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Idalia Now an Extremely Dangerous Category 4 Hurricane. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired August 30, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[06:00:46]

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Good Wednesday morning, and the breaking news we are following this morning. A significant storm, now a Category 4 storm. Hurricane Idalia now in the extremely dangerous category. That Category 4 storm designation has intensified over the hours from a Category 3 now to a Category 4.

It is expected to make landfall onto Florida's Gulf Coast in just hours. Now, forecasters are calling the storm, quote, "dangerous, life-threatening, a once-in-a-lifetime storm that could bring catastrophic storm surge of up to 16 feet in Florida's Big Bend region.

At 6:30, just about a half hour from now, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will be giving an update from Tallahassee. We will bring that to you live.

And a reminder: DeSantis yesterday said, if you wanted to see some precedent, some type of analog for a storm of this scale hitting this place, you'd have to go back more than a century.

Our Sara Sidner has been standing by live in Crystal River, Florida. Also, part of our team coverage, Bill Weir in Steinhatchee in Florida; Derek van Dam, who's been in Tampa; and Brian Todd in Tallahassee.

We're also going to be speaking with local officials on the ground and the director of the National Hurricane Center.

But I want to start with Sara Sidner in Crystal River. And Sara, we have been together the last several hours. And boy, have things picked up in just the last 15, 20 minutes.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I'm back.

All right. I am so sorry. You know, technology happens, right?

The reason why I look like a drowned rat is because we just got caught in one of those major bands coming off of the hurricane. I am not near the eye. I am not at the eye. I am about 50 miles away from where the eye is at the moment and 50 miles away from the area where the hurricane is supposed to make landfall, where the eye of that storm is supposed to cross over. And you are seeing the result of these outer bands. We are in Crystal River. This is a wonderful town where a lot of people come to visit, because they want to see the manatees.

Well, right now, they should be gone. People should have evacuated. Because this entire town of about 3,400 people is in a flood zone.

I want to let you see. Because this gives you an idea of just how strong these winds are, and how much rain is coming up. You are seeing it hit the -- it's coming out of sort of the roof there, and coming down.

But you are seeing these just bands of rain being whipped about by the winds. I'm going to have Adolfo (ph) turn towards where the water is. The water is starting to be pushed up.

This is the fear, right? The water is a couple hundred yards from us, and it's starting to be pushed onshore. It's not just about the rain. It is about that storm surge, having all of that water being pushed onshore.

We are talking about six to nine feet of storm surge here, which means that this entire town is going to see some semblance of water. The most they've ever seen is four feet of storm surge. That is going to be doubled at this point in time.

I'm not sure where we are going next. That's because I can barely hear myself talk and think. Can you give me some sense of where we are going next, Phil?

I think we're going to be going to Derek van Dam. Derek van Dam and Bill Weir, one of the two. I'm going to let you take it back, because at this point I can hear nothing but wind and rain.

MATTINGLY: Toss it over to Derek van Dam.

And Derek, we have been talking the you throughout the course of the morning. We've seen the intensification of the flooding, of the rain and of the wind. And just in the last two hours, the scale of the flooding, in terms of where it is on your legs is undeniable.

Tell people what you're seeing, and why that's happening so far away from the center of the storm.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you put it so well there, Phil. We are 125 miles Southeast of the most powerful part of the storm.

So, my point being that you don't have to be so close to the center of the storm, where the strongest winds are, to get us greatest impacts. Just let this scene speak for itself, right? We've got flashing lights behind us. Tampa is behind me.

This is Bay Shore Boulevard, and we are getting these intermittent powerful feeder bands from the hurricane. And again, we're 125 miles away. That is an angry Tampa Bay, and this storm surge.

Three things working in conjunction with each other to have this rising water that we've seen all morning.

That's forced us to move our crew vehicles. We have not only a hurricane pushing up the water from the shallow overheated Gulf of Mexico. But it's working in unison with a super moon, which has a greater impact, a greater tug, per se, on the tidal swings, exaggerating high tide, which we are just coming from this morning and inland flooding from these rain bands that come -- that have come through intermittently this morning.

So both of those, all three of those actually working together, they meet, and they rise the water. And unfortunately, we have seen this threaten homes already. Looking at the Bay Shore Boulevard.

Look at the surge washing up over this normally busy major thoroughfare, an artery for Tampa. And then I want to show you this. This is an intersection, very popular intersection for residents and tourists, completely inundated with water.

But the water is not only threatening Bay Shore Boulevard. It's also lapping up against people's yards, and their first steps of their homes.

So, this is a major concern. This is what four to six feet of storm surge looks like. And, Phil and Sara, whoever we're tossing to, we checked some of the tidal gauges.

Old Port Tampa, which is about 15 minutes Southwest of where I'm located, is preliminarily setting a record for storm surge as we speak at four feet, and it continues to rise. All of these things, these factors I just explained working in conjunction.

Phil, look at this. Look at the waves crashing over the shoreline here. That is a sea wall meant to protect Tampa, and Bay Shore Boulevard. Well, the water has come up and over that sea wall, and we're getting sprayed every minute or so with these massive, massive angry swells coming off of the ocean.

And literally, you can taste the saltwater from Tampa Bay -- Phil.

MATTINGLY: Yes, and just to reiterate something you said, Derek, on two points. One, that is a major artery. If you're not familiar with Tampa, where Derek is standing right now is usually packed with cars, commuters, people who are traveling through the Tampa area in a normal time.

Right now the water is up to his thighs. And also, as he's talking about the water pushing in, that is a major residential area. There's retail there, as well. You can't even tell because of what it looks like right now where Derek is.

He has been doing great reporting from the scene throughout the course of the morning. I do want to switch over to Bill Weir right now. He's live in Steinhatchee, Florida, which is expected to be -- you know, we talked about where Derek was about 130 miles away from where landfall is expected, but we're much closer to where that center is supposed to be. Bill, what are you seeing on the ground right now?

BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Phil, it's just really starting to kick up. This will be our last water line check here. We're down on the actual river here.

The Steinhatchee River flows through this really beautiful charming town of about a thousand people at height of season. This is supposed to be the height of scallop season, so we'd have boats and get anglers out here. There's a couple of pontoons that were left.

But most of the boats pulled out of the harbors here, out of the marinas, put up as high as possible. We're staying at about sort of 28 feet above sea level, which is considered alpine altitudes in this region.

But the worry is, is that storm as it comes in here from the West is going to shove that wall of water up into these lowlands here, and a lot of this construction is just not built for a storm surge over ten feet.

They had a six-foot storm surge here back in 2016, and we talked to folks who rode that out. And they were shocked by the speed at which that wall of water just came up and rearranged everything so violently.

The idea that it could be 12 feet around here, really frankly scares them. We met a couple of folks who refused to evacuate. They do the calculation as so many Floridians do about, if I get out, will I be able to get home?

It's -- there's always a percentage of the population who will ignore those mandatory evacuations, and you hope for the best for them. But that includes, Phil, an old salt sailor who's riding this out on a sailboat right here in Steinhatchee.

The locals tried to talk him out of it, but they say what can you do? So you just hope for the best for folks like that. But if Ian was any indication last year, the storm surge that went into Lee County there, caught so many folks by surprise, that fingers, toes, everything crossed that we don't see that catastrophic loss of life here this morning.

MATTINGLY: Yes, no question about that. Obviously, there have been some people.

As you note, we've spoken to some of them who have decided to stay. Many of them stay either because they don't believe that it could be as bad as people are saying, or just because they believe they can ride it out out. It's their property. It's where they live.

You hope for the best for them. You hope everybody has heeded the requests of the state and local officials who asked for evacuations, Bill, it's picking up where you are. We're going to continue to check back in with you throughout the course of the morning. I want to get right to Brian Todd, who's in Tallahassee. It's

obviously the state capital. It's just kind of up from the Big Bend region, where landfall is expected right now.

Brian, it looks a little calmer where you are, I know. But -- and I think this is a key caveat, as we've been speaking to our reporters in the field throughout the course of the morning.

"A," it comes in waves, and "B," it is certainly picking up as landfall becomes a closer reality for this kind of air-force storm.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Phil. The timing of you tossing to us and the show starting right now, at least for the intensification of the storm here in Tallahassee. The timing was pretty much perfect.

Because just a couple of minutes before the show started, we started getting some really intense bands of wind and rain. Mostly, right now, it is a rain event.

When the rain starts to blow sideways, you know it's pretty much game on for the intensity of the storm. And we know it's coming here to Tallahassee.

This city known for its trees. Lots of palm trees here. These palm fronds on the taller palm trees, maybe not so much the issue. It's the oak trees that this town is known for, the old oak trees with the Spanish moss hanging from them.

We've got pine trees behind me. This city is known for its trees. It makes the city beautiful.

But on the other hand, it just leads to more, you know, vulnerability for trees coming down. I covered a hurricane here in Tallahassee a few years ago and the aftermath of it, what struck our team was, as we roved around, was that there were so many downed trees and power lines that it became very hard to navigate around this city.

And we expect that to be the case again now, because a lot of these, of course, the ground underneath the trees getting saturated, that means these trees are going to be vulnerable.

When the wind starts to kick up, we know it's going to come here in Tallahassee very soon, when that starts to kick up, just be -- everybody here has to be very careful.

Nobody should be out trying to navigate these roads. We did hear, our team about an hour and 15 minutes ago, we did hear some first responders and sirens. But that's not going to be the case in the next couple of hours.

Because as we've been told up and down this region, you know, once the -- the winds get to roughly a little over 50 miles an hour, the first responders, as much as they want to and as much as they may try to are really not going to be able to move around to try to rescue you. But they do have rescue teams at the ready here in Tallahassee and

elsewhere. We just kind of pulled in late last night from the town of St. Marks, which is about 20 miles South of here, right near the Apalachee Bay. That town, we're a little worried about. We're going to try to get back there later today if we can.

But it could be cut off because it was so vulnerable to storm surge and flooding. It lies between two rivers, the Wakulla River and the St. Marks River. And it's right at the Apalachee Bay.

The Apalachee Bay, as we've heard our forecasters and our reporters throughout the -- you know, throughout the region are saying that, you know, the Apalachee Bay has never had a recorded storm of this kind of intensity in its history, in recorded history.

So how that town is going to be able to absorb that, that remains to be seen. They did have mandatory evacuation orders. Some people have elected to ride it out down in St. Marks. We're a little worried about them at this hour -- Phil.

MATTINGLY: Brian Todd for us in Tallahassee. We obviously had Bill Weir in Steinhatchee.

Crystal River, we had Sara Sidner. Derek van Dam in Tampa. We have reporters and correspondents up and down the Gulf Coast of Florida as we wait for landfall of what is now a Category 4 storm.

The major hurricane that people like the governor, Ron DeSantis, have been warning about over the course of the last 24 hours, it is here. It is looming. It is approaching Florida's Gulf Coast. It's Big Bend region, kind of where the peninsula and the panhandle come together. And to Brian Todd's point, there is not precedent for a storm of this size hitting that region. Obviously, significant preparations. We're getting more details on that preparation and what to expect from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in just about 15 minutes from Tallahassee.

The latest update from the state. We're going to be talking to federal officials, local officials, residents over the course of the coming minutes and hours. We will keep you updated on the very latest as this storm continues to intensify from a Category 3 to a Category 4.

Now over 130 mile-an-hour winds as it heads and continuing to strengthen as it heads towards the Gulf Coast of Florida.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:18:24]

MATTINGLY: Welcome back to our continuing news coverage of Hurricane Idalia, now a major hurricane, a Category 4 storm, winds at 130 miles per hour.

It has been a rapid intensification over the course of the last several hours, and it is now nearing landfall in Florida's Big Bend region. And I want to start right now with meteorologist Derek van Dam. He's been tracking the storm live from Tampa.

We also have meteorologist Allison Chinchar with us. But Derek, first to you. I cannot stress how different, how rapid the intensification has been where you are in just the three hours we've been on television this morning.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It has been absolutely incredible to see how this has unfolded in Tampa Bay. Four to six feet of storm surge, that's definitely being realized.

That is an angry Tampa Bay. What we're getting here is storm surge, but this is a combination of several factors. Remember, we've got inland flooding. We have a full moon, which is actually exacerbated by -- wow, incredible.

Made worse by the super moon. Right? So that gives a greater tug on these tidal swings that we have. So greater highs and greater lows in terms of the tidal strength.

And then in combination with the amount of water that is just being pushed up by a major hurricane in a very shallow, shallow Eastern Gulf of Mexico, which is record temperatures, by the way. That's how it's fueling itself to rapidly intensify.

But I just want to set the scene here, because what we've seen is a brick wall on Bay Shore Boulevard, a major artery for Tampa, which is over my right shoulder, just being completely inundated by waves.

[06:20:07]

Now, any local will tell you that this place floods, given any rainy day. But this is different. Because this is storm surge inundation, and it's made worse by the fact that the inland flooding is helping make the problem even more challenging.

Now, Allison, you know, I did a little calculation earlier, some Googling and fact checking, and we're setting record surge levels in Old Port Tampa, which is very close to us, right about four feet right now.

And there's about 1,700 pounds per cubic yard -- you know, cubic yard of water. So that's a lot of force, and we're setting record surge levels. You can imagine what this means for the six to nine feet of surge up to Big Bend, perhaps even higher than that, up to 15 in some places. Maybe you can explain that.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, that's a great point, Derek. Because again, you are located -- you're on the lower end of where some of this surge is expected.

There are going to be other communities that could see significantly more surge than your location. So let's take a standard look where the storm is. Hurricane Idalia right now, sustained winds of 130 miles per hour. The

big change that we noted from the last couple of hours is that, as the storm crosses into other states, such as Georgia, for example, it's going to remain hurricane strength. It's not expected to weaken into a tropical storm instantaneously.

So likely to be a Category 2 as it pushes into Georgia this afternoon and then gradually becoming a tropical storm as it heads into the Carolinas.

Now, we have a brand-new tornado watch in effect. This now also includes portions of Georgia, including the cities of Savannah, but also Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa in Florida.

This goes until 3 p.m. this afternoon. Because we've already started to see a lot of these showers and thunderstorms produce tornadoes. We have one right here you can see North of Fort Myers.

We've had several off-and-on, not only in Florida but also Georgia this morning. And those are going to continue. Because of that, that's why they have that tornado watch in effect. You can see a lot of those outer bands. And that's where you tend to get some of those tornado warnings, is some of these outer bands as they continue to push into the area.

A concern for that, too, is when you talk about flooding and you talk about tornados, keep in mind your safe place is the opposite. When we talk about tornadoes, you were always taught go to the lowest level of your home.

But if you're taking in flooding, you don't want to go to the lowest level of your home. You want to go to the highest level of your home.

So this is where, again, it becomes a very tricky situation when you've got tornado warnings for your area, but you're having inundation from that flood waters of where that safe space actually is.

Here's, again, a look at when we start seeing some of those rain showers continuing to spread. You're going to start to see those impacts in states like Georgia and the Carolinas as we go through the rest of the day.

SIDNER: All right. I am here in Crystal River. We have been seeing these bands come through. They are tropical-storm-force winds. We're getting those outer bands of the wind and the rain at this hour.

I want to give you just a little bit of a look at what's happening. You can see the water has come up just a bit there, and coming with Adolfo (ph) just to the edge of the water. This is where you normally would have boats going into the water so the tourists can go and so residents can go and see the beautiful manatees that exist here.

We are also seeing quite a bit of lightning, lots of wind. The rain bands have stopped, but we will see them again. And here we go. This is picking up again, and the fear here is what

you're seeing there. That's starting to really come up. This is a very low-lying community. This is a community that is in a flood area.

Every part of this community is prone to flooding, the whole place of about 3,400 people here in Crystal River, which is why people, there's a mandatory evacuation here.

We have seen some folks leaving this morning to get out. A lot of people did leave yesterday.

All right. I want to get to our sheriff of Citrus County, the county that I am in.

Sheriff, thank you so much for joining us this morning. Can you give me some sense of where you are, and what you are seeing right now?

SHERIFF MIKE PRENDERGAST, CITRUS COUNTY, FLORIDA: Well, I can tell you that I was outside ready to do this live shot with you outside, but a major band of weather came through, with some lightning and very heavy downpours.

And because we couldn't hear you all, we came inside. I'm standing right now inside of the sheriff's substation in Crystal River. And as part of our partnership with the city of Crystal River, where we provide all of their law enforcement services to the city and all its residents.

Now, this building that I'm in, I abandoned on Monday because the anticipated storm surge that could be at that time seven to 11 feet. And so where I'm standing right now -- with my boots on, I'm approximately 6 foot tall.

And we could anticipate water over my head right where I'm standing later on today and into the evening hours later tonight as the storm surge continues to come in.

We've not seen any real surge. All we've seen is a lot of ponding, and puddling right now because of the rain bands. But later on, when the storm surge really starts to roll in, we're going to see a lot of flooded areas in flood zone "A," which we recommended and strongly encouraged through a mandatory evacuation order on Monday, that everybody evacuate flood zone "A."

[06:25:16]

A lot of folks did, but there's still quite a few left behind out here that are going to try and weather this storm out.

And, you know, the wind is one thing. But running away from that water is something entirely different. And people sometimes get trapped when they least expect it.

As a frame of reference, there was water in this building where I was standing during Hurricane Hermine, the National Weather Service is predicting six feet more of water in Crystal River once the storm rolls through and we get that dirty side of the storm that brings all of those additional winds at the point where we've got an extremely high tide with a full moon and the king tide that's unfolding right here before us this morning here in Crystal River.

SIDNER: We really have sort of the perfect trifecta, all of the things that you just mentioned there: the king tide, the moon, and this massive storm that is now a Category 4. And we're not even in the midst of it.

Thank you so much, Sheriff Mike Prendergast, I appreciate your time. Thank you for being safe and getting out of the way of the storm. Because as you know well people are supposed to have evacuated. You are here to try and make sure people are safe. You are staying because that is your job.

But the rest of the community needs to understand how dangerous this is going to get in the coming hours.

PRENDERGAST: Absolutely.

SIDNER: I'm going to toss it back to Phil. Thank you, too, Sheriff.

PRENDERGAST: Absolutely. Be safe out there.

MATTINGLY: Thank you, Sara Sidner.

I want right now to get to the director of the National Hurricane Center, Michael Brennan. We've been talking to state officials, local officials, residents on the ground.

Now, Director Brennan, just to start, as we've been watching the storm intensify throughout the course of the morning, what is the latest trajectory of Idalia, now a Category 4 storm?

MICHAEL BRENNAN, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Yes, Idalia is moving here quickly North-Northeast at about 17 miles an hour, where you can see the eye here on the radar imagery, expecting the storm, the eye to make landfall here in the sort of Dixie-Taylor County region in the Big Bend of Florida here in the next few hours.

We -- and folks are starting to see storm surge rise and going to see that catastrophic storm surge play out in this region over the next few hours, as well as the, you know, destructive winds in the core of this major hurricane as it moves onshore.

MATTINGLY: You know, to the time in question, I know this is very difficult. Everybody is very cautious about putting specific times on anything.

But when you're talking about catastrophic storm surge, destructive winds, which you've been repeatedly in your last several updates, when should people in those regions that you were talking about there, in those counties, be expecting the worst at this point?

BRENNAN: Well, you know, in terms of the storm surge, you know, folks in those storm surge evacuation zones, hopefully they're gone, because waters are starting to rise. In places like Cedar Key, we're seeing inundation now, you know, of more than four feet aboveground level now. And those water levels are rising now.

In this purple area here, we've just issued an extreme wind warning. And that means the eyewall winds of a major hurricane are imminent in these areas, in Dixie and Taylor counties. Folks are outside of the storm surge evacuation zone in those areas, that's where you're going to want to take cover and treat it like a tornado. Take cover in a safe place, get under a mattress, in a safe, you know, sheltered room in your home.

MATTINGLY: You know, I consumed hourly updates, line by line, and noticed it seems like the Federal Reserve. Any change in any wording, I try and pick up on.

The idea in the latest update that there's a possibility it could strengthen even more than it already has. Walk people through what you're seeing there.

BRENNAN: Yes. Well, we've actually seen the central pressure come up a millibar or two in the last hour. So that suggests that the intensification has leveled off, at least for the time being, but it doesn't really matter.

We're at a Category 4 hurricane that's going to produce catastrophic conditions, whether the intensity goes up or down by five or ten miles per hour.

That -- those impacts are pretty baked in here for the -- the Big Bend region of Florida. And then we're going to see, you know, significant wind impacts travel very, very far inland across portions of North Florida, all the way into portions of Georgia, with such a powerful hurricane moving so quickly.

We have hurricane warnings in effect all the way over to Savannah and places like Hilton Head, as well.

MATTINGLY: I want to follow up on a really good point you just made. The intensity of this, the strength of this. When you're getting into five, ten miles an hour, you're kind of overlooking the scale of what we're seeing right now.

Give people some context here. Compared to previous hurricanes, what does this look like?

BRENNAN: Well, compared to previous hurricanes that have affected this part of the Florida Peninsula, it's unprecedented, at least in modern times.

So these -- you know, if you live in this area and you've lived there your whole life, you've never experienced a hurricane like this. But you know, this is on the order of, you know, some of the Category 4 hurricane landfalls we've seen in recent years, you know, going back to Ian last year, going back to other storms like Laura and Ida.

You know, we've got a spate of these along the Gulf Coast and in Florida, in particular. So this is just another one of these storms that's going to bring these catastrophic conditions.

MATTINGLY: All right. Director Michael Brennan, invaluable information. We're get back to you in our 8 a.m. hour. Thanks so much for your time, sir.

BRENNAN: Thanks.

MATTINGLY: And coming up, in just a matter of moments, we are expecting a press conference from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. The latest updates on resources, on where things stand as Hurricane Idalia, now a Category 4 storm.

[06:30:00]