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Florence Growing, Heading for the Carolinas. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 13, 2018 - 07:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Everything that people had feared is now starting to kick into action.

[06:59:49] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is going to be an enormous storm. It is going to be devastating.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The rainfall rates are going to be staggering.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They expect much of this town to be underwater.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you stay here and try to ride out the storm, you're absolutely not going to be able to get rescued.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're worried about our home. I don't want to see it destroyed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This storm is massive. It is much larger than Hugo was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're on the coast, there's still time to get out safely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We hope that the government has learned from their mistakes in the past.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: God bless everybody and be careful.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Thursday, September 13. It is 7 a.m. in the east, 7 a.m. in Oak Island, North Carolina, where I'm standing right now, on the most deserted beach I've ever been on in my entire life. There is no one here, Alisyn. And that is by design.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That is very good news, John, because nobody should be there other than, obviously, reporters warning people, because as we've heard, you are expecting 30 to 40 inches of rain where you are standing. That's the -- what the latest satellite models are showing. And that will not be survivable for people along that coastline. So let's hope that everybody has heed the warning.

BERMAN: That's exactly right. The outer bands of Hurricane Florence have already started to hit the Outer Banks, about 200 miles north of where I am right now. And that's just the beginning. It's the beginning of 48, maybe even more, hours of constant pounding winds.

Yes, Hurricane Florence has been downgraded to a Category 2, but don't be fooled by that. Because the wind speed will be north of tropical- storm-force, even hurricane-force, for well over 24 hours, and that's a serious problem.

And the size of this storm, it's huge. It spans so many people that people up and down North Carolina, the South Carolina coast, even into Georgia, will be feeling these storm-force winds for well over a day. That is incredibly unusual. Meteorologists I've spoken to say they haven't seen anything like that ever before.

That means the storm surge, a huge storm surge, and also the rain, 24 to 36 inches in some places.

Oak Island, where I'm standing right now, is under a mandatory evacuate order. Why? Let me show you why. That is actually interesting. I'm one of the barrier islands 20 miles south of Wilmington, North Carolina. Along the beach here, this deserted beach, the high tide comes up to right about here. This is where the high tide was last night.

Let me show you this dune. This dune protects all the houses behind it. This will overflow with a 3-foot storm surge. At 3 feet, they consider the storm surge here on Oak Island life-threatening. Three feet. They're expecting a 9-foot storm surge here.

The water will go over this dune. It will flood the streets. It will bring sand. It will destroy some of these houses behind me, which is why so many people have left this island.

Hurricane Florence, it is nearly here.

We've got reporters up and down the Carolina coast. Let's first go to Chad Myers in the weather center for the very latest forecast -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Still for you, probably 10 to 12 hours before you really get to see the worst stuff. But that's all relative.

We are getting now the eye on the radar. Some of the outer bands, as you said, almost to Morehead City. John is right there. Our Derek Van Dam, right there. This is almost a catcher's mitt right through here, from Topsail all the way on up to Morehead City. And we're right now 170

miles from the eye to landfall. And maybe we don't get landfall right here. Maybe it's here if it turns slightly to the left. But that's irrelevant, because the storm surge is going to be the same.

You look at the number, 110 miles per hour. You go, "Wait, over here, Cat 2." This is a Cat 4 storm surge. So this is not a Category 2 storm for wind, rain, and surge. This is a Category 2 for the wind around the eye, because the eye kind of lost a little definition. It could come back. But we're not worried about that. I don't even care if this goes down to a Category 1. we're still going to have a Category 4 storm surge.

So here we go, 110 miles per hour, goes to the west. Very close to Wilmington, 105 miles per hour in the overnight hours, probably right onshore. This is still moving at 15. So if you do the math, that's only about 12 hours away. So that needs to slow down to actually get there that slowly. Right now, I don't see any slowdown.

Eighty miles per hour by Friday afternoon and then finally on up into the Carolinas and toward Tennessee.

So, let me take you to what these models are saying. This is the European model. There's the center of the storm, right now. And by later on tonight -- this is 12:30 this afternoon, tomorrow afternoon, this is where the storm will be. Eye onshore at Wilmington, and then moving farther toward Myrtle, kind of turning to the left a little bit.

So here's your storm surge. Now, 9 to 13 feet. What does that mean? If you put 9 to 13 feet on a beach, and then you put a 15-foot wave on top of this, all of a sudden, this animation is going to be really clear, because waves are going to be coming up on the beach at about 2 feet. And then by 4 feet, all of a sudden, we're into these houses.

Now, many of them right on the shore have stilts, and the water will go under those homes. But if you're not on stilts, and then 4 feet, all of a sudden the power of that water and the power of that 12-foot storm surge, is going to take that House completely away.

[07:05:13] And here's the problem. Many people that evacuated, evacuated along the beach, because they thought, "Oh, well, I'm on the beach. I better get out of here."

The people in the back bay, the people that are on one-level ranch homes, many of them didn't get away. The water with the 14-, 12-, 14- foot storm surge, 15-foot waves on top, will be all the way back there, as well -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Chad Myers, thanks so much.

And as we've mentioned, this storm will sit for so long over this area. They'll have to withstand several high tide cycles. And when you're talking about a storm surge of 9 feet, again, I wish I were 6'5". I'm not. But if I were, I'd be this tall. There's going to be a storm surge. The water will be, you know, 5 feet above my head, where I'm standing right now. That is a serious problem.

Again, I'm in Oak Island, North Carolina. A little bit south of me is Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. A destination, a vacation destination, a pleasure destination for so many. That, too, under serious threat this morning and over the next several days. Our Nick Valencia is there -- Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there, John.

It is very serious this morning for those that have decided to stick this storm out. Yesterday, we were in the middle of Highway 501 watching as cars were leaving. Today, though, this is when things are really going to start to get serious.

I want to point some things out here. When we were reporting on the beach yesterday morning, the tide was significantly further inland. I just got off the phone with our weather department. This tide, it appears that the hurricane may be sucking this water back in. The tide is low right now, high tide expected in a couple of hours from now. It is also significantly more windy today than it was at this hour or yesterday. The skies are also a little gray. I'm not sure if that translates on camera.

A lot of nervous people here, especially the local mayor, Brenda Bethune. It was yesterday that she enacted a curfew between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. It was earlier that I just spoke to the House state representative here in South Carolina. He was walking on the beach here this morning. He tells me that that hurricane was mainly to keep hurricane tourists away. He's not sure if that hurricane will go into effect. People were still allowed to evacuate during those hours.

What they are concerned about, of course, is the wind. I mentioned how significantly more it is this morning. But what the biggest concern is, is flooding. We were just on the edge of the evacuation zone yesterday in Conway, South Carolina. It floods a lot there. They're worried also here in Myrtle Beach about the flooding.

The time to evacuate is now. In fact, yesterday, we got an alert. All of us here that are staying locally got an alert on our phones that it was time to leave. It is not too late to leave, but that window is closing fast -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Nick Valencia in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Let's head down the coast even further. Let's go to Charleston, South Carolina.

Joining us now is Congressman Mark Sanford, who represents so much of the beautiful low country and coastal South Carolina.

Congressman, thanks so much for being with us. You have vast experience with this, also. You served as governor for eight years of South Carolina. As you look at this storm, and every storm is different, with all this rain, with all this storm surge, with the duration that this storm will sit here, what's your area of biggest concern?

REP. MARK SANFORD (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I think you hit it when you said the word "duration." I think that what stands out for me and what's unusual about this storm is the way that it's going to, as all the models suggest, you know, flip to the south, begin to make that leftward turn, and then just sort of park itself slowly over the North Carolina/South Carolina border and work its way across South Carolina over the weekend.

That's highly unusual for these storms, because typically, they sort of blow through, and they're gone. And so I think it's telling that Duke Energy, for instance, has -- has activated 20,000 folks to be prepared to repair tel -- I mean, electrical lines. But what that means is, while that storm's in place, they can't get

there. So you talk about a weekend of misery. South Carolina, without air-conditioning, this time of year, can be absolutely miserable for folks, you know, all the way across the state of South Carolina, as this storm makes its way across.

BERMAN: You talked about the electric crews not being able to do anything until the storm passes through. It's the rescue teams --

SANFORD: Correct.

BERMAN: -- that won't be able to get out either. Almost all of them tell us that once the wind speeds go north of 45 miles an hour, they won't go out. And what's so frightening about this storm, Congressman, is that the wind speeds could be higher than 45 miles per hour for two days. So people are going to be stuck for two days --

SANFORD: Right. Correct.

BERMAN: -- without any hope of getting help.

SANFORD: I mean, yes, to your point, not only from an emergency response standpoint, but the idea of sitting there, sweltering while you wait with no electricity, no lights, no air-conditioning, an awfully gloomy picture. So we'll see what comes, so I think that that's what stands out for me as unusual about this storm.

BERMAN: The mandatory evacuation orders that have been put in place in North Carolina and South Carolina have different rules. But people should know that most of the coastal areas, the most vulnerable areas, there have been mandatory evacuation orders. But as you know, there's no legal repercussions for not leaving.

[07:10:12] How difficult does that make it for you, as a former chief executive, to get people to do what they need to do?

SANFORD: Well, all you can do is suggest, to your point. And so, the media has certainly done that. And I think officials of all sorts have done that, whether that's folks in emergency management or the governor himself, here in the state of South Carolina.

But, you know, what I've seen is, you know, Charleston's pretty quiet right annoy. And all the big employers have shut down. I mean, Boeing's shut down. The hotels are shut down. But a lot of people have said, "I don't know if it's going to make that leftward turn." A lot of people have stayed here in the region. And certainly, as you go inland.

And I think, again, what's unusual about this storm is the way that it's going to slowly work its way across the inland portions of South Carolina, where there hasn't been a mandatory evacuation.

BERMAN: Yes, 24 inches of rain. I don't know how you feel about that where you are, but that seems like an awful lot of rain, particularly in these areas which are saturated already. Are you concerned? What's your biggest concern in terms of life and livelihood? SANFORD: I think it would be inland flooding. You know, at this

point, it looks like Charleston and the low country is going to be on the backside of the storm. And, you know, traditionally, the storm surge that you've been talking about is on the upper right-hand quadrant, not the -- not the southern side.

And so I don't know that we have as much to fear, as you look particularly south of Charleston with regard to storm surge. But what you do have to anticipate is, again, that rain that you're talking about; no ability to bring in rescue crews, no ability to bring in electricity, and then flooding, which I think could be quite pronounced as you go inland South Carolina.

BERMAN: Again, you've been around for a long time. And really, no one has seen this exact combination of threats before, and that's what makes this so concerning.

If I can ask a little bit of a different type of question, Congressman. Obviously, you've been critical of President Trump in the past for certain things.

I've seen some of the FEMA preparations already for this storm. I saw rental cars at the ready for FEMA contractors up in Raleigh, staging for when they need to come in after the storm.

However, as the government is preparing for this, President Trump felt the need to talk about the Puerto Rico response. And he called it an unsung success story and underappreciated, with no mention of the now 3,000 people we know died as a result of that storm.

What's your reaction to that?

SANFORD: You know, I -- it doesn't make a lot of sense. I mean, I think that, by all accounts, there were some -- you know, areas of strong deficiency with regard to the Puerto Rican response. Some of it's tied to Jones Act, some of it tied to the island, some of it tied to local input, some of it tied to the administration. So, you know, again, he's going to do what he's going to do.

All I know from the standpoint of what I see here on the ground is that I think it does matter that he has declared the state of emergency. That helps to bring in federal assets. Those federal assets have been brought in here in South Carolina.

I think that they've taken some lessons learned from what went wrong in Puerto Rico and applied them in this storm. What I've seen is good input and good preparation from a FEMA standpoint here in this state.

BERMAN: Congressman Mark Sanford from South Carolina, a little bit down the coast from where we are right now. We wish you a very safe and as dry as can be next 72 hours. It's going to be tough for everyone around here, so thanks so much, Congressman.

SANFORD: Yes, sir.

BERMAN: All right, the storm, the wind picking up just a little bit here. The outer bands of Hurricane Florence beginning to hit the Outer Banks of North Carolina where we are right now. It will be a very difficult few days. Wilmington, North Carolina, one of the population centers that could see some of the worst of it. We'll speak to the mayor there, next. ]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:18:30] BERMAN: All right. John Berman here in Oak Island, North Carolina. One thing I want to show you. You can see this pier behind me right now that goes out into the ocean. This pier two years ago in Hurricane Matthew, it withstood the pounding from Matthew. There's another pier behind it, though, that you can't see that was destroyed.

Now, Hurricane Matthew, a Category 2 storm, but it passed through here in a couple of hours. Hurricane Florence is a Category 2, maybe a little bit stronger storm, that's going to sit over this area for two days. So just think of the destruction it might be causing there.

Again, I'm in Oak Island, but a little bit north of where I am is Wilmington, North Carolina. A lovely city, a population center along the coast.

I'm joined now by the mayor of Wilmington, North Carolina, Bill Saffo. And Mayor, if I can start with a selfish question. After we're done here this morning, we plan to head to Wilmington. That's where we're going to ride out the brunt of this storm.

What can we expect as we are there for the next 48 hours?

BILL SAFFO, MAYOR, WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA: You're going to see a lot of wind. You're going to see a lot of downed power lines. You're going to see downed trees. You're going to see a considerable amount of flooding. We're talking about 20 to 30 inches.

I'm here at the weather center here in Wilmington, and they're telling me 20 to 30 inches of rain in some areas, possibly up to 40 inches of rain. This is going to be pretty significant flooding event for our community and for our area, in addition to the storm surges that you had mentioned, John, on the barrier islands. So it's going to be -- we're going to have some significant damage come in with this storm.

[07:20:08] BERMAN: And it's going to be there for a long time. I was seeing some forecasts the Cape Fear River, which sort of, you know, buttresses one end of Wilmington, the Cape Fear River could reach record levels? Talk to me about that.

SAFFO: It could. Obviously, all of this rain, which, of course, that is a very large storm, over 200 miles wide, is going to be -- you're going to feel it all the way up into Charlotte.

The Cape Fear River is the only river in the state of North Carolina that's contained within the state of North Carolina. So all of that rain, all of that water that's going to be dumped on the state of North Carolina, it will be coming down the Cape Fear River. We -- we most definitely are going to see significant rises in the river. We may see some record-level rise in the river. And for those who went through Matthew two years ago, as you

mentioned, we lost several people, because they tried to traverse roads, bridges after the storm passed. And their cars got swept away. And what I'm asking our citizens is to make certain, before you approach any kind of standing water, significant standing water, do not try to cross it, because you may be swept away. And we lost several people two years ago, when Matthew came through.

BERMAN: That's such an important warning. Standing water is so dangerous. And even that warning is some two days away. We've got to get to the point where that's a major concern, after the wind, after the storm surge, and then we see the rain.

What do people need to know for the next 48 hours in terms of what will be available to them from possible rescue teams? I know you've warned people they should be getting out of Wilmington, but if they chose to stay, once this storm hits, they're on their own, correct?

SAFFO: They are on their own. Once -- once this -- once this storm is upon us, we're not going to be able to send emergency personnel out to save you, to help you, until the storm passes. That's why it's so important that, while you still have some time, make the preparations, get out of the way, go to higher ground. Because once this storm is upon us, we're not going to be able to send out our emergency personnel to help you, until the storm passes.

I know that the governor has got some swift boat teams here, ready to -- for rescue for those that are in the rural areas, that are going to be impacted as much as we are down here on the coast, with the inland flooding, that they'll be ready to go in those particular areas. But we'll see a lot of those folks, unfortunately, try to transverse some of these -- these little rural areas or little rural roads, which are going to be heavily flooded, because of the amount of rain that's going to be dump on this area by this storm.

So we just ask people to use extreme caution; you know, get to higher ground now. You still have a little bit of time left. But those that are thinking of leaving the area, the time is now. Now.

BERMAN: Right. You've got about two or three hours. And really, that's it. And you were talking about the swiftboat operators. I was speaking to one earlier this morning, and he said the way that he can save the most lives is tell people to evacuate now.

SAFFO: Exactly.

BERMAN: Because no matter how good he is after the fact, he can't save as many lives for the people who stay.

Hang on one second, mayor. Because I believe some video and some sound of something to play, which is from a Coast Guard station some -- live now, about 30 miles off the coast. I think we can get a sense of the wind.

(WIND NOISE) BERMAN: Mayor, this is 34 miles off the coast. It's a Coast Guard light station. And I'm afraid you and I are going to have to get used to the sound, that sound. That is the outer bands that have already begun to approach the Carolina coast. Tropical storm-force winds.

And those winds, once they've really hit land, they are staying.

SAFFO: OK. Thank you.

BERMAN: They're going to stay for some 60 hours. And that's a cause of major concern, isn't it?

All right, I lost the mayor.

Mayor Bill Saffo from Wilmington, North Carolina. I know he's very, very busy. He's been warning people to get out of his city for the last few days. And he's got a real problem ahead of him with the river, the Cape Fear River, as we were talking about, that flows down there. It will flood. And that's in addition to the storm surge, Alisyn.

I can't get over the sound, the sound from that Coast Guard station some 35 miles off. The power of this wind, the power of this storm, it's going to be something to behold, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Yes, I can't get over the sound, either. And you couldn't see the video, like we could. The waves are also churned up. the ocean also looks very angry there.

Here, let's just listen again. This is what's happening as you say, 30 miles offshore. It gives us a sense of what is coming in your direction. Listen to this.

(WIND NOISES)

CAMEROTA: John, there was one shot that I want us to be able to get back to, which shows a flag and how much it is rippling in the wind. It's ominous. Listen, I mean, it's ominous -- there's the flag, you can see how the wind is whipping up. It's nerve-racking, quite frankly, to think that that is headed in your direction, hours from now.

[07:25:14] BERMAN: And look, that is why you hear apprehension in the voices of so many of the public officials here. And make no mistake, they're trying to scare you. They want to scare you, because this is frightening, and they need people along this coast to pay attention. If you were told to evacuate, they're saying, please, please, get out in the next couple of hours. That's the last chance you'll have, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Well, that is your job, John. That is why we have sent you there, so that you can sound the alarm for everyone who is watching. So John, we will check back with you in Oak Island, North Carolina, very shortly.

There is other news to tell you about. Has the federal government learned anything from the mistakes after Hurricane Maria? What the president is saying about the preparation for Florence, next.

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