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Idalia Now a Powerful Category 4 Hurricane; Hurricane Idalia Landfall Now Just Hours Away. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired August 30, 2023 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:01:28]

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. We start this hour with the breaking news.

Hurricane Idalia is now a powerful category 4 hurricane. It has been a rapid intensification over the course of the last several hours from a category 3, now officially a category 4 hurricane according to the National Hurricane Center. Catastrophic storm surge and destructive winds are nearing Florida's Big Bend region as we speak.

Idalia is about 50 to 60 miles away from the shore right now, churning with 130-mile-per-hour winds. Now, we just got that new forecast from the National Hurricane Center just moments ago, and I want to go straight to Derek Van Dam who is on the ground for us in Tampa.

Sara Sidner is with us as well.

Derek, we start with you because you understand what these forecasts mean and what we're seeing right now in these very critical moments, better than anybody. What does this tell you?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS CERTIFIED METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, exactly what we feared, the rapid intensification now to a category 4 major hurricane Idalia, wow, really eyeing the Big Bend coast. But where I'm standing now on Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa Bay is proof that you do not need to be near the center of where the storm makes landfall in order to feel its impacts.

What you are looking at is storm surge from Tampa Bay. This is what we were forecasting, 4 to 6 feet and it is certainly being realized. This is Bayshore Boulevard and you can see the waves coming crashing over the seawall. We get sprayed every 30 seconds or so. Here comes another push of water.

Remember what is happening here, we have a high tide that just occurred at 4:00 this morning. But we also have inland flooding. And that with the surge of water from the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, all of these working in combination and almost in symphony together to create this rising water that you see below me.

We are in a safe location. We have the ability to duck under cover. But we want to set the scene about why the storm is so incredibly dangerous. It is not necessarily the winds where we are, even though it is gusting tropical storm force, but it is the surge of water.

And, unfortunately, as you work your way further north into the Big Bend of Florida, that is where we anticipate even more significant impacts than what we've experienced here.

Let's take you around the corner, show you this major intersection. Here is Bayshore Boulevard and look at the houses behind me. This water is not only on Bayshore Boulevard, but it is also pushing inland.

I saw it about one city block up from here as well. So it is knocking on the doorsteps of some of these homes, threatening these homes with water and inundation. Just look down this road. Both sides of this beautiful, beautiful avenue are completely inundated with water. More spray coming every few seconds, there is another one just surging up from the Tampa Bay region.

That's downtown Tampa Bay. This is a major thoroughfare. You could call it an artery for Tampa Bay. And there is just no way that people will be traversing these roads today with storm surge this high -- Phil.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Derek, I'll take it from here. What an incredible picture you are showing everyone. I do want you to be careful, I want your crew to be careful, because you know as well as anyone that the surges there can be so extreme, sometimes you are not even expecting how strong and powerful that wind is although knowing now that we are now in a category 4.

[05:05:04]

This is a major storm. When you get to category 4, you are talking about sustained winds of 130 to 156 miles per hour, which generally speaking if you look at the science behind that, usually that means that if it hits you direct, you are going to lose roofs. There is going to be some serious damage to structures, any kind of structures, because that wind is sustained.

But really as you mentioned, Derek, because you can see what Derek is going through. I'm about 80 miles from Derek. He is south of me getting those bands of wind. We're starting to get some of the bands as well here in Crystal River, which is a small town famous for its manatees and the ability to be very close to them and the ability to see down into the crystal clear water of the spring here.

But right now, the story is going to be about water. The thing that brings everyone to Florida, the thing that -- reason why people live here, it is going to be about water. It is going to be about the surge that you are seeing now.

Derek, you talked about this before, but I don't think that it can be said enough that we are just dealing with this category 4 storm which is big and huge and dangerous in and of itself. And we're also dealing with this strange conglomeration of what is happening with our planet as opposed to the moon. Tell us a little bit about this tide we're seeing. This is not a

normal tide. This is not something that you see very single day. This is going to be a king tide.

Why is that significant?

VAN DAM: So, during high tide cycle, the moon gets close to the planet. But during a super moon, which is occurring now, the moon is roughly 18,000 miles closer than it typical is during the cycle, its full moon cycle. So what it does, at effect, it has a greater pull, a greater tug per se. And that creates greater and more exaggerated tidal swings from lower low tides to hire high higher high tides.

We've just crossed a high tide here, and getting the combination of storm surge but also enhanced tide from the super moon. And the water from inland flooding all leading together in this conglomeration of rising water levels here along the Tampa Bay Boulevard where I'm standing -- Sara.

SIDNER: And anybody that has been to Tampa, anybody who has lived in Tampa, has been on that boulevard. It is beautiful when it is not in the situation that it is in now, which is inundated with water. It is completely -- when you say it is a beautiful boulevard, we know that is true. Anyone who's ever been there.

Thank you so much, Derek Van Dam, for your reporting there. Please, please, please stay safe you and your crew. I know things can get really dicey really quickly. We appreciate your time.

And like I said, I'm about 80 miles from him in Crystal River. We are in -- the entire town is in a flood zone, by the way. There is about 3,400 people that live in this small town but it is a destination for tourists.

People who want to see the manatees, the favorite animal of Florida. They are these beautiful calm sweet animals. They will be fine. They are in the water enjoying their lives.

The humans however need to evacuate. They can still evacuate. It is very interesting to see the difference between -- and we're getting another one of those gusts. The difference between where Derek is which looks like where the storm is hitting and where I am, I'm actually closer to the eye of the storm than Derek is. But he is getting the on shore bands of wind from the outer part of the hurricane. And we have not seen a massive push just yet.

This place, of course, hoping to avoid that. But the entire west coast of Florida is feeling this in some way, shape or form. And the big fear here is the water. You saw what was happening to Derek and what was happening to the homes there.

Here, they are expecting potentially 7 to 9 foot storm surge. Which means the water that you are seeing behind me gets pushed up and over way -- over my head.

All right. Now, we're starting to get the rain. We're starting to get one of those bands of rain and wind from Hurricane Idalia that is coming through here in Crystal River. We have not by any means seen the worst of this storm yet as it is now a category 4 storm -- Phil.

MATTINGLY: Yeah, thanks, Sara. We are going to be continuing to watch where you are. We've seen the ebb and flow at your location. We've seen what Derek has been showing as well, our reporters on the ground throughout the state.

We are going to be hearing from Ron DeSantis at 6:30 a.m. with the latest update as Hurricane Idalia not only reaches a category 4 but is nearing landfall.

And it's worth noting, flooding as you guys have been talking about, not the only emergency right now.

I want to bring in Clint Belk, the fire chief at Madeira beach fire department.

Chief Clint, I appreciate your time.

In terms of what you are seeing right now as you have ended the preparation stage and are now in the wait and see stage, what stands out?

[05:10:02]

What concerns you the most?

CHIEF CLINT BELK, MADEIRA BEACH FIRE DEPARTMENT: What concerns me the most is lack of evacuations. We've probably completed ten so far and that's only since 2:00 this morning. And right now, looking at our dispatch, there are seven more calls to be evacuated. And we're getting to them as quickly as we can.

I've put two extra units in service in preparation for this. And, you know, the previous reporter who was at Crystal River said you still have time to evacuate. For Madeira Beach, the storm has passed, the opportunity is gone. But these people are now having to be evacuated by us.

MATTINGLY: So, for those people who have not evacuated that need to be evacuated by you, what is your message to them at this moment?

BELK: You can replace your house. You can replace your belongings. You have to look out for your safety and your family's safety. A lot of people especially long term Florida residents, they always say that we've dealt with this before, it will they ever do anything to us. It's not going to hit us.

Well, living in Madeira Beach, you will be faced with the floods more than anything as opposed to the winds. The winds only got up to about 55 miles sustained here, but it is the surge and the king tide that was mentioned, it is the perfect storm for flooding here.

MATTINGLY: And in terms of -- you make a great point. We've been talking to officials both state and local saying that there is a lot of people in this region kind of across the coastline who say we've been through this before, there have been warnings that never lived up to kind of the worst case scenario. Has that made it more difficult to get people out in the moment where it wasn't entirely up to you guys to conduct those evacuations?

BELK: Yeah, some people, we evacuated the neighbors and their next door neighbor didn't want to leave, they said we're not leaving, the water is halfway up their front door and they refuse to leave. You are taking responsibility for yourself at that point, you know? We can't make them.

MATTINGLY: When it comes to your team, you said that you brought more personnel on to prepare for this moment, it's also not just that the people can't evacuate on their own, but significant difficulties for what you guys are able to do.

What is your ability right now to help people and what do you need I think going forward in this moment?

BELK: Absolutely. Definitely hinders us. We -- you know, with 2:30 this morning, we had a fully involved house structure fire. We could not get to it. It was very, very difficult to get to it, very time consuming to get to this property.

And by the time my firefighters were able to get there, I mean, when they got the call the house was already fully involved. But by the time they got there and put it out, it was 50 minutes in to the call and normally on a normal day, it would have taken us 15 minutes.

But the fact that they had to stop so far away to avoid the floodwaters and then lay 1,000 feet of hose to get to the hydrant and then another thousand feet off of that to get to the actual structure, that's time consuming. That's manpower. And these guys are -- they have been working 24 straight hours.

MATTINGLY: It's a remarkable effort, especially in detail laid out like that, very difficult and complex moment. In this moment, as we wait for landfall as you are starting to see the initial very serious stages here, what concerns you going forward? What is your biggest concern particularly as the storm passes and maybe people think, hey, it is through, I can come out of my house or I can -- everything is fine. What would you tell them?

BELK: I would tell them this is not even the worse of it. The worst is supposed to hit us about 10:00, 11:00 this morning. And it is just 5:30 a.m. So what we've experienced isn't even the worst of it. Our fire trucks are not made to go through four feet of water.

We do have a high water vehicle, light marine tactical vehicle, decommissioned military vehicle. We were able to get that through a state grant and even that was having issues getting to some of the evacuees. It will get to a point where we can just not get to you.

MATTINGLY: Have you seen, given and obviously still, as you know, the worst is jet to come yet to come. Have you seen anything comparable to this in your career at this point? BELK: Tropical storm Ida, it was just a tropical storm, but it was

another perfect scenario where it was positive flood surge with incoming tide. It was just the perfect storm. And we had flooding with that. Not as bad though.

MATTINGLY: All right. Clint Belk, it's a very difficult situation and you guys are remarkable effort up to this point and I know to your point the worst is yet to come. If you find that you need something, if you need messages that need to get out, let us know and we'll have you back anytime you need it.

We appreciate your time, sir. The fire chief, the Madeira beach fire department, thanks so much.

BELK: Thank you. Be safe.

MATTINGLY: Thank you as well, sir.

And I want to turn next to Bill Weir. He is in Steinhatchee, Florida. It's between Cedar Key and Tallahassee, and he's also kind of sitting fairly close to the center of where landfall is expected from what is now a category 4 hurricane in Idalia. It has been intensifying.

Bill, up to this point, what have you been seeing?

Actually, we're going to get to Bill in a moment. Stay with us.

It's a fast moving story, a lot of updates to come. Bill Weir will be with us from Steinhatchee, when we come back with the latest updates. Stay with us.

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[05:20:04]

SIDNER: We are live here in Crystal River. You are looking at the path of hurricane Idalia which is now a major hurricane at category 4. What is a category 4? It means sustained winds of between 130 and 156 miles per hour, a very dangerous storm.

Yes, the wind is dangerous, but the most dangerous thing that people need to be aware of is the storm surge, is the water. And as all officials will tell you, you should run from the water and hide from the wind. That is why there is an evacuation order in dozens of counties here in Florida.

I want to get to a place that is under evacuation order as well as the one I'm here in Crystal River, because we are in such low lying area here. I want to get to our Bill Weir who is in Steinhatchee, Florida.

Tell us what you are seeing there, Bill, as these outer bands of the hurricane are slapping into you.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it is just beginning here, Sara. The winds have just started to deck up. We lost power about 20 minutes ago or so. Keeping an eye on this big tree behind us. The actual Steinhatchee

River is just behind us here. We're about 28 feet above elevation. This is the highest spot we could find in our hotel there.

So the worry is we're keeping an eye on as the sun will come up on the water shoving up that river, and that's in this part of the Big Bend, this is the nature coast, there are so much fresh water, tributaries, rivers feeding into the Gulf of Mexico that will become recipients of all that water as the wind shoves it up inland as well. But a lot of the folks we met here followed the evacuation orders, but there are always a few who refuse to leave.

We met a couple who had done the math and thought that it would better serve their families staying here. They are worried if they leave and can't get back in, that was a bigger risk than actually riding out the storm. And we'll see. It's always that decision folks make right now.

But we're not anticipating the heavy winds for another hour or so before it really starts kicking in. So this is still stereotypically or sort of in a saying way as the calm before the real storm. We're expecting those 120-mile-per-hour winds, Sara, to really take their toll on this place.

SIDNER: Yeah, it's hard to square what you are seeing in some of these places. Derek Van Dam in Tampa, which is not anywhere near the eye of the storm. The storm is going away from Tampa, which is about 80 miles to the south of me, and you are further north than I am.

And I'm about 50 miles from where we think the hurricane is going to come to shore, kind of in the middle of it. And just like you, you can -- it can be quite calm and then all of a sudden just as you were talking, we had a band of wind, we had a band of rain. We're still seeing the wind.

I do want you to give us some sense of the water level where you are because you said that you were about 28 feet above water level. I'm at water level right now. I'm at sea level.

This entire town, Crystal River, is a flood zone and so, people have been told to get out. There is still time here. What is the situation there, is there still time to evacuate?

WEIR: If someone were to leave right now and head inland, yes, they probably could find a safer harbor than here along the coast right now. But with the trees, I bet doesn't -- that speaks without knowing anything about trees being down or power lines. We've reached that phase now of the storm where those things are very tenuous.

So I can't make any calls from our post here.

SIDNER: Right, right.

WEIR: We're going to venture further down, get a peek at the water just for the first call we wanted to sort of at the time a survey as we're waking up and starting the broadcast day.

But, yeah, we will work our way down for the next live shot for sure.

SIDNER: I do want to give you a sense of what is happening. We're getting one of those bands here in Crystal River. You may be able to see the rain or at least hear it as it is pushing very hard on shore. And why that is important is the rain is not the proper be right now.

It is the surge. It is the pushing of all of this body of water up and over into the town that is the big worry here. The water is going to be the story. The water is the thing, the storm surge is the thing that takes lives, the storm surge is the thing that ruins homes often, all though -- and here we go, we're getting quite a gust of wind here.

So throughout the day, you're going to see these bands, don't be lulled into this idea that just because it is calm where you are, that that's going to be how it's going to be for a while because these things happen very quickly.

Thank you so much to you and your team, Bill Weir. We'll be checking back with you as the storm gets closer and closer and closer.

We are going to send it back to Phil in the studio -- Phil.

MATTINGLY: Thank you, we'll be going back and forth. You see, Sara, one of those bands coming through right now. The last couple hours, it has been somewhat calm. You've been seeing the reality of things right now. We've been seeing that certainly with Bill in Steinhatchee, in the coming moments as well, we can see Derek Van Dam in the shear scale of the flooding that is going on in Tampa Bay which is more than 150 miles away from where landfall, the direct path of landfall of this now category 4 hurricane is expected to hit.

We're going to have more on the forecast with our Allison Chinchar coming up. And just for context here as we talk about this storm and talk about the scale of what we're seeing here, there have been only four storms at category 4 level or higher that have made landfall in Florida over the last five decades. That is what we're looking at right now and it is coming and coming soon.

More when we come back.

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