Rising. Become miles inland, you can still see the storm. It is disastrous. Please do not let your guard down. This is a very dangerous storm. Neil bracing for impact. Welcome, everybody. Im neil cavuto. Florence now barreling down and getting close. Here is what we know right now. The Department Of Defense is about to hold a News Conference on preparation. When they speak it, we are there. The police chief in North Carolina is asking residents refusing to evacuate for next of kin information, saying that he will not, not put his officers in harms way. Home depot and lowes operating in Emergency Response centers. More than 1,000 trucks will be used to supply bottled water,
slow storm, come on with me down to the beach. Maybe you can see it. These waves, if they are crashing onto the berm for a day or two, it is one thing if they are crashing onto the berm for a day or two, that is one thing. A day or two is a very different story. That is an angry atlantic ocean, and beyond, that is Hurricane Florence in carolina beach. Oneill. Neil amazing. Always my friend. I say that. In the meantime, 45 inches, that is what we are looking at. That is how much rain florence could drop in some areas. Something that my buddy said. This thing wont be leaving anytime soon once it hits. It is slowmoving, and a monster at that. Rick, what are we looking at . The center wins have come down a little bit. But all of the moisture that is in the storm that has built up
these power outages. Too late to be getting prepared, but we are going to see that all away much in South Carolina, but there will likely be a bullseye around myrtle beach up to morehead where we are going to be watching the worst of that. Also watching the worst of the storm surge. Going in the end, we are going to be watching for a very prolonged period of wind. So it comes in with the arrival of the storm, and that surface wind, keeps on pushing that water towards the land here doesnt allow the water to come back out for the storm surge to subside. We are probably watching these cycles of the storm surge of staying on shore, and not just rate among the immediate coast. All that water is going to get pushed out. The inlands and tributaries here, so were going to have big problems, up and along the rive. And then the rainfall totals, it
that is why the freshwater that is falling from the storm is going to meet that seawater that is pushed in, and it will get stuck there, and the flooding will be extreme. Neil thank you very, very much. It hasnt even hit, and already, the red cross has 700 Disaster Relief workers sent out throughout the region. It tens of thousands of folks expected to be displaced by all of this. The ceo of the Eastern Region of the red cross. Thank you for taking the time. What is it looking like for you guys . Well, we are preparing. People will say what is the red cross doing . It is really who is the red cross . These tremendous volunteers that we just mention peered across the region, manning shelters, providing supplies, supporting evacuees. And after the storm eventually passes, we have the long term recovery that will be very, very challenging for this part of the country. Neil now, what percentage of these people are going to shelters . High school gyms, cafeterias, that sort of thing. Absolutely, those are evacuation centers. We have had thousands of people and will expect more this evening. Taking more heed to the warning, but this has been a really good response by the public. Really paying attention. I appreciate the made a really pushing the message of get out now and to be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem. Neil so many times, they dont go out, they feel that they can write it through, or if they leave, it will be a long time before they can go back home, i understand where theyre coming from, but what you tell them . We know that theres going to be infrastructure damage. Power outages, and folks may not be able to go back to their homes because they will be destroyed. We want to remind them that possessions, things can be replaced, but your life cannot. So that is why we are very proud
of the messaging that has gone on here to get people to Pay Attention and really take some actions to get out of harms way. Neil you know, a little later, we are going to be talking to a representative, one of the bigger Power Providers in the region. We expect more than 75 of their customers to likely be without power when all is said and done, and maybe for a while. How do you deal with that . That is going to be a challenge. We are going to be supporting folks with our partners who can actually come in and create thousands of males through mobile kitchens that are part of a Semi Tractor Trailer activities on parking lots of churches. We are seeing tremendous work by the salvation army, they will mobilize mass feeding. That was two years ago in the middle of matthew, we served over 6 million meals. We will be ranking up, but its all because of those wonderful volunteers who are pouring into help us provide this care. Neil a lot of people appreciated. The regional ceo for eastern North Carolina. You might recall the cajun army. Remember those guys . They were famous. For their simple rescues of folks caught one after another, particularly in texas last year. They are back at, suited up, ready to do battle on behalf of those who might get stuck with this storm. Joining is now on the phone from South Carolina. Very good to have you. How are you holding up, and what are you seeing . To go well, we are holding up well. We have been here since the first wave. Up to louisiana, our chapter, we have been over here since last friday. Getting everything set up. Our teams coming in, so we are pretty grounded right now. Just about ready to get to the places where we can deploy quickly. Neil last year, with harvey in texas, the houston area, that was the first time i
had really heard of you guys. Im sure it predates even that, but it was just a volunteer army, trying to help people out, putting their own lives on the land, and here you are doing it again. Scary times, scary stuff, but you do it in pretty big numbers. How many do you think you will have . All, the thing we do, when we are in our state, we gather up our local chapters, and well get together. In texas, we went over, and we brought our local guys. Work together. People are volunteering. We had an overwhelming amount of volunteers last year. In the midst of the chaos, we all came together. So its really hard to determine how many volunteers there are. Right now, we are here. We have over 600 on standby with the jeep club. We have different people coming in. Everyone is showing up. The Fire Department is coming down. So we just have all of our different types of vehicles that we need to go in. Hummers, four wheelers, both, drones. We all have our Safety Equipment that we have acquired over the past year. Just trying to do a little bit better, figure out what we could have done better. So that is where we are at right now. We are in a place where we are ready. Volunteers are here. We have a volunteer list, everyone volunteers, they fill out a little submission form, we get it, vetted, tell them where we are at. And then we get everyone set up, and we go out. Neil thats just amazing. Not a single one paying for this, they just do it out of the goodness of their heart at great personal risk it to themselves. Thank you. Lets go to this Pentagon Briefing on how they are manning and preparing for this in washington. Literally following the storm and, as it progresses, they are dependent on the Weather Conditions to clear to be able to come in. That is why we are not singularly responsible, looking at them, surrounded by the land as well. So we can do it before the storm gets here. The aircraft that we have coming from the south, from the west, and from the north. We will be able to access it. So secondly, what do you see as the biggest challenge as you look at sort of the scope of the storm, and specifically, one of the issues that has, in previous storms and other disasters is this waiting for states to ask for something that the military knows they should be asking for, they are not asking for . Or asking for quickly enough. How are you addressing what has been sort of a Perpetual Proble Problem . First, i will say that we are anticipating the needs, moving forward under our own authority to be able to respond as soon as the request is made so that we know longer have to generate a force once it is made. It is immediately available. As we look into this storm, looking at what he thinks the Biggest Challenges are going to be, in the immediate aftermath of the storms landing, the vertical lift, the ability to bring in those helicopters is going to be a key asset. Again, in close coordination. So Search And Rescue was going to be the biggest challenge, is that particularly along the waters edge . As we see the storm coming in, even though it is degraded to cat 2, it is going to be on the coast, and the heavy rainfall, we do think that the
combination of that you gather will be very difficult challenge to overcome. So the Search And Rescue is probably the first and foremost response that we would be looking at. But it is not the only response that we are looking at. It will be incredibly important to have those assets available, not on a generation in 24 hours, but immediately available. That is why under the secretarys authority, we were able to have those available for Immediate Response. Military times. Thank you. Between all of the air, land, and see assets that you have, how are you involved in this response . Good question. At this moment, it is a rapidly changing number, but we have about 7,000 personnel. At just over 4,000 in the National Guard, about 3,000 active duty. That number will change and fluctuate drastically over the upcoming hours, and we will be able to keep you informed as
that number changes. Where does the money come from for this response . Is there a specific Emergency Response bucket that you are pulling from . So, the stafford act is legislation that provides the department of Homeland Security with Disaster Relief funds. So federal support, federal mission supporting state and local and emergency like this, it is paid via the stafford act. Looking at this tremendous response, you cant help but think of puerto rico last year, where it took days for ships to start to get in. Realizing part of the was the knowledge of having to ask for it. What sort of lessons have been learned as far as being able to respond and help american citizens . So we did a detailed Lessons Learned process, as we do post any significant event in the Department Of Defense. What we got out of that assessment is we have processes in place to develop a common operational picture that we share with all of the entities and with our federal partners. We have a common asking picture, which is the request that we are getting or that we believe we will be getting from other partners. Then we have a common picture. So we understand what assets from one identity within the department are being sent to support the response to the storm. Weve had that in place, weve made some significant improvements to that, just based on those three storms that were overlapping, literally, creating a level of intensity and a depletion of resources that really was unprecedented. I would just say that the close collaboration that we have established between fema, between the governors, as long as we populate those databases, we fully understand the needs
even before the formal processing has been completed. I think that the relationship we have right now is as strong as it has ever been between the federal forces, the local state forces, and of course, fema. Louis martinez, abc. Hi. I believe during hurricane irma, which was in florida, later on, the state assets could handle it. As we look at the storm, do you foresee that they will be able to handle it immediately after the storm . May not even require that . I will say that all of the local and National Guard is well postured to respond in the Search And Rescue. The magnitude of the storm may exceed their capability, and if it does, we want to make sure that we are postured and ready to respond at a moments notice to that. So if we end up with not needing
them because the storm does not have the impact that we think it might, and with the local responders, the National Guard under the Governments Authority can handle it, then that is just fine. We have met our mission. Hurricane maria in puerto rico, obviously the Electrical Grid was impacted in a huge way. There have already been protections to my predictions. What kind of a role can the Army Engineers play . What can you do to help them . Just as you mentioned, it will be very deep in that regard, but what we are trying to do a synchronize that effort. We work closely with the engineers, with fema, with the local authorities, so that we can anticipate those in the Staging Areas that we have right now, full of the generators that you mention. So we can be able to respond and push this forward. So it is a close collaboration. It is bringing all of the elements together against this challenge. I would just know that one of the benefits that you get from a disaster on the mainland, when you have multiple continuous states, there is a tremendous amount of proximity that states will provide in their Emergency Management assistance compacts. There are electrical repair vehicles heading towards the South East Coast from all over the country as we speak. Amassing on the outskirts of where the hurricane will have the most impact, ready to go in. If that is not sufficient to meet the needs, then the states will make a request of fema, and they will be there with assets as requested by them to meet the needs. Thank you. Do you have an idea of how many
people from the coastal area . I heard the figure of over a million today, but that was probably as of earlier today, we dont have the statistics. I would direct you to fema for the direct answer. Tom, talk medianews. I was scratching my head. Okay. Lucas tomlinson, fox news. What specifically are you doing differently this year compared to last year . With the hurricane. I think as was mentioned, we took the Lessons Learned from last year, although it was phenomenal, robust response, we can always learn from that. So i think the anticipation, the coordination ahead of time, the collaboration, really understanding what are those requests going to be, and a way to reposition our forces to set
us up for success for florence. Nothing specifically that you are doing different . There are multiple things in regards to how we are quantifying and how we are processing it. We can go a little quicker, but it is not one thing, it is a multiple things that we are doing in order to have actual response and action. I think it will set us up for success. Carla, voice of america. To questions, if thats okay. First, we learned about some of the ships that have come out. What other equipment has been moved out of the area, and about how much haslett cost to move that equipment out for the military, and then my second question is on the Search And Rescue timeline, every time that there is a hurricane, especially in the carolinas, there are people on the outer banks who do
not like to leave because there is only one road, and they feel like if they say, they dont have to worry about taking days to get back. Can you tell us how long you anticipate it will take to get to people if they get into a dire situation . Yet, first let me start by saying all of the individuals and citizens should listen to the local government, follow the appropriate guys that they were giving with respect to evacuations. This particular storm i think is going to be challenging in regard to what you mention. Because of the slowmoving nature of the storm, it could very well stay with high winds for a long period of time, which is going to mean that any Rescue Effort is going to take time. And so, we still have the limitations that we have within those Weather Environments that are going to preclude us from necessarily coming in in the hours immediately after the storm hits. So again, i would really highlight the need, based on the nature of this particular storm to really heed the evacuation
recommendations. With respect i think it is weather dependent, so that is out of our control. What i can tell you is as soon as the weather allows us, we will be able to respond quickly. With respect to the movements of the force, force, we have to preserve the force, so it is prudent for us to do so. I dont have an exact cost of what that is, but we can give you a followup answer on that. Obviously, it is prudent for us to move it, as opposed to have it damaged by the storm. Tom bowman, npr. They are going to be right in the middle of the storm surge. So with the Rescue Effort, are they going to have to find their own way out if things get really bad, and any sense of getting the comfort underway . Just holding on with that if necessary . We have confidence in our
commanders, making the evacuation. And so, we have faith that that is in fact the right decision to make. On the positive side, because of their proximity and their great capability, that will also be part of the Relief Effort that w