Yeah. You know . And youve been there before in breaking news stories and on these stories. It is just unbelievable whats happening there. Yeah, and the unknown is going to become a priority. Theyre going to have to do their rescue and their searching and were going to have to stay on it and not forget because the need will only grow over time. It shines the light, don, why now is the time for leaders to be focused on things that matters. The last thing they should be focused on is themselves, and, yes, im talking about our president. And a sharpie sharpiegate, as you may want to call it. I hear the president s apologists saying, oh, its petty, you shouldnt be focussing on it. No, it is. This is a news story. This is the president of the United States. If you cant trust whats coming out of the president of the United States mouth, where are we, who are we . Especially as journalists, why wouldnt we cover that . Youre supposed to be able to trust the president. And getting resources is one thing. Thats great theyre getting resources there. But also, Accurate Information should be coming from the highest office in the land. Instead of doubling down on what, quite frankly, is not the truth. Look, it just shows how low the bar is for this president to put himself first and use any means necessary to promote his own cause. It doesnt care that its wrong, doesnt care that hes going to get other people to say that he was right, hes going to lie to the American People about it, hes going to have someone or himself draw on a map in the most ridiculous way and hes going to stay on it while the hurricane is literally winding its way through the place that hes responsible for. Why even bring it all those days later . Why i saw it happening live and i was like, why is he pulling this thing up . Then i looked at that mark and said, thats not accurate. As it turns out i was just watching from home. As it turns out, its not accurate. I said this is i kept wondering how many people would pick up on it. And obviously everyone picked up on it. On a magic marker being used well. To augment the hurricane cone. Look how simple this is. Chris, you know, don, you made a mistake. Oh, i did . Im sorry. My bad. I didnt mean that. Thats right. There was so much confusion. So many different paths in the beginning. This new press secretary coming after cnn because they made, like, a typo on a map, and, you know, cnn corrects it. Thats what were in the business of doing. We try to give you Accurate Information. We fall short, we correct it, we move on. The irony, really, there are more coarse words for it, but for this press secretary to come at us for making a mistake with the gaffe machine that they are in charge of at that white house, they couldnt even come up with a good story for that cone, don. They cant even deny it and they deny everything, fake or otherwise. Heres the thing, nobodys perfect, no organization is perfect. When we make a mistake, what do we do . We say we made a mistake, were sorry and we correct it. Simple as that. That is the big difference. If youre the president of the United States, i made a mistake its just a simple my bad. Theres a lot going on. Alabama wasnt. Whatever. Lets move on. We would not be talking about it right now. I was overcautious. I extended it too much. I just want everybody to be safe. He would have gotten a little bit of this. Good, youre right. Thank you for caring. We dont think you have a lot of empathy in these situations. You did here. Even governor chris christie, hes a supporter of the president. Its harder for a guy like this to get to that point. Its a more real point when its him. He says the apology is key, don. When you make a mistake, when you go too far, you apologize. We have never seen this president do that once. Yep. Thank you, sir. See you soon. This is cnn tonight. Im don lemon. Heres our breaking news. Of course were talking about Hurricane Dorian battering the carolinas right now. And expected to remain a powerful very powerful hurricane with the potential for dangerous storm surges, lifethreatening flash floods, okay . This is not over yet. A rough night ahead, especially for North Carolina. Were going to go there live for you in just minutes. Weve got a whole lot to cover for you and you dont want to miss any of it. We are learning tonight that at least 30 people have lost their lives in the bahamas. Officials say they fear that toll will soar. And as dorian continues on his path of druestruction, just loo the the havoc in the carolinas earlier today. Look at that. Theres a jeep. Its trapped in the waves this afternoon in myrtle beach. The driver reportedly tried to make it along the beach and then got stuck. To rush up there live wires sparking there it is. In the flooded streets of charleston. That after fierce winds and tornadoes smashed communities along the coast of North Carolina. One man surveying his property had this warning for people wait out the storm. When they say get, get. Thats the thing to do. In the bahamas, a top official says hundreds of people, you hear me, hundreds remain unaccounted for. Look at the devastation. This is in the abacos. Every building is damaged with most utterly destroyed there. Words cant describe it. I dont wish it on nobody. Nobody. Words cant describe it. Do you mind if i Say Something . My grandfather they can never categorize this. Never. My grandfather ran out in the middle it was like an atomic bomb went off. Were going to have the very latest on the storm throughout the night. All the two hours that we have for you and then all night long here on cnn. Our correspondents are out in force in the storm zone. And with all of this going on, with Hurricane Dorian hitting North Carolina with at least 30 people dead in the bahamas, what does the president do as americans are looking to him for guidance . Guidance on a deadly storm. He continues to spread misinformation and repeatedly ignore the facts. I wish i could say its surprising. Maybe in this situation when lives are being threatened and are already lost, maybe it is surprising this time. In a fiveday effort to avoid admitting, just admitting that he made a mistake. We all make mistakes. Nobodys perfect. Instead of admitting he made a mistake, i want you to look at how all of this went down. The president announcing last thursday that he was cancelling his trip to poland to keep track of the storm. It was that important. It was a big storm. He golfed twice over the long holiday weekend. But White House Press secretary Stephanie Gresham said he was being briefed hourly on Hurricane Dorian. Sunday morning, 10 51 eastern, the president tweeting this, in addition to florida, south carolina, North Carolina, georgia and alabama will most likely be hit much harder than anticipated. Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5. Be careful. God bless everyone. And just 20 minutes later, a birmingham, Alabama Branch of the National Weather service set the record straight tweeting, quote, alabama will not see any impact from dorian. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane Dorian will be felt across alabama. The system will remain too far east. Thats pretty clear. They even repeated it. No impacts from Hurricane Dorian. Yet the president just about 20 minutes later said this. The original course was dead into florida, now it seems to be going up toward south carolina, toward North Carolina, georgias going to be hit, alabamas going to get a piece of it, it looks like, but it can change its course again and it can go back more toward florida. About an hour later, doubling down at his fema briefing. It may get a little piece of a great place, its called alabama, and alabama could even be in for at least some very strong winds and something more than that. It could be. This just came up, unfortunately. Its the size of the storm that were talking about. So for alabama, just please be careful also. So there is a correction. Surely someone on his staff must have told him, mr. President , no, no alabama. Surely, right . A great place called camera. You heard him. A state that went for donald trump by a huge margin in 2016. But i digress. The fact is there were some very, very early models that showed a possible threat to parts of alabama, but those models were from tuesday, august 27th. Wednesday the 28th. Models were updated four times a day. So by sunday morning, remember, that was wednesday, tuesday and wednesday, this is sunday. By sunday morning when the president cited an already nonexistent threat to alabama, those models had been updated at least 15 times. Like i say, the white house insisting that the president was being briefed hourly, right . So hes being briefed hourly. Updated 15 times. Remember, gresham said hes being briefed hourly. So why did he get it so wrong . Why did he continue to insist people in alabama were threatened, even though the nation National Weather service said that there was no threat, that that was not true . Why did he double, triple, quadruple down . Actually, even more than that. On his very provably false claims. Monday, labor day, president tweeting, after report on abc news, such a phony hurricane report by lightweight reporter john carl of abc news. I suggested yesterday at fema that all along that along with georgia, florida, south carolina, North Carolina, even alabama could possibly come into play, which was true. Jonathan carls a good reporter, by the way, and it wasnt true. Not on sunday when he said it. The president going on to say under certain scenarios it was, in fact, correct that alabama could have received some hurt. Again, when the president made those statements on sunday, alabama had long since been ruled out as a target of the storm. And then there was yesterday. Things got really interesting. The president in the oval office showing reporters a clearly doctored map, one that falsely showed alabama in the path of Hurricane Dorian. And it appears to have been altered by someone scribbling on it. With a sharpie. That was the original chart, and you see it was going to hit not only florida but georgia. It could have was going toward the gulf. That was what we what was originally projected. Danny, please, mr. Director, can you roll that back . Because obviously this was planned. Someone wrote on it. Not sure who. Someone wrote on the map and hes like can you just put that up on the desk . Here it is. That was the original chart, and you see it was going to hit not only florida but georgia. It could have was going toward the gulf. That was what we what was originally projected. Maybe you just fell off the turnip truck. I dont know. Lets take a look a little more closely, okay . See that . Sharpie scrawl over alabama . Now, we all know someone who likes to use a sharpie, right . Could that be a coincidence . Im just saying, you know, lets be objective here, loves a sharpie, promotes it, theres a sharpie mark on alabama. Is that a coincidence . And then just happened to have it there. Maybe it was just a coincidence. Okay. A source familiar with the oval Office Briefing would not deny, would not deny that it was president who drew the black sharpie line on the map. Hmm. Washington post is reporting tonight that guess who drew that line on the map. More on that in just a few minutes. You want to stay tuned for that. Guess who drew that line on the map. Thats what the Washington Post is reporting. Were going to have more on it. But i want you to listen to the president s answer when he was asked how that map came to be altered. You showed us a map earlier of the initial force. Yeah. It appeared to have been extended or something to include alabama. Can you explain how that came to be . No, i just know yeah, i know that alabama was in the original forecast. They thought it would get it. As a piece of it. And then this. And that map that you showed us today looked like it almost had a sharpie written on it. I dont know. I dont know. I dont know. Okay. I dont know. I dont know. I dont know. All of that. Seriously. People are in the path of a deadly hurricane and have died. And then last night the president tweeted the seven day old hurricane map from the Water District management. The map socalled spaghetti projection, okay, showing multiple southeastern states in dorians path, including alabama, but heres what the fact is. Graphics like this, like this one, theyre not forecasts. They show raw output from a computer model and they include this statement, quote, if anything on this graphic causes confusion, ignore the entire product. And theres more. The president at it again tweeting, i was with you all the way, alabama. By claiming that the state was in danger when it wasnt. So how is that with you all the way . And were learning tonight the president personally directed his Homeland Security adviser to issue a statement this afternoon that he was the one who showed the president a graphic that showed possible Tropical Storm force winds and the southeastern tip of alabama. That is according to a white house source. Which leaves us with the question of why youd brief the president with information that was already out of date. And by the way, the job of Homeland Security adviser has been downgraded twice under john bolton, so the adviser who could, you know, could have been focussing on this dangerous storm is now being forced to give cover to the president who is unhappy that he was wrong about alabama. So unhappy that a source says that he called fox news john roberts into the oval office this afternoon to argue again that he wasnt wrong about alabama. The president has made it really clear that this is all about ego. He just cant admit reality. Not when hed also have to admit that he was wrong. So while peoples homes and their lives are being threatened and, you know, at this very moment in time while hes doing all of this, the president s priority is covering up the truth. Its been that way all along. Lets not forget this is from the second day of the trump administration. This is then press Secretary Sean Spicer insisting we should all ignore what we had seen with our own eyes. This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration. Period. Both in person and around the globe. Its been almost three years since the president started his administration by arguing over the size of his inaugural crowd. And he hasnt changed at all. He still wants you to ignore what you have seen with your own eyes, what youve heard with your own ears. Just remember, what youre seeing and what youre reading is not whats happening. He still cant quite commit to simply telling the truth. When i can i tell the truth. Heres the thing that we need to be able to rely on, the president of the United States to tell us, and that is the truth. All the time. And especially now with Hurricane Dorian battering so many americans. Their lives could depend on the truth. Stormrelated death toll from Hurricane Dorian now up to five in this country, including two in North Carolina. Were going to go to the carolinas for a live report next. 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Reporter well, i mean, the wind has not been that bad, to be quite honest, don, here along the Cape Fear River in downtown wilmington, but the rain has not let up for hours. Just sheeting rain. Of course that is the problem, especially in lowlying areas here along the North Carolina coast. Prone to flooding. They do have a warning, a flood warning, a Flash Flood Warning up. And as this rain continues to just pelt this area, we are waiting to see if those lowlying areas flood. The winds have not been that bad. I dont expect them to get much worse than this as dorian, the worst of it appears to be passing by wilmington. Yet another city on mainlands coast that is escaping the brunt of this storm merely because this storm is skirting the coast and not coming into the coast. Don . Drew griffin, wilmington, North Carolina, thank you, drew. Lets get down the coast now to myrtle beach, south carolina. Martin savidge is there. And he joins us now live. Martin, what are the conditions like at the moment where you are . Reporter well, weve got the winds. Theres no doubt about that. In fact, the winds really picked up around midday here. And they have only intensified into the evening hours. There might be a slight lessening, but its only by a few degrees, and weve had the rain, no doubt. Tornadoes, though, that was something that many people had not counted on. It began very early this morning. And those spinoffs have caused damage. They call them spinoff tornadoes. Theyre not like the ones you get in oklahoma, but wow. Reporter a very still powerful force, and scare a lot of people because the hurricane, they expected, but tornadoes just drop out of the sky and they really are hard to predict. Theyve got people on edge again tonight, don. Absolutely. Martin savidge reporting to us from myrtle beach, south carolina. Martin, thank you. Both martin and drew, please be safe out there. President trump on the defensive over showing an altered map of dorians projected path, ordering one official to fall on his sword over the false claim that alabama was in the path of the storm. And were learning more tonight about exactly who altered that map. Ill bet you can get. Next. male announcer summer is over, and fall is here. Its time to get back to school, back to work, and back in the blind. Because opening day is coming, and offseason day dreams are about to become a reality. Its your season. So check out Bass Pro Shops and cabelas gear up sale for the hunting brands you trust, like cabelas, redhead in true timber camo, and black out. Bass pro shops and cabelas. Your adventure starts here. As Hurricane Dorian pounds North Carolina, the president has continued to focus on trying to defend his decision to show an altered map of the storms path, falsely showing it heading into alabama. So joining me now is my panel. Michael is the author of the truth about trump. Good evening, everyone. Im going to start with you. You have new reporting about who drew that line in sharpie on that outdated forecast track. So who was it, talu . Well, my colleague josh dossy and i have reported that according to a white house official President Trump, who is as you mentioned, is very well known as someone who likes to use sharpie, he likes to write on official documents in sharpie, that this loop that was created to show the hurricane sort of moving toward alabama, that it was the president himself who used his sharpie, which is very well documented and close to him in the oval office. He used it to write on that map and try to depefend what he had been saying previously, that alabama should get prepared and be careful because the hurricane was headed its way, even long after the hurricane had turned northward and was no longer threatening alabama when the president saw that news outlets and even his own government were correcting him publicly, he decided to bring out this old map, show it moving towards alabama and add a little bit of extra with a sharpie to show alabama right there in the cone, and it was the president himself who wanted to make that point. So it was the president . Wow. Okay. Oh, wow. Gee, thats a shock. Okay. Listen, seriously, its just its really unbelievable. You know, i dont want to laugh we shouldnt be. We should be covering, right, a lot of other thinks. This is you want Accurate Information from the president. The president has said, you know, he didnt do it. By the way, in the tone, i dont know, i dont know, i dont know. Anyway, well play that later. Its a similar tone to air force one when he was asked about precisely. The hush money. The same tone. I have no idea what youre talking about. But the reason were talking about this would he do this because youve known him for a while. You wrote the truth about trump. Is this something that he will do to make his not reality reality for everyone else . Always. This is the kid who gets a d on his report card, changes it to a b and thinks no one is going to notice. I mean, this is really absurd, but were talking about this because the president who talks about fake news is a fake president. Hes not up to the job. This is how he has conducted himself his entire life. He has cheated at every game hes ever played. So hes going to cheat at this. He cant bear to be wrong about anything. So hes going to do something ridiculous like this. Yeah. And, listen, i want to get this frank, and get it right. Let me look at my notes here. We know that President Trump directed his Homeland Security adviser rear admiral peter brown to issue a statement this afternoon to give him cover because the president was wrong about alabama. There are hundreds of thousands of americans at risk right now. Right . You have all of the people who have died in the bahamas. And hes most concerned about this . Yeah, there is nothing more important than the president s ego and the president s image. I mean, this has been the most consistent theme of his presidency. I was thinking of all the things along the way. I think one of the things we need to mention, you went into it at great length in your book about mike pence. The president was so rattled by his loss of the popular vote that he declared there were millions of illegal votes, then he appointed a commission, a federal commission to study and prove there were illegal votes. It never did and it was disbanded without any further word. Thats very similar to drawing with a sharpie. Its like why does he do this . What is that . What is it . Its a kind of pathology. As michael said, its totally unpresident ial. The president should be concerned about our welfare, not the pristine of his image and the size of hesitate his crowds. This is just so ridiculous. What comes next . Papiermache ballots that hes created . You talked about that commission. It was dissolved when they couldnt provide evidence in court. So what did he do . Again, classic, he shifted the blame. He said the problem is the states wont coop rate with us. They wont give us information. Im still right, don lemon, there are all these illegal votes, these other people just wont let me prove it. This National Security position really used to carry weight. It was downgraded twice. Hes now being forced to fall on the sword for this president. Why is there this constant scramble at the white house or by the president s supporters to try and protect this president s ego . Don, weve seen this multiple times where the president says something, he gets way out in front of his advisers or he says something thats flatly false and the machinery of the government, the machinery of the Donald Trump Administration whirls into action to try to justify what the president said, try to find out if there is information out there across the government that backs up what the president has said. Weve seen it on in so many different examples where the president says something and the government scrambles to try to back him up, not to leave him out there on a limb, and this is just another example. Hes had this 225word lengthy statement by his counterterrorism and National Security adviser, youd think that, you know, counterterrorism and National Security are two things that are very important that he would be focussing on rather than defending the president s tweets and statements from, you know, a week ago. Its clear that hes being used in this instance to try to protect the president. The president has been fuming, according to our reporting, very fixated on this issue. Hes been very consumed by the fact that people are calling him out over his alabama tweets, and he wanted his government to defend him, and the issue of loyalty is something thats very important to this president. No matter what position youre in, no matter how highranking you are within his government, he wants people to show him loyalty, even in his cabinet and even among his closest advisers. This is one instance where the counterterrorism adviser was being asked to show his loyalty by sort of falling on his sword and saying the president was correct even when the president was not correct. I can understand loyalty, but, i mean, this is whole another show, as they say. Thank you all. I appreciate it. Just ahead, im going to talk to a former noaa official who says the president s lie about dorians path is shocking and disturbing. At tmobile, what can you get when you a buy a Samsung Galaxy note 10 . You get unlimited data while on a network that goes further than ever before. Use as much as you want. When you want. A Netflix Subscription on us. Stream all your favorite movies and shows. And for a limited time. Buy any Samsung Galaxy note 10 and get one Samsung Galaxy note 10 for free. Thats right. Get one Samsung Galaxy note 10 for free. Applebees handcrafted burgers now starting at 7. 99 now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. Now starting at 7. 99 so why not bundle them with esurance and save up to 10 . Which you can spend on things you really want to buy, like. Well, i dont know what youd wanna buy because im just a guy on your tv. Esurance. Its surprisingly painless. [happy irthday music] dont get mad, put those years to work with e trade. You know thats the the nfls 100th season. I dont think theres anybody out there who can possibly put that into words. I can betty white . Shhh bdogs talking now. 100 years of nfl history. The packers and the bears. Theres only one thing more badass than this years kickoff. And youre looking at her. Say nbc into your xfinity voice remote to watch now. So and were back. I want you guys to whatever youre doing watch this next segment. It will tell you why were doing this, why its so important that there is accuracy coming from the white house. Because the president is doubling down and then some on his claim that alabama was going to be hit by Hurricane Dorian. A claim refuted by the National Weather service. Washington post reporting that a source told them it was the president himself, again, it is the Washington Post saying this, the president himself altered an outdated map to include alabama in dorians potential path. Joining me now to discuss is monica medina, a former noaa general counsel. Im so glad that youre here. Please talk to us about how unprecedented this president s lie or misinformation about this hurricane is. This just doesnt happen, don. Thanks so much for having me on to talk about it because when i saw this, i couldnt believe it. Having been at the agency and knowing how important the accuracy of these forecasts is, its shocking that the president would think that he could change it. No president has ever done this before in modern history. No noaa administrator would do it. No republican, no democrat. Its completely unprecedented, a lie like this, and its consequential. Unlike the lies about his crowd size or his hand size, this is a lie that has consequences for people in this daytoday lives so its really shocking. Well, and also, you know, its such an important story. So many people have died. And, you know, you know this, the death toll will most likely go up because we havent seen and, you know, some of the areas and a lot of people are still unaccounted for. When people say, well, why are you focussing on this and the president and a sharpie and dont you have Better Things to report on, what do you say to them . What i say to them is that the entire Weather Forecast enterprise, which is a public and private partnership, relies on the accuracy of that forecast that the president doctored. So when he changes it, it creates confusion in the system and then peoples lives really are at risk. And next time maybe the Weather Service wont tweet out a correction so quickly. And the president or his underlings will get to the Weather Service director, who is an acting director the head of noaa is an acting director, and they could intimidate the rest of the Weather Service into not correcting, and then we have real problems. Real confusion in the system. And when that happens people die. Thats why there is a statute that says you cant create a false weather report. Because so many people are passing this information out and its got to be accurate. If people in the government, ms. Medina, had acted under the guise that alabama was in the storms path, what would have happened . Well, as you could see already, it was hard enough to predict what was happening with dorian, and there were evacuation warnings and people didnt heed them because they were worried that they were being evacuated in a way that was unnecessary. If this president expands that cone of uncertainty, even more people might have to be evacuated or board up their house or close their business unnecessarily. And then the next time they wont heed that warning. And it could be its Hurricane Matthew headed right for alabama. So lets try to counteract some of the misinformation or disinformation, okay . Yep. What should people know tonight about this storm . What people should know tonight about this storm is that the storm surge is an incredible problem. Its getting closer and closer to North Carolina. And they need to heed the warnings of their local first responders, their government. If they say to get out of the way, get out of the way because roads and bridges will be impacted and peoples lives will be at risk trying to save the people who dont get out of harms way. I just one quick question for you. You say that what trump did is illegal. What law did he break . He broke a criminal law that is that was put in place in order to make sure that people dont falsify these forecasts for either public gain or for political gain. We dont politicize or use as the in the government use that information to make money. And we dont use that information for political benefit. Thats the point of those statutes. Those forecasts have to be accurate. The public has to have 100 trust in them. And so do all the other people in that Weather Enterprise who pass that information on. They have to know that its true. Monica medina, i told people to sit and watch you. I hope they did. Thank you so much. I appreciate your exinpertise. A former official at noaa under the obama administration, the former noaa general counsel under clinton. Thank you so much. I appreciate your time. Thank you for having me. Hurricane dorian now lashing the carolinas as it moves closer and closer. How officials are preparing for the worst. Thats next. Dough made from scratch, every day. Sauce from the original giammarco recipe. And authentic toppings like crispy, old world pepperoni™. Thats italian quality pizza. And it makes the moment. Primo. Every day at marcos, get two medium, onetopping pizzas for just 6. 99 each. Hello to the italian way. Hello primo. Sleep number 360 smart bed. St sale of the year on a you can adjust your comfort on both sides your sleep number setting. 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Conditions will be rough for just a little bit now but are going to improve overnight. Thats going to allow our Damage Assessment team to get right to work as soon as the winds settle down on friday, and well start to pivot towards recovery as quickly as we can and be able to continue to support our citizens through the recovery effort. Anna, we know, and we have some video of this tornado that was captured on video spinning near wilmington. The National Hurricane center is also warning of lifethreatening storm surge, flash floods tonight. So i know youre concerned about all of it. What are you most concerned about . Is it the flooding . Yeah, i would say definitely the flash flooding and the surge are some of our biggest concerns tonight, not only because theyre normally dangerous elements of any tropical system as its passing us, but more so because of the dark of night and debris that may be down on the roads. So were really encouraging people first of all to turn around, dont drown. You know, if they come across any roads that seem to be covered, just find another route. But most importantly, dont even come out right now. Hunker down. Hang out and ride the rest of the storm out. You know, anna, there are some concerns about dorian making landfall. How worried are you about the possibility or just a direct hit from this hurricane . I think its always a concern. It doesnt change the big factors of the wind field that were seeing right now. The storm surge, the flash flooding. We want to make sure throughout the event, no matter where the eye of the storm passes, that were able to adequately maintain our resources to make sure that our Public Safety partners have everything they need to ensure Public Safety, and that includes being able to work here in our Emergency Operations center. Weve been working since monday with our Emergency Management staff, with the full activation of all of our county staff on tuesday, working closely with our longterm recovery group, and thats made up of a lot of nongovernmental, faithbased partners, just to ensure everybody is aware of the threats and hazards. And then supporting our citizens however they need it, working through sheltering, supporting duke power, and making sure that people have the resources they need and the information they need to get through the rest of this. Anna mcrae, thank you so much. Appreciate your time. Stay safe, okay . Thank you so much. I want to go down to mayor jerry dove in southport, North Carolina. He joins us by phone. Mayor, thank you so much. We know this is a busy time for you as well. The eyewall right now along side the coast of North Carolina, what are you guys experiencing tonight . At this time were experiencing tropicalforce winds and rain. Actually, i believe from the last forecast, ive heard the storm is actually north and east of us. So its passed over us. But were kind of on the backside of it now. Still experiencing those winds and rain. We do have some good news about it. I was pleased to compare this one with hurricane florence. This one is moving a lot faster, and hopefully it wont do as much damage as florence did. And the other thing, too, is our rivers and our tidal creeks arent at their capacity, so they can hold a lot more water than we had when florence had come through. They were already at their crest just about when florence came through. And the last good thing that we can see is that that tidal surge is not going to be as high as they predicted. They predicted seven feet. Now the Weather Service tells us its only going to be about one to four feet. Listen, im glad youre looking on the bright side because all those things you said are important. You saw how that storm, that hurricane really sat on top of the bahamas, and that really caused significant problems. And its still an intense hurricane, but if it moves through faster, theres a potential that its less threat, and theres less damage and less loss of lives. So you guys seem to be prepared. Evacuations have been ordered for areas that are close to you. Have southport residents been leaving the area . There has been some of our folks have left that were in lowlying areas close to the river, and a lot of our folks, they have been through these things, and theyre pretty well prepared. We had a lot of folks that did stay through it, but we did put in a curfew effective today mainly for safety reasons. Theres one bad thing about it is that the city is without power right now. We lost power, so youre talking about somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 people without power. But we have the Power Company is standing by with crews to come in as soon as the winds subside a little bit. All right. Well, were wishing you the very best. Mayor jerry dove of southport, North Carolina. Thank you so much for your time. Best of luck. Thank you. Breaking news, the brandnew forecast for the hurricane just ahead. During the model year clearance sale. Save up to 2500 on remaining 2019 tracker and sun tracker boats. Save up to 3500 on tahoe; up to 4500 on regency; and save up to 5000 on remaining nitro boats. Plus act now and youll save 1,000s more compared to 2020 models. Hurry to Bass Pro Shops,cabelas, and tracker boating centers nationwide. The paperwork, the searching for id cards. Thats why esurance makes it simple with an app, so youre not stuck in the 90s. Wow, that tiny tv is the bomb. When insurance is simple, its surprisingly painless. Wow, that tiny tv is the bomb. Whats going on . Its the 3pm slump. Should have had a p3. Oh yeah. Should have had a p3. Need energy . Get p3. With a mix of meat, cheese and nuts. Hey. You must be stevens phone. Now you can know whos on your network and control who shouldnt be, only with xfinity xfi. Simple. Easy. Awesome. This is cnn tonight. Im don lemon. We have breaking news. We have a brandnew forecast for Hurricane Dorian. The storm slamming the coastal carolinas right now. Cnns reporters are out in force all across the storm zone. And were learning just how deadly dorian has been. Five stormrelated fatalities in this country and two in North Carolina. And in the bahamas, the death toll is rising with at least 30 people losing their lives. That as an official there says that hundreds of people remain unaccounted for. Were going to get strait