use caution when driving or operating machinery. the most common side effect is nausea. i don't think about cigarettes anymore. talk to your doctor about chantix. ♪ >> i've never seen this. i come down here every week to ride my bike and i have been down here to some of the other hurricanes and i've never seen it. never seen it this high. >> trace: wind, water, as you heard, worried. florence makes landfall and continues able to relentless assault on the east coast withy force. in a big storm with powerful winds, record rainfall, and triggering massive floods. hello, i'm trace gallagher. florence emma watson category 4 hurricane, now a tropical storm. the danger, as you can see, far from over. she slowly treks across the carolina, moving with a torrential downpour that forecasters warned will last for

several days. the images, the numbers, all devastating. at least four people are dead, 600,000 without power, hundreds of rescue operations have saved the stranded by dozens remain trapped. residents are being told to expect a year's worth worth of rain before this deluge is over. in the coming hours, our team of correspondents will show you the havoc from within the storm zone and tell you how long this nightmare will last. only one thing in all of this is certain, it will take months, if not years, for the victims of florence to recover from this tragedy. >> we have flooding all over the state because this is something that we have not seen before. a hurricane staying on top of us for this long. >> trace: we begin our live coverage from topsail beach, north carolina, one of many communities being pummeled by florence's violence and relentless drive.

steve harrigan is standing by with the very latest. what is it like where you are right now? >> trace, right now, where i am, on the coast of north carolina. my, it is dark and quiet. it's dark because this area and for hundreds of thousands of north carolinians, they have no electric power. no ac, no tv, no cell phone service, and many of those people are in homes that have been damaged by the winds, damaged by flooding, or are surrounded by water. it is quiet because this state did an incredible job of warning people about the storm that was going to come. the warnings were blunter direct. a monster storm, a punch from mike tyson. the people responded incredibly responsibly. they boarded up their homes and for the most part they left. that is why there is not a car, not a person in sight. you can just hear the frogs right now and the crickets. it has been a brutal 30 hours. if you wonder what 20 inches of rain feels like, it means a day and a half of nonstop downpour

and that is what has happened here. also the wind has been destructive, especially along along the coast were everywhere. the wind was tropical storm force and hurricane storm force, hour after hour. hard enough, powerful enough to damage homes, to knock grooves off, but not to destroy them completely. it has, though, however made the roads very treacherous and made rescue for those who stayed very difficult also. across the state, they have already been hundreds of rescues carried out at one of the remarkable things you see in a storm like this is people really come from around the nation to help. not only an official capacity but capacity but volunteers as well, people swift boats, more than 19 states are here. we respect is the key rescues carried out locally where we here in the morning. the police chief says in some areas are too difficult to get to. when you drive along, we had to really take refuge from the

beach area because the water was simply rising too high. we were afraid about getting over that bridge. when you drive along, you see, it's either lumber in the road with nails, deep water in the road, or downed power lines. they have been going out at night and they'll be going out first thing in the morning to try and help those who really need it for you to trace, back to you. >> trace: you've done yeoman's work in the last couple of days, steve, got to ask you, you've covered a lot of hurricanes. ever see a category 1 reek this much havoc? >> i think we are just starting to see it. i am very interested in getting to either jacksonville or new bern, if we can get there, if the roads can make it, we will set out there today but we were swamped and not have conditions right on the beach. if people are talking about 40 inches of rain, we've seen 20, i am stunned at what we could see and i do like to see those first responders in action. it's just wonderful scenes when

you see people risking all to help other people to get families to safety, trace. >> trace: we will talk with them throughout the show. steve harrigan, great work again. we'll talk to later. meanwhile, morehead city, north carolina, getting well over a foot of rain and the national weather service ensuring a flash flood warning there and in surrounding areas, that is also where leland vittert is standing by live where this thing keeps on coming and coming. >> unbelievable really, trace. that is a story of hurricane florence. we have been getting rain. this is the lightest rain that we have been getting. for about the past 30 hours or so. they say it is 2 feet of rain here in morehead city. that has two effects. obviously, the flooding here in the city, but also you have the immovable force, the storm surge coming end, and the rain coming down. the only thing for the water to do is to go up, and much like

what you heard from steve, it's been dairy difficult for us to move much more than a couple of miles to see the damage. we stop with the wind damage, water damage, especially about two or 3 miles from us, just over there, you see some flashing lights behind us, that is atlantic beach. take a look. >> this is the main road of atlantic beach. in part, it is not quite a river yet but certainly, a small stream. the rain obviously continuing, which means these waters will only rise, especially as the tide starts to come back. this is just one of the businesses that is completely destroyed here. you can see top rows of windows blown out, the roof according to the fire department is blown out. and there was a front door. now anyone can walk through. it becomes the bigger question for some money of these businesses, after wind and water will have destroyed so much, wie looters come?

something the police are worried about, even as the storm continues. >> right now, about 800,000 people in north carolina still out of power, trace. that number is likely to rise and as steve pointed out, this is just the beginning of trying to understand the effects of florence. very easy at times like this to watch our video or other videos and go, well, it doesn't look that bad, the docs behind you are still intact. the untold story is that there is not a lot of places we can get right now because it is so bad, trace. >> trace: the day is coming, that will all change. nice work, leland vittert fred will get back to you. in the meantime, meteorologist alan claus is monitoring the storm and joined us from the fox extreme weather center. >> the storm continues to just crawl down the carolina coast. that is now in south carolina, just outside of the myrtle beach area. there is your center of circulation. there it is again, just off

toward the rest of myrtle beach. such a slow mover, you are looking at williamson, that is where we initially saw that landfall, only about 85 miles away from where the storm sits. everything behind it, it's been seeing the wind, rain, throughout the entire day, which means it's had a lot of time to build up that rainfall. there the rainfall is, you see most of the action back on the eastern side of the storm. particularly, lines of creating storms stretching across these areas, and that is where these have been climbing before because, as moisture has been picked up a the ocean and is dumping heavy rain. still at this point, several locations we are looking at rainfall totals up to 20 inches, 24 inches, and this rain continues to run on shore. it is not done yet. with this form only moving anywhere from three to 5 miles an hour, all of these spots better seeing rain will continue to see it throughout the entire night. more rain on the way. some spots are due the 20-inch

range. forecast models could bring another 15 to 20 inches in several locations. the rain is not going anywhere. the one thing we have noticed, the wind is dying down. he is with a high wind totals, the triple digits at some points. we are seeing these winds down closer to 50 miles per hour. trace, the problem is, it's been 50 miles per hour winds were 48 hours and they are still blowing and will be until tomorrow morning. >> trace: just relentless. adam klotz, we'll be back to you several times. thank you. with widespread flooding in the carolinas, the red cross is looking for volunteers to help with relief efforts. joining us on the phone from durham as red cross spokesperson betsy johnson. betsy, the red cross, every time we go out and cover these hurricanes or other disasters, the red cross is always a sign that people look forward to because there is a sign of stability there. but apparently we've still got some time before you get to go out because this thing is not over yet.

>> it is so true. hearing your reporter, leland, talk about being limited to travel around just a couple of miles, we are experiencing the same thing. over the last 24, 36 hours or so, movement has been very difficult for us. the safety of our workforce is very important to us, the safety of the people who are seeking shelter with those. we have been sheltering in place and working on taking care of the people who have needed us. as people are able to get to our shelters, welcoming the new arrivals and all the time. last night we had 20,000 people throughout the east coast for their shelters are open. >> trace: the red cross is just done a phenomenal work for so many years. betsy, when you get the all clear, when things ease of, what is the first task at hand for you and your organization?

>> assessment. we need to make sure that we are assessing what the situation is and what it's going to continue to be. i don't think anyone thinks this is over yet with the amount of rain there is still to fall, not knowing where it is going to go and how it will impact communities. we don't know when people are going to be able to safely go home. that is the important thing. don't let your guard down now. yes, it is nice to see that the rain and winds are diminishing but this is not over yet. we do not want to create a second wave of a humanitarian crisis as people go home, the floods come, and then we are looking at rescues and sheltering people all over again. let's wait until emergency officials in the local communities deemed them completely safe before we go back in. >> trace: very good work there, betsy. what do you need? what is the red cross need right now if anything? >> we need people to get to safety. it is so much easier to take care of people, to have them

evacuate, to heed flood warnings and watches, and they are sent out by emergency officials to get to safety, so that they can be cared for and they can write out the storm safely and not create situations where they have rescues and injuries and sadly, as you know today, there were fatalities, it became a deadly storm as of today. we want to avoid that as much as possible. red cross is always needing, for your viewers who are watching, all the work that is being done, of course, it's possibly because of the generosity of donors. you can make an easy donation right now by texting "florence" 290999. i want to say, if this is the event you have been watching from home, and you decide, the next time this happens, i want to be part of that response, i don't want to be a bystander, i want to be part of it, go to redcross.org and sign up to become a volunteer. we will train you to be ready to

go out and apply the next time this happens because we know it will happen again. >> trace: the next time this happens. what about this time? do you need more volunteers now? is it one disaster at a time? >> we are in a good position right now. we have 1500 1500 red cross wos in place and 100 more ready and preparing to leave their homes to come here and to support the that are here. we are in a little but i'm awaiting period to see what happens with the flooding, where is the need going to shift. where will the workforce need to adapt. we are in a good place right now and so let's just see where the next few days unfold a. >> trace: every day these disasters happen, there is nothing more comforting when the red trucks dumb across trucks pull up. it's been doing amazing work for

years and years. betsy johnson, good of you to join us. thank you, stay safe. >> i appreciate it. thank you. >> trace: in the meantime, tropical storm florence claiming four lives in so far, all of them in north carolina. the first two happened on friday when a tree killed on fell on , killing a woman and an infant. a neighbor now reacting to this tragedy. >> nobody wants to -- i was talking up, they were stocking up, it was, again, routine hurricane preparedness. but nobody can prepare for that. that is just something from the tree line, they had some old trees behind their house back there, and it was only a matter of time but you can predict any of that. >> trace: property is all replaceable. human beings are not. the center of tropical storm florence now moving across south carolina but it's having a

chance to dump a bunch of rain. we are talking about feet of rain. it is only moving along at 3 miles an hour. stay with fox news channel for more on florence's treacherous track through the carolinas. whoa. this looks worse than i thought.

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♪ >> trace: hurricane florence turney dudley on friday. the first two victims, his mother and infant killed when a tree filled on their home. live in north carolina. it looks like where you are now, it has calmed down a little bit, there is rain in the background. >> good evening. there is still rain falling here but it's a big, big difference from about 7:00 tonight when the rain was absolutely pounding for about an hour. we were standing along the river at that time but it was interesting to see because you have the tropical storm rains coming down, absolutely pounding us. not the same time, the winds ripping the river. between the rain in the water from the river being whipped up by the wind, you could barely see across it. it was so powerful at the time with all of the water that was

there. speaking of the cape fear river, that is set an all-time record high tide today at over 8.2 feet. that broke the record that was set by hurricane mathew back in 2016. look at this, perfect timing. the rain is just picking back up. but anyway, the cape fear river overflowed its banks. it didn't get to bed along the river, you can walk along the boardwalk or the river walk, and of those only three or 4 inches deep. but then along this neighborhood, though, i was walking along, and it was all the way up to my knees. one of the reasons for that was the water from the river was coming out into this neighborhood and it had nowhere to go, nowhere to drain, so it sat there and continue to build up. now the tide went low at 9:00 p.m. as you know, it switches every six hours. it will be high again very soon. that is when we are going to start looking for more flooding to come back off that river,

trace. >> trace: you mentioned, ray, you watched walked around toda. did you get it chance to see the damage and the extent of the damage? >> here, we are near the historic district of wilmington where many of the buildings were built along time ago. i was speaking with one man who said his building was built in 1856 and 12-inch thick brick walls. some of those from what we have been seeing have stood up pretty well. our hotel for instance is in good shape for the most part. it's got metal roofing on the other side along the river. that started to blow off and tear off a little bit. things appear right here -- i want to emphasize when i say right here, appeared to be doing all right. one thing that we have experienced, the power outages. at its peak, about 790,000 customers in north carolina without power. it's gone down now to about 770,000. but you can see how dark this

is. the only lights out there by the db lights that we have shining off our satellite truck and from our cameras. it's pitch black. the wilmington police, as a result, have put up a curfew from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. for two reasons. as you know, covering hurricanes, some people like to loot and take advantage of the fact that some people have evacuated. they aren't at their home or their business. but at the same time, they are concerned about people walking around with the wind and rain falling and it's being so dark, it's just a very dangerous situation to be outside. not to mention, we are under a tornado watch until 7:00 a.m. >> trace: one more thing to add to it. ray bogan, stay safe. we'll come back to you in a bed. in the meantime, a fox news alert. we are also following thursday's deadly gas explosions that killed one person and injured dozens more in three communities north of boston.

nearly 40 homes were destroyed and several neighborhoods evacuated. now democratic senators elizabeth warren and edward markey are calling for hearings. meanwhile, the governor has declared a state of emergency. >> lawrence, andover and north andover must be assured that their homes are safe to return to. our local officials will make clear when it safe to return home. >> trace: former trump campaign chairman paul manafort now cooperating with the special counsel robert mueller. as part of a plea agreement. he also is pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy against the united states and one count of witness tampering. he's also forfeiting several properties and money held in multiple bank accounts. paul manafort is the fifth associate of president trump's to plead guilty in connection with mueller's probe. >> hello, everybody. a tough day for mr. paul manafort but he's

accepted responsibility and he wanted to make sure that his family was able to remain safe d live a good life. he's accepted responsibility and this is a crime that dates back many years and everybody should remember that. thank you, everyone. >> trace: the deal allows him to avoid a second trial in washington, d.c. in august, a virginia jury convicted him of eight counts of bank and tax fraud. president trump again denied any wrongdoing in a telephone interview with "the wall street journal, singha manafort case has nothing to do with him. george brett kavanaugh and his supporters on the defensive as his confirmation hearing looms closer. it comes after reports of a sexual misconduct allegation against a supreme court nominee dating back to the early '80s when kavanaugh was in high school. fox news white house correspondent reports from the white house. >> in a statement, judge brett

cavanagh says "i categorically denied this accusation. i did not do this back in high school or at any time." he was referring to the 11th hour political hand grenade logged by the senate judiciary committee's top democrat, california senator dianne feinstein, who reported to the fbi and allegation of potential centrall abuse involving kavanaugh in the 1980s when he attended the georgetown prep school. sources tell fox news that the letter claims that kavanaugh held down a fellow high school student and attempted to force himself on fire. at one point, covering his mouth with her hand. the fbi made it clear the bureau wants to pursue the matter further, unless the agency asks for a follow-up. planned parenthood tweeted, "is out the allegations are very serious. brett kavanaugh's confirmation process must not go forward." for many women who have known kavanaugh since i school, the allegations ring hollow, with

the other 5,000 of them arriving to the dictionary, saying that he had always treated women with decency and respect and it has remained true to the day. the fact that kavanaugh has been forced to contend with a constant barrage of political slings and barbs hasn't escaped the watchful eye of some currently on the high court. >> how would you compare the process that you went through with what is going on today? >> the way it was was right. the weight is is wrong. >> if we could use that word about more people, honorable, who are in public life, people who actually ask the questions that confirmation hearings instead of "spartacus." >> that last reference to senator cory booker's so-called "spartacus" moment. i should find this outcome of

the next step in the confirmation process for judge kavanaugh from six days from now when they do share a committee is expected to vote to move forward on his confirmation nomination. the white house, i'm kevin corke, fox news. >> trace: the winds have backed down from a category 4 level but torrential rains still pose a huge threat to the east coast as florence creeps, and we mean creep, and lent. barely 3 miles per hour. our coverage of tropical storm florence continues after the break. it's kind of like playing your own version of best ball. ♪

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monster storm slams into the carolinas with record rainfall and historic flooding. the pictures, as you see, the numbers, staggering. hello, i'm trace gallagher. there is no doubt that florence is living up to her predicted flurry to my query. at least six dead, 400,000 homes without power. it may rise to 2 million before it's over. many victims wondering if they will have a home to return to. let's get back to meteorologist adam klotz life of the fox extreme weather center is hurricane florence's very slow assault on the coast continues. >> the storm is crawling down the coast. we are now looking at the center of circulation, just to the west of myrtle beach. there is only about 85 miles from where we originally made landfall at 7:15 this morning.

that distance over the course of the entire day into the next early morning, this has been such a slow assault moving down the coast. that is why we have seen around and around and around, the rain will continue to better the coastline. these are spots where you're looking at the darker colors, that is more rain continuing to fall, and at times, very heavy rain. that is why we are looking at totals already up to over 20 inches. i've heard of rain totals as high as 25 inches, as we are picking up the moisture, bringing it on the shore, and with this moving so slow, 3 miles an hour, that rain is going to continue to evolve. the 20, 25 inches, that is involved. there is still more rain. you see it wrapping around the system. everything highlighted in red is a flash flood warning. the ground already saturated, the rivers becoming full. we'll continue to see flooding not just today, into the weekend come for the next several days as a result. this is the river flooding

currently. what we will eventually see, at least our projection, there will be river flooding across much of the entire state of north carolina and stretching into south carolina as the system continues to slowly move. our tropical models take this continuing to move slow tonight but beginning to finally pick up speed once we get going through the day on saturday into sunday. by the time you push through saturday and sunday, suddenly the system will take off. the folks who are battling this will have to do so throughout the rest of the weekend. then we see it take a big turn, if you are in the midwest, ohio, back up into new england, the northeast. that will be arriving on tuesday. we've got a real slow next 24 to 36 hours and then it takes off the following days after that and finally people can get back in there and see what's going o on. >> trace: the operative word being finally. a lot of people are waiting for that. adam klotz, remember, florence

actually made landfall in wrightsville beach with 90-mile-per-hour winds. rick leventhal is very near wrightsville in wilmington, north carolina, . rick, i've been watching for the past several days, different areas, different weather extremes, superb work, my friend. what does it look like right now? >> thank you. it is still raining. it's relentless. it is remarkable that it just keeps coming, and as we are hearing, it will keep falling for quite some time. it's causing a lot of problems out here. we all thought that perhaps north carolina dodged a major issue here when there's a was downgraded from at one point a 4, threatening that it might be a 5. then we were told that my take is a 4, and infected it is is a 2, a 2. the winds weren't there. we know how tough these norms can be when the winds are that strong and the winds weren't as bad as they had first feared. but the rain has been

relentless, the flooding is a major concern and it's a realistic concern. we were on wrightsville beach this morning as we saw the waters rising around the home that we were renting, and at one had to get out of there because we were about to be encircled by the floodwater. as we were heading down the road, we found ourselves in water, up the doors of the vehicle. you know, it's one of those things, you don't think it's a dumb move until you do it and then you realize, we don't belong here. we shouldn't have done this. we were lucky enough to be able to get out of that high water and find a better route to get to where we needed to go to escape those flood waters. that is why they didn't want people in there and that is why they are worried about these folks and the rest of north carolina because as this rain builds in the reverse as well and roads flood that don't normally flood, that is when people get into trouble, people who wait too long and try to get out and we are seeing the

evidence of that here. you've seen the pictures out of new bern, where they rescued well over 300 people today, closing in on 500 total rescues. that one town. we are expecting that kind of flooding in a lot of towns in north carolina in the coming days. >> trace: you and i, rick, covered katrina for months on end and i remember the day katrina hit and it was downgraded to a category 2 and we all thought, that was close. and then clearly the fallout happened afterwards. last night, we knew this was down to a category 1, were you thinking, it can be as bad as they say it's going to be because what damage can a cat 1 really do? >> our biggest concern, trace, was the storm surge that we had been told would be as high as 1. and then we were told it would be 11 feet. they were pretty certain about that. we actually moved a second time from our location to get to high ground and we were on that high

ground and when the winds weren't -- they were powerful but they weren't as powerful, and when the storm surge didn't materialize we thought we were okay and out of the woods but we weren't because that high tide added an extra 5 feet, the highest ever in that town this morning. it can come after the fact, just like it did in new orleans, on the mississippi gulf coast, just like it got here across north carolina as this rain continues to fall and the ground is already saturated, it has nowhere to go. we are going to see it. >> trace: we are going to see it. rick leventhal, yeoman's work. thank you. she has wreaked havoc across two states and florence's march of destruction is far from over. when we come back, the hazards of being out in the storm of this magnitude. of course, it is all in the line of duty. next. ♪ sleep disturbances keep 1 in 3 adults up at night.

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♪ >> trace: reporters also putting themselves at risk when covering a massive storm like florence. fox news business correspondent jeff flock didn't just have to deal with the high winds and flooding, he also had a close call with exploding transformers. watch this watch this. >> from carolina beach, where the storm is coming ashore eventually. jeff? >> you just saw that flash of another transformer going. i'll tell you, that is a scary part. you talk about the forward speed if this, i guess backwards. almost, going south sort of, south and west. we could have these conditions for a while. they start in fits and starts. that was another one. that one was fairly close. you can see it from here. i don't want to bring my camera out. >> trace: the second one, it

would have turned and ran. jeff clearly is okay. tropical storm florence bringing a constructive 1-2 punch, high winds uprooting winds and carrying buildings. after over a day of heavy winds, rains, leland vittert is in one of the hardest hit areas. bringing us these compelling stories. did you get a look at the damage during daylight? >> we did a little bit. as you know from covering these things, that is one of the challenges is to actually try to figure out how to venture out beyond a mile or two from where you're at during the storm to figure out what the damage has been like. as, just like the police and fire department, were blocked by downed oak trees, the delusion of rain, 24 interested in about 40 hours, softened the ground. didn't take much to keep snapping these oak trees and pushing them over down onto the streets, each one of those had

to be cleared. the one thing that was clear as we traveled around, for all of the thought of this is going to be category 1 storm, not that big of a deal, the wind damage was going to be very significant. because of the amount of time that florence spent moving inland, really had an exponential effect, especially over in atlantic beach there. you may be able to make out some lights on the horizon, that is where we were earlier today. >> the flooding in these businesses will only get worse. a lot of folks pulled everything they could out. you can see now the parking lots slowing down into what was the crows nest yacht club and the boat storage area. before the storm hit, there were people racing against time to pull their boats out of the water. a lot of those guys are charter freshmen, a lot of them do fishing trips inside monthly inland waterways, the only way they make their money.

they hope their boats would be safe inside these dry-dock shed sheds. these dry-dock sheds, therefore, their boats, were no match for her cane florence. the wind just continues to add more devastation as the rain continues to come down. >> did with daybreak, we'll get a better idea of the wind damage, especially in atlantic beach, and up and down the coast, then comes the issue of the flooding. that will take a couple of days to set in. the storm surge moving in, the rain coming down, the only thing for the water to do, trace, will be to go up. we've seen a lot of high water rescues in towns that did not evacuate. unclear how far and when that is going to go, as florence continues to creep inland. >> trace: i know it's hard to quantify, but numbers on anything, but do you have a

sense of how many people in those areas heeded the warnings and got out? was at a substantial number, better than 90%? to have a sense of what that breakdown might have been? >> great question. along the coast, atlantic beach, all of the beachfront towns going from where we are towards wilmington and also the first inland towns, morehead city, et cetera, most of those seem to be completely vacant by, say, thursday morning when the storms began to come ashore. you started to see storm-like conditions. very high percentage would be the fair number -- fair quantification. i don't know exactly because i just don't all play the bigger number is these inland towns, new bern, where you had hundreds

of water rescues. did those people heed to the evacuation? did they heed the evacuation orders further in, an hour, two hours inland where they are now getting inches of rain in just a couple of hours? that flooding will begin shortly. >> trace: leland vittert out there for us in the rain. again, thank you very much. more than 1 million advised to evacuate ahead of florence. some are hunkering at home. the risks the residents are racing. how crews are handling these dangerous rescues. remember, when you stay, somebody at some point, if the floodwaters clement, someone has to pick you up. those people told you when you did it that it will take a while. in some cases, it took hours and hours and it still may take hours more. continuing coverage of tropical storm florence next. ♪

♪ >> trace: the hundreds of thousands who have been left without power during the storm, portable radios may be their primary source of information. evan brown, national correspondent of fox news radio, joined us for wilmington, north carolina. if you can, describe with us what you can see and hear from your location. >> right now we see absolutely

nothing because there is no power, so there's no lights at and as a model of the light. it's completely dark. earlier today, i did get a chance to take a quick drive around and it's a mess. the city's a mess. it's been practically overturned by then hurricane coming out tropical storm florence. power lines are dangling, there's aluminum siding ripped from the side of commercial buildings, roof parts that are missing. we've heard reports that fema's restaurants, famous in city wilmington restaurants won't be reopening very quickly because the roof has been torn off or the like. even though we are about 5 miles inland, we are not at the coastline, we are standing, the wind and rain did a significant bit of pummeling. it's really making a good amount of pock marks on the city. >> trace: fascinating that you were on the radio. as you kind of look at the

damage and you see, on the television, it's easy to see the scope. what are you trying to convey to your listeners when you feel the rain and you see the damage? how do you go about doing that? >> you have to tell people as you have to give them an image that they would have it from somewhere else in their life and they can apply it to may be something that they might see. so i just said to you, pock marked the city. people know to park markers. now they have to figure out what he pock marked city look like. everybody could make that in their brain. i don't have the luxury of when i am doing my report, and i am with you on the phone right now, i don't have the luxury of the crashing waves behind me, and holding onto a pole to demonstrate how hard the wind is blowing. so i have to do these other things. i have to give that picture in your mind. and convey to people that this is, dramatic, b, scary, and c,

really risky. and there are millions of people who live on the coastline that are going to be enduring some pretty hard times coming up in the future. it's not just the fact that there is this horrible storm. it's the fact that their lives and livelihood have been interrupted and it will take them a year or so to return to some sort of normal, if that's even going to happen for some people. it's a very -- that in itself is scary, just like the wind and rain and storm surge. >> trace: eben brown, great if you do join us. thank you so much. >> you are welcome. >> trace: as you look at these pictures, you have to notice that what you have here, mother nature fighting herself because the storm surge is still pushing in and you have all of this rain coming down. in the coming days, all the rain that is now coming down in the inland areas, the mountains, it will want to make its way back to the ocean but the ocean gives

pushing water toward the other way. the rivers want to go one way, the ocean wants to want her to go the other, and you will see flooding in the days ahead that north carolina and south carolina has never seen before. keep that in mind, floodwaters rising as the week goes by. the cape fear river, the little pd river, the waccamaw river. talking about things that have never seen a crest like that, and that will happen monday, tuesday, and wednesday. the storm long gone, the damage will stay around. heavy rain continues to fall, floodwaters rise. our special coverage of tropical storm florence continues at the top of the hour. ♪ ng from national. because national lets me lose the wait at the counter... ...and choose any car in the aisle. and i don't wait when i return, thanks to drop & go. at national, i can lose the wait...and keep it off.

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>> you can hear it there, the fury of florence, an epic and deadly storm. triggering massive floods. hello, i'm trace gallagher. we continue with our live coverage of florence, now a tropical storm with winds barely exceeding 70 miles per hour. but the stiletto fa threat is sm over. by the end of tonight, tropical storm florence could be a tropical depression. that is little comfort to those in north