Around the world. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. This is cnn breaking news. Were following two major breaking stories on the carolina coast. The first confirmed deaths in the Hurricane Florence disaster. At least four people have been killed including a mother and a baby whose house was hit by a falling tree. Hours after florence made landfall it is now a Tropical Storm and on a slow, a very, very punishing crawl. Rescuers are scrambling to reach people trapped by lifethreatening storm surges and catastrophic flooding. More than 600,000 customers right now, they are without power. Also breaking, prosecutors now say Paul Manafort is already giving them information after entering new guilty pleas as part of a deal with the special counsel. The president s former Campaign Chairman agreeing to cooperate on, quote, any and all matters. A potential game changer in the russia investigation. We have our correspondents, analysts and guests standing by in the disaster area of this storm, and here in the situation room we are covering all of the breaking news. First, lets go to the hardhit North Carolina area where cnns nick watt is covering the storm disaster for us. Nick, youre in North Myrtle Beach. What are the conditions like there . Reporter well, wolf, all day we have had heavy rain and driving gusts of wind. It has actually made it too dangerous for First Responders to venture out for much of the day, and here in North Myrtle Beach, wolf, were actually still waiting for the worst of the storm to reach us. Tonight Hurricane Florence beating down on the carolina coast. The storm making landfall in North Carolina early friday morning, bringing sustained winds of over 90 Miles Per Hour ripping through structures washing out roads. Soaking the North Carolina coastline as it slowly crawls to shore. The center of the storm is expected to linger over the coast of north and South Carolina for another day, bringing lifethreatening storm surge, dangerous winds and torrential rains, endangering the many residents who stayed behind. Hurricane florence is powerful, slow and relentless. It is an uninvited brute who doesnt want to leave. Trestle is almost under water. Reporter in new bern, North Carolina 150 residents were trapped overnight while awaiting rescue. It got real it gol real heavy real fast. Reporter the storm surge reaching ten feet in that area. The water on the wall, you can see how high up the water was by the dirt. Reporter in nearby river bend, volunteers from river bend dispatched a team to assist in rescues. We decided to go out last night just to scope the area out, see where we were going today, and ended up getting several calls last night. Hundreds of calls for service last night. We rescued a couple of people that were posting on facebook their addresses and stuff. We elderly people, blind people. Reporter the cajun navy, a volunteer group based in louisiana, spreading out across the worsthit areas, rescuing hundreds of people overnight along the North Carolina coast. We are about 3 30 a. M. To 8 30 a. M. We evacuated well over reporter as the storm creeps towards South Carolina, some residents there also opting to stay behind. Ive stayed here during hugo and didnt left. I didnt leave during matthew, and i am just going to ride it out. Reporter and there are a couple of thousand people here in North Myrtle Beach who decided to call it out. Call them brave, calm them foolish, but they are here. One local official texted me a while ago and said we are lucky right now, only a few downed trees and downed power lines. Lets see if that luck lasts through a wet and windy night. Wolf. Nick watt, be careful over there. Thank you. Lets get more on the first deaths since florence hit land. Cnns brian todd is in wilmington, North Carolina for us. You are near the house where a mother and her baby were killed . Reporter thats right, wolf. We have some updated numbers for you tonight. We just heard there are a total of five fatalities in North Carolina so far today from this storm. So these numbers could easily, of course, be going up. This was the scene of really an excruciating rescue operation. This 30,000 pound tree right behind me, we can zoom in on this house. You can see where it came crashing down. It split the back of this house wide open. Thats a back bedroom, and shortly after that happened a little before 7 00 a. M. Eastern time, the 911 calls came and rescue teams got here as quickly as they could. They brought a lot of trucks and heavy equipment to try to cut through some of this stuff. We got here shortly after that. This rescue operation took a total of about eight hours that we were here for much of it. In the end, they could not save the lives of a lady in here and her small child. Two people in this house died. A third person did survive, a man, and he almost didnt make it, wolf. He was pinned underneath some very, very heavy objects. They brought in a Surgical Team here thinking they might have to amputate his leg. They got the Surgical Team in here. They cut through some other objects, lifted some objects and they were actually able to extricate him without having to amputate any of his appendages there. So he got out and was taken for some medical treatment. But, wolf, we were talking to the First Responders all day long as they came in and out of here. Theyre telling us just what they were trying to do to get to these two people. They had to go first they tried to get access to them from the inside. They couldnt do that. Then they came back out and had to cut through everything. They brought just a lot of heavy equipment to cut through this material. They had to cut through brick and the wood of the tree and other material to try to get to these two people. I saw them cutting through and then throwing out a big set of dresser drawers. So they were just working to the point of exhaustion. In the end, wolf, they simply could not save the lives of this lady and her baby. Sad indeed. Brian todd on the scene for us. Thank you. Tonight rescuers are on alert across the carolinas, and as the waters keep rising even more people may be trapped. Cnns ed la mandera is in new bern for us. You have been with the rescuers. What are you seeing and hearing . Reporter overnight, wolf, many residents here in the town of new bern which is rather inland from the North Carolina coast started seeing the floodwaters rising from rivers and tributaries coming into their homes, many neighborhoods looking like this, taking on three to four feet of water. One rescuer told me theyve seen six to ten feet of water in some places, and that led to a flurry of activity throughout the day with not only swift water rescue teams, professional teams that came in from across the country to help in this crisis, but also a fleet of volunteers who, reminiscent of Hurricane Harvey and what we saw there a year ago, where volunteers showed up with their own boats and launched boats into the floodwaters to pull people from their homes. Thats very much what we saw today throughout this town, in the pockets of the areas where floodwaters had come up and overtaken some of these homes. The mayor of the city says more than 300 people were pulled out of their homes throughout the course of the day. Last we heard, we still havent gotten any final updates from the mayor today, but roughly three dozen to 40 people still needed to be pulled out of their homes. Those rescue efforts have continued. But now as the sun is about to set on another dreary day here in new bern, North Carolina, many of those operations will come to an end. It is just simply too dangerous. But it has all of this has taken place, wolf, under an unrelenting rain and downpours that have gone on throughout most of the day. Wolf. And it is continuing as we can see. Ed lavandera. Thank you. Lets bring in ben mcmillan, a field correspondent for weather nation, is joining us from North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for us tonight. What has it been like to watch this storm, ben . Reporter yeah, wolf, from the carolina coast, we had very strong winds earlier in the day. Those have started to die down. We see lessening of the winds. It doesnt mean that the threat is over. The next threat we are looking at is flooding. You see it behind me, covering trucks and houses, and those water levels are just going to go up. Many storm deaths occur in tropical systems because of flooding, even more so than the winds. Just because the wind is dying down, do not think that the threat is over. We want them to be vigilant throughout the next few days. We know a lot of people evacuated, but those who stayed, what are they doing now . Where are they encamped . Reporter many folks, wolf, have left these areas as they were under a mandatory evacuation. We have actually seen people around, some vehicular traffic with people trying to come back to the area. But, again, we want to urge you if you have been asked by officials under a mandatory evacuation to leave, please wait for the officials to send out word it is safe to return home. What about the flooding and storm surges . You are seeing them right now. Are they going to get worse over the next few hours . Reporter well, we havent really seen the winds coming off the ocean much here in North Myrtle Beach today, so that storm surge could be a problem as we approach high tide. Most of the water behind me is from fresh water, from the heavy rainfall because this storm has been slow. It has really added up and were going to see the threat continue with the surge and the high tide levels coming into the overnight hours. Ben mcmillan is a field correspondent for weather nation. We will get back to you as women. I want to go to cnns Diane Gallagher in new bern, North Carolina with a different view for us. What are you seeing over there, diane . Reporter wolf, as you can see right now the winds and the rain picking up yet again. Ed was talking about this relentless field of rain we have had all day today. To be very honest, it has felt worse today than it almost did last night when florence was coming in and we were outside doing these live shots in downtown. Weve seen a lot of the flooding kind of return. Some of it had receded, leaving all of this debris and moving very large things. Like they have these bears around town they moved into parking lots. They had large, potted plants. Portapotties scattered and littered around downtown. We went on a rescue mission with volunteers from maryland. They came down on their own, drove through the day, worked through the night, slept a couple of hours, came back up and worked through the day. The most difficult thing theyre dealing with right now are the people who dont know what theyre going to do now, wolf. A lot of people didnt think it was going to be a big deal, thats why they didnt leave, or they didnt have the finances to leave. They thought that they could ride this one out. Theyre being rescued. They cant bring anything with them. Theyre small boats theyre getting on so they left everything in their homes. It could be one, two weeks, maybe never for them to go back and retrieve some of that. Wolf, we were able to see some of these peoples personal belongings going in the water, hanging out in their neighbors yard. People posting on facebook asking, have you seen this or that. There is a woman staying at our hotel, we dont have power there. She is there in a communal area where theres one room off a generator thats got it. She said, i know my home is gone but i cant bear to look at it. Pictures are up, i cant look at it right yet. Such a heartbreaking story indeed. All right, diane. Well get back to you. Miguel marques is in North Carolina beach for us. Miguel, you are on the water in dangerous conditions. I want you to be safe, but update us on what you are seeing and hearing. It looks awful. Reporter wolf, this is Carolina Beach, North Carolina. The wind is whipping stronger than it has in the last 24 hours. It is unbelievable. This storm, florence, will not quit. They call this the category 1. It is the strongest category 1 winds that i have certainly seen. Most of New Hanover County is now out of electricity. No electricity to almost the entire county. Our cellphones have gone down. All communications are down. We are now using a Satellite Phone and other technology to get this live shot out. It is absolute pandemonium here. The Emergency Services have just basically hunkered down for as long as possible, hoping that they can get through this storm. At midnight tonight there is another tide that will come in, and thats when it will be make or break for people here. They expect a very strong storm surge, and with these winds i cannot imagine that there will not be a lot of downed trees and damaged homes and problems in this town. This is a city of 6,200 people. About 600 people or so decided to stay. This may be the greatest test they face in the last 24 hours. Wolf. I want you to be very, very careful out there, miguel. Go inside to safety because this is it looks awful from our perspective as viewers right now. Have you ever seen or felt anything like this before in all of your years youve been covering these hurricanes . I guess weve lost communication. Im glad he is going inside. Weve weve never felt anything like this. Not in this storm. Safety, thats first and foremost our priority. These are the most intense winds weve seen. We cant even get out in them right now. The rain, the water, we have seen tons of that, certainly a storm surge today, but winds like this we have not seen. Back to you. All right. Be safe over there. Get some safety. Obviously we want you first and foremost to be safe. It looks awful out there. Miguel marques reporting for us. Lets go to the cnn Severe Weather center and meteorologist jennifer gray. It looks awful, jennifer. You just saw Miguel Marquess report. Give us an update of the latest forecast we are getting. It does and hes in one of the rain bands, not closest to the center where the stronger winds are. If you can believe it, people are experiencing stronger winds than he had. There are gusts of 85 Miles Per Hour, it is only moving at three Miles Per Hour at the 5 00 adviceor advisory. It slowed down even more, which is awful news for the people along the North Carolina coast which is being battered by the flooding and the wind and the rain. This is going to continue this same trend of this onshore flow, meaning all of the wind, the storm surge, the water pushing inland. That will continue, that flooding. Luckily new bern has gotten out of the rain ban theyve been in all day. If you were in certain parts of the city you are actually experiencing a little bit of relief but it is not over yet. You will continue to get the rain for the next possible 12 hours. Some areas have gotten more than a foot and a half of rain. An additional 12 inches is possible in some of these locations. I want to reiterate, the river flood risk will be huge. The storm is going to be long gone, but the rivers are going to continue to rise. Actually, i misspoke with you 20 minutes ago when i was talking about Cape Fear River near wilmington. This is actually right now, theyve already broken the record at that river. So you can expect major flooding. That one will gradually go down. This is the graphic that i was talking about, the one thats expected to go up. More than three feet above the record is expected at northeast Cape Fear River. It is three feet now, and then by monday afternoon it is going to hit 25 feet. So this is going to be long after the rain has ended, take river is going to continue to rise. I dont want people to get caught off guard when they think everything is over and then the river rises and their towns are flooded even after the storm is gone. Wolf. You know, jennifer, i want to show you live pictures from Carolina Beach in North Carolina where Miguel Marques was just reporting, and im glad he is getting some safety right now, getting some protection. But you can see the wind, the rain. You see those trees. How long is this going to go on like this . Well, with the storm only moving three Miles Per Hour, you can expect those conditions will probably remain throughout most of the night. Of course, when that rain band just inches a little farther to the west and they can get out of it, then things will continue to improve dramatically. But until that happens and, unfortunately, with it moving so slowly it could be like that for several more hours. Thats what weve been talking about the last couple of days, is when people say my home can withstand a category 2 or category 1 or whatever it is, yeah, they might be able to withstand it for a couple of hours, but can you withstand it for 24, 36 hours . This is just the beating that were getting over and over. So thats the difference with the storm, is the duration of it. It is lasting so, so long, wolf. Thats right. People were given mandatory evacuation orders, but unfortunately some of those people rejected those orders. Jennifer, we will get back to you. 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Breaking tonight, at least five people are now dead as florence clobbers the carolinas and refuses to go away. It has been downgraded to a Tropical Storm, but it is still very powerful and very dangerous. Just got an update on power outages. Now more than 700,000 customers dont have electricity tonight. Lets bring in cnn usa drew griffin in myrtle beach for us. What do you see and are you experiencing there as the storm hangs on . Reporter yeah, it hangs on and continually batters the coast. As this storm weakens here at the coast, wolf, it is increasingly becoming a fact that the more you go west inland is where the next disaster is going to take. I just did get a forecast for the river flooding thats going to take place in South Carolina. Peaking not until wednesday in some cases where theyre going to have some record flooding. Right now florence continues to batter us here right on the beach on myrtle beach. Minor damage. Most of the saving grace has been that the hurricane, now Tropical Storm, has pushed the water away from myrtle beach because we have an offshore flow. Not much storm surge here. Theyre hoping that will hold as this slow, torrential rain keeps churning through South Carolina. As i said, wolf, people are really starting to look inland for where this disaster is going to be. Lowlying areas, anywhere along the rivers is really ging oing have a tough time for days on out. Wolf. Drew griffin, thank you very much. Lets talk to the director of Emergency Management in myrtle beach. Bruce arnell is joining us on the phone. Bruce, what are the greatest risks to life for people in your community right now . Right now, wolf, you know, as drew was saying, you know, were in the midst of it right now with the wind and the rain. You know, we encourage everybody to stay where they are in shelters if thats the case. You know, were faring pretty good. Were not getting a lot of structural damage in myrtle beach. However, the wind is blowing and, again, as drew said, we are more concerned right now with the river flooding, cutting off access into our city in the days to come. Have you been conducting rescues . Not so much in myrtle beach. We dont plan on getting out until in the morning to do our damage assessments. We dont have a lot of people in town right now, so that hasnt been an issue. A curfew, as you obviously know, has been extended for the area. Are people heeding that curfew . We have very good voluntary compliance with our curfew right now. Were happy with the percentage of people that have left the area, but, again, our concern right now is the river flooding in the inland areas outside of myrtle beach that could potential cut off access in the days to come to our city. So what is your advice for those people who are hunkering down in those areas right now . The best thing i can tell them right now is to be patient, and just be patient. This is going to take a couple of days for us to figure out. The governor has not lifted the evacuation order, so and were in constant communication with our county partners and state partners in reference to that. But we just want everybody to be patient, be calm, and just give us time to sort this out. Bruce, do you have all of the resources you need . Do you have enough support from state and federal authorities . Absolutely. You know, we did the right thing early, you know. The governor did the right thing early. I feel that were prepared to handle this, although it is going to be it is going to be a challenge in the days to come due to the length of time that were going to be dealing with this flooding. Give us some perspective. How do you compare this storm to others that you have had to deal with . Matthew was one of the biggest flood events besides floyd that weve had in, you know, recent history. This one has the potential the do worse damage that matthew. It is an awful situation. Good luck to you, bruce. Good luck to all of the folks in myrtle beach, indeed, throughout all of the carolinas. We are watching and hoping for only the best. Appreciate it very much. Thank you, wolf. All right. Just ahead we are getting new information. We are getting more pictures from our correspondents in the carolinas. We have many of them up and down the coast. We will have live reports coming up. Also, another major story we are following. Paul manafort flips. Hes agreeing now to cooperate with the special counsel, robert mueller, and avoiding a second criminal trial. So how big of a win is this for mueller and his federal team . Our analysts are standing by. Touch shows how we really feel. But does psoriasis ever get in the way . Embrace the chance of 100 clear skin with taltz. Up to 90 of those with moderate to severe psoriasis had a significant improvement of their psoriasis plaques. 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Miguel, update our viewers right now. Can you hear me . Tell us what is going on . Reporter i can hear you. We have had to take some pretty extraordinary measures to get a live shot out of here. It is unbelievable. This storm, florence, will not quit. We have dealt with rain, we have dealt with the tidal surge and now we are dealing with, like we havent seen the entire time, winds. It is an incredible burst of energy that this storm is now unleashing on Carolina Beach, North Carolina. About 600 people or so of the 6,200 people who live in this town decided to ride this storm out. For the most part, over the last 24 hours there has been heavy winds, there has been rain, there has been some damage to this community, but this is the most intense wind we have seen. It has been going for the last hour or so and it doesnt seem to be going anywhere. This is amazing how slow this storm system is moving. Even though it is a Tropical Storm that moved on as a category 1, it is an extraordinary strong category 1. We must be experiencing something in the 60 to 70milesperhour sustained winds, which is a brutal place to be right now. The amount of damage that we had already seen around town, we can only imagine it may be worse. This wind will also drive that tidal surge around midnight tonight when we expect the tide to come back in, and wind like this will drive it up even higher. Authorities are not sure what to expect or to think. They are just hoping that people who are here can ride out this storm and that they will be okay in the morning, and then it will be a matter of assessing a very broad area of not only Carolina Beach but the county as well. Some 108,000 people across the county are now out of electricity, certainly here in the city as well. Cellphones have gone down, and it is just this is a storm that just wont quit. It is really impressive, wolf. Yes, i want you to be safe over there. Be careful, Miguel Marques, Carolina Beach, North Carolina, for us. We will check back with you. Obviously were going to continue to watch all of the hurricane developments as they unfold, but theres another major breaking story were also following right now. Tonight the former chairman of the trump campaign, Paul Manafort, he is now cooperating with the special counsel in the russia investigation. Manafort striking a plea deal that requires him to provide information about any and all matters considered relevant by the federal prosecutor. This is incredibly significant, perhaps even more than we realized depending on what manafort knows and whether it involves the president of the united states. Our analysts are here along with our justice correspondent evan perez who was in the courtroom earlier today. Evan, tell us what it was like. It was a dramatic hour that you personally eyewitnessed. Right, it was a dramatic hour. What was most remarkable about it was that the prosecutor, andrew wiseman, sort of delivered this in the middle of an extended sotatement of what Paul Manafort was admitting to. In the middle he breezed by, saying in page two of the Cooperation Agreement, and we all gasped at the idea there was a Cooperation Agreement that we did not know about. It is clear this is an extensive agreement. It is something that is broad and essentially gives prosecutors everything that they want. As you said, the language says that any and everything that the prosecutors want him to testify, he has to come in for interviews and briefings without a lawyer present. He has to testify in any proceedings that the prosecution wants him to testify in. If he wants to if they need him to go to a grand jury, he has to do that. So as part of this agreement, hes probably going to get a pretty good break on the possible prison sentence that he was facing, but really what the mueller team has gotten here is everything that they wanted from Paul Manafort. I read the 17page plea agreement and it is incredibly detailed. Jeffrey toobin, how significant is all of this . Well, it is something that the mueller team has wanted for months and they have worked very, very hard. They leaned on Paul Manafort like i have almost never seen. Two cases against him, one trial, another trial coming up, and they got what they wanted. They got a complete Cooperation Agreement. Obviously, the big question that we dont know the answer to is what does Paul Manafort know and about whom. He confessed to an extraordinary number of crimes. I mean this guy, Paul Manafort, was basically a oneman crime wave when you think about the number of different kinds much crimes he committed. Now we need to know did he work with others besides his deputy, rick gates, who has already pleaded guilty and what does he know about people in the trump campaign. That remains a central mystery in the case, but it is one that at least the mueller team is going to answer for themselves. Evan, i want to get back to you because you are getting some new information on a prominent democrat who potentially could be charged in the nottoodistant future in connection with all of this manafort and i want to thank jeffrey for the perfect setup because one of the people implicated in the documents we saw in court today, in the information that prosecutors filed today in the manafort plea agreement is greg craig. He worked for a big law firm here in washington, and were told by sources erica orden and i that prosecutors in new york are looking to bring charges against him. This is an investigation that began that mueller referred up to the prosecutors in new york. Essentially it is centered on the question of whether or not greg craig should have registered under this law that says if you are representing foreign clients youre supposed to representing foreign governments rather, you are supposed to register with the Justice Department known as fara. This is the same law, by the way, that Paul Manafort got in trouble for. This goes back to work that Paul Manafort was doing. He hired greg craig and this law firm to help white wash a report they were doing for the Ukrainian Government, which was a prorussia Ukrainian Government at the time. What it has caused now is that greg craig is in trouble. As you said, he is a prominent democrat. He was the First White House counsel under president obama and it looks like hes in deep, deep trouble. By the way, this is a big, prominent law firm here in washington. Theyre facing trouble here and we expect there will be some kind of civil resolution, perhaps a deferred prosecution. He was a lawyer for bill clinton during the impeachment process in the 90s. Why didnt Paul Manafort accept a plea deal from the start . What was he waiting for . It is a mystery to everybody following this case because there really wasnt a solid defense theory in the prosecution, both in virginia and d. C. So either he was stubborn and just didnt want to cooperate or he held up in hope that somehow a miracle would befall him and that he would prevail, or he was just afraid of russians or hoping for a trump pardon. We just cant figure it out. This plea agreement, which is good for him because theres a possibility that hell get this 5k1 reduction for substantial cooperation, really comes a day late and a dollar short in terms of manafort really helping himself in the way gates did. Hes 69 years old, almost 70 years old and he certainly doesnt want to spend the rest of his life in jail. Im going to put up on the screen some of the others who already have been found guilty in connection with these various investigations. Look at this, Paul Manafort, the Campaign Chairman now pleading guilty. Rick gates, the former deputy trump Campaign Chairman, pleading guilty. Michael flynn, the president s former National Security adviser, pleading guilty. George papadopolous, a Campaign Foreign policy adviser, pleading guilty. The president s longtime fixer personal attorney, michael cohen, pleading guilty in a separate case with the u. S. Attorney in the Southern District of new york. All of this does not bode well for the president. And the thing to watch is going to be how the president reacts to what happened with manafort today. Atied fr aside from the white house saying it has nothing to do with us and the president did nothing wrong coming from his personal attorneys, at one point he said manafort was a good man and was standing strong and his poor family. I wonder how long it lasts because there are several people on the list, maybe not papadopolous, but cohen, he used to have nice things to say about him until it was clear that he was no longer there to be on team trump and it became more about team cohen. You know, jeffrey toobin, it is fair to say all of these individuals who decided to plead guilty, they now work for robert mueller. Thats how it works with top prosecutors. They work from the bottom up. But here, you know, think about how prominent these people are and theyre all now convicted felons. I mean donald trump has more convicted felons around him than a lot of mafia dons. I mean it is just an extraordinary number of people. You know, because it has happened gradually we sort of isnt focused on just how many prominent people around donald trump are either on their way to prison or, you know, will be there shortly. You know, the question is what do they know. Now, it is true that Rudy Guilliani and Sarah Sanders have said they dont deal directly with donald trump, but it is a coincidence all of these people turn out to be criminals. Everybody stick around. Theres more breaking news we are following. We are going live to the area where florence made landfall as we continue our coverage of the rain, the rescues, the damage and the flooding. Much more right after this. And we may not know much about medicine, but we know a lot about drama. We also know that you can avoid drama by getting an annual checkup. So go, know, and take control of your health. It could save your life. Cigna. Together, all the way. Breaking tonight, florence is taking a heavier toll on the carolinas with at least five people now confirmed dead. The storm continues to pummel is cost. Cnns Martin Savidge is on Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. What is the situation there, martin . Reporter you know, basically, wolf, we have been in these kind of storm conditions now for well over 24 hours. Even now 11 hours after the hurricane made landfall right in this area, it is not only the conditions are bad, theyve actually grown worse today after the storm in this area made landfall. Wrightsville beach is actually across the bridge behind us. Theres the intracoastal right here, and from what we know the winds are too severe to cross that bridge so only First Responders are getting in there. The initial messages from Wrightsville Beach is theyre getting hammered, like many of the areas along the coastal part of North Carolina here. Theyve got water coming in from both sides, the Intracoastal Waterway and theyve also got the Atlantic Ocean which has been like a table saw eating away with beach erosion on the atlantic side. On top of that, the rain everyone is getting as it comes from the sky, and then it is the wind fatigue. Youve had win blowing from on the buildings, the stresses, but the fact that its now gone and turned them 180 is another thing theyre dealing with. So this storm, even though it was a category 1, now a Tropical Storm, continues to just beat and its the time and length of time, how long can structures continue to handle this, how long can the ground continue to try to absorb the rain, and were going to go through another tidal surge, so its going to be another tough night, even here after this storm supposedly is moving away. Wolf. Stay safe over there, martin. Well be in close touch with you. Just ahead, were going to have much more on florence and the disaster thats unfolding through the night as the rescues continue and the waters keep rising. Also, were going talk about new allegations that have surfaced of Sexual Misconduct by Brett Kavanaugh when the u. S. Supreme Court Nominee was a teenager. Ronan farrow of the new yorker magazine, there you see him, standing by live, well discuss, hell tell us what hes learning right after this. burke thats what we call a huge drag. Seriously, thats what we call it. Officially. And we covered it. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum south l. A. Is very medically underserved. When the old hospital closed people in the community lived with untreated Health Problems for years. So, with the countys help we built a new hospital from the ground up and having citi as an early investor worked as a signal to others to invest. With citis help we built a wonderful Maternity Ward and we were able to purchase an mri machine. Weve made it possible for the people who live here to lead healthier lives and thats invaluable. Were watching the breaking story out of the carolinas where florence isnt letting up. Were monitoring conditions there. Were going to have more live updates just ahead. Right now, we have some breaking news on the u. S. Supreme Court Nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. Cnn has confirmed details of a letter to democratic senator dia dian Dianne Feinstein that describes a womans claim that kavanaugh assaulted her when they were both in high school in the 1980s. Ronan farrow has been digging on this story. He has a new report thats out. Ronan, thanks very much for joining us. As you know, kavanaugh flatly denies the allegation. What does kavanaughs accuser say happened . Kavanaughs accuser raised this allegation with two politicians on the hill, a congresswoman and also Dianne Feinstein, the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary committee. And this is a story, i should point out, well, partly because of feinsteins handling of this situation. The allegation itself appears to be serious. Its from many decades ago. This woman claims that at a party during high school, Brett Kavanaugh and a classmate of his were involved in an encounter where they turned up the music in a room to conceal this womans screams and kavanaugh clamped a hand over her mouth and held her down and attempted to force himself on her. She did escape but she said in her communications and her letter to these individuals on the hill that this was a traumatic incident, so much so that she had to seek psychological treatment for it. I understood you spoke to kavanaughs classmate. Weekly standard has named this individual as mark judge. He also denies the allegation. What did he tell you . Mark judge said very clearly that, you know, he had no recollection of this encounter, and anyone who knows the reporting we do at the new yorker knows we dont seem comment lightly or through a single conversation. This was a source who had many opportunities to clarify or add to that. You report that soon after President Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh, this woman approached hezboll these democratic lawmakers with her story. Why didnt this become public until now . Thats a point of contention on the hill right now, wolf. There are other members of the Senate Judiciary committee who say that it is not acceptable how Dianne Feinstein resisted questions about this for a pretty protracted period until finally public pressure mounted and she did read this letter eventually to other members. Now, i think everyone involved in the conversation understands the need to respect the confidentiality of this woman. This woman has decided, ultimately, after considering and i think initially wanting to come forward that she does not want her name out there and Dianne Feinstein, according to the sources we spoke to, wanted very much to respect that. However, there is a feeling on the committee that this is something that could have been raised during their discussions and their questioning of kavanaugh without exposing this woman publicly. And they no longer have that opportunity. They did have those closed door q a sessions with him as well if they wanted to, they could have done it then. Have you spoken to the and it didnt come up in that context either. Yeah, i know. Have you spoken to the accuser since the story broke and do you think she might change her mind about identifying herself publicly . The accuser declined to comment for our story and ill leave it at that, wolf. Could there be, potentially, based on all your reporting, other women . Again, i will stick very carefully to what weve reported so far, which is just that this allegation was raised with politicians and that theres now a lot of tension on the hill about the handling of the allegation. The committee, the Judiciary Committee, is supposed to vote on the confirmation next week. Then its going to go before the full senate. Based on all your reporting, ronan, do you think that the kavanaugh confirmation is still looking pretty good or some senators might change their minds . Its not for me to handy cic any of this. Ill leave it to others to do punditry. All ill say is there are certainly people on the Judiciary Committee right now who feel there was a missed opportunity to fully interrogate this allegation. Ronan farrow of the new yorker magazine, as usual, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks, wolf. Our breaking news is about to continue right now. Erin Burnett Outfront starts erin Burnett Outfront starts right now. Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com good evening, everyone. Im kate bolduan in for erin burnett. Florence now a deadly storm. Five people, including a woman and her infant daughter, died after florence roared ashore early this morning. The storm at a near standstill now over the carolinas. Governor roy cooper of North Carolina calling it a 1,000year rain event. Florence is expected to dump potentially historic amounts of rain, as much as 40 inches in some areas. High winds, a problem as well. Some gusting up to 110 Miles Per Hour. Here you can see just