hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and from all around the world. i'm rosemary church. right now hurricane dorian is again a major category 3 storm and its winds and rains are slamming the southeastern u.s. coast. the massive hurricane has been slowly tracking just offshore since making a northerly turn right before hitting florida. of course, before that it devastated parts of the bahamas, and we are getting our first

view of some of the damage there in the abacos, miles and miles of what was a tropical paradise has been reduced to rubble. incredible aerial shots there. and the airport in freeport is still closed. just one look at damage there, of course, explains why. the death toll in the bahamas now stands at 20 and that is expected to rise. well, cnn's patrick oppmann has an exclusive report from freeport. coming up, our paula newton is on the island of abaco and our derek van dam is standing by in charleston, south carolina. but let's begin with the forecast. so we turn to meteorologist pedram javaheri, who joins us from the international weather center. so talk to us about this. it's been upgraded and where is it going? where is it headed? >> yeah, rosemary, it's a menacing storm system. a major hurricane, as you said, a category 3, sitting just about 100 miles south of charleston, south carolina, at this hour.

take a look at the fortunate nature of some of these cities, daytona beach, jacksonville, savannah, in incredibly close proximity to the storm system. the luck going to run out in the next 24 hours as we see dorian make landfall and approach the u.s. significant rainfall already beginning to be pushed in across savannah, charleston, and with this expecting some 6 to 10 inches of rainfall inside the next 12 to 24 hours. so significant flooding going to be the big story for some of these cities that are going to be directly impacted with hurricane dorian. some cities could see isolated pockets of 24 to 36 inches of rainfall within an eight-hour period. 8:00 a.m. charleston, we think the storm will be potentially 50 miles offshore of charleston. unfortunately, the hurricane force winds extend some 50 miles away from the center and the tropical storm force windsings tend 200 miles from the center.

really going to see some coastal erosion and certainly a massive storm surge as well. as much as 7 feet across that region. the storm is expected to weaken just gradually. dropping down to a high-end category 2 as it pushes past south and north carolina, and the highest likelihood of landfall within the next 24 hours, thursday night overnight into friday, the outer banks around north carolina is the most likely area of landfall with hurricane dorian. winds at that point, close to 100 miles per hour sustained when the storm system approaches land. picking up some forward speed and with it really leaving a significant amount of damage behind, especially when you consider the widespread coverage of the storm surge, as much as 8 feet across some of these areas. really important to note, rosemary, once you get to 2 to 3 feet of storm surge, it typically knocks a person off of their feet. but 7, 8 feet, water begins pushing up into the second store

of homes and pushing homes off their foundations. this is going to be a major disaster across the coastal communities where landfall is made. >> you're absolutely right. we appreciate the graphic there giving us an idea of what some people are in for in parts there. appreciate it. one place on high alert is charleston, south carolina, and meteorologist derek van dam is it standi standing by for us there. good to see you, derek. we're getting word of flooding in charleston as a result of dorian's approach. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: yeah, you're right, rosemary, this is a city of high alert because of a trio of threats that it faces. not only the fresh water and salt water flooding from the storm surge and the heavy rainfall, but we have the potential of hurricane force winds going forward. just since we've been here, we have had flashes of green illuminate the skies behind us. the electricity has flickered. all telltale signs that a

hurricane is approaching. i would be very surprised if we hold on to electricity where i'm standing now, just with the ashley river behind me just outside of the city center of charleston. there's also been sheet metal flapping in the distance as the winds pick up. we've had reports from police of road closures downtown charleston with flooding ongoing within the city and the historic center. so we know that this city is particularly vulnerable. rosemary? >> yeah, i wanted to talk to you about that because charleston topography does make it very vulnerable in a hurricane situation like this. talk to us more about that. >> reporter: i mean, really all you need to do, rosemary and for our viewers, just look at a map of charleston. you can see clearly it is a vulnerable city because of its proximity to the ocean. literally the charleston harbor is open directly to the atlantic ocean, so there is nothing between an approaching hurricane and the city center. for our international viewers, this would be something similar

to hong kong, for instance, if a t typhoon was approaching the area. we have a competing water source. the heavy rain we're experiencing now, 3 inches an hour, 72 milammeters an hour for our international viewers. that falls inland, makes its way through the tributaries and meets up with the approaching storm surge from the hurricane and that forces the water to rise in the city. in fact, some of the forecasts call for some of the inland blocks within the city of charleston, three to six blocks inland from the waterway to become flooded as the storm makes its high approach. by the way, we have a tidal psych over the next 12 hours. high tide now, rosemary and another high tide at 2:00 p.m. coinciding with the strongest part of the storm approaching charleston. busy night ahead. >> very much on high alert there. our derek van dam reporting live from charleston. we're going to check back in with you very soon. appreciate that. of course, before hitting the southeastern u.s., dorian

spent what seemed like an eternity over the bamhamas in parts of the abaco. what was a tropical paradise is now in ruins and in recent hours the death toll has risen to 20, and that grim number, unfortunately, is expected to rise. rescues are under way and help is coming in, but the need is great. our paula newton is there and describes what she sees. >> reporter: it is absolute destruction because you actually see all the debris strewn everywhere. the extent of the damage, buildings that were supposed to withstand hurricane force winds just completely crumpled and torn apart, and that's the kind of devastation. i mean, you're seeing appliances strewn everywhere that would just go flying. a boat was turned upside down and flying through the air. you would see people's furniture from one house end up in another person's backyard meters away. it is indescribable.

air conditioners pulled out from their homes. tossed upside down. it is just an absolute mess. an absolute mess. and when they see that, when you see the debris and you witness that for yourself, you realize how lucky people felt to come out of this storm alive. >> and it is amazing to consider what was then a category 5 hurricane was over the abacos and grand bahama for almost two days. pounding the area relentlessly with winds and rain for hours and hours. freeport took a beating, especially the airport there. and our patrick oppmann made it on wednesday to that airport and has this exclusive report. >> reporter: we are on the runway at the freeport airport. it has been inaccessible for days. there was a river between the rest of the city and this airport. it was completely underwater. it looked like the waves were crashing -- waves were crashing against this airport.

look how destroyed it is right now. just about every side, 8 feet to 10 feet up has been levelled, ripped in, torn in. look at it now. i don't recognize it. there's not a wall standing. you think about the need this island has right now for a functioning airport to get injured people out, to get supplies in, and this airport right now is completely destroyed. i've never seen anything like it in my life. this is complete and utter devastation like i've never seen. jose's going to point the camera over here. look at this. that's a wheel. this is the underside of a plane. this is what's left of the wing. you think of the force required to throw a plane from the runway

into a terminal. if anybody was here, i don't know how they would have survived. i've seen a lot of damage on this island. this is the absolute most devastated area i've seen so far. it will be impossible for anybody who was injured or just wants to get off the island to leave from here. aid will not be able to come in to this part of the airport, into this airport at all because it's just a debris field now. so if help is going to come, it's going to have to come through some other way. boats, another airfield, but this is really the only -- this is the only airfield for this island, and it is in utter ruins. >> an incredible account there of the damage in freeport from cnn's patrick oppmann. and my next guest is christie, the director of communications for mercy corps and joins me now from nassau. thank you so much for talking with us. >> thank you.

no >> now, we just saw there in patrick oppmann's report the total devastation at freeport's airport in the bahamas, clearly unable to receive planes at this time, although the international terminal is still standing but damaged from flooding. what's your organization's plans right now for getting aid deliveries in for those most in need? >> well, you've put your finger on just the biggest challenge that we're facing right now. these are two islands that were incredibly hard hit. there's widespread flooding and there's almost no way to get supplies in. there was a flyover done yesterday in which we saw basically freeport sort of standing and then flattened ground on either side of it to the north and south of the island. so at this point, all responders are standing by while we allow the authorities to prioritize search and rescue efforts because that medevac is so

important and just can't wait, that lifesaving aid, and we're using this time to mobilize, to assemble ourselves and to coordinate supply chains so that we know that we're prioritizing the aid that's needed most urgently and that we're going to be ready the second that we're able to get on the islands. >> right. and what about perhaps some other alternatives like receiving aid from boats and distributing those deliveries to people across the islands? is that possible? how would that work? >> at this point it's not because, as i said, there are some limited access points and the local authorities are really trying to prioritize those lifesaving elements, search and rescue, getting people medevaced, and kind of making sure that that gets first priority. as a very important and very urgent next step, we're looking at getting clean water supplies

to people. what we're seeing in particular on abaco is that all of the groundwater supplies are likely contaminated. so this means that salt water and flooding has made it so that those wells are just undrinkable. so we're going to be needing to look at getting desalination supplies in we're going to need to get jerry cans and other containers so people can transport clean water. this is as you know a health risk because water-born disaster can creep in so quickly after this. >> it is the highest priority, isn't it? what about air drops from above with water, food and male aid of some sort, has that been considered and how viable is that? >> so, the challenge with an air drop, and i haven't heard it raised in a coordination meeting. that doesn't mean that it hasn't been considered, but the challenges of have an organization on the ground to ensure that supplies get

distributed fairly, evenly to those people who need to most, so you really need that ground game in place so that you can ensure once supplies get there, they get to the people that need it. but, look, we need to be considering everything that we can, everything that we can do safely, everything that we can do efficiently because these are people who are in desperate need at this point. >> mercy corps is a great organization. it does so much for people in need and after devastation like this and disasters across the globe. the task ahead is immense, for sure. christy, thank you so much for all you do and your organization. >> thank you having me. and if you would like to help those affected by hurricane dorian, just go to cnn.com/impact. and there you'll find a list of organizations working to help bahamians with medical supplies, food and water, and you can do your part. well, boris johnson has some strong ideas about how brexit

should happen. but the prime minister just experienced four crushing defeats. what that means for him and the uk. we'll have that on the other side of the break. stay with us. ♪ ♪ applebee's handcrafted burgers now starting at $7.99. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood now starting at $7.99. they give us excellent customer otservice, every time.e. our 18 year old was in an accident. usaa took care of her car rental, and getting her car towed. all i had to take care of was making sure that my daughter was ok. if i met another veteran, and they were with another insurance company, i would tell them, you need to join usaa because they have better rates, and better service. we're the gomez family... we're the rivera family... we're the kirby family, and we are usaa members for life. get your auto insurance quote today. struggling to clean tough messes with wipes? try new mr. clean magic eraser sheets. just wet, squeeze and erase

icky messes in microwaves and on stovetops for an amazing clean, get the power of mr. clean magic eraser in new disposable sheets.

we're family. we'd do anytbut this time...her. those bonds were definitely tested. frog leg, for my baby brother don't frogs have like, two legs? so they should have two of these? since i'm active duty and she's family, i was able to set my sister up with a sweet membership from navy federal. if you hold it closer, it looks bigger. eat your food my big sis likes to make tiny food. and i'm okay with that. navy federal credit union. our members, are the mission. wit looks like jill heading offe on an adventure. jill has entresto, a heart failure medicine that helps her heart so she can keep on doing what she loves. in the largest heart failure study ever, entresto was proven superior at helping people stay alive

and out of the hospital. it helps improve your heart's ability to pump blood to the body. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto, for heart failure. where to next? entrust your heart to entresto. welcome back, everyone.

well, the british prime minister's brexit plan is in tatters. the house of commons dismissed his demand for an election. it voted to prevent him from leaving the eu without a deal. and he's lost 21 members of his own party. that's all left boris johnson weaker than ever. >> i really doubt this is motivated by a desire to improve the legislation. not a bit of it. but to filibuster it. and undemocratic cabal in downing street aligned with an undemocratic and unelected house to override the democratic will of this house expressed in the bill that we have just given a third reading to. if they can't win the argument, they try to shut down debate. a general election isn't a play thing for a prime minister to avoid his obligations. to dodge scrutiny or renege on commitments.

>> 48 hours ago he was leading the chance of stop the coup, let the people vote. now he's saying stop the election and stop the people from voting. i think he has become the first -- to my knowledge, the first leader of the opposition in the democratic history of our country to refuse the invitation to an election. i urge his colleagues to reflect on what i think is the unsustainability of this position overnight and in the course of the next few days. >> cnn european affairs commentator dominique thomas joins us live now from berlin. good to see you, dominic. so four crushing defeats for boris johnson. with the uk parliament rejecting his no-deal brexit and demand for a snap election, he's looking pretty weak right now and isolated. where is this all going? >> yes, rosemary, he's looking very weak. remember when he won the conservative party election just a couple of weeks ago, he came out with the acronym d.u.d.e.

he promised to unite the party. his party has perhaps historically never been more fractured. he has members being booted out of the party, members voting against him. he's been talking about pro- pro-rogation which has backfired. you see a coordinated response from the opposition that have taken control of the legislative agenda. you have a prime minister who can no longer legislate because he's lost his majority and he now essentially has to sit and wait and have the future -- the outcome dictated by the opposition who are now in complete control. >> what do you see as the next step forward? what can we expect in the next few days? it's been difficult to predict all of this. give us an idea of possible scenarios going forward here. >> what we can certainly expect is the unexpected as we've seen

with brexit throughout. what's interesting is that the house of lords said they will support this parliamentary bill to prevent a no deal. the big question then comes, at what point does a general election get triggered by the opposition providing their ascent? we know that on monday, the queen can provide ascent. that could be the earliest point she could approve a legislation blocking a no deal. there is a lot of suspicion among opposition ranks if a general election is called on the desired date proposed by boris johnson, mid-october, that should the conservative party win and should he have a new parliamentary majority that he would then endeavor to repeal this particular action. so there's a lot of pressure here to try to gather guarantee that that will not happen, and that seems difficult to do legislatively or to wait until after the 31st of october to ask boris johnson to go to the european union and ask for an

extension, which, of course, strategically works very well for the opposition because it will further weaken his attempt to bring the brexit party into the fold and to support the conservatives going into a general election. so we end up with a very fractured political lappndscapen which ultimately the outcome of a general election remains highly unpredictable. >> although boris johnson was fairly right when he mentioned the opposition is trying to avoid an election because when they look at the numbers, so far it doesn't look like they would do well. >> well, this is the big question. for them the number one concern right now is the question of the no deal. so they want to try to make sure that if a general election is triggered and the power is with them now, the government cannot just simply call a snap election and boris johnson was unable to get the 2/3 majority. yes, you're absolutely right, the polling points to the fact that the conservative party is ahead. that not ahead sufficiently to garner a total majority. for them to do that, they'd need

the brexit party, and the brekts par party and the brexit party is not going to be happy with the way this is unfolding and certainly the kind of leadership that boris johnson is providing. when one looks to the opposition, there is no way that the liberal dems end up with a majority and there is a big question as to whether jeremy corbyn can lead the labor party to a majority. there is a possibility of a coalition of an opposition that could do very well in the election. certainly things have not been going well for the conservative party over the last few days. >> indeed. and, of course, the other part of that story is that boris johnson expelled 21 conservative lawmakers from the party for moving against him, including the grandson of winston churchill and nicholas soems. so where does that leave the conservative party in the midst of this apparent crisis? and what impact might that have on any snap election? >> i mean, the conservative

party essentially is facing a complete crisis. its only opportunity of doing well electorally one could argue is bringing the brexit party back into the fold. a strong message was sent to the conservative party leadership that unless they can deliver brexit, and not just any brexit, but a no-deal brexit or a hard brexit, they're unlikely to support them. so that has weakened them. but boris johnson has also weakened the conservative party since he took over. his party is full of -- his cabinet is full of brexiteers pushing for a no deal. the issue of prorogation has divided the party. it's precisely the brexiteers that have disrupted every single

action legislatively that went through parliament. so the party is not in a very good position heading into a general election. and this is an even greater concern now to those conservatives that have essentially held power since david cameron came in in 2010. >> yep. it's going to be interesting. and, of course, the british tabloids are having a lot of fun at boris johnson's expense. that's worth taking a look for anyone out there. dominic thomas, always a pleasure to get your analysis. many thanks. >> thank you, rosemary. well, hurricane dorian is gaining strength as it makes its way up the u.s. southern coast. we will go live to south carolina where they are already feeling the triple threat of wind, rain and storm surge. we're back in a moment. ity to bring all of these stories that i've heard to life. i wanted to keep digging, keep learning... this journey has just begun. bring your family history to life like never before. get started for free at ancestry.com

we're oscar mayer deli fresh your very first sandwich,m... your mammoth masterpiece. and...whatever this was. because we make our meat with the good of the deli and no artificial preservatives. make every sandwich count with oscar mayer deli fresh. would shakespeare have chosen just "some pens?"s. methinks tul pens would serve m'lady well. thanks. and a unicorn notebook! get everything on your list. this week's doorbuster - 300-sheet paper ream for $1; $1 in store or online from the advisors at office depot officemax. billions of problems. morning breath? garlic breath? stinky breath? there's a therabreath for you. therabreath fresh breath oral rinse instantly fights all types of bad breath and works for 24 hours. so you can... breathe easy. there's therabreath at walmart.

[happy ♪irthday music] ♪ don't get mad, put those years to work with e*trade. to the wait did frowe just win-ners. prouders everyone uses their phone differently.

that's why xfinity mobile let's you design your own data. now you can share it between lines. mix with unlimited, and switch it up at anytime so you only pay for what you need. it's a different kind of wireless network designed to save you money. save up to $400 a year on your wireless bill. plus get $250 back when you buy a new samsung note. click, call or visit a store today.

welcome back, everyone. well, as the southeastern u.s. prepares for hurricane dorian, it's grown more powerful and is once again a major category 3 storm. now, this as we are now getting sobering images of what the storm did to the bahamas earlier when it was at its full category 5 strength. this is what's left of houses and buildings in abaco. some areas are now a ravaged wasteland surrounded by water. at least 20 people have died and sadly that number is likely to rise. search, rescue and recovery is the priority now. the u.s. coast guard has rescued at least 61 people so far. food shortages are also a major concern. the world food program says some 60,000 people on the islands may be in dire need of food relief

as the recovery starts in the bahamas, the southeastern u.s. is bracing for hurricane dorian. more than 1 million people in north and south carolina are being told to get to safety now. the national hurricane center warns there could be dangerous storm surge and winds whether dorian makes landfall there or not. so let's get the latest now. we turn to our meteorologist pedram javaheri. so, pedram, talk to us about the path, talk to us about who is experiencing the worst of dorian right now. >> yeah, rosemary, after almost two weeks of tracking the storm system, we're really at the 11th hour with the impending landfall across the united states. unfortunately, it is a strong category 3 and a strong storm on approach towards places such as charleston. sits about 90 miles south of charleston at this hour. we expect the wind gusts to really pick up with intensity within the next couple of hours. we're going to get very close to

hurricane force gusts. notice shortly after sunrise thursday morning, we'll see winds push up closer to 85 miles per hour as the storm remains just offshore of charleston. the forecast models will parallel this up towards myrtle beach and eventually wilmington where winds could be upwards of 100 miles per hour. this will be later on thursday night and we think landfall thursday into friday morning, potentially around moorhead city or the outer banks of north carolina. anywhere across the coastal region of north carolina has the high likelihood of seeing landfall potentially at that point a strong category 2 storm coming onshore. really going to teeter between a category 2 and a category 3 here within the next 24 or so hours. here it is. massive storm system spanning some 500 miles across from its western side to its eastern side. kind of made the analogy of dropping the storm over the state of texas. it would encompass much of the state, about 80% of the state from one end to the other. it really speaks to how large of a feature it is.

tropical storm winds extend some 180 miles away from the center. you're going to feel tropical storm force winds within the next few hours. notice how close the storm gets towards charleston. city well known here for being surrounded by three bodies of water, two rivers and also, of course, the ocean just in front of town here, really going to want to see all the water want to surge into charleston harbor. making the landfall potentially into the outer banks of the carolinas before it really moves away from the u.s. this is an historic storm. unfortunately, we're at the final hours of seeing the storm finally impact the mainland of the u.s., rosemary. >> yeah, it really has taken its time. moving slowly, first of course over the bahamas and now it's long, long way all the way out here. hopefully it will move out soon and do as little damage as possible. thanks so much, pedram, for that. >> thank you, rosemary. >> joining us now on the line, the chairman of the county

council in charleston, south carolina. he's at the emergency operation center that's been set up in the city. good to talk with you. tell us about this flooding we're hearing about and where it is worst in charleston right now. >> thank you, rosemary. we are seeing it in a couple of different places. fortunately, it's not been as bad so far as was forecasted. we're seeing some flooding downtown in the city itself. and then in some of the outlying areas that normally flood. we, again, we're surrounded by several bodies of water down here, so it's not unusual to have flooding. we're hoping that this thing will hurry up and get out of here, but next high tide what we're really worried about at 1:00 p.m. when the storm could be right near us. >> right. and how bad do you think that could be? what are you seeing? >> well, you know, we're so far

the national hurricane center's told tuesday we could see a 7 to -- a 7-foot storm surge at high tide which could be pretty devastating. that would make it, you know, right at a 10-foot storm surge or 10-foot tide here in charleston which would inundate a lot of water. our biggest concern is making sure that people, you know, shelter in place at this point, and if the water does get up, don't try to get in your car and get out because that's how people -- that's how deaths occur. >> exactly. i mean, now at this point people just have to hunker down. of course, we have talked about the vulnerability of charleston particularly. we were looking at that map there that gives people an idea how it is surrounded in water and how vulnerable it is in a situation like this, particularly with the hurricane coming from the direction it is. talk to us a little bit more about that. and you did mention, too, that you're not -- it's not as bad at

this point at least as what people thought it would be. >> yes, ma'am. you know, we -- what we are concerned is that folks don't get lured into a false sense of security. >> exactly. >> and so those waters can rise and they can rise quickly. especially with the amount of rain that can potentially be dropped from the storm. so you take the rain, you take the high tide and the storm surge and it can be very deadly. our -- they call this the low country of south carolina for a reason. because we are right at sea level. and water rises rapidly. and when it does, you know, people get caught in it and it becomes a very scary, scariuation. >> yeah, and for the most part as you say people have taken notice. we've talked about this for the past few days. those people that think, oh, it's not as bad as we thought it would be so they let their guard down. that is a very dangerous point for anyone to be at.

so what has been the advice given by the city -- the city council at this point to the residents there? who for the most part know and understand the dangers? >> well, absolutely. we've had an exponential growth in charleston here over the last four or five years. so we've got a lot of new people that have never experienced a hurricane like this. they're from elsewhere. we've been trying to educate folks and help them understand how serious this is and our add voice -- advice to leave. for you haven't left yet, don't leave, shelter in place. once the winds get up to 40 miles an hour, our fire trucks and our ems units cannot go out and safely go get you. shelter in place. and once the winds die down we'll come and help. >> right. some very good advice. as you say, the next high tide at 1:00 p.m. so the danger is not over yet. by any stretch of the imagination.

elliot, thank you so much for joining us and pointing out the vulnerabilities there in charleston and what you're experiencing right now and possibly in the next few hours. appreciate it. well, just ahead, we will check on how another city is bracing for dorian. an interview with the mayor of hilton head in south carolina. that is next. stay with us. ke to make my life. ( ♪ ) romo mode. (beep) (bang) good luck with that one. yes! that's why i wear skechers slip-ons. they're effortless. just slip them right on and off. skechers slip-ons, with air-cooled memory foam. you know that look? that life of the party look. walk it off look. one more mile look. reply all look. own your look with fewer lines. there's only one botox® cosmetic. it's the only one fda approved to temporarily make frown lines, crow's feet and forehead lines look better. the effects of botox® cosmetic may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms.

alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness may be a sign of a life-threatening condition. do not receive botox® cosmetic if you have a skin infection. side effects may include allergic reactions, injection site pain, headache, eyebrow, eyelid drooping and eyelid swelling. tell your doctor about your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, and medications including botulinum toxins as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. so, give that just saw a puppy look and whatever that look is. look like you with fewer lines. own your look with the one and only botox® cosmetic.

. welcome back, everyone. hurricane dorian is moving toward the coast of south carolina with renewed strength. it's back up to a category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 115 miles per hour. that is 184 kilometers per hour. the storm is expected to run along the coast of the carolinas from thursday into friday. and is now flooding downtown charleston in south carolina. more than 1 million people in parts of both north and south carolina are under evacuation

orders right now. and earlier i spoke with john mccann, the mayor of hilton head in south carolina, about the approaching storm. >> we plan for this all year long. we have a full department of people that plan just for the hurricane signs. so we're very well prepared, very well drilled. our residents are very well educated on preparing the plan. but you don't know anything until the storm hits. right now i'm sitting here and the winds are howling outside the window. the tides are rising. we expect heavy, heavy surge. we're looking for anywhere from 8 to 12 inches of rain. should be a very interesting evening. >> right. and what sort of storm surges are you expecting? >> 7 to 8 feet, i understand, and we're not sure what it's going to do in high tide or not. >> right. and you feel prepared to be able to deal with that? >> we do. you know, we've put half of our

ems and fire off island and on island. we have a lot of people still here. so we have an obligation for the safety of the people that are here. we rode around today. the hotels are closed. the restaurants are closed. all the businesses are closed. so people listened to the warning. this is a severe storm and if it turns one way or another, it could be a catastrophic storm for us. >> yes, exactly. you can't really labor that point enough to residents in the area. i did want to ask you what sort of preparations have been made for the elderly, and, of course, those in hospitals. >> sure. >> those in more vulnerable, exposed structures. do you feel that you are ready for this? >> we closed our hospital at 2:00 yesterday, so if our ems trucks go out for an emergency, they have to take the person an hour and a quarter away from hilton head. the hospital's closed. yesterday at 1:00 we closed down all the nursing homes and the assisted living homes and moved

those people within two hours outside the island. so the hospital's closed. the nursing homes are closed. the assisted living homes are closed. the hotels closed down yesterday. it's just the residents that are left. we think about 40% of the residents listened to us and evacuated, and the rest are still here. >> right. and what advice are you giving the residents of hilton head as you prepare for dorian? and are they all heeding the warnings? there are usually situations where some people they want to hunker down. they stay in areas that are more exposed. have you found for the most part that people have heeded the warnings? >> we think so, but it's hard to tell. we drove away today, the town manager and myself, for four hours visiting our fire stations and our ems people out there. there was very little people seen. very little cars in the street. which either means they left or they're staying hunkered down inside. people have gotten the message. there is no one out on the

streets at all. >> good to hear. >> we have a curfew at 10:00 tonight until 6:00 tomorrow morning. so during the night hours there will be no one out. the sheriff enlisted a curfew for tonight and tomorrow night. >> right. and of course charleston is further north than you are. probably more vulnerable. how much communication and liaison does there tend to between your area and charleston? >> well, it's interesting, for the last four days or five days now, we've been meeting -- the governor has a meeting every morning and it's been all the counties, all the towns on the coastline. anybody that can be affected from hilton head all the way up to myrtle beach. so we talk every day in the morning at 9:00 or 10:00 and every day in the afternoon at 4:00, compare notes and see where we are and what we can do for each other. >> good idea. good to hear as well. john mccann, the mayor of hilton head, many thanks for joining us and we wish you the very best as

dorian approaches. take care. >> thank you very much. appreciate it. well, climate change has reached a crisis point, so how will the next u.s. president handle this dangerous problem? democratic candidates offered their solutions earlier in a cnn town hall. we'll have a little bit of that when we come back. ♪ ♪ ♪ applebee's handcrafted burgers now starting at $7.99 now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood.

now starting at $7.99 at t-mobile, what can you get when you a buy a samsung galaxy note 10? a netflix subscription on us. and for a limited time. buy any samsung galaxy note 10 and get one samsung galaxy note 10 for free. i can't remember when he didn't smoke. i feel like we do so much together now because if he would go outside, i'd be bored. in all reality, my wife who is the most important person in my life was the key driver into me switching. i do feel like we're a lot closer now. i think i have gotten a piece of my life back when i started with juul. i didn't think it was gonna work. i really didn't think so. it did. it worked magically.

if you have moderate or psoriatic arthritis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats differently. for psoriasis, 75% clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. for psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss.

your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. i waited to get treated. thought surgery was my only option. but then i found out about nonsurgical treatments. it was a total game changer. learn more about the condition at factsonhand.com

more now on our top stories. dorian has strengthened into a category 3 hurricane again. it is battering the southeastern coast of the u.s. and is now flooding downtown charleston in south carolina. forecasters say dorian's destructive winds, heavy rain and life-threatening storm surge will impact the coast of the carolinas for many hours to come. more than 1 million people in north and south carolina are under mandatory evacuation orders right now. and in other news we are following for you, a federal judge has ruled that the government's list of people on its terrorist screening database violates american citizens' constitutional rights. being on that database can restrict people from traveling in and out of the country and exposes them to greater scrutiny. the judge wants the plaintiffs and the government in the case

to file more briefings before deciding what legal steps to take next. and the u.s. president rejects climate science, as you know, donald trump has reversed obama era initiatives and he withdrew the u.s. from the paris climate accord. in a cnn town hall, every democratic challenger took the opposite view and offered their plans for battling climate change. take a listen. >> in this extraordinary moment of global crisis, i think we need a president, hopefully bernie sanders, that reaches out to the world, to russia and china and india and pakistan, all the countries all over the world and say, guess what, whether you like it or not we are all in this together, and if you are concerned about the children in your country and future generations, we're going to have to work together. and maybe just maybe instead of spending $1.5 trillion every single year on weapons of destruction designed to kill each other, maybe we pool those

resources and we work together against our common enemy, which is climate change. >> there are a lot of different pieces to this, and i get that people are trying to find the part that they can work and what can they do, and i'm in favor of that and i'm going to help and i'm going to support, but understand this is exactly what the fossil fuel industry hopes we're all talking about. that's what they want us to talk about. this is your problem. they want to be able to stir up a lot of controversy around your light bulbs, around your straws and around your cheeseburgers, when 70% of the pollution, the carbon we're throwing into the air comes from three industries and we can set our targets and say by 2028, 2030 and 2035, no more. >> let's talk in language that is understood across the heartland about faith.

you know, if you believe that god is watching as poison is being belched into the air of creation and people are being harmed by it, countries are at risk of vanishing in low-lying areas, what do you suppose god thinks of that? i bet he thinks it's messed up. and you don't have to be religious to see the moral dimensions of this, because, frankly, every religious and nonreligious moral tradition tells us that we have some responsibility of stewardship, some responsibility of taking care of what's around us, not to mention taking care of our neighbor. >> and across the pond, british prime minister boris johnson just endured a bruising session of parliament one day after he sacked 21 members of his own party for voting against him. our cnn's hala gorani reports it was filled with insults, yelling and a lot of angst. >> i will get a deal.

>> reporter: a heated debate -- >> the prime minister is acting more like a dictator than a democrat. >> reporter: a whirlwind drama as british mps wrestle to rule out a no-deal brexit. moments of rattic. >> i would sooner boil my head than hand power to the leader of the opposition. >> reporter: too outlandish. pepper, one of the most consequential debates in parliamentary history from the prime minister's creative name-calling. >> there's only one chlorinated chicken that i can see in this house and he's on that bench. >> reporter: and exploitive dropping. >> their economic policy is, mr. speaker, [ bleep ] or bust. i say -- i say it's both. >> reporter: to insults that are hard to interpret. the speaker's attempts to regulate were usually futile. >> order. very rude for members.

order. >> reporter: even when using his most schoolmarm air. >> behave yourself. be a good boy, young man. be a good boy. >> reporter: in the yelling and angst, one mp was a bit too calm, perhaps, however. >> the leader of the house has been spread across three seats lying out as if that was something very boring for him to listen to tonight. >> reporter: he was unfazed by criticism of his meditative pose in parliament which inspired a flurry of tweets, parodying his now notorious horizontal slouch. and another twitter flurry erupted after a stinging defection. >> our exports -- >> reporter: when tory mp phillip lee dramatically crossed the floor to sit with the liberal democrats. >> i wish -- i wish him all the best. >> reporter: as the debate unfolds, mps prepare. one tweeting a picture of himself arriving for an

overnight stay ready for a long drama-filled evenings to come. >> order. order. >> reporter: hala gorani, cnn, london. >> so much drama. and thanks for joining us. i'm rosemary church. i'll be back with more news in just a moment. you're watching cnn. do stay with us. [happy birthday music] ♪ ♪ don't get mad, put those years to work with e*trade. would shakespeare have chosen just "some pens?"s. methinks tul pens would serve m'lady well. thanks. and a unicorn notebook! get everything on your list. this week's doorbuster - 300-sheet paper ream for $1; $1 in store or online from the advisors at office depot officemax.

so we reward every purchase . let's see what kate sent. for you. for all of us. that's for me. navy federal credit union our members, are the mission.

know what more shrimp!ith steak and shrimp? and you know what goes great with that shrimp? steak and unlimited shrimp! and this year, with two freshly made sides, you'll get more than you imagined. hurry into outback now for our steak and unlimited shrimp. outback steakhouse

hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and, of course, all around the world. i'm rosemary church. this is "cnn newsroom." hurricane dorian is getting stronger. it's once again a major category 3 storm with winds of 115 miles or 185 kilometers per hour. and as the u.s. feels the effects of the storm, we are getting a better idea of the devastation dorian left behind in the bahamas. in the past few hours the death toll there went up to 20. but that number is expect to go much higher. and right now georgia and south carolina are feeling the brunt