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Inside Politics

Dorian Heads toward U.S.; Florida State Rep. Talks about his Family Weathering the Storm in the Bahamas; Palm Beach County Mayor on Hurricane Dorian; Hurricane Update from the Grand Bahamas; Coast Guard Updates on Boat Fire; Storm Update from Daytona Beach; Hurricane Hunter Talks about Dorian. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired September 02, 2019 - 12:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:00:18]

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Dana Bash in Washington. Welcome to a special Labor Day edition of INSIDE POLITICS.

A lot of news to get to this hour.

We begin with Hurricane Dorian, now a category four storm.

John Berman is on the ground in Florida. We'll get to him in just a moment.

Governors in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, they've all issued mandatory evacuation orders for select coastal areas. Some going into effect at this hour. Three major airports in southern and central Florida shutting down operations moments ago.

Hurricane Dorian is pummeling the Bahamas right now and threatening Florida next. The prime minister of the Bahamas says the devastation is unprecedented. The foreign affairs minister there is urging people to stay inside.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DARREN HENFIELD, BAHAMIAN MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: From all accounts, we have received catastrophic damage. It is not safe to go outdoors. Power -- power lines are down. Lamp poles are down. Trees are across the street. It is very dangerous to be outdoors if you don't have to be outdoors.

As soon as weather permits, first responders will go to those areas where we had reports individuals who were in distress.

We're holding strong. We're asking you to continue to pray for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And look at this video taken this morning in Freeport, where Dorian was still a category 5 storm. The woman who took this video said there was six feet of water outside her house, five feet of water inside. She says everyone is hunkered down upstairs, safe for now, but she says the worst is yet to come.

And Dorian is inching closer to the southeastern coastline of the U.S., where it threatens millions of people. It's impossible to know for certain where Dorian will make landfall in the U.S., if at all.

CNN is on the scene for the duration of this storm.

John Berman joins me from Hutchinson Island, Florida.

John, what are you experiencing there right now?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I've got to say, the winds are picking up a little bit over the last few minutes, Dana. The sky is getting darker. Every half hour, or hour or so, we get one of those powerful rain bands. The first bands from Hurricane Dorian. And then the wind gets north of 50 miles an hour or so and you can really feel the power of this storm, which is still about 100 miles that way over the Bahamas.

Also, the surf here beginning to kick up seriously, not even high tide here yet. High tide about another hour away. And already the water getting very, very close to the dunes. Imagine what will happen here when there is the four to seven-foot storm surge that they are expecting. It will send the water clear over the dunes and that's the area of greatest concern on the Florida coast.

But, again, as you said, inching over the Bahamas now, Hurricane Dorian is, and moving closer to Florida.

How close will it get? Let's get the latest forecast. Let's go to the Weather Center. Allison Chinchar is there.

Allison.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's right. So we take a look. One of the most notable things in the last few hours is the eye is starting to expand again. This is very important because that means the overall wind field of the storm is also expanding. That now puts more folks in Florida at risk for those incredibly high winds.

Sustained winds right now at 155. The storm is still moving only 1 mile an hour at this time. Again, lots of heavy rain across portions of the Bahamas.

But we're starting to get some of those outer bands beginning to reach into areas of Florida as we speak. The watches and warnings have since expanded to additional counties across portions of Florida. You can see that map here. The pink is a hurricane watch. The yellow, a tropical storm watch. The blue is a tropical storm warning. This red area here is a hurricane warning.

So what does this mean? You get these watches, you get these warnings. The main focus with these is the wind. So let's take a look.

The area in orange that you see here, winds about 58 to 73 miles per hour. This red area, however, here, along the coast, we're talking places like West Palm, Jupiter, Ft. Pierce, even Melbourne. Now you're talking 74 to 110-mile-per-hour winds. This is also the same for places like Daytona Beach, the Palm coast, St. Augustine, stretching even into portions of the Georgia coast, again, where you're looking at those winds about 74 to 110 miles per hour. That will make significant power outages. That will do some damage to these communities here as well as the path is still expected to continue to slide up the east coast and head towards other states like Georgia, as well as the Carolinas.

[12:05:02]

BERMAN: Thanks so much, Allison.

It's such an important point you make. It doesn't have to make landfall. The eye doesn't have to make landfall here on Florida to have a serious impact. They will experience hurricane-force winds and even as we speak, one of those outer bands now, the rain is starting to come down. You can feel it on your skin. The wind picking up. When the bands come through, the wind speeds do get to be 40, almost 50 miles an hour. Tomorrow morning at this time, 70 to 100 miles an hour along the coast where we are right now.

Nothing, though, compared to what they're experiencing 100 miles that way over the sea in the Bahamas, where this storm is still devastating that island chain.

I'm joined now by Florida State Rep. Shevrin Jones. The representative has family that has been riding out the storm in the Bahamas that amazingly has been sending back footage of what they're seeing.

Representative, thank you so much for being with us.

And before I ask anything else, from what you hear, is your family doing OK?

SHEVRIN JONES (D), FLORIDA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Thank you -- thank you so much, John. Yes, my family is doing -- doing OK, thank God.

BERMAN: What has it been like for them? How much have they been able to tell you about what they've seen and experienced?

JONES: So we've been on group chat since last night, kind of going back and forth, and they've been sharing their pictures and their videos with everything that's been going on. All of them are in one area. There's a lot of flooding. The power is out. Just as early as this morning, we have been communicating with each other, but they've been trying to conserve as much -- as much power as they can on their cell phones.

The last message came from my cousin, Chrissie (ph), at about 8:39 this morning and she said, I'm going to leave now so I can conserve my battery power. So they -- there's a lot of flooding and they -- they are out of power and they will need a lot of help in the coming days.

BERMAN: Again, you say a lot of water, a lot of flooding. Some of the images we've seen, it's hard to distinguish where the ocean stops and the streets begin because the water is simply everywhere.

Is that their biggest concern? How were the winds overnight?

JONES: The big -- that is one of their biggest concerns. And the winds have -- have been -- have been massive. As you -- as you guys have -- have been showing, we also have video from my cousin, video outside of her door, where the storm surge and how far it has come up to her -- to her home. And so, yes, it's -- it's -- it's a lot and they are -- they are in need of a lot of help. And they are going to be in need of a lot of help. And I know that there are a lot of efforts that has taken place here in Miami. I spoke with Congresswoman Wilson this morning and she shared the work that she's doing along with the White House and with the governor to send that effort over as soon as the conditions become safe.

BERMAN: Listen, Representative Shevrin Jones, thank you for being with us. We wish your family the best. They have a long way to go there. Smart of them to conserve the batteries while they can. I'm glad they have you to lean on to support them while they're getting through this.

Thank you so much for being with us.

JONES: Thank you so much. And thank you for having me.

BERMAN: All right, joining us now is the mayor of Palm Beach County, Florida, a little bit south of where I am, Mack Bernard.

Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for being with us.

I am sure you're doing exactly what we're doing, which is gazing out to the sea every five minutes or so periodically and just thinking about where that storm is and how much closer it is moving to the Florida coast.

Tell me what you've been doing.

MAYOR MACK BERNARD, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA: John, thanks for having me.

Right now I'm currently in our emergency operations center in West Palm Beach thinking, first of all, about all of our neighbors who have been impacted in the Bahamas right now that's feeling the pain of this dangerous disaster, storm, that is Dorian. And right now we're concerned about how it's going to move and how it could potentially affect Palm Beach County and the whole coast of Florida.

BERMAN: What's your area of biggest concern, mayor?

BERNARD: Well, we have like like -- well, first of all, we have mobile homes. We have mandatory evacuations in Palm Beach County for zone a and b. And zone a is pretty much our mobile homes and our substandard housing and our low homes also. And also we have our barrier islands, specifically Singer Islands, Jupiter Inlet, so we have some areas that we're really concerned about. Pretty much our whole coast in Palm Beach County.

And right now, because of the fact that we're going to pretty much around 2:00 really feel the tropical storm winds in Palm Beach County, we're urging all of our residents in Palm Beach County to make their final storm preparation, because this is not a storm that you want to have apathy and play games with. This is a storm that we want all of our residents to not be on the road, lock down, be ready, let's ride out this storm.

[12:10:05]

BERMAN: Be ready, your plans needed to be made already. Stay safe over the next few days.

Mayor Mack Bernard, thank you very much for being with us. You please stay safe as well. Thank you, sir.

BERNARD: Thank you very much, John.

BERMAN: All right, we're getting periodic communication with Patrick Oppmann, who was in Freeport on Grand Bahama, the island. We have him now by phone.

Patrick, tell us what you're seeing right now?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hopefully you're seeing the pictures we're showing you. I mean just the wind coming in sideways, it really is incredible. It's incredible because we are on hour, I don't know what, 12, 14, I've lost track. This storm came in last night in the middle of the night and it sounds like a plane taking off. And here we are, all these hours later, and you're watching the rain go sideways like this.

If I were down there -- because I'm in a good covered spot right now -- but if I were down on the ground, I would be flying out to the ocean. That wind, I wouldn't want to guess how fast it's going, but it is really going.

And, again, just amazing that all these hours later as Dorian has been hanging out over Grand Bahama (INAUDIBLE) it's still giving this island absolute hell. There have been (INAUDIBLE) away here. There have been (INAUDIBLE) of an under water (INAUDIBLE) cars have been (INAUDIBLE) of the damage. It's so hard to get word from the affected (ph) areas. This (INAUDIBLE) was yesterday on (INAUDIBLE) storm.

And if you look out at the wind, just going along, you know, guessing, 80, 100, maybe more miles an hour. And you just worry about people who could be out in this (INAUDIBLE) crazy that all these hours after Dorian arrived here in the Bahamas, that we are still getting absolutely pummeled by this storm. It will not let go.

Back to you, John.

BERMAN: Patrick, I simply can't imagine being inside those winds for as long as you have been and the people in Freeport, all of Grand Bahama. It has been a harrowing 24 hours and it will continue for several hours more, and only then will we be able to get a real sense of how much damage was done there.

Our Patrick Oppmann, who's been doing amazing work along with his team in Freeport, please say safe.

Dana, again, as you can see here, the wind, you know, is starting to pick up. We're getting moments of the rain, but nothing compared to what Patrick's been going through there for a full day now in Freeport.

BASH: And chances are, John, that those conditions, that's headed for you soon.

I just have a quick question. While you were talking, there were people on the beach behind you. They're not there anymore, but they were. Do you have a sense -- oh, there's somebody right there. Do you have a sense that they're actually taking the evacuation orders seriously where you are?

BERMAN: I think many people have. I think the people out on the beach here are all locals from the barrier island who have chosen to stay.

It was empty earlier this morning when I was here, when it was raining much harder than it is now and the winds were blowing more fiercely. There's been a period of about two hours where it's been a little bit better conditions, and that's when everyone came out, which is unfortunate, frankly.

I think things will get worse steadily over the next two to four hours and hopefully most of these people will go get somewhere safe. I think by and large people on the east coast of Florida are taking this very, very seriously as they should --

BASH: Good.

BERMAN: Because even the slightest variation in the path of this storm could be devastating, Dana.

BASH: And it has been the most unpredictable of storms as we have been reporting.

John, we will get -- be getting back to you soon.

Actually, right now we're hearing there is a press conference in California from the U.S. Coast Guard about the fire that was on a boat -- deadly fire that was on a boat off the coast of Ventura.

Let's listen.

CAPT. MONICA ROCHESTER, COAST GUARD: Coast Guard and partner agencies have responded to a vessel fire near Santa Cruz Island this morning at 0330, which is 3:15 -- which is 3:30 a.m. The Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles, Long Beach watch standers overheard a mayday call via channel 16 of an engulfed 75-foot commercial diving vessel with 39 people aboard. Crews from the Coast Guard, Santa Barbara Fire Department, Ventura County Fire Department and the vessel assist have responded.

Fire department crews were fighting the fire when the vessel sank 20 yards offshore in 64 feet of water. Five people were evacuated aboard a good Samaritan pleasure craft known as the Grape Escape.

Currently, 34 people aboard the vessel are unaccounted for. Watch standards at Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles Long Beach launched two Coast Guard Station Channel Islands Harbor 45-foot response boat medium crews. Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco Forward Operating Base Magoo (ph) Dolphin MH-65 helicopter crew, a Coast Guard Air Station San Diego MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew and a Coast Guard cutter, Narwall (ph).

[12:15:15]

The vessel currently has a portion of the bow sticking out of the water. Those -- those are my comments at this time.

Ventura County, would you like to make a comment?

DUSTIN GARDNER, VENTURA COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: Dustin Gardner, Ventura County Fire Department.

We've been in unified command since this morning at 0330 with the United States Coast Guard, Channel Islands Harbor Ventura, and it will continue to be a unified effort as we switch to Santa Barbara County Sheriff and Santa Barbara County Fire as the incident goes on and we go into a recovery mode.

QUESTION: So there is no chance of -- you're talking recovery mode. There's no chance of further rescues?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're --

QUESTION: At the microphone, please.

QUESTION: Step up to the microphone, please.

ROCHESTER: Presently the Coast Guard is -- has full efforts in a response posture right now. We are currently still in the response phase.

QUESTION: What does that mean?

QUESTION: Are there divers in the water that are looking in the wreckage?

ROCHESTER: I don't have any additional information regarding that at this time.

QUESTION: What does response effort mean?

ROCHESTER: Response -- search and rescue activities, yes, ma'am.

QUESTION: So what -- what can they be doing at this point?

ROCHESTER: Right now they're conducting shoreline searches to -- for any -- any -- any available survivors.

QUESTION: Can you give some insight then, what is the distance from where the boat was to the shoreline?

ROCHESTER: It's approximately 20 yards from my -- from my last -- from my last brief.

QUESTION: So, at this point, no word of anyone who made it to shore otherwise?

ROCHESTER: I -- I don't have any additional information at this time.

QUESTION: Does the boat out there have (INAUDIBLE) violations?

QUESTION: So it's 34 (INAUDIBLE) missing?

ROCHESTER: It's 34 unaccounted for folks on board.

QUESTION: Are there divers in the water?

ROCHESTER: I -- I can't answer that question. I don't have that information.

QUESTION: Does the boat operator have any history of violations?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) --

ROCHESTER: One question at a -- at a time, please.

I'm sorry.

QUESTION: Does the boat operator have a history of any violations? Have you guys checked that already or can you give us any (INAUDIBLE)?

ROCHESTER: The vessel has been in compliance -- has been in full compliance. We are working -- we are working deliberately with the vessel owner/operator who is with us at the time, working on a plan to conduct further assistance for his vessel.

QUESTION: Thank you.

ROCHESTER: Yes, sir.

QUESTION: What's the location on Santa Cruz Island?

ROCHESTER: It's a -- it's at Plats Harbor, I believe -- isn't that correct (INAUDIBLE)?

Plats Harbor, 20 yards off of Plats Harbor on the north side of Santa Cruz Island.

QUESTION: I apologize if this is redundant. The fires, you must have some initial information. Was this something that started small? Was there an explosion that was quick and out of nowhere?

ROCHESTER: The only mayday call we received was the vessel was engulfed in flames. That's all we received.

QUESTION: About how long was it between that initial call and the time crews were able to arrive?

ROCHESTER: I don't have that for you right now, but I can -- I can get that for you.

QUESTION: How was the crew --

QUESTION: And just to clarify, because we had heard 34, and then 30, --

ROCHESTER: It's 34 unaccounted for people on board.

QUESTION: How was the crew able to get off?

ROCHESTER: The crew was actually already awake and on the bridge and they jumped off.

QUESTION: And to clarify, five crew members? Were there only five crew members, meaning all the crew made it off?

ROCHESTER: Five crew members on board.

QUESTION: And they -- were they all awake at the time of --

ROCHESTER: They -- they were awake at the -- at the time.

QUESTION: Did the crew try to help the other passengers?

ROCHESTER: I don't have any additional information regarding that.

QUESTION: You mentioned the Great Escape. Because we've seen things that's been ever printed Great Escape, but we some shirts that said Grape Escape.

ROCHESTER: I believe it's Grape, g-r-a-p-e, Escape.

QUESTION: That was a rescue vessel? Those were not crew members?

ROCHESTER: It's a good Samaritan -- what we call a good Samaritan is a person that offered their services to help.

QUESTION: So if we see a gentlemen wearing a Grape Escape shirt, he was not on the board, simply a --

ROCHESTER: Simply a good Samaritan that helped this situation.

QUESTION: Captain, do you know, were all of the passengers, as opposed to crew, below decks on the vessel?

ROCHESTER: My understanding -- or the report I received, they were below decks asleep.

QUESTION: Now, have you receive any witness accounts that anybody was able to get above deck from below decks? ROCHESTER: I don't have any additional information on that, sir.

QUESTION: And there are no witness accounts from anybody other than the five crew members in the water?

ROCHESTER: I don't have any additional information. And if you -- if you will, we'll going to go ahead and continue our response search efforts. So with that I'll close out this brief.

Thank you.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

ROCHESTER: Certainly. It's r-o-c-h-e-s-t-e-r.

QUESTION: And first name?

ROCHESTER: Monica.

QUESTION: When can we --

ROCHESTER: And my rank is captain.

QUESTION: When can we expect another update? And what do you say to family members who want information? Where should they be calling --

ROCHESTER: I'd like you to go ahead and work through our public affairs person here, Petty Officer Cooney, and he will set up the next -- the next briefing. We're still working on Family Assistance Center, and the Santa Barbara County Emergency Services is doing that for us.

QUESTION: Was a request made to the crew to offer assistance?

ROCHESTER: That's all the questions I have for right now so that we can go ahead and continue our response.

Thank you very much.

BASH: And you've been listening to a briefing from the Coast Guard, absolutely terrifying and tragic.

Just to recap, after 3:00 this morning Pacific Time, there was a mayday call that a ship that was engulfed in flames -- engulfed in flames. Thirty-nine people onboard of this boat, I should say. Twenty yards off the shore. And now 64 feet underwater.

[12:20:07]

And the key here is 34 people, 34 people unaccounted for who were below deck sleeping when this fire happened. Five people, all members of the crew who were on top, on deck, working and awake, they were able to survive.

This is absolutely horrific, tragic. We're obviously waiting to get more information about the people onboard, who they were and they said that there is still search and rescue to see if it is possible, possible that any of those 34 unaccounted for who were below deck asleep when this explosion occurred did survive.

We're going to take a quick break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:33]

BERMAN: All right, welcome back. John Berman here in Jensen Beach, Florida. This is CNN's special live coverage of Hurricane Dorian.

Just in the time of that commercial break, during the break there was driving rain. I could barely see the camera from where I am. Driving rain, complete cloud cover, and now the sun's out just seconds later. That's how quickly things can change here. They will change like that many more times over the next several hours. Within a few hours, the rain will come in and stay for 24 hours or maybe even longer.

Hurricane Dorian causing major concerns all up the Florida coast and mandatory evacuations as the water comes in here where I'm standing. Mandatory evacuations in several counties up the coast in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina as well.

I want to go to Rosa Flores, who's in Daytona Beach, Florida, where there are mandatory evacuation orders underway.

Rosa, tell me what you're seeing.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, we are seeing that people at least here in the barrier island are heeding that warning. If you take a look, you can see that a lot of the businesses here are boarded up. We've seen this all along the beach. And just like you, what we have been experiencing are those outer bands of Hurricane Dorian.

So, right now we can see sunny skies. It feels like a beautiful day on the beach. And then what we'll get is one of those gusts. The wind will start to pick up. It will get wet and it will be brief. It will be powerful but very brief. But, of course, nothing compared to what the Bahamas have been seeing.

If you take a look behind me right now, you can see there's high tide, there's a few people on the beach. We've been seeing that throughout the morning.

About the latest information that we've received from county officials, they are expecting thunderstorm-force winds starting tomorrow at about noon or 1:00 p.m. Now, here's the other thing that they're warning residents about. They're expecting four to six inches of rain and a storm surge of four to seven feet. That is the reason why this barrier island, which is about 47 miles long and all of the low-lying areas, anyone who lives in an RV park or a mobile home park is under a mandatory evacuation.

Now, we've talked to people on the mainland as well. A lot of them are still not in the mandatory evacuation order. But they're hunkering down and they are being vigilant, listening to officials, county officials, city officials, to see what it is that they need to do next.

But, John, take a look around me right now. It just looks like a beautiful day on the beach. But we know that that won't last long.

John.

BERMAN: No, it won't last long. It won't last into the afternoon here, I suspect.

Rosa Flores in Daytona Beach.

Rosa was talking about the storm surge. Just so you can see what she means right now, look, the tides been coming in this high. The tide's been coming in and the water is already pushing up to here. The dune is right here. If you have a four to seven-foot storm surge, the water is going right over those dunes. There's just no room left to spare on this beach. So the storm surge is one of the areas of the greatest concern.

All right, joining me now is Nick Underwood, a hurricane hunter who has flown into Dorian in the last several days.

Nick, thank you so much for being with us.

Some of the pictures we've seen from inside this hurricane, they're like nothing I've ever seen before. This is the textbook definition of a catastrophic hurricane.

What did it look like to you?

NICK UNDERWOOD, NOAA, HURRICANE HUNTER: So the past week I've actually been flying on NOAA's Gulfstream 4, which is our high-altitude surveillance jet. So we've been flying up above, around and in front of Dorian sampling those high-altitude winds that are really steering where the storm is.

In a few days I'm going to swap crews, go onboard of NOAA's P-3 Orion and actually be flying between 8,000 to 10,000 feet right through the eye wall of the storm and into the eye. I've flown in that aircraft before into Hurricanes Irma, Florence. Being inside of that aircraft, it's kind of like being in a wooden roller coaster. A lot of vibration, a lot of turbulence. But once you get in that eye, it's crystal clear, blue skies above you and it's really other worldly.

BERMAN: I can't imagine doing what you're about to do, flying above it like you already have looking down on top of Dorian.

What could you tell about this storm?

[12:29:53]

UNDERWOOD: The last I flew was Saturday, which is when Dorian was really starting to intensify into the powerful storm that we're seeing now. The cloud tops were really reaching up to our flight level at 45,000 feet. Even up that high, we're getting into some of the outflow, we're still getting some turbulence up. END