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CNN Saturday Morning News
Tropical Storm Hanna; Preparing for Hurricane Ike
Aired September 06, 2008 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: We got a hurricane headquarters working for you right here at the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Two storms we are tracking. One of them didn't pack the kind of punch a lot of people expected and that is certainly a good thing. But still a lot of heavy rain and some high winds along the Carolinas and Virginia.
The other storm, the other story, we are going to be hearing a lot about over the next several days, a category three, small but intense storm, it's forcing some tourists to leave the Florida Keys now and could force some residents out of Florida over the next day or so.
Hello again to you all on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes.
JENNIFER WESTHOVEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jennifer Westhoven. And Betty has the day off.
HOLMES: And like we said, we're talking about two storms. We're going to start with this one, Tropical Storm Hanna. We've seen, again, high winds, near hurricane strength. We've seen some, some flash flooding.
WESTHOVEN: Hanna came ashore at about 3:30 this morning right along the North/South Carolina border, but the southeast Coast really seems to have dodged a bullet here. We are keeping an eye on all of the angles and our Dan Lothian is in North Carolina's outer banks, Reynolds Wolf is in Wrightsville Beach, and Karen Maginnis is watching Hanna move north from the Severe Weather Center, so we've got you covered from all angles here.
Let's start with the outer banks, Tropical Storm Hanna passing through that area right now, and that's where Dan Lothian is, out there on the spot giving us the picture. Dan, it sounds like the worst has passed you. What are you seeing?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it does sound like the worst has passed us, but I'll tell you as we're coming to air here, it seems like things have deteriorated just a bit. You know in the last hour when we were talking to you, we did not have the rainfall. We did have the high winds.
Now we're getting the rain. It's not heavy, sustained rain now, but nonetheless the rain is beginning to fall here and the wind certainly has picked up as well. I don't know if you can take a look over here on the sand. We pointed this out last hour where as the wind blows along the beach here, you can see the sand just sort of skimming along the top of the beach. The beach pretty much deserted, over the last half hour or so we saw some apparently tourists from the hotel here who were out walking the beach, walking their dog. They've now tucked back in inside. There were some people out here on the dock area where we are as well, and they have gone inside. So, the conditions as I mentioned are deteriorating, but emergency management officials tell us that they don't really expect a lot of damage from Hanna, Tropical Storm Hanna, only a couple of things that they're looking for.
Typically when they have any significant storm here, they usually experience a lot of beach erosion. The second thing is that they usually have some minor flooding in some of the lower lying areas. We were talking to one lady yesterday and she says every time that they get any significant rainfall here she ends up getting rain inside her apartment, so she was filling sandbags to block that water from entering into her front door.
Again, the emergency management officials tell me that they've been holding meetings, several meetings over the last couple of days, making sure that all the critical personnel was in town, that they were ready and that they had all the proper and necessary resources to deploy in case Hanna became a problem. But again, at this point, Hanna does not appear as if Hanna will be causing a problem here on the outer banks, although as I speak to you, the rain really is picking up along with the wind.
WESTHOVEN: I wanted to ask you just a little bit about the wind because I see, yeah, the rain is coming on you there. Now how about the winds? Are you concerned about those? Are the gusts pretty heavy or you feel -- you think that it's OK for now? You don't look like you're you know having to hold on to anything which is thankful...
LOTHIAN: That's right. I've covered a lot of these, and when the wind and the wind gusts really pick up you have to hang on to keep from blowing over. We're not seeing sustained winds here, but certainly you have strong gusts coming through here. And I'll show you.
Take a look out here, while they did pick up some of the bigger lawn chairs, these are still scattered about and they're not blowing around, so that will kind of give you a sense of how high or this wind -- the wind conditions here, heavy winds but not strong enough to blow these chairs away from here. Perhaps it will pick up, perhaps not, but we're ready for it.
WESTHOVEN: All right, Dan. Thank you so much.
HOLMES: Let's head a little farther south now to our Reynolds Wolf, who has left the sanctity of the Severe Weather Center here in the studio and headed out to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, which is precisely where this storm pretty much came ashore.
Our Reynolds Wolf -- looks like -- I can see him there in the live shot. He's been blown around a little bit there. We can go ahead and take a picture of him. He's trying to get himself together, trying to get his IFP (ph) and his earpiece in. But yeah, our reporters have been out there in all kinds of conditions this morning, but that's our Reynolds Wolf. We'll let him get adjusted there and get that earpiece in and get himself together. We'll check in with him in just a moment.
WESTHOVEN: Yeah, I was really looking forward to meeting Reynolds.
HOLMES: Yes...
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: You don't get to come down here much.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Yes, he did. He didn't run because you were coming, though...
WESTHOVEN: Yeah.
HOLMES: ... please know. He had some work to do.
WESTHOVEN: I'm glad, you know, but it's nice to see him out there in the field.
HOLMES: Yeah.
WESTHOVEN: That's a lot of fun. All right, as always, we are keeping our eye on our affiliates in the area to try to get you as close to the storm, see what's really happening on the ground. We're going to be checking in to see the best of their coverage throughout the morning. That's just another way that we're bringing you all the angles of this developing story.
HOLMES: Well Tropical Storm Hanna hit Haiti hard this week, especially hit -- especially hard in the port city of Gonaives (ph). More than half of the homes there were destroyed. The ground finally starting to dry up a bit, but the death toll is on the rise. Officials say at least 137 Haitians were killed by this Tropical Storm Hanna.
Tens of thousands of others have been left homeless. No food, no clean water. U.N. peacekeepers and aid groups are on the ground today handing out relief supplies. But they don't have much time now because forecasters say, as we've been talking about this morning a category three storm, Hurricane Ike, may be headed that way.
But if you would like to get involved in relief efforts for those affected by the most recent hurricanes, you can go to CNN.com's "Impact Your World" page. You'll find links to groups providing food and shelter to people in need. Again, that's CNN.com/impact.
Well Hanna it appears, as we've been seeing, possibly moving on. It's heading north in a hurry. However, our Karen Maginnis keeping an eye on Hanna this morning, also keeping an eye and a lot of people are concerned about Ike. KAREN MAGINNIS, METEOROLOGIST: And should be because we just got an intermediate update from the National Hurricane Center on Ike, and Ike is going to be even stronger than we had anticipated. We'll show you that in just a minute. Let's cover Hanna first.
Hanna is really racing on towards the north and northeast. Already some wind gusts between 50 and 60 miles an hour in some of those eastern regions of North Carolina. However, now the sustained winds associated with Hanna at 50 miles an hour. It has always remained at tropical storm intensity since it has made landfall.
That was around 3:20 this morning at Little River Inlet in South Carolina. It's right on the border between North Carolina and South Carolina. But here it goes. It's moving very rapidly and I just checked the U.S. Open and they're saying that they're going to delay the start at least that's what it looks like now, delay the start because this is going to race all the way up towards New York City and they're expecting some pretty heavy downpours and some gusty wind.
Before we get too far, I really want to tell you about Ike here in just a second. Ike is looking very impressive and there are hurricane warnings which have been issued for the Turks and Caicos (ph) and for the southeastern Bahamas. However, computer models are now suggesting that Ike could reach category four, it's a category three now.
It looks like it's going to head in this direction, go through the Florida Straits, move across northern Cuba perhaps, at least that's in a drawn out about three days from now. But look at this, category four, Florida Straits, Gulf of Mexico, T.J. and Jennifer, as a category three. So we'll continue to monitor that.
HOLMES: All right. We absolutely appreciate you, Karen Maginnis. Thank you so much. We'll be checking in with you plenty again. This storm is heading north in a hurry. We'll continue to check in with our reporters, our affiliates and of course Karen Maginnis, everybody keeping an eye on this storm. You stay right here with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WESTHOVEN: All right. We've got some live pictures of Hanna here. Some of our affiliate reporting, some maps out there, so we're trying to get you so you can really see some of the pictures. There is Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where Kathleen Koch earlier told us that they were bringing out the beach chairs again, that it looked like for the most part there anyway that most of the storm had passed. You can see people strolling along the beach and it looks all right there.
HOLMES: All right. We'll see if anybody is strolling along the beach in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, anybody except for our Reynolds Wolf. He's there keeping an eye on things and this is pretty much where the storm hit a few hours ago. Hello to you, Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, T.J. hear you loud and clear. Great to talk to you. Got to tell you just you and our viewers behind the scene, whenever these storms come through, you have all kinds of issues sometimes, the wind and the rain and what not. And occasionally it's really hard to hear you guys.
In fact, T.J., earlier when you were talking to me, you were either -- either you were either asking me what my favorite breakfast cereal was or you were asking me about the storm. I had to make a choice there. Figured you were probably talking about Hanna, so I decided to go that route.
HOLMES: Good call. Good call, Reynolds.
WOLF: I didn't think you were asking about cereal. Absolutely. All right, T.J., let's tell you what happened. The storm actually made landfall right near the North Carolina/South Carolina border, zoomed right inland and right now we're left with just really the dry side of the storm. We still have a lot of wind that continues to come in, have some waves that kicked up.
The big threat, a lot of times when you have these storms come on shore especially in the Carolinas, is the threat of flooding. And T.J., we can go back to 1999, when you had Dennis and you had Floyd that came in, just within a few weeks of each other, Dennis came in, saturated much of the Tarhill State, and then Floyd came in.
Both these storms were in a category two. They weren't major hurricanes, but you had widespread flooding, all kinds of problems. Now with this storm, this storm is expected to move very quickly right up the coast and eventually veer out over the Atlantic and we're not expecting much in terms of really flooding, so that's certainly good.
People here are really prepared too. Take a look at this video very quickly. We're going to start things off with what happened yesterday afternoon. We drove around town. You can see the signs there showing you that Wrightsville City was really prepared for this.
They had the tropical storm warnings here in effect. People were boarding up their businesses, their homes. To them, it is something that they're used to here in the outer banks and also on this part of the Carolina coast. They pretty much have it down to a science and they were prepared.
However, T.J., I've got to tell you, the big fear is really not what's going to happen here but what's happening out in the Atlantic with Ike. Ike is a powerhouse of a storm, certainly could intensify as it gets closer to the Florida Keys, maybe a category four, perhaps even something stronger, but we don't want to go there yet, but there's a chance that could happen. There's also a chance the storm could veer into the Gulf of Mexico and then it's anybody's ball game. Let's send it back to you. You got any questions, man?
HOLMES: Well since all of America is curious now, you want to tell us what your favorite breakfast cereal is?
WOLF: Cornflakes, T.J.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: OK. WOLF: Cornflakes.
HOLMES: Reynolds, we're glad we got our best on the story for us out there. Reynolds, we appreciate you, buddy really.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: We'll talk to you again here soon.
WESTHOVEN: Well you just heard Reynolds talking to us about Hurricane Ike. It is expected to reach South Florida by Tuesday. Very powerful storm, a category three hurricane. And people in Florida wasting no time to try and get ready for this one.
Gas stations in Pembroke (ph) Pines, long lines there as people try and fill up ahead of that storm. The governor is expected to hold a press conference this morning to brief residents on Ike. We will bring that to you live. We are expecting that in maybe about 15 minutes or so.
The locals are already boarding up, stocking up on food and water. Vacationers in the Keys will have to leave this morning at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. That is a mandatory evacuation order that goes into effect. And of course, you know, they've just got that one bridge that comes out of the Keys sometimes, so they have to stagger evacuations.
HOLMES: Yeah. Getting people out of there. Well a lot of people just hate to see a lot of these storms coming. Some people are happy to see them and they have their own reasons for it. We're talking about these experienced surfers. They see this as great news.
WESTHOVEN: Some people get a thrill.
HOLMES: They do get an absolute thrill and they are nuts for it. It looks cool. And to see them out there, and again, these have to be guys that know what they're doing. This can't just be...
WESTHOVEN: Yeah.
HOLMES: ... the novice surfer trying to tackle some of those waves. Well, all right, Josh Levs has been monitoring some of those Web cams, if you will. You finding some surfers out there just yet?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well here's what we have. I mean a lot of people have been taking advantage of the weather, certainly throughout yesterday and you guys know, you mentioned this once earlier in the show today that we've been keeping an eye on Surfchecks.com to see who's going out there.
Let me jump over to it for a second. We actually are not getting a lot from them right now. This is one of the videos, I think if I double click it I can make it take over the whole screen -- there you go. They're keeping an eye on one of the major surfs that's in North Carolina. Right now we're not seeing people out there, but here's what we do have that I found. Some surfers who over the last 24 hours have been taking advantage of some of the waves that have been coming in. Let's go to this first picture we have for you here.
This is pretty powerful. This comes to us from The Associated Press, this surfer pays the price, the AP says, after he took advantage of Tropical Storm Hanna's waves and that was yesterday. That was in Myrtle Beach. Let's go to the next one.
Some really powerful shots here, this one is over in Holden Beach (ph). Again, these are the waves that were coming in -- go to the next one -- from Tropical Storm Hanna. There you go. Apparently this is a well-known person in the area.
This one -- now we get another one -- Foley Beach (ph), South Carolina. People have been really traveling from throughout the eastern half of the United States, apparently, to take advantage of these waves. We've got a couple more here.
We have one here from Holden Beach (ph), North Carolina. Let's take a look at that one, OK, and here. Well I'll tell you what, we do have for you somebody who talked to us this morning and he's telling us that they're expecting hundreds of people to gather pretty close to where our Reynolds Wolf is to take advantage of the waves today. Let's listen to what he says.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENNY HAND, SURFING INSTRUCTOR: As the hurricane passes on by, we get our offshore winds and it creates our barrel waves here on our East Coast and that's our prime waves for surfers what we look forward to catch. As we have right now, you can see our waves are starting to form into an offshore barrel and that's what we really want and we're going to be going for that. As our tide comes in, we'll be able to get these waves breaking a little better with their offshore winds and you start to see a lot more surfers come out to the beach.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: That's a big surfer over there in Wrightsville. His name is Kenny Hand. That comes to us from WCNC. Just this morning, say in the next couple of hours, expect as many as 500 people to gather there. We're not telling you to do it. We are talking about some people who know what they're doing and apparently know how to operate in these conditions.
Before I toss it back to you guys, I have a good tie in to iReport. Let's go ahead. This shot, this comes to us from iReport.com. One of our frequent iReporters over there in North Carolina sent us to this. The iReports under the name of Tom Cam (ph) I believe -- Jimtalk.com (ph). That's at Talk.com (ph) and he's sending us some pictures as well.
If you have videos or videos or just stories that you want to share with us from how Hanna has affected you or your preparations for Ike, we would love to see that, hear that, take a look at it. Just go to iReport.com and we'll be sharing more of those with you all throughout the morning.
Guys, there you go. Some nice powerful shots, again not telling people to go to any danger at all. Just enjoying those people who know what they're doing, taking a look at some of the cool photos. That's it.
HOLMES: All right...
WESTHOVEN: All right.
HOLMES: We appreciate you this morning.
LEVS: Thanks, guys.
HOLMES: We'll see you again here shortly. Well...
LEVS: You got it.
HOLMES: As people have been watching, the conventions are over. It is time to get it on in the presidential race. We'll have the latest on what the candidates are saying; let you hear it in their own words.
WESTHOVEN: It's getting exciting.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WESTHOVEN: Good morning and welcome back to CNN where we are watching everything, all the latest with Tropical Storm Hanna. We've got some pictures that we're going to bring to you as we try to give you the latest on where this storm is. You can see it moving in the map there. But we've got some pictures from WRAL that we'll be starting to look at, one of our affiliates. Listen to the coverage there.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: ... who's lived in Fayetteville for years, says he hasn't seen it this bad in a very, very long time. So, it will be interesting to see as the rain here is still falling, how much higher the water level is going to get in this area of town.
UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR: That's really running pretty rapidly there behind you. My goodness.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It is. And where I'm standing, you know, it's knee deep here. And so I'm certain if I were to venture out in the middle, it probably would be above my knees at that point, so it's getting pretty rough right here in this spot. And there's somebody driving through.
I'm not sure who that is. Oh, they're turning around. OK. I thought we would have some video to show you, but they used their common sense.
UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR: Yeah, we're not encouraging people to get into the water, that's for sure, but...
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: No...
UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR: ... if they're foolish enough to do it...
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: We don't want anybody...
UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR: We'll be there to cover it.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: That's right. I mean you know if you want to drive through my live shot, I'll go ahead and take a picture of you. But let's not do that.
UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR: Yeah, let's...
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And actually we're getting ready to...
UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR: Let's discourage that.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: We're getting ready to rescue Brian Mims' (ph) truck because the parking lot...
UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR: Can we see it? Where is it?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It's down the street. You can't see it from where we are here...
UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR: You can't see it from where you are.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: ... but we're going to go get some more video for you. His wife is bringing us the keys so we're going to try to rescue it.
UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR: Oh my goodness.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The water -- probably got water inside by now.
UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR: Oh.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: We're going to try to rescue it before it gets swept away. Poor Brian.
UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR: Yeah, he...
WESTHOVEN: Wow, so some pictures of some very fast-moving waters there from one of our affiliate coverage there. That's in Raleigh, North Carolina, as Tropical Storm Hanna makes its way into the coast, moves up the coast, into parts of Virginia as well and Washington, D.C.
Well the conventions are over and the race for the White House is now on. Starting to pick up steam here, lot of frenzy.
HOLMES: The players are set, everybody has been nominated, let's go. John McCain, his running mate, Sarah Palin, campaigned in Colorado and New Mexico today, after making stops in Wisconsin and Michigan on -- yesterday. In his acceptance speech at his party's presidential nomination, McCain touted his experience. Here he is now in his own words.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We face many dangerous threats in this dangerous world, but I'm not afraid of them. I'm prepared for them.
(APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: I know how the military works, what it can do, what it can do better and what it shouldn't do. I know how the world works. I know the good and evil in it. I know how to work with leaders who share our dreams of a freer, safer and more prosperous world and how to stand up to those who don't. I'm not running for president because I think I'm blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: My country saved me, my country saved me and I cannot forget it. And I will fight for her as long as I draw breath, so help me God.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Barack Obama, meanwhile, will be on the trail in Indiana today after focusing on the economy and unemployment yesterday. At a town hall meeting in Pennsylvania, Obama blamed the Republicans for the string of job losses in the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you very much. Five thousand jobs have been lost, the unemployment rate just jumped up to 6.1 percent. It's the highest that it's been in five years. We've had eight consecutive months of job loss. And so, part of what I want to talk about is, how do we create more shot glass operations all across America?
How do we create jobs in America at a time when it seems like plants are closing all across the country? Everywhere you go, people are working harder and harder just to get by. It's harder to save. It's harder to retire. Incomes and wages have not gone up since George Bush took office in any substantial way.
When Bill Clinton was president, the average family income went up $7,500. Since George Bush has been in office, the average family income has gone down $2,000. And so, people just don't have as much money at the same time as the cost for everything from gas to food, to health care, have all skyrocketed.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: You can hear more from the candidates all weekend with the return of CNN's "BALLOT BOWL". You can see extended excerpts from the campaign trail, the candidates unfiltered in their own words. Again that's "BALLOT BOWL" starting at 2:00 Eastern today only on CNN.
WESTHOVEN: Hurricane Gustav gone, but certainly not forgotten. Residents are returning to the Gulf Coast and they face a difficult road ahead. We're going to have an update on Gustav's aftermath.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, as Hanna right now is heading up the East coast, the Gulf coast struggling with the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav. Remember him? Well, a third of Louisiana utility customers certainly remember it. They're still without power right now. Could be weeks they're told before power is fully restored. And dozens of Louisiana parishes are right now under a boil water advisories.
Also, another effect of that storm, the football game between LSU and Troy states certainly was supposed to happen at the capitol there, Baton Rouge, and has been rescheduled for November 15th because of the damage from Hurricane Gustav.
JENNIFER WESTHOVEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, well, one of the things that we're going to have coming up soon, probably within the next few minutes, is we'll have a briefing with Florida's Governor Charlie Crist. And of course, we've been talking all morning about what that state is doing to prepare for Ike, the very powerful Category 3 hurricane that could be on the path towards Florida.
Our meteorologist Karen Maginnis is tracking both tropical storm Hanna and Hurricane Ike over in our severe weather center. Karen, what's the latest?
KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh, we've got our plate full. We just got an update from the National Hurricane Center at the top of the hour. Here's the lastest. It has supporting winds, that is, Hanna, has supporting winds of 50 miles an hour. It is racing along. And in its wake, we've seen a storm surge generally between one and three feet in these coastal areas of South Carolina and North Carolina.
There is some dry air intrusion here. So we're kind of seeing this system shrink a little bit. Still powerful enough to generate a heavy surf, a little bit of a storm surge, some heavy downpours, some reduced visibility, some wind damage, and some beach erosion. So there are a lot of things there to consider.
In the meantime, it is racing through North Carolina, going to race through Virginia. And for mid-day, it looks like the rain moves on into New York. What does that mean? Well, for the U.S. Open, some gusty winds. There could be a change of venue. And we could see a little later start.
Now you probably need to check on that if you've got tickets to the U.S. Open. Here are some of the wind gusts that we've seen over the past hour right around Wrightsville Beach. I heard Reynolds Wolf, our correspondent in the field who's at Wrightsville Beach. And he said they had a peak wind gust of about 61 miles an hour. Right now, generally speaking, 45 to about 55-mile-an-hour gusts are being reported.
This is what we anticipate. There we go, Hanna through the mid- Atlantic through the Delmarva all the way up in New York City and then through Boston. Now this is going to be a much weaker system by then. But still nonetheless, it's going to add interest to your weekend weather. By this evening, probably a tropical depression.
And then, there is Ike. Ike is pretty scary right now. And there are hurricane warnings out for the Turks and Caicos, southeastern Bahamas. And we have watches elsewhere, but that's what we've got hurricane warnings.
This is a monster system. Now it's moving a little bit toward the south, southwest. So it's kind of got a little curve. Watch this jog just a little bit. It moves along and then starts heading a little bit towards the south. It's going under that subtropical ridge of high pressure. And as a result, it's going to take the path of least resistance. As it does that, look where it takes it. Through the Florida strait, across northern Cuba, and then into the Gulf of Mexico. But right here as you can see, as we go into just about Monday early morning, a Category 4 hurricane. Category 3 as it goes into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. So, we're on our toes. And we'll keep you updated. Jennifer, T.J.
WESTHOVEN: Karen, I just got a question for you. You were talking about how fast Hanna is moving up through Virginia, North Carolina. Did you say it's going to hit New York City this afternoon?
MAGINNIS: Probably by later on this afternoon. And probably as a depression, so a big rain shield mostly. So it would be just like a windy/rain event for them. But it's not going to be at 50 miles an hour by then, I feel fairly certain. It's decreasing in intensity very rapidly. But yes, New York.
WESTHOVEN: That's a fast storm.
MAGINNIS: By today.
HOLMES: All right, Karen, we appreciate you. We'll again be checking in and relying on you as we have been this morning.
To our viewers, we'll let you know, we are keeping an eye on this other monster she was talking about, Ike that's on its way. It could be a Category 4 at some point. The Florida Governor Charlie Crist, we're expecting him to step to the podium very soon and give a briefing and update folks. There you go, a live look at it right now. Expecting that briefing really to happen, could happen at any moment. When it does, we'll jump in and hear what he has to say and what he's telling his citizens there in Florida about this oncoming storm. Meanwhile, we will turn to another one of our affiliates, which we have been depending on, as we cover this storm. WSVN reporter Roy Ramos filed this report for us just a few moments ago. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Buy everything ahead of time.
ROY RAMOS, WSVN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: People are heading to their local supermarkets, stocking up on what they're going to need if this storm is to hit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Water and crackers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pizza, doughnuts, sugar.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bread, some extra water.
RAMOS: Some rush into Home Depot getting those hot commodities like batteries, generators, and of course, don't forget those window protecting supplies from those see-through shutters to that good old sheet of plywood. Some like neighbors Keith Holmes and Beverly Carter teaming up to make things a little easier as they begin to prep for Ike.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was born and reared here. So I know what it's like. I've been through many storms. You've got to be prepared.
RAMOS: You're helping each other?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, that's right.
RAMOS: ATMs also getting their fair share of attention. Folks know if the electricity does go out, so do those ATMs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If the ATMS go empty, I have my cash ready to hit the road if I need to.
RAMOS: And while some are taking no chances with Ike...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We haven't been hit in a while. I'm just thinking that, you know, we're probably going to get hit this time.
RAMOS: Others would rather just deal with the storm as it comes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it come, it come. If it don't, I don't let that worry me.
RAMOS: Well, others are very worried. And that's why they're taking the opportunity to come down here to Publix to get those supplies, to get prepared. And remember, if you are coming down here, remember to pick up one of these hurricane mapping guides. Inside, you'll be able to track the storm with us. On top of that, there's a list of supplies that you can pick up.
For now in Miami shores, I'm Roy RAMOS, today in Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WESTHOVEN: And people are gassing up as Ike approaches. HOLMES: Tuning in to our affiliates there, helping us tell the story this morning. We certainly depend on them and appreciate having them right about now.
WESTHOVEN: We sure do. And of course, we're still waiting right now for word from Governor Charlie Crist, the governor of Florida, who is scheduled this morning to do a live briefing. There you see the podium. We're waiting there for him to come out. And he's expected to talk about the plans that Florida is making for Hurricane Ike.
And of course, tourists who are in the Florida Keys this morning have been told there's a mandatory evacuation under way. And also, tomorrow morning, residents are expected to evacuate the Keys as well, ahead of this very powerful storm. Very intense. We can see some of the photos of it right there. Stay with us. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TIME STAMP: 0840:04
HOLMES: Welcome back, everybody on the scene on Saturday morning, about 8:40 here on the East coast. We are watching a whole lot of things this morning. And you can see a lot is happening on that big weather story today. Hanna right now, causing a few issues, a little flooding concerns along the coast there. The East coast of the U.S. hit, made landfall around the North Carolina/South Carolina border in the overnight hours.
Not a lot of issues related to destructive winds, but still, kind of windy. Still, it's going to be a big rain event, but it's moving quickly up the coast. We are looking at live pictures there of our affiliates. You can see some of the choppy waters. Certainly keeping an eye on the radar images as well.
And in the bottom left of your screen, that empty podium, we expect the Governor of Florida Charlie Crist to step to that podium some time soon. Any moment now, we're expecting him at 8:30 Eastern, but he hasn't stepped up just yet. So any moment now, to brief his residents about another monster that you see on the bottom right of your screen. That is Hurricane Ike. And a Category 3 right now. Could become a Category 4 as it moves towards the Florida keys. Expected to hit the Keys sometime next week maybe around Tuesday. Already evacuations, mandatory evacuations of visitors already being ordered. That's happening at the top of the hour, actually, that evacuation order is in place. And then residents are going to be instructed, mandatory evacuations for them possibly tomorrow at some point. But that one is a scary one that everybody's keeping an eye on right now. Ike is the big concern.
WESTHOVEN: Yes, and that's one we keep talking about the cone of uncertainty with Ike, right?
HOLMES: Yes.
WESTHOVEN: ...because it's still so far out there. We don't exactly know where it's going to go. The protected trajectories are very different. So it's going to be very interesting to see how that hits the East coast, because it might, you know, hit not just in the Gulf of Mexico area. We might feel the effects of it all along. So that is one we are certainly going to keep a watch on.
You know, I think about Tropical Storm Hanna. And we were so fortunate that we're not talking about too much damage this morning.
HOLMES: Yes.
WESTHOVEN: But you know, sometimes what you don't see is the impact this has on every day people. So people go to the U.S. Open we heard about in New York City.
HOLMES: Yes.
WESTHOVEN: Some of their tickets are canceled. People who might have had weddings scheduled this weekend...
HOLMES: Yes.
WESTHOVEN: ...how they got powerful winds and rain to deal with. Brides out there, maybe they were having an outdoor wedding. So there's just, I think, a lot of impact this has on people, maybe making your weekend a little inconvenient, not the beautiful weekend that you had hoped for as we wait for Governor Charlie Crist.
HOLMES: Yes, not a good way to maybe get that marriage started off. Maybe some people are going to be second guessing that marriage and who they're marrying if a storm cancels your wedding.
JENNFIER: Now, now, you never get to who you're marrying.
HOLMES: I'm just saying. But we are getting help covering the story from many of our affiliates as we've been showing you this morning. We're heading out now to SVN in Florida. Reporter Aralya (ph) Ortega, who is in Little Havana, filed this report for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARALYA ORTEGA, WSVN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Reed, Diana, Julie mentioned earlier that this weekend is looking pretty nice. So it's actually the perfect time to get ready for the possible arrival of Hurricane Ike.
And here at this Home Depot in Little Havana, as you can see, it's the perfect time to shop because it's not that crowded. And there are no lines for you to wait in. So you can just come in, get your stuff, and get right out.
(voice-over): Streets across South Florida are quiet now. But soon, you can expect more people getting ready for Hurricane Ike. Jamie Shields spent two days of his vacation getting ready. He lives in Homestead, where thoughts of Andrew are never far away.
JAMIE SHIELDS: Putting up shutters, getting water, bringing patio furniture in. That's pretty much it, making sure the generator runs.
ORTEGA: Jimmy is on the right track, because scenes like this are a thing of the past. After Wilma, FEMA trucks packed with ice and water came to South Florida. And the lines were long. This time, though, officials in Miami Dade and Broward say taking personal responsibility right now isn't about panic, but practicality.
GOVERNOR CHARLIE CRIST: Self-sufficiency is the key. You need to be prepared to take care of yourself and your family for the first 72 hours.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can go to bed on Sunday night thinking that the storm's going to go south and west of us, and find out that it's at our doorstep. And then you won't have enough time to do the things you need to do.
ORTEGA: Things like picking up groceries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I decided to try to do this before the mad rush this weekend. So I figure if it's coming here on Monday or Tuesday, get it done now before the craziness.
ORTEGA: Stopping at the bank for cash and getting gas. Sarah Fee Mendez (ph) and his son Roy had to make two stops after one station ran out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know this is very, very early for everybody but it's better because tomorrow I don't think it's going to be, you know -- no more gas probably.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got four kids. I have no choice but to prepare.
ORTEGA: And guys, when we got here this morning, this whole entire shelf of batteries was all stacked up. And as you can see, things are looking pretty empty already. We're missing quite a bit of batteries so far. So if you want to get your supplies in on time, you should head out as early as you possibly can. Reporting live in Little Havana, Aralya (ph) Ortego, today in Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WESTHOVEN: All right, as you just heard, that was one of our affiliate reporters down in Florida, letting us know how people are stocking up as they wait for Hurricane Ike. They want to get all the things that they can get, get their money, ATM machines...
HOLMES: Oh, yes.
WESTHOVEN: ...gasoline, and all the stuff she was just talking about from the supermarkets. So batteries, flashlights, water, everything you might need, plus too, you know, a lot of people going out there and getting siding to board up their windows.
HOLMES: They're trying to protect -- they have been through this plenty of times before. We are -- wondering, certainly you can tell, we're looking on the radio there on the right side. That's Hurricane Ike making its way towards the Florida Keys. But on the left side there, why are we showing you a door? Well, we're expecting Florida Governor Charlie Crist to walk through it here shortly, to give a briefing to the folks of Florida about this oncoming storm.
When he steps out, we will jump back in and let you hear what he has to say. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TIME STAMP: 0848:08
HOLMES: And again, back here at CNN SATURDAY MORNING, we're keeping an eye on several or a couple of storms. And all of our affiliates there, you see all these pictures, explain to you what's going on. Our radar in the top left, keeping an eye on Tropical Storm Hanna, which has made landfall around the North Carolina/South carolina border and is now moving up the coast there. Also in the bottom right screen, that is another monster storm, Hurricane Ike, a Category 3. Right now could be a 4 and heading towards the Florida Keys. And also those last pictures up top. Just some of our affiliates and some of that choppy water along the coast right now that has been brought about by this storm, Tropical storm Hanna.
Also the bottom left there, that empty podium, we're expecting the governor of Florida Charlie Crist to step out at any moment now and to brief his citizens about what they need to be doing to get ready for what appears to be a very serious storm. Already some mandatory evacuations have been put in place for the people who are visiting the Florida Keys right now. Other mandatory evacuations expected for the residents to come sometime tomorrow.
So we'll keep an eye on that. And when he steps up, we will step in there and let you hear who he has to say.
WESTHOVEN: Yes, and of course, all morning, we've been bringing you pictures and stories and reporters out there in the field from many of our affiliates as we try to get you as close as we can. You can really see what Tropical storm Hanna is doing, the kind of impact that the storm is having out there.
So we're going to dip into some affiliate coverage at one of our stations. And that is WUSA.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yellow and orange are tropical storm force winds. And they appear to be just avoiding the triangle and moving up to the Northeast. And by 2:00 or 3:00, definitely even out of the state. And I'm sure that 1:00, a tornado watch will expire at 1:00. And they're not going to reissue one for North Carolina as the winds will start to decrease. And the storm center will be gone.
So still on tap for two to six inches of rain, keeping the heaviest through 10:00, maybe fine tuning now 10:30, ending by 11:00 in the triangle. And you're watching us northeast up toward Henderson and Warrenton and Roanoke Rapids, you'll linger to the beginning of noon. We'll take a look at Hurricane Ike, just to take a look at it. You can see the storm moving toward the West. And the good news for us is it now looks like the storm is not going into the Atlantic. The bad news, it could be a major hurricane headed for the middle Gulf of Mexico. And they've got to get their drill going by the end of next week. Donald, Laurel?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Bill.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, things are starting to calm down a little bit further south at Carolina Beach. And that's where our Carrie Hall is. Carrie, the sun's up. You've been able to survey the area a little bit. What have you noticed?
CARRIE HALL: Well, noticed a lot more people out and about now that the sun is up and things are calming down a bit. A lot of people are out walking on the boardwalk, walking on the beach, walking their dogs. And there's even now as you can see -- can't see them from here I don't think, but there are several surfers who are actually out in the water. There's some pretty big waves coming in. So it's definitely a lot different than it was earlier today between 3:00 and 4:00.
We were pretty much the only people out here. And the wind and the rain were really pretty bad. So people it seems were either asleep or content to stay inside and stay out of that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that people still need to be careful today about rip currents in the wake of Hanna. Just because the sun comes out doesn't necessarily mean that the surf is OK, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would say that's definitely true. And you know, I'm no expert on that, but I would, you know, caution anybody who wants to go outside today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, Carrie. And any reports of damage, anything like that you've heard of from officials down there?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, we haven't heard of anything major. And looking around in the immediate area, there don't appear to be trees down. What we did see earlier, a lot of transformers were popping.
WESTHOVEN: All right, that was from some of our affiliate coverage, WUSA. Just got a little bit of a sore throat here.
HOLMES: Forgive me here, yes.
WESTHOVEN: Drink some water here.
So as we listen to all the latest about Tropical storm Hanna, we're also going to take a listen to, we're going to check in with our Dan Lothian, who's standing by in Kill Devil Hills. He's been watching what's been happening this morning.
Earlier, we talked to him, and it looked practically sunny out, like the rain stopped. Then he got pelted with a band of rain. Dan, what are you seeing now? At least it's not raining on you.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes - no, you know, it's amazing how these things come about. Just a few minutes ago, I'd say 10 to 15 minutes ago, we had really heavy rain pounding us through this area and also high winds. I took my wind gauge down on the beach here. And we saw wind gusts of over 30 miles an hour or so. And the rain was really pounding.
Now all of a sudden, it's sort of calmed down. It's even cleared up. You look up here now, no clouds, although to the south of us coming this direction, we do see some dark clouds. So we're expecting that the worst perhaps isn't over yet. We still could see some of those -- the high winds and more of the rain.
But right now, it has calmed down. We did hear from emergency management officials. And they're telling us that so far, they have no reports of any major flooding out here on the Outer Banks and also no reports of any power outages, although they're telling us that they do expect some minor flooding.
We've been talking a lot about that. There are areas here that are a little lower out here on the Outer Banks. And those are areas that are prone to flooding. If they have even a small amount of rain, some of these areas can have flooding. So they're expecting some of that to occur, but no major flooding.
And one other thing, a tornado watch has been issued for this area. That's something that we always see. Whenever there's a tropical storm or a hurricane, the weather conditions spawn these tornadoes. So that's something that we're looking out for right now.
But this is the little break that we're getting. We don't think that it's all over yet. But certainly a little break here, expecting more rain and wind, perhaps in the next few minutes or so. Jennifer?
WESTHOVEN: Dan, I want to ask you a little bit about the tides, because I know that can make a big difference when it comes to the surge of flooding that might come after you see most of the storm. How's that situation?
LOTHIAN: Well, the low tide was at 6:00 a.m. this morning. The high tide doesn't come on until noon. So we're not in the clear in terms of the high tide and any problems that we could get from that until noon or so.
And again, one of the other issues that we have here with the pounding surf is that it really eats away at this beach. We're told every time that you have any significant storm that comes here on the Outer Banks, usually chews away at the sand. It eats away at the dunes. And they have to end up rebuilding some of the dunes.
We're not seeing conditions that could create any major problems, but certainly any time you have the high winds pounding the beach here, they could have some problems in terms of erosion. So that's one thing we're going to be watching out for as well.
WESTHOVEN: All right, Dan Lothian in Kill Devil Hills, Dan, thank you so much. We really appreciate you and your wind gauge out there.
HOLMES: Yes, as Dan there in an area where they're seeing a few issues, at least certainly with power. We understand that hundreds of thousands of people in North Carolina are without power right now. So certainly the effects of this storm being felt.
We will come back and continue to follow that storm, its track, tropical storm Hanna, but also Hurricane Ike is a concern. A Category 3 heading towards Florida. Governor Charlie Crist expected to brief reporters and the people of Florida shortly. We will jump in when he steps up to that podium.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TIME STAMP: 0857:39
HOLMES: Well, good morning to you again, everybody. And welcome back here. We are, of course, keeping an eye on what's happening with a couple of storm systems. One of them being this big sucker, who is headed towards Florida. It appears right now and maybe the Gulf coast. That's Hurricane Ike, a Category 3. We're standing by that live picture on your left. We're waiting on Governor Crist, Charlie Crist of Florida to come out and give a briefing, tell his residents what they need to be doing right now. Some mandatory evacuations going on today. More expected for residents tomorrow.
So when he steps out, and steps to that podium, we'll certainly tune in to hear what he has to say.
WESTHOVEN: And one of the things we've also been talking -- watching this morning, right, is Tropical storm Hanna.
HOLMES: Oh, yes.
WESTHOVEN: And the effects that's been having all across the Eastern seaboard. And is this the time -- I think we're going to dip back in, see what's happening at our affiliate WRAL in Raleigh. And that's because the affiliates in Raleigh, where we're seeing the picture is in Fayetteville. Actually, we're going to get to that a little bit later, but they're saying quite some flooding through Fayetteville. You'll really want to take a look at that if we can bring it to you because...
HOLMES: Yes...
WESTHOVEN: Moving fast. It's shallow, but it's powerful. You don't want to be in there.
HOLMES: Yes, and a lot of people in their mindset, I mean, we certainly didn't expect this storm to, you know, be that destructive, if you will. But a lot of the reports we've been hearing about and even the reporters we've been seeing, our reporters our there, you know, they're not getting pounded by wind. They're not getting pounded by rain, but still, no doubt still some effects and still some danger to be had with this storm. We, again, see one of our live pictures here, one of our live affiliates, again, some of the correspondents and reporters out there and crews, just kind of getting ready for those live shots.
But flooding as we see and as we have been seeing in that live shot you were talking about from RAL Fayetteville, flooding is still an issue. And so many people, they see some of these reporting. And we even talked about some of the people going back out to the beach to hang out.
WESTHOVEN: They're putting the umbrellas back out, putting some of their lawn chairs back out. Well, that sounds great, but -- and that sounds like everything's fine, but that's not the case just yet. It is still a dangerous spot.
Well, again, Tropical storm Hanna, that danger passed for a lot of folks on the coast. Still some trouble farther north and to the west. Again, that flooding we're talking about in North Carolina, tropical storm warnings still up and way up along the coast, all the way up to Massachusetts, would you believe. But back in the Carolinas, kind of some smooth sailing.
