Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Hurricane Florence Pounds Carolina Coast As It Nears Landfall; 150 People Awaiting Rescue In New Bern, North Carolina. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired September 14, 2018 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are expecting winds of 90-95 miles over the next few minutes here in Wilmington. We've got pictures coming in from all over the city right now. You can see -- you can see the ferocity of this storm.

Behind me, this is the northeast Cape Fear River. This is a river right now. This looks like a sea with the whitecaps and the water and the wind pouring off the river right now into my face if I turn around. I can barely turn around because of the force of it is just so strong.

And to be clear, as ferocious as this wind is, this is not the real problem of the storm. It is the surge and the flooding. It is a crisis situation north of where I am in New Bern, California (sic) with families trapped in their homes.

We have a family on the phone. We'll speak to them right after the break.

Stay with us. Our special live coverage of Hurricane Florence continues, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:35:17] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BERMAN: All right, John Berman in Wilmington, North Carolina right now.

The outer eyewall of Hurricane Florence is right over us. This is the strongest winds we have felt yet. Chad Myers told us it would be at about 90 miles per hour -- very strong winds. The torrential rains here do continue.

Hurricane Florence is moving at a snail's pace over the coast here and that is a real problem. That means when you feel these winds, they stay. They stick around for a long, long time and they will pound the coast for hours. The rain will fall for days.

The real threat of this storm -- the real danger of this storm has been the storm surge and flooding.

We have a near-crisis situation about 80 miles north of where I am in the city of New Bern, which is on the Neuse River. The storm surge there pushed that Neuse River right up into that community. A hundred, 200 rescues already, with 100 outstanding calls, at least.

We spoke to the Cajun Navy, a volunteer group who says they've received some 500 calls for help. They're staging right now. They cannot reach the people in need just yet because the conditions are not favorable -- they're compromised. They can't get out in their boats or their Zodiacs until the winds die down just a little bit.

On the phone with me now is Paul Mills. Paul, can you hear me?

PAUL MILLS, EVACUATED HOME FLOODED IN NEW BERN, NORTH CAROLINA (via telephone): Yes, sir. Yes, sir, I can hear you.

BERMAN: So I -- Paul, I understand you are in New Bern. You were able to get out of your house. You are in a safe place right now, but your home is completely flooded.

Give us a sense of the situation there.

MILLS: I left my house yesterday after receiving reports about it being here possibly three days. And I left -- we left about noon yesterday and took our kids to safety -- to a friend's house for safety.

We returned about 2:00 yesterday afternoon to grab a few more things -- to get our animal and bring him with us. And at the time, the water was already rising and it was coming down my street.

Where I live at I'm a block off of Northwest Creek in Fairfield Harbour, which we were told to evacuate because of the impending surge, and I am so grateful and thankful that we did.

I spoke with a couple of my neighbors last night up until 11:00-11:30 and the water was continuing to rise, and they had already had several people trapped and they were being rescued and being evacuated by first responders and volunteers and the like.

You know, we were -- we were thinking the storm was going to be here for today -- sometime this Friday morning. But as (INAUDIBLE).

I mean, you can prep all you want but you can't prep for something like this. It's bad -- it's pretty bad.

BERMAN: You can prep up all you want but you can't prep for something like this because there's nothing --

MILLS: No.

BERMAN: -- you can do when the water rises --

MILLS: Absolutely not.

BERMAN: -- some 10 feet.

MILLS: Absolutely not.

BERMAN: Give me a sense of how high the water is at this moment. Do you have a sense --

MILLS: Well --

BERMAN: -- of how high the water is now?

MILLS: I can't tell exactly because where we're located at (INAUDIBLE) they're at 27 feet above sea level. I'm standing out in the garage looking out right here and mostly there is no water. I think we could probably still get out of here but we may be trapped in this area.

There's a (INAUDIBLE) creek not far from here. I'm sure that's washed out that road because that's at nine feet above sea level coming into this subdivision. So I'm sure that part is washed out.

I have not tried to venture out yet. I'm going to wait until daylight and try to get to my office about a half a mile from here. I'm going to try to go over there and see if anything -- how much is traversable or not.

We haven't had power since about --

BERMAN: Yes.

MILLS: -- 7:00 last night. And, you know --

BERMAN: Well, you don't need to hear it from me -- you don't need to hear it from me Paul, but don't -- but don't go out. We recommend you don't go out unless the conditions improve quite a bit. I know you want to go out and see your house as soon as you can --

MILLS: Well, the --

BERMAN: -- but please stay safe.

MILLS: There is no way to get to my house.

BERMAN: We are getting so many reports -- yes, we're getting reports --

MILLS: Yesterday evening at 7:00, it was already in my garage and I'm sure it's in the house --

BERMAN: Yes.

MILLS: -- by now. My house is on 12 --

BERMAN: We're getting --

MILLS: -- 13 feet above sea level so I know it's probably gone.

Yes, just God be with us.

[05:40:00] BERMAN: So Paul, I understand your wife works at --

MILLS: I'm sorry? BERMAN: I understand your wife works for the -- I think it's the Doubletree Hotel there in New Bern where there are some people that were trying to stay there and may be trapped now.

What can you tell us about that?

MILLS: Well, actually, she no longer works there now. And we've ridden out many a hurricane in that hotel. But that hotel is located right on the Neuse River where the Trent River and Neuse River come together.

But it is in a low-lying area of New Bern. It floods in a regular cat two hurricane. I can only imagine what it is now. It's got to be -- I would have to imagine the ground floor is probably at least engulfed and flooded.

Downtown New Bern was flooded yesterday evening at 8:00. If this continues -- I have no weather reports on what's going on other than what I see outside the door right now, but I can only imagine it's got to be at least to the ground floor engulfed in floodwaters. I do not know.

I've just got to tell it's pretty bad. I've lived here all my life and I've been through many -- never left for a hurricane before. The only one I've boarded up my house was (INAUDIBLE).

I'm so thankful that we had good friends that allowed us to come stay with them and get out of that neighborhood. My heart just goes out to everybody that's still in that neighborhood.

There was elderly couples that couldn't get out and I'm hearing reports that some of my friends that stayed behind. It's scary what we'll go back to.

And it's getting down to the town of Vanceboro --

BERMAN: Paul Mills up in New Bern --

MILLS: -- just north of us that floods apparently in a (INAUDIBLE) or a hurricane one. They're further up the Neuse River.

Last night I was getting reports from friends of mine that had family there that a lot of that town was underwater already. They're saying Vanceboro (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: Yes.

MILLS: So -- can you give us any reports to what's -- where the storm is right now? Can you tell us anything about what to expect coming up?

BERMAN: Paul, I'm having a hard time hearing you. I am having --

MILLS: Where is the eye --

BERMAN: OK, Paul, I can tell you where the storm is. I'll tell you where the storm is at this moment, Paul.

The eye of the storm -- the outer eyewall of the storm is just over where I am in Wilmington, North Carolina. The center of the storm is still about 20 miles east of Wilmington but it's moving so slowly. It's moving at about six miles per hour a little bit north-northwest before it turns south over South Carolina.

And the problem -- the problem that you have up there Paul is that it is moving so slowly. And even though you're on the north side of the storm you will continue to get the effects of the surge for some time.

So, Paul Mills, please stay safe. Stay safe. If you're in a safe place, stay there. We wish you the best of luck to you, to your family, to your friends.

I know there are people in need right now. We have heard reports that there are well over 100 calls -- as many as 500 calls for people who need to be rescued in New Bern and the surrounding areas and I know the rescue crews will get there -- get there to the people just as soon as they can.

It's not daylight yet. They're dealing with dark, they're dealing with so many problems. This is Hurricane Florence -- just the beginning of some of the problems that people in Carolina will face.

I'm in Wilmington, North Carolina underneath the outer eyewall right now of the storm facing the strongest winds we've had yet -- some 90 to 95 miles per hour.

We have a lot more to come. We're going to take a quick break and we're going to talk to Chad Myers, who will tell us just how much more we can expect and when.

Stay with us. Our special live coverage continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:48:12] BERMAN: All right, John Berman in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Hurricane Florence is here.

I understand this is the outer eyewall above us in Wilmington at this moment, just the beginning of what could be several hours of pounding that this city will get with high winds -- winds approaching 90 miles per hour.

And the rain -- just a pounding, ferocious rain. Atlantic Beach, which is not too, too far here -- some 80 miles -- received 22 inches of rain already. The rain and the wind a problem here.

The real crisis situation up in New Bern where there are people trapped in their homes right now. The storm surge there led to six to 10 feet of flooding. It went in and has not gone out yet.

And there have been some 100 rescues already. Hundreds of more phone calls have gone in to both official lines and also the Cajun Navy, that volunteer group.

They will get out just as soon as they can. They are staging at this moment. Obviously, not safe for boats to be on the water right now so people are just going to have sit tight and get to higher ground if they can.

In Jacksonville, which is again about 60 miles from where we are, we understand there was a hotel there that had to be evacuated because of rising floodwaters. Some 60 people were in there and they had to leave because this water when it comes in, it comes in just so fast -- all right.

You can see it right now. You can see the wind blowing and the rain coming down.

I want to bring in Chad Myers if we can, at our Weather Center.

Chad, you told me this was going to happen. You told me it was about to start to blow here something fierce. In fact, it has.

What more can we expect?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The outer eyewall is now upon you. It's already been to Topsail, it's already been to other places along the beach.

But right now, you are in it. You are in the thick of it probably for another -- you're going to see that for another hour to hour and a half before you actually maybe get closer to eyewall and things begin to clear up.

[05:50:10] So if you can imagine what you're seeing now is at least three inches of rain per hour -- it rains like that for two or three more hours -- all of sudden you're six to nine inches.

But here is what happened. That has already happened up here in New Bern. This is the rain coming up toward New Bern. We've spent a lot of time talking about New Bern today because of the surge.

You have two rivers. You have the Trent and you have the Neuse and they come together at New Bern. And we've had water coming up the Trent, we've had water getting blown up the Neuse and flooding New Bern.

We went from a one-foot surge yesterday -- that's where the water level was by the park that our Delia Gallagher was on earlier yesterday. I saw her amazing shots where she was already in the water. It's like time to get out. And now, we went from one to 11 -- 11 feet above where it was before the whole live shot started yesterday.

So, that's New Bern.

This is the area we're talking here, not even along what we know as the coastal area. This is the coast. This is where we go anywhere from Topsail Beach all the way up to Emerald Isle, to Morehead City, to Atlantic Beach.

It's hard to see because of these boxes. The boxes are going to be on there because they're -- they're just flood warnings. I can't get them off. Everybody knows that it's flooding.

So that's what we have going for us right now.

John, what you have going for you right now is the eyewall itself. Here's the eye, right there, and you are on the worst part of it right now. The eyewall coming your way.

Surf City, you're in it now.

And now, we're beginning to push a lot of water toward Atlantic Beach and over the top of some of these islands. We're over-washing some of these barrier islands now and that's the water getting into the back bay and that's the water flooding places that aren't even on the water. Yes, you're on the bay side but you're not on the ocean. You never expected water to get that far in.

And you're right here -- at your Wilmington location that's going to be --

Let me see how I can make this bigger. It's going to be a little jumpy but that's life. That's floodwater. There you go.

So here's Wilmington and that's where you are right there, under that little white spot right there -- right there. And the wind coming around and coming around will get stronger before it finally stops.

Surf City, you're in it right now.

Topsail Beach, you're almost into the eye itself. Don't go outside and look for it yet. Even if the wind dies down don't go outside because there's flooding there.

And then all the way back down toward Wilmington and Carolina Beach getting some very, very heavy rainfall, John.

BERMAN: So, wind -- so, Chad, as the wind bears down on me -- and I know it may look bad, and it is. I mean, it does feel good.

But the worst of it is the flooding and the surge up by New Bern. You were talking about the rain. How will that exacerbate the problem there?

MYERS: Well, you know, I mean, the rain itself has come down and almost 20 inches in some spots. Let me get to this graphic. If you haven't been with us since 3:00 in the morning you haven't seen this graphic.

But, Atlantic Beach has had 23 inches of rainfall already. Emerald Isle, about miles down the shore, at 19.

So we wondering all night can Atlantic Beach really be 22, 23, 24? And yes, that verifies because we have 20 inches of rain in Emerald Isle. It's been coming down all night long and it's going to continue.

The wet side of the storm -- because it's over the ocean -- is going to continue to pour water into that same area and continue to pour rain into New Bern.

New Bern gets worse before it gets better. We already have people in their attics and it's a dire situation for some of them.

Winds are blowing 60 miles per hour in New Bern. Many of those crews can't even get in the water with the wind blowing 60.

BERMAN: All right, Chad Myers for us in the Weather Center. Chad, thanks so much for that update.

The outer eyewall over where I am in Wilmington, North Carolina. The winds 75 miles an hour, at least at times.

The near-crisis situation north of us in New Bern where hundreds of people placing calls to be rescued, trapped in their homes. A storm surge threat there that will continue throughout the day.

CNN's special live coverage of Hurricane Florence picks up right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:58:29] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BERMAN: All right. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is a special edition of NEW DAY.

Hurricane Florence bearing down on the Carolina coast. The outer (audio gap) over where I am in Wilmington, North Carolina.

I'm John Berman. Chris Cuomo is down in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Alisyn Camerota in New York.

Some 280,000 without power in North Carolina already; 6,500 without power in South Carolina.

This is a category one storm with 90 mile per hour winds, which we are beginning to feel here right now in Wilmington. But the wind speed is not the story.

Do not be deceived. Do not be seduced by the notion that this storm is not powerful. It is an extremely dangerous storm not because of the wind but because of the duration.

This storm is moving at a glacial pace, just five or six miles per hour, which means it sits over the coast and the community it hits. It sits over it for hours and hours and hours -- six, seven, eight, if not 12 hours of this pounding wind. That can uproot trees; that can cause serious damage.

And the real threat is the storm surge, six to 12 feet in some areas, and it is a crisis situation in some parts of the coast. New Bern, about 80 miles north of where I am, there have been calls for rescues all night long. More than 100 rescues that were able to take place before it became unsafe for the rescue crews to go out.

We spoke to a volunteer from the Cajun Navy, that group of volunteers that goes to storms like this.