Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Florida Braces for Hurricane Matthew. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired October 06, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:03] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Boris, thank you very much.

You have this urgency to move, if you are told to. And then you have the concern, well, where do you go? Many Floridians are heading inland this morning. We're seeing long lines for gas, empty store shelves, as Alisyn said, because Hurricane Matthew is coming, and people are trying to get what they need and get where they have to be.

CNN's Nick Valencia live in West Palm Beach. Nick, what are you seeing there?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

Ominous warning signs already over the course of the last hour. The winds have significantly started to pick up, much like where Boris is. This is a community over the course of the last three days that is really prepared for this moment, bracing for potential devastation.

When our news crew got here yesterday, we immediately went to go stock up on supplies. What we could find, anyway. There were empty store shelves. The bread was gone. The water was gone. Plenty of nervous families going up and down those aisle, trying to get their hands on the essentials that were left behind. Out on the streets, more eerie signs: some gas stations closed down, because fuel was not an option.

There were stores here or gas stations that have completely run out of gas. The governor, however, says there's enough of a supply for the state of Florida to get through this hurricane.

When it does hit, we're expecting those tropical force winds to pick up here later this afternoon. Already, this community under a mandatory evacuation. But there are residents here that are choosing not to evacuate. Some say they have nowhere to go. Just a little while ago I interviewed one resident who moved down here from Philadelphia about a year ago. He says he's just going to wait it out. That's not what is recommended by police. They say if you do decide to stick it out here in West Palm Beach, you're going to be on your own -- Chris, Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: I'll take it, Nick. Police do not like to hear that people think that they're going to wait out this storm, particularly this one. Thank you for that reporting.

Airlines have canceled more than 1,500 flights ahead of Hurricane Matthew. That number will definitely go up as the storm heads towards Florida. As for trains, Amtrak is suspending service in the southeast, urging customers to check your train's status, also review your refund information before heading out today.

CUOMO: Twenty-four hours, that's the window of urgency that we're going to focus on. We have CNN meteorologist Chad Myers tracking the storm. Chad, what's the latest?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The latest is you can see the eye on radar now. It's close enough to Miami that the radar can pick it up. That doesn't happen unless it's less than 250 miles away.

I'm going to take you through this storm, though. Here we go: 7:30 tonight we start to see hurricane-force winds -- hurricane-force, 74 miles per hour. Now from West Palm down to Boca. But watch this red area. This is the Category 3 or higher wind. This is 110 miles per hour.

So at West Palm and Jupiter coming up tonight, 10 p.m. You're at 110 miles per hour. A sleepless night as things go bump in the night with winds blowing around. Now we go Ft. Pierce, Stewart, Jupiter. You are in the zone. That's 110 miles per hour or greater.

You move ahead, 3 a.m. in the morning, trying to set up live shots with crews in a very dangerous situation. I hope everyone is safe down there. Ft. Pierce, Stewart, Melbourne about to get slammed with 110-mile-per-hour winds.

Now we go to the start for NEW DAY right here. Cape Canaveral. You're seeing the wind over 100, 110 miles per hour as it drives itself up the coast hour by hour by hour, just eroding the beaches. A lot of erosion. A lot of people going to really see these houses that have been standing there for many years, saying, "Oh, it's been here since 1955." Those houses will be in big, big trouble.

CUOMO: Chad, and reading about the track of the storm, one of the concerns is what you've been saying. Is that it's going to bounce along the East Coast, as opposed to coming in and ricocheting out. Explain why and what the distinction is.

MYERS: If you think about the eye wall, that's where the wind is. It's not in the center. The eye, the middle is calm. That eye wall could stay on, bashing the entire coast for hundreds of miles with winds over 120. Maybe even to 145, which is the new hurricane center forecast. One forty-five, Chris.

CAMEROTA: Hey, Chad. I know it drives you crazy when you hear some of the reporting that Nick Valencia just gave us of people thinking that they're going to weather this; they're going to stick out this storm.

I'm already getting e-mails from people in Florida, tweets, where you know, they have this sense of, you know, people cry wolf. We've heard this before. People sometimes over-exaggerate what's going to happen. This one sounds different, Chad. MYERS: It does. And you know what? This will be a "cry wolf" storm

if it's 40 miles off-shore. I don't believe that's going to happen. I believe this storm will be right on land with the eyewall.

So I just looked at Google Maps, and the traffic is fine. It's time to go now, because after people maybe see the 11 a.m. advisory, it will certainly be too late. All preps have to be done this morning.

CUOMO: Now, in terms of what it can do, one of the things is, you know, for us, you know, we know what these storms can do. We've seen them; we've covered them. We've been there. But you haven't had one in a number of years down in Florida. So what is the reminder to people about how Florida can change because of the storm?

[07:05:05] MYERS: And it's also going to be how the wind comes onshore to these beach homes, to these communities, to these mobile home parks. There's not a mobile home in the world that can withstand a 145-mile-per-hour wind. It just isn't going to happen. These parks, if this eyewall is on land in your community, you home will be in trouble.

You need to be out of it and on Florida's west coast. It's time to go now. Because I don't want, you know, midnight tomorrow night or midnight tonight everybody thinking, "Oh, I can -- I can go now. It's in Miami or it's in Ft. Lauderdale. I'll go now." There's no chance you want to drive in that. The winds are already going to be 60 or 70. You need to be off the road before they get to that. I mean, this is going to be a tough, tough storm.

CAMEROTA: Chad, stay with us if you would. We want to bring in now Dr. Rick Knabb. He's the director of the National Hurricane Center.

Dr. Knabb, give us the latest that you're seeing on your screen there.

DR. RICK KNABB, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Well, Hurricane Matthew getting very close to Nassau in the Bahamas, and it is a major hurricane poised to strengthen some more before it gets to Florida later tonight.

But the first outer rain bands are starting to arrive here in Miami- Dade County and in Broward County. Those don't appear to have tropical storm force winds yet. That will happen later today. But really, if you're in southeast Florida, the morning hours are your last chance to take whatever remaining preparations you need to.

And I especially want to urge people who are listening to this and, if you're in an evacuation zone that has been told to leave, especially, for example, in Palm Beach County -- they're zones A and B, for example -- you've got to get out now.

Storm surges are the deadliest hazard of all, historically. And even if you're in a high-rise don't vertically evacuate. Because you go, like, to the 25th floor, you're just buying yourself another category higher on our Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale, and we could have a Category 4 coming ashore in southeast Florida tonight. MYERS: Dr. Knabb, hey, it's Chad Myers here. Overnight in the 5

o'clock advisory, the closest approach to Florida went from 135-mile- per-hours to 145 miles per. And people thinking that's only 10 percent difference. That's no big deal. Describe why 145 is so much more dangerous than 130 or 120?

KNABB: It's not a linear relationship between the strength of the wind and the damage that it can do. it's rather exponential. But either way, you know, we don't know exactly what the wind speeds will be at any one location tonight and tomorrow, as this goes up the East Coast of Florida. And we don't know exactly where the center's going to be.

But what you need to prepare for is a major hurricane. The core of a major hurricane perhaps coming ashore in your area, if you are here on the East Coast. Florida hurricane. And even if the center stays off- shore, you can still get hurricane-force winds and the damaging storm surge and the inland flooding.

So, you can't be counting on any of the details to get you off the hook. And like you said, any stronger that this gets between where it is now over the Bahamas and when it gets to Florida, just makes the damage even worse. Take this seriously. And your point is well taken that any increase in the wind speeds for a major hurricane just makes it even more damaging from the wind and also a greater ability to push the water onshore in the storm surge.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Knabb, can you give us context, again? You know, we tend to think that Florida is hit by hurricanes all the time. But you and Chad keep saying that we've never seen anything like this in our lifetime. So what do you mean?

KNABB: Well, every hurricane has its own characteristics that are unique. We can point to some past hurricanes that it reminds us of, but every one is different. And this is a terrible track, obviously, for the East Coast of Florida. This could be an extremely disastrous hurricane for so many large areas where so many people can be affected.

It's -- it's not going to just come ashore and affect a narrow zone and then move on. It's going to be going up the coast and could remain a major hurricane at the coast or very close to it. The whole way up. That's awful.

And we've got Georgia and South Carolina in play, as well. And, you know, down in Miami-Dade County and the Keys, the impacts won't be as great. But we're under tropical storm warnings. And so the whole East Coast of Florida. And we've been talking to Georgia and South Carolina. People are being given evacuation instructions. You've got to heed those and get out and find a safe place to be during the storm and identify that place and get to it quickly today.

MYERS: Doctor, the pressure just went down to 939 with the hurricane hunter aircraft. That's almost the pressure that we had when it hit Haiti. Could we see that type of damage? KNABB: Well, every location is different in terms of what the damage

will be, because it's all about did wind affect you, did water affect you and what kind of structure are you in? So, what kind of damage we'll see on the East Coast of Florida from one place to the next will vary greatly depending upon which hazard it was and how strong the structure was.

[07:10:11] But yes, this can be a devastating hurricane from both wind and water. And that's why you have to take it seriously to stay alive. Really.

Because you've got to be in a place that's not prone to storm surge, out of the areas you've been told to evacuate from, in a structure that is safe from the wind away from the windows.

Look, I put my shutters up on my house last night, and I'm in suburban Broward County in the hurricane warning area in Ft. Lauderdale. So, you've got to take this seriously. Don't ignore this. I know some people are new to the hurricane problem. This is about as bad as it gets.

CAMEROTA: OK. We hear your warning. You couldn't underscore any more. We hope people heed your warnings. Dr. Rick Knabb, Chad Myers, thank you. We'll check back in with you through the program -- Chris.

CUOMO: Joining us now on the phone is the mayor of Cape Canaveral, Florida, Bob Hoog. He has left his town after mandatory evacuations were ordered in part of Brevard County, where his town is located.

Mr. Mayor, I hope you and your family have made the proper accommodations for yourselves. What do you know about how the rest of the county and your municipality is reacting?

BOB HOOG, MAYOR OF CAPE CANAVERAL (via telephone): Well, we are evacuated. We obtained the state of emergency yesterday morning, and the staff has started all evacuation procedures and preparations of the city. The people are -- some people are staying onboard over there, and I'm hoping they will evacuate, because there is going to be very extensive damage to the coastline.

CUOMO: I know we just heard the experts say...

HOOG: The storm surge predicted of eight feet in our area and multiple wind damage.

CUOMO: We just heard...

HOOG: The staff has done everything that we can possibly do to prepare the city for such a devastation.

CUOMO: We just...

HOOG: We are working very hard, and hopefully, that when we get back, there will not be that much damage that's being predicted. But who knows, and I'm only making a plea to the last residents that have decided to sit and hunker it down over there to leave. This is going to be a devastating storm.

CUOMO: Well, we just heard from the experts that this is about as bad as it gets in terms of the projection. Obviously, you'd rather be safe than sorry. It's a good thing when we're wrong about how severe a storm is going to be. Who stays behind last in terms of emergency services to clear people out, to house check? Is that done where you are?

HOOG: As of right now, the fire service is still on station, and the police department, sheriff's office is onboard. The causeway bridges are to remain open until devastation has occurred; and then it will be shut down, and it will be only back to the municipality by authorization of letters only.

CUOMO: Have you lived through a terrible hurricane before, and how did it change the area?

HOOG: I have been in the area for 60, approximately 64 years; and I have been through a couple hurricanes. But the worst was Donna back in '63, I believe, that we experienced directly like this. But there has not been any devastation other than what is being predicted. But Donna did do devastation back in the '60s to the intercostal area of Cocoa and all new to the west Cocoa area. The beach was hit very hard. But the devastation that was there, I don't believe, will be like we're going to be experiencing here.

CUOMO: Right. That's one of the things that you're battling against, is that people don't know what it can do on the east coast in the area that you're in. They haven't dealt with big hurricanes, thank God. But maybe that's all about to change.

Mayor Hoog, I hope you stay safe. And we will keep information out of what is needed in that area.

HOOG: Thank you. My prayers are with everybody.

CUOMO: Be well.

CAMEROTA: Ours, too.

We'll continue to track Hurricane Matthew. Obviously, the storm is slamming through the Bahamas right now. So, we will get a live report from a reporter here. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:18:26] CUOMO: West Palm Beach is one of the areas that experts fear is going to get hit hard. We have the mayor, Jerry Muoio, joining us right now.

Mayor, are people heeding the warnings? You have a special challenge there. People aren't hurricane-hardened. They're not used to this, hearing that they're going to get hit. How are they responding?

JERRY MUOIO, MAYOR OF WEST PALM BEACH (via telephone): Yes, good morning, Chris. Well, we'll be hoping they are responding the way they need to be responding. They have gotten a little complacent over the last ten years. So we haven't had a hurricane. So we've been urging people to make sure that they get their shutters up. We have mandatory evacuation. They need to get their debris out of their yards so there's no flying objects.

And we're out there encouraging people. People driving around and my crew just checking on what's going on in each of the neighborhoods.

CUOMO: Mayor, what do you want to remind people about what life is like if you stay behind, assuming, God willing, you survive even if your home is intact. What do you want to remind people about in terms of what you just don't have in everyday life after one of these?

MUOIO: Well, of course, we won't have electricity. We're really hoping that the water is not going to be affected. You just never know. And, you know, cooking and your cell phone is not going to work. And you're not going to be able to charge it. You're not going to be able to play your video games. And getting information is going to be very difficult.

So, we really encourage you, if you're in a mandatory evacuation area, you need to leave.

CUOMO: Now, do people have enough places to go? How are you in terms of emergency service preparation down there?

[07:20:09] MUOIO: Well, we have many shelters open in Palm Beach County. There is one specifically in West Palm Beach, but there are about 12 or 13 all over Palm Beach County. So, there are plenty of emergency shelters. We have an emergency shelter for special needs people, as well as for people who want to bring their pets to the shelter.

CUOMO: And what are you hearing about how likely it is that you get affected here and what kind of impact it will be?

MUOIO: We're definitely going to be affected. For the most part, it will be tropical storm wins, but we're pretty certain that we will have hurricane-force winds at some point Thursday evening. This evening into Friday morning. And so when you start talking about hurricane-force winds, that's significant.

CUOMO: All right. Mayor Jerry Muoio, I hope that you and your loved ones are safe, and I hope that people heed the warning. and I hope we're all wrong. I hope it ends up being less.

MUOIO: Wouldn't that be nice? That would be lovely.

CUOMO: It would be nice. I would be very happy to be wrong. We'll check with you soon. Let us know what we need to get out to people in terms of information -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: It doesn't sound like we're wrong. Let's check in right now. We're tracking the hurricane. We do want to check in with Chad. What are you seeing at this hour, Chad? MYERS: You know, the hurricane warnings, Alisyn, are all the way up

from South Carolina all the way down to Miami, right through the middle of Georgia, as well, all the way down through Cape Canaveral. This will be a major event. This will be the biggest hurricane most people in Florida have seen and maybe ever will see.

This will be, according to the hurricane center, a 145-mile-per-hour storm coming onshore or very close. If the eyewall is on land along these outer beaches, along the sand bars out there, they will be torn up. You can't do anything with 145-mile-per-hour wind.

And it was important what Ms. Mayor was saying there. If you're in an evacuation area, this is no joke. This is a big deal. Let's move you ahead to 10 p.m. tonight.

We have 110-miles-per-hour winds onshore from Jupiter down to almost Boca. And that is the area that is going to see the heaviest gusts. Every time an outer band comes onshore, the gusts will pick up significantly, maybe double. And all of a sudden, Ft. Pierce, Stewart and Jupiter, you are now in it.

Let's move you ahead. This is midnight tonight. You are seeing a major hurricane destroy parts of your community. That's how devastating it is. And now, look how close it is. This is about Melbourne, Indialantic Beach, right on up to Cocoa and into Cape Canaveral. All of the areas, every area you see here, this entire red zone, it's possible 110-mile-per-hour wind or greater. That big.

CUOMO: and you know, Chad, even for us. We're thinking about where we can stage, where we can cover this in a place where the technology will be able to sustain what's going to happen. And we have a pretty high threshold. We're going to stay checking in with you. Let us know when information changes.

Now, we're also going to be covering this morning these developments since we've had this big debate with the vice presidents. What does Tim Kaine say to the claims from the Trump campaign that he was unhinged at his debate? We're going to find out. NEW DAY with the vice-presidential nominee, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:27:15] CUOMO: Hurricane Matthew headed towards the East Coast of Florida, hitting the Bahamian Islands right now. In Nassau from WPLG in Miami is reporter Amy Viteri, a CNN affiliate down there. Amy, how are you doing?

AMY VITERI, REPORTER, WPLG: Well, Chris, the weather is getting worse. As you can see, we're really getting slammed. Not only the wind, but the rain now. And I wanted to just give you a look where we are.

We're on the northern part of Nassau, northern part of New Providence Island. And you're looking out at Cable Beach there. Now, keep in mind, the storm is actually coming from the south, and we are getting slammed here. We are told we're about half an hour away. You can really hear those winds.

We're about half an hour away from that core coming through, and it looks like it's going to head right over us. Of course, at that time probably it won't be safe for us to be out here just based on debris coming through. Now, where we are. This is a resort that has evacuated all of the hotel guest rooms.

Everybody was sent about 1 in the morning. They woke everybody up. Security actually went into rooms, because you can see there are no hurricane shutters on these windows.

So, the concern here being right on the water with these heavy winds coming through. They evacuated everybody to an interior ballroom inside on the fourth floor.

Now, another issue that we're dealing with at this particular resort is the fact that it's an open-air situation here on the lobby level. So if you follow me in here, you can see these tile floors soaking wet. That's something they're going to be working on all morning. Obviously, the damage to the tourism industry here in Nassau will be significant.

Alisyn, back to you.

CAMEROTA: OK. Be careful, Amy. Take cover there. And thanks so much for the reporting from the Bahamas.

All right. So we are three days away now from the highly anticipated rematch between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. This morning the Clinton campaign is debuting a new battleground ad right here on NEW DAY. So let's take a look at it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How tall are you?

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: How do we measure greatness in America? The height of our skyscrapers? The size of our bank accounts? No. It's measured by what we do for our children. The values we pass on.

I've spent my life fighting for kids and families. And it will be my mission to build a country where our children can rise as high as their dreams and hard work take them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right. We're joined now by Hillary Clinton's running mate, Senator Tim Kaine.

Good morning, Senator.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D), VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hey, Alisyn, great to be with you.

CAMEROTA: Great to have you here. So tell me the thinking behind that ad.

Hmm. I believe the hurricane is already wreaking havoc with our satellite.

KAINE: Well, Hillary...

CAMEROTA: Hi, Senator. Sorry we lost you for a second. Sorry to interrupt. Can you tell us that again, what the thinking is behind that?

KAINE: Yes, absolutely. It really says who Hillary Clinton is and who I am.