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Live From...
Hurricane Isabel Pounds East Coast
Aired September 18, 2003 - 15:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We start now with kind of a ground zero in the onslaught that is Isabel.
CNN's John Zarrella got the videophone working there in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.
John, what's the latest from there?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Miles, it's certainly a hurricane now on us, I can tell you that.
The latest I can give you is that part of this bank building that we were standing under has come down. You can see the siding there of the bank building, which completely collapsed. The building is intact, but the siding, which is actually styrofoam just covered over with plaster, came down about 30 minutes ago. Fortunately, no one injured here. We were all standing underneath the overhang of the drive-thru, which is where we've been taking cover.
And you can probably see, those are the transmit dishes that we are using to send you these videophone pictures. And it just missed the transmit dishes when it came off the side. And, again, the police were here just a few minutes ago, telling us that, with the tide being high now here and the hurricane making its way ever so much closer to us, that they do expect a lot of overwash from the Pasquotank River Yacht which flows into Albemarle Sound.
The wind is just driving the water up the sound and up the Pasquotank. And it may be another hour or so. And they say that we should start to see some flooding here along Water Street, again, appropriately named. But as I'm sure our viewers can tell, the situation has progressively gotten worse during the last two or three hours here in Elizabeth City. The few cars -- watch out for that piece of wood! Watch out!
Plywood flying down the streets now. I just want to make sure that my cameraman, John Cowls (ph), was out of the shot there. I didn't know which way that piece of plywood was flying.
But as you folks can tell, I'm sure quite graphically now, the situation here is that, certainly, we are under the gun now in Elizabeth City from Hurricane Isabel -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Oh, boy, John Zarrella. I think we're all wide awake now.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: You made our hearts stop. O'BRIEN: Everybody is OK, right?
ZARRELLA: Yes, everything is OK. Everything is OK. We're fine here.
But there is a lot of flying debris now, as, again, the hurricane is upon us. But, yes, everybody is OK here. It's just that, as I said, the situation is deteriorating considerably now, as we are very close, I guess, on the right side of the storm, which is always the worst part of a hurricane. And that's what -- this is what you can expect.
And I think, for our viewers out there, particularly the people who live in the coastal communities of the United States, remind them, this is only a Category 2 hurricane, what we are experiencing. And it would certainly be foolhardy for anyone to think about riding out storms near the coastline in any kind of a hurricane that is more than this. These aren't even 100 mile-an-hour winds that we are feeling here, considerably less, certainly hurricane-force, Miles, but considerably less than 100 miles an hour.
And you can see what it is doing here in the downtown area of Elizabeth City -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Hey, John, while you were talking there, for the first time,I saw any movement in the background. I saw a car drive by. Was that anybody with emergency services or was that just a civilian car?
ZARRELLA: That was a civilian car. There have been a few that are still going by out here, people that want to come out and see what's going on.
Most of them come down the streets here in the center of town, so that they can get a look at the water, which is starting to come up. And I'm sure, within the next hour or so, we'll be able to show our viewers some graphic pictures of the flooding that's likely to begin taking place here. So, yes, there have been some cars venturing out. But, as the storm has gotten progressively worse and on top of us now, there's only a few, not very many cars. Again, we saw a police officer a few minutes ago, and then this one car that just drove by.
But there's still some people that are out in it that probably ought to be back inside someplace. And I'm sure there's a lot of viewers that are saying, we ought to be back inside, too. But it is important, we believe, that people see this firsthand -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right, John Zarrella.
Yes, we have been hearing from those very viewers. And we think that, quite frankly, seeing what you just saw, we hope, will encourage people who might be curious to do just that, stay inside. If anybody has hefted a sheet of four-by-eight plywood, I think you understand the force that we're talking about.
Orelon Sidney, now, the storm is diminishing somewhat now? Is that right? ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's diminishing in some areas. And, Miles, where we were seeing John Zarrella, it's actually, as he just said, getting more intense.
And when you take a look at a radar picture like this, the redder, the yellower, the oranger the colors, the heavier the rain. And that, in a hurricane, also could be indicative of very dusty rains winds, because the rain is so heavy. And that's the most intense part of the storm. The winds are also strong.
And you can see that, right across here, around Elizabeth City, up towards Virginia Beach, and then southward, the back edge of that eye wall there, down where I think Jeff Flock is, he's probably getting some pretty good wind gusts there as well. Those storms have just kind of popped over the pass half hour or so. We're starting to see stronger thunderstorm activity there.
And notice that it's all within the tornado watch box. That's why tornado watches are issued with this type of a storm moving in, because you can certainly get tornadoes in these strong cells, as they are starting to push their way inland. Now, the National Hurricane Center has just updated the information. Isabel made landfall -- this is a quote from the Hurricane Center -- Isabel made landfall at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time near Drum Inlet. That's between Cape Lookout and Ocracoke Island, North Carolina.
At the point of landfall, I know Ocracoke was reporting a wind speed of 105 miles per hour sustained. This information has now just been updated. The storm is currently 50 miles east-southeast of Greenville, North Carolina. It's moving faster to the northwest now. It's picked up forward speed. It's up to 20 miles an hour. And the wind speed now is down five miles an hour to 95.
We'll continue to see that wind speed drop off. We continue also to see a chance for some very heavy rain, six to 10 inches, storm surge. Of course, that is pretty much going to tell the tale I think here in the next couple of hours as to how extensive that's going to be. But we still have a very stormy night ahead, with more of this storm moving northward.
Check out the rainfall potential, six to 10 inches around Cape Hatteras. Washington, D.C. could see heavy rains of six to 10 inches. Head up towards New York, even up towards Boston, you're going to see some showers, two to four inches possible in the New York area, and southward, too, around Wilmington. You can see two to four inches of rain. Some of this area also is high in elevation.
So I wouldn't be surprised to see some pretty heavy downpours and some pretty intense thunderstorms, as we get more lift from those hills and the mountains across the Appalachians -- Miles, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Orelon.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Orelon.
PHILLIPS: All right, we're told his audio is a little sketchy and the picture might be a little sketchy, too, but our Jeff Flock braving out the storm there in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.
Yes, still pretty intense. Jeff, set the scene for us. Tell us what's going on.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: Believe it or not, this has calmed down.
I'll tell you, we had difficulty. We couldn't even be on the air because our dish was vibrating and rocking in the wind so much. It was very strong. I tracked down the hurricane intercept research team guys to try to give us a sense.
Mark Cuddus (ph), we really had it blowing there for a while.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now we're drying out now.
FLOCK: We got the rain. We got rid of the rain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. We got rid of the rain a little bit.
But the winds -- we never did find that elusive 74 miles per hour. We looked and we looked. We went everywhere with the tall anemometer and evening. And it just didn't happen.
FLOCK: So maybe what the hurricane center was saying was not as -- the winds were not as strong as the hurricane center was saying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right. The hurricane center talked about the winds being up above the surface may not make it down. And that's apparently what happened. The recon found them. We didn't find them down here, which I guess is good news in the end.
FLOCK: John Van Pelt (ph), how was this experience?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it was a great experience.
and we did deploy several sets of sensors. So we were able to verify 68 up here and 65 down at our hotel and had the same kind of readings wherever we went. We saw some surge. We got some good video documentation, so it's been a good trip.
FLOCK: OK.
Hey, while we're talking, Steve, maybe you can give them a sense for how this ocean has been beating up on the shoreline.
Jesse Bass (ph), any kind of damage you've seen up here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
We saw some shingles flying off around the corner here a little earlier. A gutter came off right as we rode back. A couple -- a little bit of tree damage down the road. You can smell the pine when you get up the street. FLOCK: Oh, so you've got some snapping pines?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, definitely.
FLOCK: Well, what do you think, Mark?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we heard from Max Mayfield. He was talking about the amount of trees that are going to be down in eastern North Carolina and Virginia, because this kind of wind, over all that wet soil from the summer, we don't have many problems out here on the coast. But I'm telling you, Jeff, the problems are going to be inland with massive power outages.
FLOCK: You think that's going to be the legacy of this storm?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
The hype of Category 5 and it ends up being a huge power outage. My family back in Wilmington, North Carolina, had power outages today. Ours went out later in the ball game here. It's just an amazing, expansive storm this time.
FLOCK: Got you. Well, interesting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every one is different. Every one is different. And that's why we come out here. You learn from it. And like I said, years and years, you take what you know and you teach others to get them better prepared for whatever happens.
FLOCK: Well, right now, we're getting a lesson in getting sandblasted from this doggone surf out here.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It kind of resembles Gustav from last year in Hatteras.
FLOCK: That's true. You're getting sandblasted.
Gentlemen, I appreciate it. It's been quite a ride. And are we done with the ride, by the way? We're pretty well past it, we think?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. This wind will keep shifting around. And the waves will eventually calm down. The sun will be out.
In fact, it will be a beautiful weekend on the Carolina coast coming up and hopefully for the whole East Coast, when this thing gets out of here.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As I say, our work is done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it's not over.
FLOCK: I hear you. I hear you. All right, well, there you can see it, Kyra. As I said, it was worse. But it's still blowing pretty good. So we're going to keep our eye on it and take a look at that damage possibilities around town -- back to you.
PHILLIPS: Jeff, I'm curious. We've been watching you through the years. This is your specialty, covering hurricanes, I must say. We have lots of file tape on you. How does this compare, this assignment?
FLOCK: It never gets old for me. As my wife says, it never gets old for you, does it?
This is one thing that never gets old for me. I do enjoy the fury of nature. But I'll tell you, I wish we could have gotten up live during the period that it was really intense, because that was sort of akin to that Bertha-like experience. And, again, these are storms that are not strong enough to really harm you. But you can be out in them and really experience it and almost get lifted off your feet, so right on the cusp there of doing real damage. Fortunately, I don't think this one has done it here, at least not here. But, elsewhere, it could be different.
PHILLIPS: Jeff Flock, our dedicated reporter, and his wife, a very patient and strong woman. Thanks, Jeff.
FLOCK: Thanks, Kyra.
O'BRIEN: Farther up the Atlantic Coast, let's go to the scene in Virginia, Virginia Beach, to be specific. Jeanne Meserve is there. And the last time she was hanging onto a lamp post, now the railing.
Has it picked up at all, Jeanne?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It ebbs and flows. Sometimes, it's very fast. Other times, the winds seem to slow down.
What's been fairly consistent is this surf behind me, which is really spectacular. Now, ordinarily, that water at high tide is 50 to 75 yards away. It is right here and, occasionally, it's sweeping up over the boardwalk and getting my feet a little damp. But just an amazing scene here. And, remarkably enough, there are people who are going down off the boardwalk into that surf, taking amazing risks, but thrill-seekers, obviously.
And I'm keeping an eye on the roof of the hotel right next to us. Part of the roof that I can see here is looking a little unstable. And some of that roof came off earlier. We heard a huge bang from where we were and ran over and saw the debris just flying through the air. And, of course, all that stuff is essentially flying missiles in a wind like this. Remarkably, nobody was hurt. It didn't look like any property was damaged by it either.
The surf is also doing its damage. There is a fishing pier here in Virginia Beach. About 50 feet came off the end of that, very high wave action. One city official estimated to me, the waves might be as high as 20 feet underneath what is left of that pier. Electricity the big problem here. Power lines are arcing. Power lines are down, about 40,000 people just in this city without power at this hour.
They're not going to get it back any time soon. Crews are not going to be able to work in winds like this. And, oh, here comes a wave. Oh! This is why I was holding onto this railing. This is the biggest wave we've seen in a little while. Pretty dramatic stuff, Miles. Lots of fun.
O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes, Jeanne, hang on tight.
Now, when we were checking in a little while ago, Kathleen Koch was there. And she ran into a couple of gawkers who came down just to see it. Have you seen anybody else down there since then?
MESERVE: Oh, yes. People are all over.
None -- well, there is one gentleman down here. I think it's a man. And I can see some other people in the distance. What's more remarkable to me is not the people up here, but the people who go down into the water. And they are doing that, going not just here in this relatively flat area, but out into the surf. They're wading out there, though, I'm sure, if any authorities saw them, they would tell them to get out immediately.
The police have been patrolling up and down here periodically trying to clear people out. But it's impossible for them to stop everybody. As soon as they leave, more people pop out and come right to the edge to see this incredible spectacle.
O'BRIEN: I'm going to guess that those people are not rocket scientists that are doing that. That does not seem like a wise move on this day.
MESERVE: Miles, we're out here, so what does that say?
O'BRIEN: Well, all right. But you're not diving in. And we don't encourage that, in any respect.
Thank you very much, Jeanne Meserve, in Virginia Beach. Hang on tight -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, a soaking wet Jeanne Meserve to sort of a drying out Gary Tuchman, I guess you could say in Topsail Beach, North Carolina.
Oh, boy, I guess not. It's picked up again. We've got from Jeanne on the rail to our dear Gary on the public beach access sign.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, I'm holding this because it's kind of an ironic piece of damage. It's a beach access sign. And on the bottom, it warns people about rip currents.
But this is one of the signs that has fallen here on this island of Topsail Island. But that is almost the limit of the damage. Lots of signs down, some shingles down from the homes, some trees, some limbs down, very little other damage. And what the people here have learned is, they can tolerate a Category 2 hurricane very well.
Of course, this is the southern edge of the hurricane warning zone. But they have had huge problems here in the past with smaller storms with floods. But what's happened in this storm is, the winds have blown from my left. And over to my left is the Intracoastal Waterway, which separates this island from the North Carolina mainland. By the way, we're near Camp Lejeune, where we spent a lot of time before, during and after the war.
Three blocks wide, this island. The other side of me is where the Atlantic Ocean is. And because this is such a narrow sliver of land, 26 miles long, but only three blocks wide, they've had a lot of problems with flooding. But the winds have blown towards the ocean and they've had almost no flooding whatsoever. We've driven up and down this island, and then to the north, towards Morehead City.
And we can tell you, while there is some damage, so far, we haven't seen any major damage of any kind here or north of here, closer to where the eye was. And that's the good news.
Behind me, there is a bridge. That is the major bridge. It takes people off Topsail Island to the mainland. That bridge will be shut down until 9:00 tomorrow morning. Officials say it's only for emergency vehicles. So anyone on this island who decided to stay who wants to get off it will have to wait until at least tomorrow morning.
The winds are still strong. The rains are still coming down. But it's not as strong of a wind and not as much rain as just an hour ago -- Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: Gary, you mentioned Camp Lejeune. And we, of course, are monitoring e-mails here, viewer comments. And there were some questions about the condition of Camp Lejeune and those stationed there. Do you have any word coming from there?
TUCHMAN: We're being told right now no major problems whatsoever. They're looking at little minor things, but there is nothing catastrophic or major at all, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, our Gary Tuchman there, North Topsail Beach in North Carolina -- thanks, Gary
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 18, 2003 - 15:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We start now with kind of a ground zero in the onslaught that is Isabel.
CNN's John Zarrella got the videophone working there in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.
John, what's the latest from there?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Miles, it's certainly a hurricane now on us, I can tell you that.
The latest I can give you is that part of this bank building that we were standing under has come down. You can see the siding there of the bank building, which completely collapsed. The building is intact, but the siding, which is actually styrofoam just covered over with plaster, came down about 30 minutes ago. Fortunately, no one injured here. We were all standing underneath the overhang of the drive-thru, which is where we've been taking cover.
And you can probably see, those are the transmit dishes that we are using to send you these videophone pictures. And it just missed the transmit dishes when it came off the side. And, again, the police were here just a few minutes ago, telling us that, with the tide being high now here and the hurricane making its way ever so much closer to us, that they do expect a lot of overwash from the Pasquotank River Yacht which flows into Albemarle Sound.
The wind is just driving the water up the sound and up the Pasquotank. And it may be another hour or so. And they say that we should start to see some flooding here along Water Street, again, appropriately named. But as I'm sure our viewers can tell, the situation has progressively gotten worse during the last two or three hours here in Elizabeth City. The few cars -- watch out for that piece of wood! Watch out!
Plywood flying down the streets now. I just want to make sure that my cameraman, John Cowls (ph), was out of the shot there. I didn't know which way that piece of plywood was flying.
But as you folks can tell, I'm sure quite graphically now, the situation here is that, certainly, we are under the gun now in Elizabeth City from Hurricane Isabel -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Oh, boy, John Zarrella. I think we're all wide awake now.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: You made our hearts stop. O'BRIEN: Everybody is OK, right?
ZARRELLA: Yes, everything is OK. Everything is OK. We're fine here.
But there is a lot of flying debris now, as, again, the hurricane is upon us. But, yes, everybody is OK here. It's just that, as I said, the situation is deteriorating considerably now, as we are very close, I guess, on the right side of the storm, which is always the worst part of a hurricane. And that's what -- this is what you can expect.
And I think, for our viewers out there, particularly the people who live in the coastal communities of the United States, remind them, this is only a Category 2 hurricane, what we are experiencing. And it would certainly be foolhardy for anyone to think about riding out storms near the coastline in any kind of a hurricane that is more than this. These aren't even 100 mile-an-hour winds that we are feeling here, considerably less, certainly hurricane-force, Miles, but considerably less than 100 miles an hour.
And you can see what it is doing here in the downtown area of Elizabeth City -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Hey, John, while you were talking there, for the first time,I saw any movement in the background. I saw a car drive by. Was that anybody with emergency services or was that just a civilian car?
ZARRELLA: That was a civilian car. There have been a few that are still going by out here, people that want to come out and see what's going on.
Most of them come down the streets here in the center of town, so that they can get a look at the water, which is starting to come up. And I'm sure, within the next hour or so, we'll be able to show our viewers some graphic pictures of the flooding that's likely to begin taking place here. So, yes, there have been some cars venturing out. But, as the storm has gotten progressively worse and on top of us now, there's only a few, not very many cars. Again, we saw a police officer a few minutes ago, and then this one car that just drove by.
But there's still some people that are out in it that probably ought to be back inside someplace. And I'm sure there's a lot of viewers that are saying, we ought to be back inside, too. But it is important, we believe, that people see this firsthand -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right, John Zarrella.
Yes, we have been hearing from those very viewers. And we think that, quite frankly, seeing what you just saw, we hope, will encourage people who might be curious to do just that, stay inside. If anybody has hefted a sheet of four-by-eight plywood, I think you understand the force that we're talking about.
Orelon Sidney, now, the storm is diminishing somewhat now? Is that right? ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's diminishing in some areas. And, Miles, where we were seeing John Zarrella, it's actually, as he just said, getting more intense.
And when you take a look at a radar picture like this, the redder, the yellower, the oranger the colors, the heavier the rain. And that, in a hurricane, also could be indicative of very dusty rains winds, because the rain is so heavy. And that's the most intense part of the storm. The winds are also strong.
And you can see that, right across here, around Elizabeth City, up towards Virginia Beach, and then southward, the back edge of that eye wall there, down where I think Jeff Flock is, he's probably getting some pretty good wind gusts there as well. Those storms have just kind of popped over the pass half hour or so. We're starting to see stronger thunderstorm activity there.
And notice that it's all within the tornado watch box. That's why tornado watches are issued with this type of a storm moving in, because you can certainly get tornadoes in these strong cells, as they are starting to push their way inland. Now, the National Hurricane Center has just updated the information. Isabel made landfall -- this is a quote from the Hurricane Center -- Isabel made landfall at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time near Drum Inlet. That's between Cape Lookout and Ocracoke Island, North Carolina.
At the point of landfall, I know Ocracoke was reporting a wind speed of 105 miles per hour sustained. This information has now just been updated. The storm is currently 50 miles east-southeast of Greenville, North Carolina. It's moving faster to the northwest now. It's picked up forward speed. It's up to 20 miles an hour. And the wind speed now is down five miles an hour to 95.
We'll continue to see that wind speed drop off. We continue also to see a chance for some very heavy rain, six to 10 inches, storm surge. Of course, that is pretty much going to tell the tale I think here in the next couple of hours as to how extensive that's going to be. But we still have a very stormy night ahead, with more of this storm moving northward.
Check out the rainfall potential, six to 10 inches around Cape Hatteras. Washington, D.C. could see heavy rains of six to 10 inches. Head up towards New York, even up towards Boston, you're going to see some showers, two to four inches possible in the New York area, and southward, too, around Wilmington. You can see two to four inches of rain. Some of this area also is high in elevation.
So I wouldn't be surprised to see some pretty heavy downpours and some pretty intense thunderstorms, as we get more lift from those hills and the mountains across the Appalachians -- Miles, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Orelon.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Orelon.
PHILLIPS: All right, we're told his audio is a little sketchy and the picture might be a little sketchy, too, but our Jeff Flock braving out the storm there in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.
Yes, still pretty intense. Jeff, set the scene for us. Tell us what's going on.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: Believe it or not, this has calmed down.
I'll tell you, we had difficulty. We couldn't even be on the air because our dish was vibrating and rocking in the wind so much. It was very strong. I tracked down the hurricane intercept research team guys to try to give us a sense.
Mark Cuddus (ph), we really had it blowing there for a while.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now we're drying out now.
FLOCK: We got the rain. We got rid of the rain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. We got rid of the rain a little bit.
But the winds -- we never did find that elusive 74 miles per hour. We looked and we looked. We went everywhere with the tall anemometer and evening. And it just didn't happen.
FLOCK: So maybe what the hurricane center was saying was not as -- the winds were not as strong as the hurricane center was saying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right. The hurricane center talked about the winds being up above the surface may not make it down. And that's apparently what happened. The recon found them. We didn't find them down here, which I guess is good news in the end.
FLOCK: John Van Pelt (ph), how was this experience?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it was a great experience.
and we did deploy several sets of sensors. So we were able to verify 68 up here and 65 down at our hotel and had the same kind of readings wherever we went. We saw some surge. We got some good video documentation, so it's been a good trip.
FLOCK: OK.
Hey, while we're talking, Steve, maybe you can give them a sense for how this ocean has been beating up on the shoreline.
Jesse Bass (ph), any kind of damage you've seen up here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
We saw some shingles flying off around the corner here a little earlier. A gutter came off right as we rode back. A couple -- a little bit of tree damage down the road. You can smell the pine when you get up the street. FLOCK: Oh, so you've got some snapping pines?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, definitely.
FLOCK: Well, what do you think, Mark?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we heard from Max Mayfield. He was talking about the amount of trees that are going to be down in eastern North Carolina and Virginia, because this kind of wind, over all that wet soil from the summer, we don't have many problems out here on the coast. But I'm telling you, Jeff, the problems are going to be inland with massive power outages.
FLOCK: You think that's going to be the legacy of this storm?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
The hype of Category 5 and it ends up being a huge power outage. My family back in Wilmington, North Carolina, had power outages today. Ours went out later in the ball game here. It's just an amazing, expansive storm this time.
FLOCK: Got you. Well, interesting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every one is different. Every one is different. And that's why we come out here. You learn from it. And like I said, years and years, you take what you know and you teach others to get them better prepared for whatever happens.
FLOCK: Well, right now, we're getting a lesson in getting sandblasted from this doggone surf out here.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It kind of resembles Gustav from last year in Hatteras.
FLOCK: That's true. You're getting sandblasted.
Gentlemen, I appreciate it. It's been quite a ride. And are we done with the ride, by the way? We're pretty well past it, we think?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. This wind will keep shifting around. And the waves will eventually calm down. The sun will be out.
In fact, it will be a beautiful weekend on the Carolina coast coming up and hopefully for the whole East Coast, when this thing gets out of here.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As I say, our work is done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it's not over.
FLOCK: I hear you. I hear you. All right, well, there you can see it, Kyra. As I said, it was worse. But it's still blowing pretty good. So we're going to keep our eye on it and take a look at that damage possibilities around town -- back to you.
PHILLIPS: Jeff, I'm curious. We've been watching you through the years. This is your specialty, covering hurricanes, I must say. We have lots of file tape on you. How does this compare, this assignment?
FLOCK: It never gets old for me. As my wife says, it never gets old for you, does it?
This is one thing that never gets old for me. I do enjoy the fury of nature. But I'll tell you, I wish we could have gotten up live during the period that it was really intense, because that was sort of akin to that Bertha-like experience. And, again, these are storms that are not strong enough to really harm you. But you can be out in them and really experience it and almost get lifted off your feet, so right on the cusp there of doing real damage. Fortunately, I don't think this one has done it here, at least not here. But, elsewhere, it could be different.
PHILLIPS: Jeff Flock, our dedicated reporter, and his wife, a very patient and strong woman. Thanks, Jeff.
FLOCK: Thanks, Kyra.
O'BRIEN: Farther up the Atlantic Coast, let's go to the scene in Virginia, Virginia Beach, to be specific. Jeanne Meserve is there. And the last time she was hanging onto a lamp post, now the railing.
Has it picked up at all, Jeanne?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It ebbs and flows. Sometimes, it's very fast. Other times, the winds seem to slow down.
What's been fairly consistent is this surf behind me, which is really spectacular. Now, ordinarily, that water at high tide is 50 to 75 yards away. It is right here and, occasionally, it's sweeping up over the boardwalk and getting my feet a little damp. But just an amazing scene here. And, remarkably enough, there are people who are going down off the boardwalk into that surf, taking amazing risks, but thrill-seekers, obviously.
And I'm keeping an eye on the roof of the hotel right next to us. Part of the roof that I can see here is looking a little unstable. And some of that roof came off earlier. We heard a huge bang from where we were and ran over and saw the debris just flying through the air. And, of course, all that stuff is essentially flying missiles in a wind like this. Remarkably, nobody was hurt. It didn't look like any property was damaged by it either.
The surf is also doing its damage. There is a fishing pier here in Virginia Beach. About 50 feet came off the end of that, very high wave action. One city official estimated to me, the waves might be as high as 20 feet underneath what is left of that pier. Electricity the big problem here. Power lines are arcing. Power lines are down, about 40,000 people just in this city without power at this hour.
They're not going to get it back any time soon. Crews are not going to be able to work in winds like this. And, oh, here comes a wave. Oh! This is why I was holding onto this railing. This is the biggest wave we've seen in a little while. Pretty dramatic stuff, Miles. Lots of fun.
O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes, Jeanne, hang on tight.
Now, when we were checking in a little while ago, Kathleen Koch was there. And she ran into a couple of gawkers who came down just to see it. Have you seen anybody else down there since then?
MESERVE: Oh, yes. People are all over.
None -- well, there is one gentleman down here. I think it's a man. And I can see some other people in the distance. What's more remarkable to me is not the people up here, but the people who go down into the water. And they are doing that, going not just here in this relatively flat area, but out into the surf. They're wading out there, though, I'm sure, if any authorities saw them, they would tell them to get out immediately.
The police have been patrolling up and down here periodically trying to clear people out. But it's impossible for them to stop everybody. As soon as they leave, more people pop out and come right to the edge to see this incredible spectacle.
O'BRIEN: I'm going to guess that those people are not rocket scientists that are doing that. That does not seem like a wise move on this day.
MESERVE: Miles, we're out here, so what does that say?
O'BRIEN: Well, all right. But you're not diving in. And we don't encourage that, in any respect.
Thank you very much, Jeanne Meserve, in Virginia Beach. Hang on tight -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, a soaking wet Jeanne Meserve to sort of a drying out Gary Tuchman, I guess you could say in Topsail Beach, North Carolina.
Oh, boy, I guess not. It's picked up again. We've got from Jeanne on the rail to our dear Gary on the public beach access sign.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, I'm holding this because it's kind of an ironic piece of damage. It's a beach access sign. And on the bottom, it warns people about rip currents.
But this is one of the signs that has fallen here on this island of Topsail Island. But that is almost the limit of the damage. Lots of signs down, some shingles down from the homes, some trees, some limbs down, very little other damage. And what the people here have learned is, they can tolerate a Category 2 hurricane very well.
Of course, this is the southern edge of the hurricane warning zone. But they have had huge problems here in the past with smaller storms with floods. But what's happened in this storm is, the winds have blown from my left. And over to my left is the Intracoastal Waterway, which separates this island from the North Carolina mainland. By the way, we're near Camp Lejeune, where we spent a lot of time before, during and after the war.
Three blocks wide, this island. The other side of me is where the Atlantic Ocean is. And because this is such a narrow sliver of land, 26 miles long, but only three blocks wide, they've had a lot of problems with flooding. But the winds have blown towards the ocean and they've had almost no flooding whatsoever. We've driven up and down this island, and then to the north, towards Morehead City.
And we can tell you, while there is some damage, so far, we haven't seen any major damage of any kind here or north of here, closer to where the eye was. And that's the good news.
Behind me, there is a bridge. That is the major bridge. It takes people off Topsail Island to the mainland. That bridge will be shut down until 9:00 tomorrow morning. Officials say it's only for emergency vehicles. So anyone on this island who decided to stay who wants to get off it will have to wait until at least tomorrow morning.
The winds are still strong. The rains are still coming down. But it's not as strong of a wind and not as much rain as just an hour ago -- Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: Gary, you mentioned Camp Lejeune. And we, of course, are monitoring e-mails here, viewer comments. And there were some questions about the condition of Camp Lejeune and those stationed there. Do you have any word coming from there?
TUCHMAN: We're being told right now no major problems whatsoever. They're looking at little minor things, but there is nothing catastrophic or major at all, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, our Gary Tuchman there, North Topsail Beach in North Carolina -- thanks, Gary
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