Florence is now a category one storm. Thats good news. And heres the bad. Thats just the beginning of a painfully slow assault on the carolinas. There are 181,000 Power Outages reported by duke energy already. That predicted to rise into the millions. A storm surge of 10 feet has been recorded. Millions of residents sent scrambling for Higher Ground and reports that some who staybed hind are on their roofs. Some areas are bracing for four feet of flooding. Its 4 00 in the morning as we begin our special coverage here on msnbc. We have a busy hour ahead with the latest. We want to turn to meteorologist bill karins who is track thing storm. Certainly the concern is very much still there. Thats where all the damage, all the destruction has been. This was sentute couple hours ago by the city of newburn to show where the water levels were. The water is supposed to flow down the river the trent river comes into it like this and all of this is supposed to head down to the south but this was not allowed to happen. All the storm surge the wind were forcing up the nuse river it went from looking like this to like this. Thats how far inland the river went and so all of these little blue dots were areas requesting water rescues and it was into many areas of the mainstream. Trrs the downtown region where the marina and a lot of the business in the downtown. Water in the basements and first levels there too. And across the river in orient they had similar problems. Now as we go throughout the next stage of this storm we have two stories, the incredible rainfall flooding. Off the chart type flooding and then we veto deal with the high tide cycle. Wilmington could get 24 inches additional and thats on top of the 7 youve already seen. One our of our other models, this spreads another 20 inches of rainfall and 10 as far west as areas of North Carolina. Its going to be confined for the next 24 hours to coastal areas and then the southern half of North Carolina and finally this is our european model. The heaviest rains from here on out will be straight towards fayette vill and charlotte. So thats rr an additional 20 inches in a few isolated cases and the other thing is it should be in many coastal areas between 10 00 a. M. And noon for these areas right along the coast. So 11 46 a. M. Is wrightsville beach. This radar over here shows you a good example. After the storm goes past you the winds will shift out of the south and thats when the wind piles up on the coastal areas. My biggest concern, life threatening storm surge will be for car direct county here. That water cannot escape because the southerly wind is already piling it up. We were about to hit low tide in about one hour it will start to build. Those are the concerns. We already have in the newburn area, the city tweeted about an hour ago 150 people waiting for rescues and 40 to 60 mileperhour winds and torrential rain and there are just picture that. And the tough part is making sure they can go out and actually help them. The fema crews, swift water crews, other crews trying to move in and assist them. 150 people waiting for a rescuse right now that are stuck in their homes. Were going to talk to the mayor there as new orleans has take in the brunt of the storm so far. 150 plus residents were rescues in the last 48 hours. Joining us on the phone the mayor of newburn, North Carolina and tell us more about these rescue what youre seeing. Were working really hard to get these folks to shelters. We had a 48hour camfine encourage evacuations. In addition weve been door to door. I actually witnessed today i was in the area trying to get some folks to a shelter and i witnessed a policeman going door to door and fire trucks and recreation buses that were ready to take these residents to shelters. So between putting brochures on their doors and any type of encouragement, we have done it to get our folks out of harms way. I want to ask you about the geography there in it it it newburn. This is an old silty. What are the particular challenges of that . Water flooding, what youve seen so far . Weve had about 10 1 2 feet of water. A couple of years ago irene and that was lisz water. But our folks are tunations. We will have the sidewalks span and well be open for business. Its one of the friendliest places youll find in america. So weve been here since 1710. This isnt the first hurricane, it wont be the last one. But we all cooperate all forms of government, all agencies and volunteer groups. Well get through this one. Im sure its that sense of community thats going to get you through this in the days to come, weeks to come and after. Talk a little about those resources you have out there and conditions that may impede them from going out and continuing on these rescues. Biggest thing is we cannot put these lines back up in 60 mileperhour winds. We have to wait thill winds die down a little bit. Again weve had several fires in the last day one was in the area of town flooded that we were able to put the resources in to do it. So this is what happens in a community that is near the coast of North Carolina. But were doing everything we can and we will restore power. We have about 14,000 customers that are out right now. If i can say 14,000 customers in some areas. Overall weve seen 150,000 without it. But i understand you have the situation there. So far youre continuing those rescues and hopefully youll much success with that. Keep an eye. I want to go to oak island, North Carolina. That is in the greater myrtle beach area. Whats the situation like there on the ground now . Reporter so im about an hour from north myrtle beach. The intercoastal waterway is from where im standing now. Not only do you have the waterway, you have the beach facing south and zhou the river to the east. It is in fact the largest beach in North Carolina, 19 square miles and you he have these trees behind me. This is called oak island for a reason. As they start going out and about, the mayor total me that is one of her biggest concerns. But at this hour everyone hunkered down. Theres a population of about 8,000 people. The mayor said at least 500 decided to stay and this island particularly vulnerable to those 90 winds to the sheer power of Hurricane Florence because houston is so exposed and that storm surge and flooding is whats going to wreck hask for the next couple of hours, if not days. If you can give us the sense of theditions there. We see the branchs swaying but doesnt seem like its completely picked up . No. It seems like its go to the north of us. Which good because their beaches are south facing beaches. And all of that beach front property from which we were reporting yesterday. But we wont really know until we see that punch that florence is going to pack here on the North Carolina coast. In oak island, North Carolina. Thank you. Now to south carolina. Saying she was in the greater metropolitan area. Gabe, it seems rather quitlt still where you are. Talking about how it seems like projections indicate its going slightly north. What are you seeing on the ground . We are expecting rain later on today. We really are seeing much wind. Theres still power in this area, obviously. This is a hotel where a punch of the media is staying. Myrtle beach is expecting powerful impacts from the storm, dozens of emergency vehicles ready for any rescues that may need to happen over the next several days. Theyre expecting more than 20 inches off rain potentially and there was a lot of concern over what could happen. The mainefects of the storm being felt in places like newburn and wilmington as well. Were expect thing worst of the storm today and later tomorrow but it right now in murt beach things seem pretty quiet. Given the fact that florence has been stalling north and the tourist destination. Did you get a sense of the people who stayed, went out and about . Reporter not a lot. This part of myrtle beach, not lot of people decided to stay frrps we did speak to the mayor yesterday who said they did not heed the mandatory evacuation order. Eeve though were not in the socalled dirty side of the storm with with the heaviest wind and rain. Theres stale pufinishal for the storm surge that might prove devastating for parts of this coast. Were waiting for the efelktz to kick up later on tuesday today. Frors in myrtle beach, south carolina. Lets check in with with msnbcs joe fryer in jacksonville, North Carolina. You were one of the people who lost power overnight. Having trouble obviously hearing us. I nsds that lost power hey there, guys. Hey there, guys. So we are in jacksonville, North Carolina, which is not even right on the ocean. Its about a 20mile drive to get to the ocean from here and were getting heavy rain and wind. We lost power around 9 00 last have been without power ever since. Boit un0185,000 people. The biggest concern, especially, as you start to get inland from the coast isnt just the wind but its the flooding thats going to be happing thing coming days. Storm surge is still an issue, even in a place like jacksonville. You have been talking about newburn which is already seen a storm surge. Here enjacksonville theyre bracing for the possibility of a storm surge from the river that could be as high as seven feet. And there are actually homes on stilts along the river because of that history. But for right now the first wollop is the wind knocking out power to a big chunk of the area. They didnt even open up any shelters in this area. Trrs they wanted the message for people to be get out of here, dont stay here. They werent even sure the shelters could handle those winds. Theyve been hunkering down and hiding in higher areas. Cut canning power to 10s of thousands. Were going to take you back to the situation in wilmington North Carolina where residents are pected to see up to four feet of rain. O see up to four feet of rain this isnt just any moving day. This is moving day with the best inhome wifi experience and millions of wifi hotspots to help you stay connected. And this is moving day with Reliable Service appointments in a twohour window so youre up and running in no time. Show me decorating shows. This is staying connected with xfinity to make moving. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Stay connected while you move with the best wifi experience and twohour appointment windows. Click, call or visit a store today. Welcome back to msnbcs continuous coverage oever Hurricane Florence. For the first time the western eye for some of the strongest winds and heaviest rains are on the coast. This is the western eye wall of the storm. Approaching down to wrightsville beach. And from surff city southward, down towards wrightsville biech. And the eye has to cross the coast and that probably wont happen for another five, six hours. But all the attention has been on the interior sections of North Carolina and include thing city of newburn. And now youre trying to get back in. Whats your progress . Im glad you asked because weve been working our way back down from greenville and had to slow down to move a tree that is block thing one highway thats going to get us back to newburn. Road condipgzs are pretty miserable. Its not particularly raining but theres a lot of damage from yesterday. We were in newburn all day yesterday but had to pull out because the storm surge bought got so much high and faster the first location we pulled back from just about a block off the river. We were able to watch the water coming up. It was relatively easy for us to move. But the home we were staying in a few blocks off the water, being perfectly safe throughout the course of the day, you mentioned its going to come up another flea feet or so. And decided it was not safe for isto say. So we were forced to change our plans, sort of retreat inlntd and up north towards greenville, trying to work our way back down now. Probably another 20 miles were seeing pretty large trees, significant damage here thats going to make it more challenging for us to get back to newburn and were told furlger from the nuse river than we were told youre in the greenville area. Thats a 30 minute drive north of newburn. We did still have power when we left. And last night it was one or two gas stations that still gas. You mention a 30 or 40minute drive, i think thats better than what were going to extoday. On u. S. 17. Were in a stretch where its not lot of light weir rear looking and more likely were going to be in situations with without power sque without fuel. The water height did reach 10 feet in the newburn area. Its gone down one foot since the high occurred just after midnight and we do expect the tide to go back up again. Weir curious to esee if gets any worse. As you mingzed, 150 water rescue to go. So there will be a lot of people needing help be safe and stay away from power lines and be careful. In newburn, North Carolina. Thanks for that update as well. The flooding, the water rising, you think of the rescue weall reid talked about. Also thinking about that is calipari on the road in wimingten, North Carolina. A lot of people are without power how is it on the ground as youre making your way through it . Reporter we can can show you sort of what garret is dealing with as he tries to make his way, thats the bridge to wrightssville beach kmuntz have been cut off. Theyve been evac whatted under a mandatory evacuation. On this side theyve been a little bit more patchy. They feel more urban environment will help. Its fascinating as you drive around 10 miles in any direction and the conditions will completely change and as these bands come whipping through, sometimes theres an hour between bands. And were all lissing to the wegt rer ports when they come in and wurngd if because this storm is moving so slowly can be over a city for four or five hours. It gives you an idea of the resz cue efforts, when youre talking about strieng stay Hurricane Force winds over the course of 24 to 48 hours. It give i couldnt see an idea of why people were urging evacuations along the coast. You could be in a situation where youre without power, help the authorities cant get to you. This is a fairly big city as we see the lights are still on. What have you been seeing as kbroirch driving around . Power lines down just in front of us right now. Erse as you get away from the city center the conditions get worse. The trees havant been trimmed. And as you drive around county, the elevation really doesnt change. Its incredibly flat whether its the storm surge or a raine vent. Theres not a lot of run off in this area. Driechk around where the storm is officially expected to make land fall in four or five hours time. Our coverage continues right here. R coverage continues right here welcome back to our continuing coverage of Hurricane Florence, expected to make official land fall about four or five hours from now. In new york. Hundreds of thousands of people are without power. 198,000 officially without power in the state at this point. Bill, suffice it to say this is a very slow moving storm. And the National Weather service, the local offices make their zone forecast and i just saw the new river forecast for cape fear river. They updated the forecast and now saying its going to break told the record by two feet, which was hurricane floyd in 1999 which people thought would never be broken and the second highest ever this will be six feet higher than the second highest water level ever recorded, is offer the charts. Its going to be impossible to drive through sections of North Carolina. With this water and roads washed out, its just a nightmare scenario. Its not the whole state. Its the coast and its pretty crazy some of the numbers from a category one. Just shows you the category only describes the wind. Its a disservice to be calling it a category one. So far up to this point all the heaviest rains have been to the north of the center in these bands. Weve had 12inch reports in the Atlantic Beach areas and that was from a couple hours ago. And now the rainfall total rds starting to add up around jacksonville. And a couple three four ive heard some reports. So as we go towards the land fall, this is the center of the lie. When they give us our points every hour and this is where the can location is. Its now coming oun on shore. Thats where were getting strongest wind gusts. That is where were see thing western eye wall over the tape of you. Youre in between the rain band and youre going to get inthat to too. As far as the distance trark, when were going to see the land fall, this is the center point right here. It looks like its somewhere between. We have 20 miles to go. We will get our official land fall and then it looks like the eye could head right over the top of wilmington by midmorning. Continue to weakten by the time it gets to south carolina. Heres saturday at 8 00 a. M. Thats painful to go in that slow. So the itself from where its located right now will only travel about 110 miles over the next 48 hours. Or as we thats 24 about 30 hours or so. You get the picture. Its just a crazy long duration, touch tons of water but we cant get the drones in the pictures, cant get the helicopters to show damage because its too windy. And when it comes to clean up, were not eeven talking about the up. When that is happing were in the beginning stages. I mean thats households. Thank you. If one of the hardest hit cities is newburn, North Carolina. 839 residents are in shelters. Joining us on the phone. What are can you tell us about those that winner need of rescue . Weave lurd of hundreds of you in need otthat, to seek rescuers in Craven County. Starting yesterday we received over 100 calls for assistance and most of the calls are for water rescue or flooding or storm surge or peep tried to drive and having trouble getting through the water and trapped in cars. Frerls i nlds rescuse from roof tops, attics. How have those resources been able to get tothet snem there are some areas we had to look at the etepth of the water d bree. We had to look at the wind speed to see whether or not to gheelt these individuals. We have hundreds of spondents out there trying to help. Trrs he sment night and you might have listened with disapproval as he talk about trying move back to new rrp and i just want you do speak to hoe for f how fast those waters rose. You could see the skies were dark, the wind came in gently and it just kind of picked up rain speed and rained a little bit. But you started to see the storm surge coming in. And certainly we do have a cu curfew in place right now. We shouldnt have kbaanyone on road lets talk about the resources you have. Are they at passny we have 839 people just in Craven County right now and we actually did have some of those shelters attica fasety. We sh r have had to add additional people to the shelters. We did issued a evacuation and followed that up with a county wide evacuation. We ended up having to open a fifth shelter and so we have 839 people here and then also an inland shelter designate physicals and brought them to a Central Location where it partnered with Craven County schools and drove anyone inferred arrived to get there. Were focussing on a murcane toinl the atlantic. Just talk about the particular challenges that causes a city like newburn being on a river like that certainly its a beautiful sate, Clayton County is a beautiful county. People want to live by the water. Its usually a very beautiful place and i havent seen storms like this in very long time. When you have People Living near the water and the chanlz. Maybe more than just live on the edge of the beach. Frors thats really what weve seen with the rescue we apprec you times and you just thought maybe theyre underestimate thing storm and the devastation but you realize when it comes to health or financial situation and. And i want to go to wilmington, North Carolina. When i saw you yesterday you were holding up that wind meter. It looks like its picked significantly since then. Ive had to turn oover that wind meeter to my colleague. I have underestimated how strong the wind gust were. The rain, as you can see, has picked up considerably ein wilmington. This is going to persist for hours and its egoing to be around for a number of days. We are right on the cape fear river. For those of you who know a elittle bit about a geography between Atlantic Ocean and a river. So in addition to the storm surge youre going to have thois coastal floerdsing. One of the major concerns. The uth concern. Power poutages. Roughly 15 wrrn homes. Who told me he fully expects all the homes and businesses will like laekly lose power. The good news is the people who live in this scity, willeming were talking north of 2,000 people. So this is essentially a ghost town up and down the east coast. This is, im told, not nearly bad as its going to get. This is essentially florence saying mellow. You and i know this area well. A few 00 miles from where you are. Youre clots to wrightsville beach. And forthal bauer kate tsz fokeeping and as you look at live pictures from cal pair and the call eegz p how contained is the population whos remained been . Calipari, if hes driving around, its likely just c calmergency vehicles. That mantdatory evacuation went into effect 9 00 the fwhoigtfore last. Frors akben this is one of those storms where our hats off to local ofillings, initials who steam be gent ahenlf of peep faem earl ur. People who decided to hunker down at their local pub leadership we saw some of that. But by and large overnight the smart. Al died. Frrt most of these folks, if your not without anywhere. We talked to a fire official yesterday who said theres going to become a point in the storm where because of the conditions theyre not going to be able to go out and rescue. Theyre not going to be able to go out and put out fires. Thats expecting to come in the next few hours as well. What is the reassurance they can give to the people hunkering down, who did lastpint stayed knowi knowing may not be able to respond right asfwha. That was one oof the chief reasons officials were practically bigging people to leave. If they say i remember this hour been a. I live ground. Those people decided that they had the metal to stick this thing out. They do in fact put First Responders in a tough bind. We heard a call from someone here in wilmington whos stuck in an attic. Youve got to call 911 and all the sudden you have First Responders and rain and try and resc resperson it wouldnt have to put the other three oesh four pope whool are going to be respondsing. To be kpleerp, the mayor sfoez there cell. You talk about the reasons people say. When they say listen. Of course safety is number one for our families, for myself. But they have medical issues. They want to stay. They cant up and pay for the gas to go, hotels. Or they stay for the pets i spoke to a woman yesterday. I cant remember her name off the top of my head right now but she was very honest about the reason she said. She simply couldnt afford to get out. A number of people who probably would have gotten out of harms way probably cant afford the hotel room or the gas. The idea of being away for a number of days, thats something that doesnt appeal to lot of people. I would say probably the number two reason i heard for people not leaving. Its going to take forever to get back. I wont be able to get back in and blah blah blah. Number one guying. I wlifbed through so many of these hurricanes. And it started to weaken as a cat 4, now its a a cat 1. People thing its practically a thunderstorm. Its n it its you shouldnt be fooled by the category of the storm. The reasons. We spent some time in a Mobile Home Park with undocumented people and they were candid about why they wouldnt go. There are people who have legitimate reasons for not leaving. But a number of officials have tsds thereroom little known programs in place, local officials, there were Resources Available to get them out. We hope the best Case Scenario ande vacuations. Well check back in a little bit. Were waiting for an update from the National Hurricane center. Ane center migraine with botox®. What if you had fewer headaches and migraines a month . Botox® prevents headaches and migraines before they even start. 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Were awaiting a 5 00 a. M. Update from the National Hurricane center which expect to make land fall in four or five hours time. I want to go to oak island. What can you tell us about the latest there . Reporter exactly e. This is 40 minutes south of wilmington. Between wilmington and myrtle beach. As you can see were feeling those wind guts definitely egetting a sents of that rain but we wont know what it will do until passes us. Im about a mile from the beach. Hoir is still on in this island. Pop yshlgsz 8,000 and size 19 square miles. Authorities have been very responsive. I was on the phone with the pleesz department. There are rumors that one of the peers collapsed. And i thing we have news frumt our joe friar. Reporter do you guys hear snee. Whautsz tlr news you got there . Again this is north of jacksonville. Reporter thats right. So jacksonvilles obviously been getting hit earlier than other areas of the storm. Keep in mind jacksonville is not right on the like many other places are. Despite that were still seeing strauj storm and despite that theyre concerned with flooding because this is a Community Long the river and its expected. Its going to be a lot of a rain for these people to handle. Right now the big concern is the storm, the wind. We lost power at our ho9 00. Theres certainly much more power is because the wind is blowing. You have stop signs and other things that could pick up and fly through air. Also its hard to see the roads behinds me. Thats a restaurant. Theres a lowes, theyre absolutely lights,ing lot lights because of the Power Outages. Thats why everyone is hunker down last night o. And North Carolina in North Carolina. We await this next update. Expect that to come at 5 00. Still a category 1 storm. Expected to make fall officially in four hours. We continue our special coverage on Hurricane Florence. The outer bands of Hurricane Florence already bat thrg carolina coast, packing 90 mileperhour winds, hevy rain and a powerful storm surge. But there is bad. These hours are just the beginning of a painfully slow assault on the the carolinas and many in the southeast. There were Power Outages and predicted to rise into the millions. The flooding has begun in north and south carolina. They sent me searching for Higher Ground. And some who stayed behind are on their roof seeking rescue. We got some gotten an updatem the National Hurricane center on the path and strength of florence. With a busy hour ahead, the latest on the storm to come. Lets check in now with that 5 00 lcritical moment here with an update from the National Weather service. The news is that the eye wall is now moving on shore. Were not far away from actual landfall. Were only 25 miles with the center now away from wilmington. Winds are still at 90 miles per hour, movements to the westnorthwest at about 6 miles an hour. Its walking pretty good now and that should get it onto the