I don't know if we have video of it. But just a short time ago, really seemingly out of nowhere, a shrimp boat appeared in those waters out there and it's coming closer and closer to shore. It's about maybe 100, 200 yards off the coast right now. And it is not looking good. It looks like to be on the verge of capsizing as these winds continue to hammer this part of Myrtle Beach, Horry County, Orange County Emergency Management just sent out a tweet saying that there's portions of the pier in the water, fallen trees and flooded roads and really emphasizing people to stay indoors. There may be some, you know, people that want to come out and check out the conditions now that the rain has stopped but that wind, man, it just couldn't pick it up in intensity throughout the hour. Well, into next hour, according to emergency management. We're told about 13,000 people without power here. So, we're not out of the woods just yet, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Yeah, I understand, Nick. We have seen both torn off their moorings throughout Florida as well. But is there any sense that there are people on that shrimp boat?

VALENCIA: I can't tell. You know, it's -- just, you know, it's just floating out there in the ocean. You know, I can't see it. It's just beyond these palm trees now. But you do see some residents that coming out here and starting to film and there are people on their balconies looking at this boat as it's coming closer to shore. We're going to try to find out what's going on with that ship. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Well, it certainly looks sort of haunting from this angle and we pray nobody is on there. Nick Valencia, obviously stay safe. We will check back with you. Thank you for all of your reporting.

So, scientists say that early analysis of Hurricane Ian shows that climate change is responsible for a big jump in the amount of rainfall that pummeled Florida. We're going to explain why climate change made this hurricane wetter than ever before.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:44:02]

CAMEROTA: A preliminary analysis of Hurricane Ian shows that climate change made this hurricane a wetter storm than ever. And a warmer ocean is driving intensification of these storms. Here to explain all this is Michael Wehner, he's a climate scientist with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Michael, thanks so much for being here. So, Hurricane Ian, the rainfall was 10% wetter because of climate change. What does that mean?

MICHAEL WEHNER, CLIMATE SCIENTIST, LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORY: Well, indeed, this is the part of hurricanes and climate change we understand the most. I've been watching your coverage for the last two days that one can't help but being moved by the damages and suffering of the people in the path of this horrendous storm. What we've done is tried to quantify one little contribution to that those damages and that suffering. And that's by quantifying how much more rain has fallen because of climate change. And our statement was that climate change can have more than 10% increase in rainfall.

[15:45:04]

And this is important for inland flooding, a lot of the pictures you've shown are coastal flooding that's saltwater flooding. And without a question that also has been exacerbated by climate change.

CAMEROTA: And how is climate change making more rainfall?

WEHNER: Well, you know, actually, the storms are really kind of supercharged. We know that the humidity in this storm should have increased by about 5%. But the rain increased by 10%, which is twice the humidity. So, the storm is more efficient, precipitating out this increased moisture. And so, like I say, it's supercharged because of the probably the increased wind speed within the storm itself.

CAMEROTA: I read that this is a one in 1000-year rainfall, is that your understanding?

WEHNER: That's an initial estimate. We'll go back and get more sophisticated estimate.

CAMEROTA: So -- but meaning that the -- so 12 inches of rain fell and we're talking about in Florida in a 12-to-24-hour period, is that unprecedented?

WEHNER: Oh, I think it is. This is, you know, one of the worst ones, if not the worst storm in terms of damages to hit Florida.

CAMEROTA: And so just to help us understand, is it because the -- all of the water that you're talking about, the lakes, the oceans are warmer, that it makes more precipitation?

WEHNER: Indeed, both -- it's both the warmer oceans at the surface as well as the air itself. And which means there's more humidity in the air. So that's the driving process. And I think that's -- that we should know that we've had about a little over one degree centigrade of global warming since the pre-industrial era. And we're on track for a lot more. And I think the bad news is that these kinds of storms will be much more frequent.

CAMEROTA: Yeah, that is bad news. And Michael, we're going to have you back because we need to talk about what the solution is because, you know, obviously seeing all the devastation, we have to do something before the storms become even more frequent. Michael Wehner, thank you very much for explaining this study and what's happening.

WEHNER: Thank you very much.

CAMEROTA: OK, meanwhile, we're also watching the Dow right now, it's the final minutes of trading for what is shaping up to be the worst month of stocks since March 2020. So down about 350 right now, stay with us. We'll give an update.

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[15:52:06]

CAMEROTA: OK, let's take a live look at the big board right now, down more than 400 points as Wall Street wraps up, what's turned out to be a very tough month for the Dow. CNN's Matt Egan is at the New York Stock Exchange. So, how's it looking at the end of the day here?

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Alison, it's only fitting that this awful month is ending on a down note. The market is actually at session lows as we speak with the Dow down 425 points, about one and a half percent for the month. The Dow has lost more than 2200 points, that translates to a loss of 7%. We haven't seen anything like that since the scary days of March 2020 when COVID was shutting the world economy down.

Now, the fears right now obviously have nothing to do with COVID. It's all about inflation. Your numbers out today confirmed that inflation remains way too high and Fed officials today and all week had been vowing not to back down in their fight to get inflation under control. That is their one focus. They're not worried about these losses in our retirement accounts playing out in the stock market. They're not worried about a potential uptick in the unemployment rate. They're squarely focused on inflation. Of course, the risk is that they overdo it and they end up keeping interest rates high for so long that it tips the economy into recession.

Investors are also unnerved by some warnings from corporate America. Yesterday was CarMax talking about how used car prices and the cost of borrow is hurting demand. Today, Nike warning that they have a glut of inventory saying that they're going to have to cut prices. That is good news for us consumers but that's going to erode Nikes profitability, that stock is down more than 12%. Carnival Cruise Line also dropping, losing about a quarter of its value today alone. Carnival lost money last quarter. They warned that their reading is going to continue as they also deal with high costs.

Alisyn, the good news is that this awful month of September is finally coming to a close in just a few months a few minutes here.

CAMEROTA: OK, Matt Egan, Happy Friday. Have a good weekend. Thanks so much.

We're tracking Hurricane Ian as it makes landfall in in South Carolina, we have an update for you ahead.

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[15:59:07]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: For many of us, our dogs are part of our families, but for many aging seniors, caring for their dog and worrying about what will happen to them in the future is a big challenge. And that's where today's CNN hero comes in, meet Carie Broecker.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARIE BROECKER: Peace of Mind Dog Rescue has a dual mission, helping senior dogs and senior people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, these are my dog now.

BROECKER: We take in dogs from senior citizens who can no longer care for them or who have passed away. And we also take in senior dogs from animal shelters.

Yeah, definitely Peace of Mind Dog, we have found homes for almost 3000 dogs. And we have helped close to 2000 senior citizens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She looks happy.

BROECKER: In our society, sometimes the elderly, whether that is senior people or senior dogs get ignored and so we really want to cheer Wish all of life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: To see all the ways that Carie is helping senior citizens and senior dogs, you can go to CNNheroes.com right now.

[16:00:11]

OK, and other animal news members of Orange County Fire Rescue, the sheriff's office and the National Guard rescued a slew of pets big and small from the floodwaters this week here are just some of the pictures. They posted with the caption, Pets Are Family.

And "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts right now.