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Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Craig Melvin 20181010

>> craig, take a look at this. this eye is about anywhere from 10 to 20 miles wide, and these are these barrier islands. this storm literally has the capability, the possibility of changing the geography of the coast of florida. we could be talking about some of these barrier islands actually disappearing under this storm. and of course, you can see as it comes in, we always have to worry, especially to the east of the eye for tornados. we have a wide swath of tornado watches from panama city up into albany, georgia, valdosta, all the way down just to the northwest of tampa, florida. here's what we've got as far as the latest. it is a category 4 storm. it is now 60 miles south, southwest of panama city. 45 miles per hour winds. it's moving now north, northeast at 14, so it's forward speed picking up a little bit. at that rate, this may very well just go to the east of panama city, but make no mistake. it is still a massive system. just to put this in perspective, if this were a tornado it would be an ef 3 tornado about five to ten miles wide. that's the kind of devastation this possibly has. it will make landfall sometime between, i'd say, 1:00 and 4:00 this afternoon as a category 4. it's still a category 2 this evening into southwestern georgia, continuing as a 2 right along the georgia, south carolina coast and tropical system moving out by friday morning. the biggest impact, storm surge. that's where we have the greatest loss of life and destruction. we're talking inundation of coastal locations. a 9 to 13 foot storm surge. that is massive. to put it in more perspective, as the winds push that wall of water onshore, we're talking three feet is about right on your porch level. six feet is just about -- i'm six feet. i'm less than six feet. i'm 5'7". now i'm covered. nine feet goes to the second floor of a home and can push miles inland. we're also going to see an impact from the winds. wind gusts of 100 miles per hour or better just near the eye of the storm. that's going to mean significant power outages from panama city down to tampa, brunswick, charleston, all the way up into wilmington through tomorrow and into friday, and of course the rain. we're talking about heavy rain for the coast and inland. flash flood watches are going to be issued now. we've got isolated totals of up to 12 inches of rain. we continue, craig, to see these rapid intensification storms. again, people don't want to necessarily believe this. this is the effect of climate change. we're not talking about -- we're not talking about an increase in the number of storms, but we're talking about the increase. these storms keep rapidly intensifying in a matter of 24 hours, and it's very hard to protect against anything like that. >> i remember during the last storm one of the concerns was the timing of landfall as it related to high tide. >> right. >> this could be rather significa significant. the high tide along this part of the coast is going to be later in the evening, later in the afternoon into the evening. so as that happens, we're going to see that storm surge, but we're also going to see those winds coming around, back and around that system, and then there's a secondary storm surge that would come in. so this high tide around apalachicola, 6:10 tonight, 10:30 around panama city. once that system moves through, they're not out of the woods as far as storm surge is concerned. >> when was the last time we saw a storm like this headed towards --? >> never. there has never been a category 4 storm to hit the florida panhandle. this is unprecedented. for the people who decided to wait this out, bad idea. very bad idea. >> at this point, i know we'll get another update in a few hours, there's no reason to believe this is a storm that is going to weaken? >> and even if it does, let's say it does, it goes from a 4 to a 3 or a weak 4, that's still a massive storm system with an incredible storm surge and still the destructive power of those winds. let's say they drop down to 130 miles per hour, i mean, that still can cause massive devastation. >> al roker, thank you so much. we were just talking about apalachicola, gabe gutierrez is in apalachicola where the waters, as i understand it, are already starting to rise there? is that right? >> reporter: yeah, hi, craig, we're really starting to see the raw pour of hurricane michael. a short time ago i was here on water street: the water was rising. we had to leave that area, and they expect the storm surge to be potentially catastrophic. behind me is the apalachicola river. even in the last half hour or so, this area where we're standing was mostly dry. you can now see the water really start to pick up. we're about to move here to higher ground. authorities here say if you haven't gotten out at this point, it is too late. they figure that this is going to get progressively worse over the coming hours. we've already seen the wind and the rain really start to pick up here. again, as you've been talking about, craig, and as al has been mentioning, the potential for this deadly storm surge, at least nine feet expected here in apalachicola could be made worse by the tide later on today. but hundreds of thousands of people in florida ordered to evacuate. we spoke with the mayor yesterday, he estimated about half of his town decided to stay, but again, apalachicola, historic town here in the florida panhandle. at this point it's a ghost town. you've seen a few people that decided to ride it out. as conditions get worse, it is going to erode. they're going to be impassable. >> earlier you mentioned that your hotel had been evacuated. are you guys okay now? >> reporter: we decided to evacuate because our hotel was on the water. it's three floors. we could have stayed if we had decided -- if we had decided to do so, but we decided to leave because it was starting to get cut off. we do know some people did decide to stay, decided to ride out the storm there. basically a lot of the businesses here in the downtown, they're boarded up. they've sandsandbagged. the back of the hotel was a little further inland, and once the rain, the wind rather, starts to pick up here as the storm officially makes landfall in the next few hours, we plan to ride it out there. as you can see, the water here is really starting to get rough, and the water's really starting to kick in to the downtown, potentially damaging all of the businesses in this historic area, craig. >> gabe, be safe and make sure the crew's safe as well. just west of gabe, nbc's mariana atencio in port st. joe, florida. what are conditions like there ahead of this thing? >> reporter: craig, i'm about 30 minutes northwest of where dave is, as you said, and you can just see the conditions start to deteriorate by the hour. we just drove up here from cape sandblast. security over there, the cops basically told us we had to get out of that area for security concerns. driving around you're already starting to see debris. you're starting to see those trees topple. because this storm has a sort of ridge, it's a river of fast-moving water, especially when you're talking about wind gusts of 40 and 50 miles per hour, and that's why we're going to start to get the effects of that storm here in this area about an hour south of panama city where it's likely to make landfall from one to four p.m. today. i want you to look at this water behind me. that is st. joseph bay, and further on out is the gulf of mexico. the storm is going to come in through there. we're going to start to see that storm surge potentially up to 14 feet, something unprecedented in this area. when you look behind me here, this is the marina here in port st. joe. you can already start to see many of the docks pretty much under water already, and they are a couple of feet high, craig, and we're still hours away from this thing making landfa landfall. gabe told ryou he spoke to the mayor of port st. joe. i've been on the phone with him all morning as well. he told me the hospital closed at 5:00 p.m. yesterday. there is no shelter in the area, and he's very concerned that people did not evacuate in time because, frankly, people in this area, they talk about storms like opal in 1985 or kate in 1985, opal in 1995, excuse me. they're not used to seeing something like this. this is unprecedented and could leave as the governor has said, many of the areas in the panhandle unrecognizable after it passes. we'll come back to you in a bit as well. let's go a little farther west along the panhandle coastline to mike thomas. he is the mayor of panama city beach. mayor thomas comes to us by phone now. mayor, what can you tell us about conditions right now? what can you tell us about preparations underway? >> well, all the preparations that could be made are already made, but the conditions are worsening some. we're getting quite a bit of wind now. the surf is amazing. i've been here all my life, and i've never seen the water hit the end of the pier the way it's doing. it's high out there, and it's going to make a mess before we're finished with this. >> i understand that you're actually standing on a pier? >> no, i'm out here by it. i'm not quite that stupid. i'm dumb but not that bad. >> did people in the city heed the call to evacuate? >> not as many as i would have wished. there are quite a few people here still. that's what i was doing, riding through the neighborhoods looking and seeing what kind of cars. we've got quite a few people. we're fortunate that we're high enough in a lot of areas that i've ridden through, but this wind is going to be a problem. we're going to have a mess. i'm afraid we're all going to get a lot of damage, but we've been damaged before, and we'll build back. >> what's the chief concern right now, mayor, there in panama city beach of the concerns that you have? and i know you mentioned the water and the surge. what's the number one concern right now? >> well, there are a lot more people than i thought would be. and we're just -- in another hour or two, these winds are going to get where we can't send people out to help them. somebody has some medical problems or something, we're just not going to put our people in danger. the governor has done a magnificent job preparing around us, and they've got a lot of equipment around already to come in and help, but while this is going on, there's not anything you can do except just be safe best you can. >> just wait and pray? >> there's a lot of that going on in this community right now, and i've had a lot of calls from people that have been through this before, other government officials from other areas offering help and understanding. if you're going to live in a beautiful place, there's always some kind of problem. even now, i'm on the beach here behind the motel looking at some things, and this has got to be one of the most beautiful sites in the world. it's just a shame that it's so destructive. >> mayor michael thomas. i know you've got a lot to do. i'll let you get back to it there. mayor michael thomas. we'll check in with you a little bit later as well. the mayor of panama city beach there on the phone. much more to come on this storm as the florida panhandle braces for what is shaping up to be an historic impact. veteran storm reporter kerry sanders, you just saw him there getting set up. he is going to join us live from where the storm is expected to make landfall just hours from now. plus, trump on the stump. in his busy week of rallies, exactly who is the president -- who is he trying to help? and 2020 vision. why democrats gear up for the midterms, many eyes are on the run for the white house in 2020, but does the party have the leader that it needs to funnel the base's energy into big wins? whooo! want to take your next vacation to new heights? tripadvisor now lets you book over a hundred thousand tours, attractions, and experiences in destinations around the world! like new york! from bike tours, to bus tours, to breathtaking adventures, tripadvisor makes it easy to find and book amazing things to do. so you can make your next trip... monumental! read reviews check hotel prices book things to do tripadvisor you can do things like change your settings, learn tips and tricks, troubleshoot, and even manage your account. finding your xfinity username or wifi password, restarting your equipment, or paying your bill is easier than ever with x1. x1 help. another reason to love x1. say "teach me more" into your voice remote to get started. now to politics and president trump's hyper personalized pitch for the midterms. the president hitting his second midwest stop tonight near erie,. two broad notes, first fear of a democratic takeover. >> the democrats have become totally unhinged. they've gone crazy. no, they've gone crazy. now the democrats, or as some people would say, the dims, the dims. they've become frankly too dangerous to govern. they've gone wacko. >> last night featured a con cincinna -- constant refrain that every vote is a vote for donald trump. >> a vote for david is a vote for me. >> a vote for cindy is a vote for me. she's got tennessee values. a vote for marsha is really a vote for me. >> bob vander plaats is a conservati conservati conservative commentator. if all politicals is local, bob, why is the president making this midterm a referendum on himself and on his best day he can't get his disapproval numbers under 50%? >> i think everybody would agree that every media source in the country is making this all about donald trump. this is a national election. whether it's about the confirmation of justice kavanaugh or whether it be about trump's policy on trade or trump himself in his tweets, but this election in particular, the 2018 midterm election is all about donald trump and his leadership, so i think he's right when he's saying a vote for david young is a vote for donald trump. a vote for rod bloom is a vote for donald trump. i think everybody's seeing this as a referendum on trump. this is his midterm progress report so to speak. >> this is the headlines from "new york times" today. o'rourke may benefit from an unlikely group, an unlikely support group, white evangelical women, they talked to a group of evangelical women in texas. quote, the women who are all in their 30s describe mr. o'rourke as providing a stark moral contrast to mr. trump whose policies and behavior they see as fundamentally anti-christian, especially separating immigrant children from their parents at the border, banning many muslim refugees and disrespecting women. how real is the possibility that mr. trump's personality may be costing your party some female voters? >> well, there's no doubt about it. there's a lot of times i've called him out on some of the things that he has said, things that go more to the personality versus what's being the product, what's being produced. because if you take a look at what he has actually done as president, this midterm shouldn't even be close. i mean, with record employment, a dow jones that's skyrocketing, religious liberty, the confirmation of justices. >> why not run on two of those things you just mentioned, the confirmation of two conservative justices and the economy, why not run on those two things versus a vote for marsha blackburn is a vote for me. why not make it about those two things, if you know that those things are resonating with your base? >> well, craig, i think you're right. as a matter of fact, i think you took the words out of my mouth. you stay focused on the issues and the things that have been accomplished under this administration, and i think that's our best chance of winning. if we make this about personality, i think that's where the democrats have an opening. they have a shot at it, but when you take a look at isis on the run, when you take a look at our alliance with the nation of israel, the confirmation of supreme court justices, and the list goes on and on. a lot of good things have been done in this administration, and i think if we stay focused on issues, that's an opportunity for conservatives to win on november 6th. >> let's talk about nikki haley's future in the republican party for a moment, especially as it pertains to the president. this is something that my colleague over at cnbc wrote. also raising eyebrows inside the white house is the fact that haley is leaving the administration before the election rather than after. that gives her the possibility of campaigning for other candidates and boosting her own political base before the election. do you see the ambassador as someone who's building a new conservative brand outside that of the president's? >> well, i don't know what nikki haley's goals are, but what i can tell you with our conservative base in many ways nikki haley is a rock star. we like what she did as the ambassador to the united nations. we like what she did as governor of south carolina. she has shown herself to be a bold and courageous leader. i would say her future is a long ways from being done, and so what happens with nikki haley, nikki haley is going to have to show us those signs, give us those indications, but we like nikki haley a lot. >> we'll leave it there. bob, thank you. >> thank you, craig. god bless you man. right now we are watching live pictures right now from the florida gulf coast. waves in sunset beach, florida. hurricane michael making landfall in just a matter of hours. we're going to head back to the coast where they're bracing for the storm amid some dire warnings from fema. >> those who stick around to experience storm surge, don't typically live to tell about it, unfortunately. coaching means making tough choices. jim! you're in! but when you have high blood pressure and need cold medicine that works fast, the choice is simple. coricidin hbp is the #1 brand that gives powerful cold symptom relief without raising your blood pressure. coricidin hbp. about the colonial penn program. here to tell you if you're age 50 to 85 and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three p's. what are the three p's? 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>> reporter: well, craig, we're beginning to get buffeted by some of the tropical force wind. this is not the hurricane force winds. i think what is most dramatic is what we have seen over my shoulder out here in the gulf of mexico. when you look at the gulf of mexico, which traditionally is as flat as a lake that you could go water skeeiiiing on, it's rey dramatic to see that. of course the wave action is going to continue to push on to shore with those 140, 145 miles per hour winds whipping across the surface of the water, that's what's going to build up the storm surge. we have a category 4 with that sort of wind strength, why the storm surge here is going to bring the wave action possibly up to 9, even 12 feet up over the sand dunes potentially and then inland here. one of the things i found interesting, on a good day this beach is about 100 feet wide. it's already been cut down to about 50 feet wide, and understand that high tide isn't until 9:00 tonight, so all of this is in anticipation of the arrival of hurricane michael. unfortunately, there were mandatory evacuations, but everybody did not heed to that. this community has about 48,000 residents, 24,000 of them by estimates by the city manager decided to stay. they're a little flat footed because they went to bed thinking this is a category 2. we've been through that before. they woke up and found out it was a category 4. there's three bridges that get on and off this barrier island here. all those bridges are closed. folks who decided to stay they have a last minute decision to try to get out. if they dial 911, craig, you know, you've heard it before. the fire officials, the police say you're on your own. we'll deal with you afterwards, but not during. >> hard to believe half the city according to their own estimates, decided not to evacuate. for our viewers who are watching, kerry, upper left-hand corner of the screen there's this wind meter. can you tell us exactly what that is? do you have the wind meter on your person? you don't have it? >> reporter: you know, i don't have that. i don't have that device with me, but the gusts here, they're just tropical-force gusts. if we had a 25 miles an hour gust so far i'd be surprised. it's not that strong here yet. i do have a little bit of protection from a building here, but i'm in the path of where the wind is coming in from. we're going to definitely feel it, but not right now. >> the wind meter right now showing gusts of close to 40 miles per hour, kerry. we expect at some point here in the next few hours to see that, at least double if not triple. kerry sanders do be safe. joining me now on the phone, christy allen. christy allen is a resident of port st. joe who decided to hunker down and ride out the storm. christy, i understand that you just lost power. describe for me the conditions that you're experiencing in port st. joe right now. >> hey, craig. actually, it's a lot like kerry described, you know, just wind gusts and the wind bands and the rain coming in. it will be calm for a few minutes, and then next thing you know we're getting belted, you know, with the wind and the rain. so, yeah, we just lost power. it started raining here in port st. joe about 1:30 a.m. this morning, and it's been can you not ever since. >> christy, let me ask you -- >> sure. >> and not to offend here, but you were ordered to get out. why didn't you evacuate? why'd you decide to stay? >> actually, i wasn't ordered to get out. i'm not in the evacuation zone. i'm about a mile inland, so all the businesses along 98, highway 98, and beachside are in the evacuation zone. so i wasn't required to leave. and i'm not in a flood zone, so -- and also, you know, craig, we weren't expecting a category 4. like this whole storm happened in like a two to three-day, you know, period. we were expecting a cat 2, so, you know, i think it caught a lot of people, you know, by surprise. >> caught you by surprise. if you had known it was a cat 4, would you have gotten out? >> oh, absolutely. i'd much prefer smaller storms. >> you could get more than a foot of storm surge there in port st. joe. what's your biggest concern as the storm makes landfall shortly? is it that storm surge? >> not so much the storm surge for where we're taking shelter. i do have a business downtown and i'm concerned about that, and then of course, you know, there are residents that were in the evacuation zone that didn't get out. this is a small town, you know, everybody knows everybody so that's a concern, you know, making sure that everybody's safe. we probably have an estimated population in the city of port st. joe about 3,000 people maybe, so very small. we all know each other, and you know, a lot of my friends, you know, that decided to stay just like i did until last night 11:00, midnight when they realized, you know, and they started getting that cat 4, you know, probability, they left. so they left at last minute, but the problem is the gas has already been taken up. you know, shelters are already full, and there's hotel rooms like birmingham is already full, alabama. >> nowhere to go. >> you have to go far away and then you have to deal with the possibilities of the tornados that are coming from that. lots of things to consider. >> how are you going to pass the time now that you've lost power? what are you going to do? >> well, we're expecting landfall in the eye in the nebs t -- next two, three hours. we're just going to hunker down. that's about it. >> christy allen, i'll let you go, christy. i don't want you to lose all your battery juice talking to craig melvin. >> tell everybody i said hi, savannah i watch you guys every morning. >> thanks for watching us and be safe. >> thank you. bye bye. with the midterm elections 27 days away, candidates in florida they find themselves balancing campaign mode with storm prep as hurricane michael barrels toward florida's panhandle. republican congressman neil dunn of florida joins me now via phone as well. and congressman, i understand that you are at the dade county operations center. what's the situation there? are you guys prepared? >> well, you're right, sir. this is one of the ground zero operations. it's one of our most populous counties, and we have been camped out here for the last 24 to 36 hours. our efforts have been to get the word out to people just like your previous caller that this is, in fact, a category 4 storm, a very strong 4, not just a minimal 4. it's accompanied by the biggest surge that anybody in this part of the state has ever seen in history. it is literally an unprecedented storm, and at this point that young woman is about -- she's minutes away from being in the hurricane winds, and we are anticipating hurricane winds here shortly. we're already over 55 miles an hour. but the wind is bad. it's going to be a catastrophic wind at 145 miles an hour, but the surge is worse. >> your district covers the panhandle where michael is expected to be making landfall. i want to ask you about something while i have you. hurricane michael getting ready to barrel down on the panhandle there in florida. governor rick scott was running a campaign ad touting his response to the storms. here's part of that ad. >> florida governor rick scott warned about the significant storm surge. >> and my direction all tolls have been waved across florida roadways. i'm activating another 900 guard members. >> the governor is getting out in front of this. >> we can rebuild your home, but we cannot rebuild your life. >> should the governor be running campaign ads like that right now, congressman? >> i think that that campaign ad was on before because he's actually had a great history with hurricane responses. he's been working on this for about six years in the state, and florida has gotten to be a heck of a lot better than it used to be. if we look at the response we had in maria and irma, it was really outstanding. we want to duplicate that kind of effort again for this storm. i'm sure that he did not intend to campaign during the hurricane because i've heard him say he's not doing that. he's working, and by the way, he was here last night, and we had a chance to visit with him, and he said exactly that. so that's one of those it's on auto pilot kind of things. >> last hour here in our network, tallahassee mayor responded to the fact that his opponent, rob desantis has decided not to pull some negative ads during the hurricane. here's part of that ad. >> and we can't recall a time where candidates for statewide office have not pulled down negative ads during hurricane season. you've got a whole region of our state where folks are fleeing for their lives anticipating what is a life-threatening event impacting this state. i again, would encourage my opponent to just subside with the politics. we'll have plenty enough room beyond this storm to compete between our ideas. >> congressman, do you think that all candidates should pull their ads down in light of what we are about to experience there in florida? >> you know, i don't tell other candidates what to do. i don't have any ads up on this. i've been pretty busy with this thing now since sunday. so. >> okay. your chief concern right now there where you are, what's top of the list? >> so our biggest concern is the surge, and it's worse as you go farther east from us up in the app la chi bay. these are cities that are always low lying, and when they face a historic surge, i'm, you know, terribly concerned about what that means for them in the long run, and i hope that everybody has evacuated. i fear they have not. >> congressman neal dunn of florida. congressman, our thoughts and prayers are with you. okay? stay safe. >> thank you. we'll be keeping you informed. we are staying on top of hurricane michael. this is a live look from water sound, florida. we're going to check in with a man who coordinated the military relief efforts for hurricane katri katrina. we'll talk to him about how you prepare for a storm that really did gain strength so quickly. also turning energy into votes, does the democratic party have the leadership right now that it needs to capitalize on the momentum in its base? 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you make the point, one of the points you make rather, they've got no clear leader. no unifying message. how is that a blueprint to success in 2020 or the midterms? >> well, you know, in a sense we have to separate the midterms from 2020, almost regardless of what happens in the midterm election, it's no clear predictor of what's going to happen in 2020. we know that president reagan lost midterm election in 1982, won a landslide in 1984. bill clinton had a bad election in 1994, won a re-election in '96. barack obama same pattern, so success in the midterm election is no guarantee of something in the future. we're in a moment in a midterm election where the focus is entirely on donald trump, the president, a referendum on him. once we get past that there will be big questions on who is able to lead the democrats, and who is the unifying message they have not just for their base but for the country as a whole? >> the president's approach when it comes to the democrats seems to be -- and perhaps not surprisingly -- attack, attack, attack. this is just part of what the president said at a rally in iowa last night. >> democrats want to raise your taxes, impose socialism. dismantle law enforcement, eliminate i.c.e., and get rid of american borders. you want to get rid of the borders, right? and i've been saying this, and i mean it, democrats are the party of crime. they are. >> see, that's part of the president's midterm message. the other part is now he paints democrats as this sort of angry mob calling them wackos at one point at another rally. is this message, is it resonating with midterm voters, dan? >> it's hard to tell, craig. i think it's certainly going to resonate with the hardcore of the trump base, and he's doing everything he can to motivate them because up until now, all the evidence has been that democrats are somewhat more motivated than republicans, and that could be telling, particularly in the house races. but once you get beyond that, i mean, i think that part of what we're hearing from the president is what we will hear in his re-election campaign should he decide to run for a second term. and democrats are going to have to, a, figure out a way to counter that, but i don't think they can be completely obsessed with what donald trump is saying about them. they have to lay out for the american people something affirmatiaffir affirmati affirmative, something aspirational, something positive in order to say to the public at lard that we are a party that knows what we want to do. we are not simply trying to defeat donald trump. we want to lead the country for a particular set of reasons, and i think at this point they are not fully in agreement on what that message ought to be or how it ought to be framed. >> and you've also got to wonder how much of the future leadership of the party is going to depend on the message of the party. there's a new poll out, i don't know if you've seen it, but it took a look at women's support for democrats. it remains strong, 63% of women say they'll vote for a democrat. men more closely divided, half backing republicans. that poll was taken after the kavanaugh controversy erupted. are the democrats taking advantage of that edge with women voters? >> they're hoping to. i mean, in many ways women in particular college educated women are becoming much more a part of the democratic base. the gender gap is the biggest we've ever seen. that's in large part, i think, because of president trump, and democrats are going to have to figure out how to take advantage of that. but one of the issues is how do you maximize the various elements of the democratic constituency without simply just kind of paying lip service to them, taking them for granted as opposed to making them, in a sense, at the table, decision-makers, people whose voices i listen to, and i think that that's part of the challenge that democrats are going to go through when they begin to pick a nominee for 2020. >> michael bloomberg, perhaps you heard that today he reregistered as a democrat. does michael bloomberg fill a void in the democratic party? >> it's hard to say. i mean, one of the things about michael bloomberg is that he has chosen to be what he wants to be when it's been particularly politically useful to him. i think he's taking a page from donald trump's book, which is that it's very difficult to run and win the presidency as an independent, which we know he's thought about doing. he has the resources to be able to do that, but it's not nigh on impossible to win the presidency as an independent. he is deciding that his best bet would be to run as a democrat. i think the question ask everybody's clear on this, is does he fit the democratic party of 2019 and 2020. is he too moderate? is he too much of a new york business person? too closely aligned to big money and interests at a time when the party is clearly, at least the base of the party, is clearly rejecting that? i think that he has attributes. i mean, he has a record in new york that he'll be able to draw on, but whether he's a good fit for the democratic party is going to be left to the democratic voters in the primaries. >> and he won't have to raise any money. >> no, he will not. >> dan bot, chief correspondent "washington post." thank you. last few minutes, the national hurricane center updated its information on hurricane michael yet again. the maximum sustained winds now sitting even higher, close to 150 miles per hour. you can actually see the wind whipping up the water in this live picture from sunset beach, florida. much more on this and some new information that we're getting in on power outages already. next. welcome to the place where people go to learn about their medicare options... before they're on medicare. come on in. you're turning 65 soon? 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>> well, you do the best you can to keeping the people in place, and once the storm winds start to affect the coast. and then you try to go inland as much as you can, and get the people into the shelters who are not into the safe structures. my advice to the governor and the mayor of tallahassee is to get more shelters e open. as of 8:30 this morning, the governor said that he had 57 shelters open, and that is a very small number for the type of the damage that a category 4 can do once it hits landfall, and while we are expecting the landfall in the next couple of hou hours, we are looking at places like tallahassee and points north where the people are in up safe structures and trying to get them into solid structures that can with stain the 100-mile-an-hour winds that may be going in as far north and north of tallahassee and that is the big concern now. you have just about lost the fight at the beach, because you are starting to get the sustained winds there that prohibit the people from moving around. but we have the look further inland and see how we can get the people better prepared. >> what kind of damage? what kind of devastation do you expect base whoond we have seen so far? >> if it does not reduce, the category 4 will take out much of the infrastructure. and you know, when we were talking about florence, we said that fit came in at a category 4 in that area, it would be in some cases like a weapon of mass destruction, and category 4 will take out the grid inside of the cone, because the topography there and the vegetation is so heavy in that part, and the forest to the left, the apalachicola fortoast the west, and the powerlines and roads are going to be hard to the access. if you are going up towards tallahassee and the beautiful city there of tallahassee a lot of tree damage. and not only will the service go down, but the big distribution lines that you can see atop the tall towers and that type of the wind will take much of that the out along the coast. and embedded in the storm, people have to remember up to the 150 miles on each side, you will be having the tornadoes coming down and we know the devastating effect of the tornadoes. so people have to stay on the ps and the qs and stay inform and listen to weather warnings and the local weather reports. >> general russell honore and, gener general, thank you. an army medic who stepped in to help in hurricane florence is taking the kindness that he received from others and pays it forward. is now in session. and... adjourned. business loans for eligible card members up to fifty thousand dollars, decided in as little as 60 seconds. the powerful backing of american express. don't do business without it. you're in the business of helping people. we're in the business of helping you. business loans for eligible card members up to fifty thousand dollars, decided in as little as 60 seconds. the powerful backing of american express. don't do business without it. new sleep number 360 smart bed. it senses your movement and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. it's the final days of our fall sale. the queen sleep number 360 c2 smart bed is now only $899. plus, 24-month financing on all beds. ends sunday. you can do things like change your settings, learn tips and tricks, troubleshoot, and even manage your account. finding your xfinity username or wifi password, restarting your equipment, or paying your bill is easier than ever with x1. x1 help. another reason to love x1. say "teach me more" into your voice remote to get started. here's something to make you smile. army medic carlos ocampo left to help with florence relief, and when he returned home, his home had been ransacked and broken into. a go fund me had been set up, and when he replaced everything that he needed he donated the rest to those affected by the hurricane. and "andrea mitchell" reports starts right now. and starting right now, roaring ashore is hurricane michael growing in size and strength and whipping up the historic storm surge toward the florida panhandle. the officials are warning that the damage could be catastrophic and making some areas uninhabitable for i days and weeks. next steps with the ambassador nikki haley heading for the exhibits, the questions swirl about

Transcripts For CNNW Anderson Cooper 360 20181011

continental united states since hurricane andrew more than 25 years ago. winds approaching category 5 intensity. homes and buildings simply torn to pieces. the video you're about to see was taken in panama city beach, florida. we're playing an extended clip so you can really see what people there went through late today and get a better idea of the devastation they'll be dealing with when the sun comes up tomorrow. take a look. >> holy hell. >> those scenes were repeated across the panhandle. forecasters predicted that wind would be punishing and it certainly was that. local officials warned of heavy flooding and they were right. trees and power lines are down throughout the region. nearly 400,000 floridians are without power. destruction in places is especially heavy. tyndall air force base, across the bay from panama city, took a direct hit. the base is reporting extensive damage. no injuries, thankfully, or loss of life. some of the worst damage appears to have been in mexico beach, florida. take a look at a video taken by a 12-year-old girl, tessa talerico, who i spoke with her mother, patricia mulligan, by phone, just a short time ago. patricia, the video that your daughter took, i mean, how bad is that flooding, and is it still there? >> yeah, the water's still high, but it has subsided quite a bit. now that the flooding has gone away, all you have is boards and doors and refrigerators and people's belongings and upsidedown boats and just, it's devastation. it's very sad. i'm trying to keep from crying right now. it's very, very sad. >> and do you have a sense of how high that water was when that video was taken? it looks like in some cases it's over houses. >> yeah. it was palm trees, so i guess these might be 10 foot, 11 foot palm trees and it was up to the top of the palm trees. >> wow. the hurricane gained strength overnight quickly. at what point did you decide you were going to stay in place? >> well, we were going to stay from the beginning and then, you know, we were having second thoughts but at that point, it was almost too late because to get out of mexico beach, you have to go over a bridge. and they were closing down the bridges. so, you know, but we were in a safe place. this condo that we were in is extremely safe. there was no damage to this condo, you know. >> that's good. >> or other surrounding condos. >> i heard you say, though, that the condo was actually rocking at some point during the worst of the storm, is that correct? >> yes. >> wow. >> yes. yes. >> how was your daughter during all this? >> she was fine. she actually, you know, she's -- it was something to witness. i mean, to see all of this and to see how -- how mother nature can turn on a dime and -- but she's fine, we're all fine. everybody here that was in the condo is fine. nobody was hurt. and there was no damage. so -- to this condo. >> and as you -- i assume you don't have electricity now, is that right? >> no, we don't have electricity. we don't have water. no. >> and you said outside, there's just debris all around? >> everywhere. everywhere. you can -- i mean, my brother ended up walking down on beachside to go -- he has a house on the beach, and it was three or four levels, and it split down the levels in half and the top half was across the street. >> oh, my gosh. >> so, yeah, and other houses on the beach were across the street. same thing. the top parts. a huge truck ended up across the canal. and it was over where -- my truck was, too. they're all totaled because of the water damage. his truck ended up somehow, an f-250 getting across the canal and on the other side of the canal. >> wow, that's incredible. >> yeah. >> i understand you moved from miami to mexico beach a few month ago. when you moved, did you ever think it would be hit by a storm like this? not the kind of thing you would expect. >> no. they never really had that problem here. you know, i've had to run away from them in miami a lot. >> patricia, i'm glad you and your family are doing okay. i'm sorry about your brother's house and your neighbors. i wish you, you know, to continue to stay safe and let's hope it gets cleaned up quickly. thanks so much for speaking with us. >> okay. you're welcome. >> patricia mulligan. as we said, the storm is now hitting southern georgia hard. i want to go to cnn's scott mclean in albany, georgia, 100 miles north of tallahassee. so, scott, describe conditions where you are. >> reporter: hey, anderson. so we're really starting to see and feel the worst of it. the wind is whipping up. the rain continues to come down in sheets. the county is measuring the wind speed at 41 miles per hour sustained gusts into the 50s. take a look at this tree behind me. we've been watching this for the last hour or two. and it seems like a miracle that at least a branch has not snapped off of this because it is really getting caught up in that wind. here's another indication of the conditions here, anderson. those who have been through hurricanes before know that one of the only things that is reliably open during them is often the waffle house restaurant. there's a waffle house just on the other side of this parking lot. it closed at about 6:00 local time. it won't open again until the morning. so that might give you some indication of the conditions here. i also spoke with the fire chief not long ago. he said that emergency crews, first responders, they are no longer responding to calls. they said that they wouldn't do it if winds reached more than 35 miles per hour sustained. they have reached that level. they say it simply is not safe to go out. >> and that's one of the problems, obviously, occurring with a hurricane like this. a storm like this. the satellite also often goes down. by the way, what he said about the waffle house is pretty much true. they stay open pretty much through anything. even when i was down in florence, we found a waffle house that was open. florida state and local officials have been pointing out again and again, it is not safe to go out anywhere the storm has hit. even though it appears the worst is over, there are live wires and debris in many places. damaged and weakened structures, flash flooding and tornados. just where the storm has already been. for the late on where it is and where it's going, i want to turn to cnn meteorologist tom sater. tom, give us a sense of where it is and where it's headed. >> well, right now we've seen this drop to a category 1. still a hurricane. this has been breaking records. that's the reason, anderson, the national hurricane center used the words, historic, yesterday. records go back to 1851. since the beginning, we've seen 293 landfalls. when it comes to the pressure, this storm here ranks number three behind the labor day storm of 1935 and camille of '69. not only is it the strongest ever to make landfall in the panhandle, it's the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the u.s. during the month of october surpassing hazel in '54. we have probably seen a good miss from tallahassee getting into those eyewall winds staying to the northwest of this. because we continue to have the circulation and that forward progression, we still have the possibility of numerous power outages with numerous downed trees. could have thousands of them. even though we're down to a category 1 status. the record for water level in apalachicola was 6.4 before today. flooding happens at 3. and the last report is up to 9 feet. so, historic records are being broken around the region for surge, wind, and of course, just the stage of the storm all together at its core. >> hey, tom, i want to come back to you, but we just got recontact with scott. and i just want to try to get him while we still have him. hey, scott, if you can hear me, what are authorities there most concerned about now? >> reporter: well, at this point, short term, anderson, because the wind speeds are so, so strong, above 35 miles per hour sustained, they are no longer, first responders are no longer responding to calls and they won't be for probably the next little bit until those winds calm down. obviously, they are getting calls in this time. they're going to respond to them, but not until they say that it is safe to do so. also, there are power outages. widespread. more than 7,000 customers in this county, alone, without power. you can bet there's a whole heck of a lot more than that across the state of georgia. and elsewhere as well. the good news is that there are out of state power utility companies and services that have come in to help to try to get the power reconnected as soon as this is over, but that won't be for some time. they also have not yet seen the flash flooding that is really concerning them. though that could still very well happen as this rain continues to come down. really in sheets at this point, anderson. >> hey, scott, if you could hold on, i want to bring tom back in so you can hear as well as our viewers. tom, if you can give us a sense of what albany should be expecting and when. >> well, they're pretty much into some pretty good rainfall. it's going to get worse in the hours ahead. the system is moving at about 17 miles per hour. we have had a few tornadoes earlier from around parts of florida. this is a tornado watch. we even had a tornado warning inside the perimeter of atlanta, downtown atlanta. so tornadoes are going to be possible. we haven't seen as many as we typically do, but that's a good deal. but because we still have the core, even though we've lost the eye, the core winds around this are still sustained at 90 miles per hour. so as that moves to the north, we can expect wind gusts maybe up to 110. again, it's going to continue to lose strength, but even though it's a category 1, that circulation, anderson, has to be coupled with its forward movement. so, again, power outages and downed trees are going to be the big factor. this was a storm that was predicted to drop up to 10 and 12 inches of rainfall and that really wasn't a big concern because of all the other life-threatening issues that was brought with this storm. >> hey, scott, are there shelters that people have gone to in albany? or most people kind of staying in their homes? >> reporter: yeah, so obviously the message at this point is for people to stay inside their homes. stay off the streets. but, look, there are shelters. there are five of them set up in this area for people to go to if they don't have a stable structure to be in. mobile homes comes to mind. or something like that. they don't want people staying in that because the winds, obviously, that could be really dangerous, really damaging. so there are a couple hundred people that have gone to shelters. but, look, the fire chief, i spoke to him not long ago. he said, look, it won't be until tomorrow that we really know whether or not people expected this this far inland, whether or not they heeded the warnings and stayed indoors or whether or not there are going to be injuries or even deaths. and just a little context as well, anderson, tom was talking about the tornadoes. this area last year, january last year, got a massive tornado come through this area. it was deadly and there were homes destroyed and so this area knows a thing or two about devastation. even recently, anderson. >> scott, thank you. hey, tom, can you just give us a sense, i mean, from albany, where is this going to go, how long is this going to be a system that people should be concerned about? >> through the night tonight, really. most of the rainfall, anderson, is on that northern flank. you know, just south of macon, we had a tornado that damaged seven homes. so, again, it's occurring right now. interesting to note, however, it was a category 3 in toward georgia. i mean, going back to those records in 1851, that's only happened once before, an unnamed storm in 1898 was a 3 in georgia but came in from areas of the atlantic. when you look at this and can see the circulation, again, your heaviest rainfall and greatest threat for wind damage at this time is near that core. but, again, because it's moving so fast, i just think a couple of hours for albany and moves up toward the macon area up toward the northwest. this did produce some crazy numbers. again, the landfall pretty much right around tyndall air force base. yesterday the authorities took all the aircraft and flew out of the area with support apparatus as well. 130 miles per hour. then, of course, our wind anemometer broke. could have been much higher than that. you can see in this area the devastating winds of course associated with that we had that storm surge that we mentioned over and across areas of the bay to the east and the big ben. >> i want to thank you, tom sater, and scott mcclain as well. a moment ago, a woman we spoke with also lived through hurricane andrew, told me this one, hurricane michael, was just as bad. and the numbers, as tom just said, bear it out. nearly cat 5 intensity when it hit. still a powerful storm right now as it moves through georgia as we've been seeing. our "new day" anchor john berman experienced some of the worst in panama city beach. take a look. >> we knew we were going to get slammed with this hurricane. wow, there we go. >> reporter: i don't know if you can see that, if the camera can push in to that metal sheeting. come a little bit this way. you can see that metal sheeting over there. imagine that hitting you or your car if you're trying to drive, at 100 miles per hour, which i can't believe people are doing. >> john berman joins us now. how are things there now, john? >> reporter: there's a lot of damage here, anderson. i'm about a mile from where i was in that shot. we decided to get on the road and see what we could find here. didn't have to travel far before we got to this gas station, what was a gas station. you can see what was the canopy here, the awning of corrugated metal, simply shredded all over the ground here. pieces like this, you know, you can find them anywhere. in that shot, you heard about that metal siding. i was telling you about the metal siding hurtling down the parking lot we were in. that's the kind of thing that was being sent simply everywhere. we had 100 mile an hour plus winds sustained for about an hour. gusts of about 120 miles an hour. that was in panama city beach over where it made landfall about 30 miles east of here was at 155 miles an hour as you said. i want to show you one other thing. here's the gas station, right? see the damage to structures. if we pan around here in the dark, we set up a light so you can see down the street nearby. you can see i think some of the trees that have been snapped in half, blown over. you can see all the power lines down. i understand there's about 490,000 customers in 3 states without power. i think that number is going to go up based on what we're seeing here. there are a lot of power lines down and not a lot of crews trying to fix them just yet. that will take some time. i think that number will rise. here in the panama city beach region, we got an alert about an hour ago warning people there is now a curfew in place until 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. and anyone found out here will be arrested. they don't want anyone out tonight. i can't imagine why you would be out. it's completely dark. no street lights. no traffic lights. a very dangerous situation with the power lines down. there's plenty of standing water as you noted, you know, 10 to 12 inches of rain in some places. the storm surge did come in. so there's standing water. you don't know what is underneath it. it could be a very dangerous situation, still, anderson. >> as we know, john, it's the water that kills most people during and after a hurricane. people don't know what they're driving into or walking into. john, i appreciate you being there. i know it's been a long day for you. thanks for staying up with us. after the break, we'll talk to people who rode out a storm in a crawl space under their home. first, what it looked like in apalachicola this afternoon with the water quickly rising. >> we're in apalachicola. we have sustained hurricane-force winds where we are. what's the most surprising, and the most astounding, to be quite honest is how quickly the storm surge has taken over this town. look at the streets behind me. you can see we've had measurements within the past hour of about 6 1/2 feet above low tide. so high tide hasn't even occurred yet, and the water is still filling in this area. we've seen submerged vehicles. we've had dumpsters floating by us. we've had all kinds of debris. it's, frankly, just getting a little bit difficult to stand up in these conditions. before discovering nexium 24hr to treat her frequent heartburn, claire could only imagine enjoying chocolate cake. now she can have her cake and eat it too. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn? 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>> reporter: hey there, anderson. this is probably the worst damage that we've seen here in tallahassee. if you've ever been to this part of the united states, you know part of the picturesque beauty of this city is its canopy of trees. trees like this one which become deadly during hurricane-force winds. certainly life threatening. this is part of the damage here caused by this huge tree which blocked this whole road, smashed into this car. narrowly missed this house. it did take down some power lines which is why we're essentially in the dark with the exception of the camera light keeping us lit here. these neighborhoods all surrounding this area. dozens and dozens of homes. part of the tens of thousands of people without power here, going to go to bed tonight in dark homes. we see a house here that has a light on, it's being powered by a generator. the good news in all of this, though, anderson, the rain has stopped and the wind gusts for the most part have died down. as i say that, though, we're getting a little more gust of that wind. tallahassee was expecting to get hit very hard and the concern from the governor who i spent some time with earlier today were these trees and how life threatening they could be. for the most part, though, this storm circled around us. we did feel the outer bands of it. starts and fits of those wind gusts throughout the day. now, though, the conditions have improved and they've gotten good enough for these emergency crews to go out into the streets and assess the damage. it inspired us to go out and see what we could see. as you can see behind me, these huge trees not the only block in tallahassee that looks like this tonight. anderson? >> how difficult is it getting around? >> reporter: it is especially dangerous. i mean, you know, you covered storms like this. the concern as we were driving around especially in the dark are downed power lines. making sure that, you know, we're watching each other's backs as a crew for projectiles and things like that. the wind has died down, though. it's been a little bit difficult to navigate in this neighborhood. getting here through the main streets, though, it hasn't been as bad. you saw earlier on your facebook show the debris down in the streets that we showed you here. behind me, though, the worst of the damage that we've seen so far, but it seems as though not only on this side of the street, but also on the street behind the camera, anderson, you have downed trees everywhere. it's going to be a mess to clean up here in the city. >> nick valencia, i appreciate it, from tallahassee. thanks very much. joining us by phone in panama city, congressman neal dunn. congressman, i appreciate you being with us. you spoke earlier about reports of looting. what can you tell us? >> well, those are very early reports and we think we nipped that in the bud. a nice little town like ours and the sheriff, he was irate and imposed a curfew on the city starting at 6:00 and it will be dusk to dawn for the next couple of days or so until we get everything under control. i fully expect that to stop promptly. >> can you tell us what you have seen, how you think things have weathered the storm? >> so we actually spent the entire storm at the emergency operation center. we're blocked in here because of trees that are down on the road and power lines are down and high water. so we have -- all of our information comes in the form of videos that some of the first responders with the high-water vehicles, special equipment, have been able to bring back to us. it's devastating. there's no question. the entire county has suffered a terrible swath of damage. that holds true for all the counties that are reaching out to the east of us, some to the north as well. it's going to be an amount of damage we have not seen in living memory in this part of the country. >> do you have a sense, it's very early hours, you may not, of how long people may be without power? >> it is too early to say that. i will say, i was here for the big storms, opal and ivan. a week is a reasonable guess. there's just an amazing amount of power outages. we don't have a single transformer that was operational in bay county. >> wow. >> in the storm. when it came through. not one. >> congressman, i appreciate you talking to us. i know you have a lot of work ahead of you. so does everybody there. appreciate you letting us know about the situation. congressman dunn, thanks very much. again, we're looking at some of these drone shots, really as we get them. they give you a sense of the situation in panama city. just kind of the scope of some of the destruction. it gives you really a unique vantage point. not only from street level but a bird's-eye view as winds have died down there. it's only really now that the scope of destruction is coming into focus. obviously, darkness has come there. for crews, it's going to be particularly difficult with downed power lines, water still out there. and debris. just to get around. a lot of the assessment is going to have to be done once first light comes tomorrow, which is also why there's curfews in so many of these areas right now. they simply do not want people out and about, obviously for the protection of property, but really also just for the protection of life. as we often say, it's the water that kills people in these kind of events. not so much the wind. that's where the vast majorities of fatalities take place, often after the storm in standing water. people driving into fast-moving water or hitting electrical lines. just ahead, two people who rode this out underneath their home. we'll talk to them, ahead. with such a long history, it's easy to trust geico! thank you todd. it's not just easy. it's-being-a-master-of-hypnotism easy. hey, i got your text- sleep! doug, when i snap my fingers you're going to clean my gutters. ooh i should clean your gutters! great idea. it's not just easy. it's geico easy. todd, you will go make me a frittata. this is not a screensaver.game. this is the destruction of a cancer cell by the body's own immune system, thanks to medicine that didn't exist until now. and today can save your life. ♪ ♪ bye. bye. have fun. chloe. ♪ the most loved iphone meets the most loved in wireless. t-mobile. americas fastest unlimited network. right now save $300 on iphone 10s. what do you look for i want free access to research. yep, td ameritrade's got that. free access to every platform. yeah, that too. i don't want any trade minimums. yeah, i totally agree, they don't have any of those. i want to know what i'm paying upfront. yes, absolutely. do you just say yes to everything? 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>> we had decided to stay in our home. we had talked about our plan of action. my husband suggested this idea, and i thought he was crazy. i'm afraid of certain bugs and i assumed they would be under my house and he came actually down here and vacuumed it and cleaned it and laid down blankets and made it very inviting and when the storm got really going and limbs, large limbs, were falling, it became a very inviting space to be. >> first of all -- >> so all credit to him. >> you have the nicest husband who would vacuum underneath the crawl space. i can't even imagine. >> i know. >> crawl spaces are not very fun to hang out in. that was very nice of him to do. what was it like riding part of the storm out down there? i imagine people would think, wait a minute, isn't that on the ground, isn't water going to come through there? are you in an elevated position? >> we're not in a floodplain area. when i moved into this house 10, 11, years ago, they put down a moisture barrier. it's required in the state of florida to have a moisture barrier. so it's covered in very heavy-duty plastic and it is as dry as can be. i knew that going in that it was going to be dry because the plumber had been under here to, you know, handle another problem. so we've got a fan. we've got lights. we've got blankets, pillows, and a little bit of alcohol. >> well -- >> we're okay. >> that's a good preparation right there. can you -- are you in -- i assume, are you in the crawl space still right now? >> yes. we are. >> indeed, we are. >> can you just show us around a little bit? you don't have to move around. just kind of show us on your phone. >> yeah. it's just, you'll see beams and it's probably, i don't know, two feet high. we keep bumping our heads. there's cables. wires. i don't know how much you can see. but it's a cinderblock house. it was built in 1956. those type houses, i'm a native floridian, they are sturdy. they hold up to just about anything. so we're safe. we're fine. >> when the storm came, i mean, did you -- did you hear the house, you know, creaking or shifting or moving? i imagine being underneath the house could be scary if you hear that kind of stuff. >> no, what made us get under here quickly is large limbs beginning to fall out of my beloved oak trees. when we saw the -- and since it was a daytime storm, we could visit, see this with our eyes. i think that's the worst part is watching it. when things start falling and you're concerned about your roof and branches and things coming through your roof, it becomes very good idea to sit under a solid surface. and we're near the exit of the crawl space, so we could get out if we wanted to very quickly. >> right. well, i'm so sorry about the oak trees. i know, you know, it's such -- when you love trees like that, it's just awful to see, but loretta and martin, i'm glad you both are safe. and martin, again, kudos for the vacuuming and the blankets and whatever alcohol you brought down as well. i wish you both the best. hope you're able to come out quickly. >> thank you so much. >> appreciate it. >> thank you very much. >> you take care. >> joining us, a busy man, andrew gillum, mayor of tallahassee. mayor, we talked to two of your constituents in a crawl space. what are your biggest concerns for everyone in the city of tallahassee tonight? >> well, thank you, anderson, and wishing well wishes to both loretta and martin. right now, obviously, our hearts and minds are going out to those on the coast who we watched all the horrific images come in from, basically water washing away communities out there. obviously, our issues in tallahassee are somewhat different than that. we have a huge tree cover in my community, almost half the community is covered with trees, which is quite unusual for an area as urbanized as ours. so obviously, we knew going into this thing our biggest worry was going to be wind and that wind with the saturating ground bringing down trees, onto homes, utility poles, onto properties and, you know, god knows we didn't want them falling down onto people. fortunately, things could have been a lot worse. i say that with due respect to those who may have had trees come through their home. i know there have been reporting instances of that in our own community, but it certainly could have been much worse. we right now, last estimates, have about 90,000 of our residents that are without power right now. we, in fact, anderson, i'm coming to you from a field truck out in the field. i spent the last several hours going to various parts of our city to see the damage and the impact. we have a little bit of cleaning up to do tomorrow. i'm hoping folks will be patient with our utility crews as they get to work and we cut some of this debris out of the way. that way we can get our community back up to normal. >> because you've been driving around, you know how difficult is it getting around, you know, not for residents who, you know, obviously you don't want people out and about right now, but for those crews to try to get the power back? how tough is it for getting to places? >> yeah, i mean, what we're experiencing right now is, i mean, we had to basically do several u-turns and go down different streets. there are a lot of impassable streets. our crews are out there, but they're working in the dark trying to cut and toss things out of the way. i want to underscore, if you are in our community, please, please, please avoid coming out until you get an all-clear from your government, from emergency responders. there are too many parts of our community that are still impassable, and while our law enforcement is trying to, you know, head some of this stuff off, it's just important that folks kind of stay settled in their own homes or wherever it is that they rode out the storm tomorrow until we can get an all-clear and folks can get back out and get back to normal. >> mayor gillum, you've been up for a long time. appreciate you talking to us tonight. wish you and all the first responders the best. thank you. >> thank you, anderson, take care. coming up next, we're getting a better picture, sadly, how much damage the hurricane has done. we'll get one report next from one hard-hit area as our storm coverage continues. warning, california. a handful of billionaires have spent over $70 million on campaigns to undermine our public schools. and electing a former wall street banker named marshall tuck to superintendent of public instruction is all a part of the billionaires' plan to take money away from neighborhood public schools and give it to their corporate charter schools. that's why tony thurmond is the only candidate endorsed by classroom teachers for superintendent of public instruction. because keeping our kids safe and improving our neighborhood public schools is always tony's top priority. well, as you've seen, new video is coming in of the destruction in the florida panhandle. it's bad. right now a view from the ground of one area where it's especially heavy. cnn's miguel marquez joins us from southport. miguel, explain what you've been seeing around you. >> reporter: just damage everywhere. trees down. wires down. homes utterly destroyed. this is a major intersection here. 77 and 77a. you can see, i mean, it's just creepy. this should be lit up. this should be a major part of the area just north of panama city. and there is not a light on. you have a lot of law enforcement coming down here sort of checking things out in different areas. there's been lots of reports of looting in certain areas. this is -- it's fairly deep. i can't go all the way in. i have boots on that go up about a foot. i think i would probably go right down into a ditch here. this is a piece of corrugated metal from a gas station that was nearby. just down this way is panama city, but, i mean, it's completely dark. the only thing we can see is an antenna for a radio station, it looks like. we have spoken to many, many people. there are a lot of people who stayed in this area saying that they didn't think it was going to be that bad or they had somebody that was sick and they couldn't transport them or didn't have the money to get out of the area and now they are stuck. the temperature has come down tonight. probably in the 60s. still a little breezy. it is cold. it is wet. it is damp. it's going to be a long, miserable night here in the florida panhandle. anderson? >> and just, obviously, there's a lot of folks without electricity now. have you gotten any word on numbers of people in shelters still or how many people may be -- may be without power right now? >> reporter: in this area of the panhandle, 4,000 was the number they had earlier today. there may have been people who were able to get to the shelters after the storm came through. for the most part, the shelters were full up. the hope is, i think, the american red cross and other organizations will be able to come in and open more shelters for those whose homes are destroyed. they don't have power, don't have food, don't have water. all those sort of issues. this is the sort of stuff people are facing if you go out right now. most of the vehicles we see come through here are either law enforcement or some sort of service vehicle, but it is -- it is not kind circumstances here right now. it is really, really tough. that person was just flying through the water here. it's about a foot deep. so you can get through it, but it does look, you know, pretty daunting if it's dark and you don't know how deep it is. so a lot of people just crawling through it. >> that's one of the, you know, the things that's so difficult is, i mean, if you're on a road, it's easy to veer off the road even a little bit and all of a sudden you're on the side of the road in very deep water. there's really no way to tell, you know, when you're in your vehicle, especially at night, how deep the water may be. >> reporter: that's right. look at this. that's the danger. these are sedans and some people are getting out and about. they're going into this water. now they're following other people, but, you know, when there is nobody out here and you can't tell how deep it is, it is really a concern. there was another car that came, wanted to make a right turn, was coming sort of toward us near where we are, it gets much, much deeper. it would be very easy to get stuck in a ditch or get yourself in some situation you just can't get out of. if there's no one around, you're going to be stuck in a very uncomfortable place. >> miguel, you and your crew, thank you. be careful. appreciate it. again, we have been seeing some of the pictures that we have just been getting. again, this is a drone shot that came into us from panama city. and it's really just extraordinary. i mean, again, it's -- we believe it's a school gymnasium. not sure if it's a high school or middle school, but just both sides of it destroyed. the walls on both sides, and, again, you just get a sense of kind of the scale of the destruction. we've all become familiar with the work, of course, the cajun navy. they have been out in force conducting rescues as they often are. joining us on the phone from lynn haven, florida, jason gunderson. jason, appreciate you calling in. what have you been seeing? >> well, i'm standing in many the middle of the street right now, and it looks like a third-world country. that's not an exaggeration. average street is unpassable. all the power lines are down. all the trees down on everybody's houses. there's no power. it's a very creepy situation. we came down the block knocking on doors and had a roof crushed in by trees. a garage on top of the car. and we found a lady inside. she was down in a fetal position. there was no roof and a tree right over her head. and we were -- we had to go in and try to rescue her and moved a lot of things out the way. very dangerous, sketchy situation. we had to cut the trees out the way so the ambulance could come down the street. power lines down everywhere. it's -- it's a sight to see, and very sad. very horrible. so we're going to do our best to be out here and -- >> how difficult is it right now even for you to operate? obviously, you know, you've got a boat. people have -- you know, many people in the cajun navy have experience doing this, but without electricity, without lights out there, i mean, you're driving around blind often. >> so jason gunderson, we actually lost him. he's in the field. this is a fourth member of united cajun navy. >> hey. >> how are you, sir? >> good. good. thanks for jumping in. we appreciate it. do you know how many people >> we have about a thousand people from boats to high water rescue vehicles that have been placed in avalon to -- for prestaging and we have been dispersing throughout the whole night. i can tell you our facebook -- our call center is getting inundated right now. we're having a hard time keeping up. not as many people evacuated as we thought were going to do it. we have people on oxygen that we're frying to rescue. when i spoke with jason gunnerson on the phone a while ago, a woman suffered significant injuries. she was covered in blood. the main priority is to try to save a life. >> at this point, how do people reach out to you? you talked about your facebook page. are you getting calls? obviously land lines for a lot of people are out. i'm not sure, are cell towers still up? >> so, we're getting calls from people that have evacuated that have friends that stayed and they're giving addresses. our facebook is up. it's united cajun navy is the facebook page you want to go to. submit the request. we have a dispatch team of about 20 people that are logging in dispatches. when i was speaking with our dispatch lead about ten minutes ago, we feel right now that there's over a day's worth of rescues to be done with over a thousand people trying to rescue. >> wow, scott bouchard, i thought it was jason earlier on. >> it was jason, you're 100% correct. he dropped his cell phone signal. you talked to somebody who saved a life. >> i appreciate all you're doing. as always, it is just extraordinary, you know, this brings out the best in people you are the best in all of us. i appreciate it and i wish you godspeed and we'll continue to check in with you. i want to check in also with chris, see what he's working on for cuomo primetime at the top of the hour. chris? >> to a large extent we're going to be doing the same, anderson. we have to stay focused on this. man, this storm is moving fast. it's a whole different story than you or i were dealing with in florence. we're going to try to get in front of the storm with the people that we have on the ground and show where it's heading, what it's doing. it's beating up georgia badly. you have these old growth trees that are all through that region of the country you and i have traveled so many times, but there are shallow root systems because of the water table. they're falling, hitting houses, destroying homes. and then the big headline we're dealing with is with the cajun navy guys we're telling you about, people were told to leave and they didn't. and this isn't just the metropolitan issue. a lot of them are in remote areas that are hard to get to. that's going to be a big story for us. >> all right, chris. chris is going to take over coverage 7 minutes from now. look forward to that. a closer look at the damage in panama city when we come back after moments like this one. experts say to eat a lot of fruits and veggies, but are you getting enough of their nutrients? 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>> all right, anderson, thank you for keeping us up to date. i am chris cuomo. welcome to primetime. hurricane michael, the strongest storm to ever slam into the florida panhandle at nearly a cat 5, now making its way further i understand inland in georgia and beyond. tonight it's a category 1. winds up to 90 miles an hour, that is so well in the range of doing tons of damage. i hope some of you are coming from the part of the country that weathered hurricane michael already. if you are, you are among lucky. close to half a million now are without power. flooding catastrophic. there's been only a limited window for rescue. the night is still very young for those in the path of this monster. the rampage started near mexico beach, florida, this afternoon. homes ripped into shreds.

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