Page 10 - Gusting Winds News Today

>> certainly not at this point. i mean, weve seen a handful of people walking around here tonight, you know, even in this miserable -- in these miserable conditions. i think they were just curious. youre stuck inside with your kids, you got animals, you need to go out and walk them. its just boring especially if some power has gone out. people did come to the riverwalk. they wanted to see this phenomenon of the water being sucked out. thats still happening. as tom was saying, waiting until that ...

Chris? >> yeah, were watching that boat behind you as a good measure of what the wind is bringing your way as is your body as you get hit by the gusts. theres going to be the sustained winds and then the gusting winds and, john, dave was telling me that works like a one-two punch. that literally the sustained wind will hold up a structure or hold up a street sign and then the gust comes and snaps it off. >> reporter: thats exactly right. im 165 pounds of solid steel, chris. lean in but when the ...

Sustained winds were this strong. we talked to so many folks whose mood shifted when they began to realize the enormity of this thing. a lot of people who were sort of throwing those hurricane parties and making fun of people who had evacuated, their tone had completely changed by friday going into saturday. thats when they started moving them. they had parked on high ground near the bridges but, unfortunately, theres an untold number who stayed behind at least 10,000, 20,000. at least 70,000 ca...

North, north of the storm. daytona beach and north where you are. >> reporter: all right. everybodys hoping for good news. please stay safe unless it comes. we will check back with you in a little bit. our complete coverage on cnn of hurricane matthew will continue. we are about halfway through the duration of concern. we are showing you a picture of daytona beach. this is the concern, what happens when these winds come ashore. they have been measured in excess of 100 miles an hour with this cat...

You see winds are picking up in st. augustine. theyre blowing very hard. theyre worried about the storm surge there in st. augustine. but that will come later, as that storm moves past. it is a massive storm. 314 miles across. and its a category 3 so you heard what chad said the winds are very strong. they could gust up to 100 miles per hour, plus maybe all the way up to 120. you heard the mayor say -- you heard the mayor say that she wants people to stay inside their homes, only half the people...

80-mile-per-hour gusts before sunrise. really even hard to stand up. now the winds have died down. every now and then it will feel completely normal. all of a sudden youll get a big gust, but not nearly as strong as what we are seeing earlier today. i would imagine the gusts have dropped from 80 miles per hour down to about 35, 40-mile-per-hour gusts which is good news. we are on the south side of that storm though so it is pulling away from us. our conditions are just as you would expect. but a...

Which is a faster rate of return than expected. theres still halfway to go. the big concern, st. johns river. storm surge is going to be the story of damage from hurricane matthew and this represents one of the few cuts in the eastern coastline so the volume of water and storm surge will funnel through making this river, which is already about cresting, plus storm surge and tide, another eight to ten to twelve feet of surge that changes the topography here. changes power. and makes things impass...

Means that those 100-mile-per-hour winds are going to be right onshore, if not further onshore, carol. >> all right, jennifer, thanks so much. shes reporting live for us this morning from palm bay. i want to head to the weather center now to check in with chad. so chad, currently this storm is a category 3. how strong are the winds? >> the winds are 120. we just had a wind sustained from the hurricane hunter aircraft at 116. so they are measuring that 120 still. the reason why its not 140 anymor...

Right now, lets get to dr. bob sheets. he was in charge of the national hurricane center when we were dealing with andrew back in 1992, i believe it was. 92. you know, dr. bob sheets, andrew was a word we kept hearing in the last few days about a potential analogy to what matthew could be. can you explain that to us and in terms of any of that expectation coming to fruition yet? >> well, they were totally two different storms. in this hurricane, its a very large hurricane. its not nearly as powe...

Those warnings, chris. yes, the winds have been incredibly gusty. whats eerie about it almost is that right now absolutely nothing. not even a breeze and then all of a sudden it will come out of no where and almost knock you off of your feet. thats the nature of these hurricanes. theyre ferocious and this one is continuing to push up the coast. were going a be in this for another couple of hours. very intense wind and then it should start to slack off by later on in the morning, which is good ne...