>> >> we ask experts your questions everyday at 3:00 to get answers for you in real-time. today, we will talk to we hurricane ida evacuee. a student attending tulane in the wake of the storm's massive damage. we also hear from one evacuee, impacted by the caldor fire. to evacuees, two major disasters. let's start with the caldor fire. 204,000 ish acres burned. containment is up to 20% private

729 structures are destroyed. 43 structures are damaged. joining now is keith wade, a public information officer for calfire. thank you so much for your time. i know it's really busy. if you could start by giving us a very latest. -- the very latest. reporter: those numbers are the most recent ones we have. i think you will start to see a little bit of acreage increase as well. hopefully acreage containment increase. the winds have not manifested as expected. we are in a red flag up until 11:00 p.m. tonight, but as of right now, i'm down in the tahoe basin right now at the airport, we get a little bit of a gust once in the fire is letting down a little bit today. that is creating some windows of opportunity for the firefighters to continue extinguishing and continuing it. >> containment is up a little bit, the ones are down, that could change in the next few hours. where the chances today that the flames might move into south

lake tahoe? reporter: the opportunity is there, that is why the evacuation happened. we've shown -- if we have learned one thing from this fire is it will do what it wants to do. i specked fire activity through the mountainous area where we have rough, rugged terrain, a lot of slopes and drainages. it's pushed in several different areas. srs tahoe goes, it's still out in the woods, it is skirting the area right now. it's been as -- it's been a slow progression today. firefighters

level vegetation, clearing the debris from the floor of the forest, if you will, from her on the homes. all the material is easily notable, especially with the low humidity's and the drought that our state has been suffering. >> what about the fire crews, your efforts are focused on which particular area? there which particular means right now? >> this is such a big perimeter of this fire. it's very large. the eastern edge is what everyone's been focused on because it's threatening south lake tahoe. that's been the rapid progression. the south end of this fire has been very active. for alpine county, amador county, douglas county, they are all being infected by the fire from the south, still showing a big fight in it.

structures are threatened down there. we are hoping to have a lot of resources. i have heard recently we have a lot of air assets down on that end of the fire. helicopters are in the fight. right now, we are just working again to increase the containment and keep everyone safe. >> do you have enough crews and equipment for what you are doing right now? >> we're getting there. we are up over 4000 personnel on this fire. we've been seeing people from all over -- not only the state of california, but all over the country. i was talking to some firefighters out of colorado the other day who arrived, who have been on the road fighting fires for two months. it's such a welcome sight to see them arriving in camp. it is starting to get crowded. but that's a good thing for us. we need more help, as they arrive, more fixed wing, more helicopters, anything we can have to try to help us through this incident and manage it is most welcome. >> since we last heard from a calfire representative this

morning, what are the new areas burned and are there any structures in those areas? >> there are structures in these areas where the fire has been progressing on the east end. it is sort of threatening the town of myers, the community of myers, then there's sporadic homes up in the mountains. again, firefighters well, they stand ready to fight any progress from the fires advancement -- the fire's advancement. today, no report of structural loss. there was no structural loss in christmas valley, a major concern, as the fire spread from the echo summit to the valley floor. >> do you expect evacuation warnings today? >> have for not -- >> i have not heard about the chance for new ones, but i can tell you yesterday, one popped up quickly because the fire is still very active. they can come out a moment's

notice. we have people evaluating that all the time, what's the fire doing, where z heading, do we need to start a new evacuation order? or in order to tell people to flee. we are asking the public to stay informed. >> we will pass that message along. keith wade, thank you so very much. let's take a closer look at those conditions. joining us right now is our meteorologist. drew, just because it's been so far good today doesn't mean it can't change. drew: they are really watching the eastern flank of this fire very closely. we are watching areas near kirkwood, echo summit, myers, and of course, you see the largest growth from this fire over the last 24 hours has been on this northeasterly french, above myers -- fringe, above myers. the fire has stayed in the hills above the structured areas on the basin floor. you can see the perimeter is

about a mile from lake tahoe airport right here. the outer edge of this fire right now is about three miles from heavenly. over the next 12 hours, the winds are going to push it away from heavenly, think fully, because you can see it is more of a northeasterly direction. an fires love to climb up hills and mountains. that is what we are seeing right now on this northeastern fringe of the caldor fire. once fires reach tops, they tend to slow down and speed and intensity. that's what we're seeing right now. it is hung up right here in this ridge top right now. where watching winds very close -- we are watching winds very closely. as they weaken tonight, we -- we are watching winds very closely. as they weaken tonight, that's not necessarily great news. the wind, 10-15 mph, the direction is going to change. the winds will shift from the northeast, more working toward the northwest, pushing the fire closer and closer to more

populated areas where there is structures above the hills of myers. i want you to know that calfire over the last one he four hours -- the last 24 hours, pioneer trail, they have been working excessively with bowls -- with bulldozers to make a natural barrier right here that would stop the fire from getting into those areas where there's a lot of structures in south lake tahoe. winds we'll continue to move that fire closer to the basin floor even early tomorrow morning. i do want to talk about another strategy. this is the tamarack fire. that one started back in july. one of the fires there try to do is possibly push the fire more towards a direction of the burn scar of the tamarack fire which would be a natural break in the fire and would stop the progression to the east. that's about seven miles from the northeastern fringe above the hills and myers, 10 miles from kirkwood right now.

it would be that natural brick from the tamarack fire. we are also keeping our eyes on kirkwood. fire officials have told us it has not gotten into kirkwood proper, even though it's close. they are working that area very excessively. i want to end on a positive note. the western edge of this fire, they have contained it very well, the 20% containment we talk about is all right here. i would not be surprised if over the next couple of days they try and repopulate some of these areas, because they have a really good handle on the western end of this fire. this red flag warning continues until 11:00 p.m. tonight for the gusty southwesterly winds. once they come down, we have to watch them closely, because they could switch directions, meaning the fire could get closer to areas more populated in south lake tahoe. firefighters are working the area very hard the next 24 hours to make those natural breaks and keep the fire from doing that. >> don't go away.

folks have a lot of questions for you. which we will address on facebook live during the commercial break. think you for that, drew. -- thank you for that, drew. we are going to, when we come back from break, talk to an evacuee from south lake tahoe to see about their evacuation experience. lastly before we go to break, take a look at this. we do have a fire here in the bay right now, sky 7 is over a brush fire in lucas valley, near mount lesson drive. look at the smoke that is rising. you can see it's burning. it started about 45 minutes ago, moving at a slow to moderate rate of spread. it is burning up and away from structures. you can see that is the way the wind is blowing. police say select evacuations are in progress. you can see there are homes at the bottom. when we get more information, in terms of specific neighborhoods or s

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thousands of people had to be evacuated out of south lake tahoe, now they are just waiting and hoping everything is going to be ok. joining us now is one of those evacuees. kevin cooper, coop, a long time to medication and marketing specialist in lake tahoe, thank you so much for joining us -- thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you, kristen. it's smoky, a lot of fire, a lot of challenging times for the residents and the services. >> they are doing so much. we thank them for that. folks can say you are safely in the bay area where we have blue skies for now. you evacuated south lake tahoe last night. how close was the fire, and what

made you finally say, "i will leave?" because the order came down on monday and you did not leave then. >> drew was just talking about where the fire is located, as it came over echo summit, we are in the angora zone. during this entire evolution of the caldor fire, we have been watching it. residents of suffolk tahoe around the region for many years could not have imagined that firewood and golf state route 88 over to highway 50. each time the fire burned, we thought there was another block in the way that the fire couldn't get around, lovers leave, horsetail falls, across the granite by iron mountain, but it has. so we watched it. i've said this multiple times. is not our first rodeo. as we watched the angora fire happen, it took 45 minutes from start to finish before the house was burned over. this was a slow climb over tahoe before it hit echo summit. my wife and i had a plan, on how we would egress

out of south lake tahoe. thenthenthenthenthen guess, but the biggest one was fire -- when that fire came into the basin on christmas valley, it was less than 1.7 miles away from our house, you can hear now it's by the south lake tahoe airport. that's just over the pie shop from her house. easy with ember transport for it to get into our neighborhood. once we saw that fire progressing towards highway 50 and 89 closed, it was time for us to go. >> you made that decision to go, how difficult or challenging wasn't? we certainly saw the line of cars earlier. -- challenging was it? we certainly saw the line of cars earlier. >> i think the biggest challenge was we had our go bags, my wife is a planner, she put everything together, the go bags, we had everything arranged to go. it was actually saying, we are going to leave. as we had said we are going,

physically driving from the house was probably one of the most challenging pieces of it as well, it was a, no, let's stop and ride this out, but we didn't. it was era, it was very surreal. -- eerie, very surreal. no sound, no traffic. we got to where 50 and 89 meet, emerald bay, there was the national guard, there were sheriffs, ems teams there. the good part about it is, we were able to drive right out with no traffic. but seeing the business is closed and how that is going to affect them over the next several weeks, as well as how well the city was being managed, run by the manager, the city management team and by law enforcement, protecting all of the businesses and all the homes and residents around there, the firefighters and all the law enforcement, including the national guard, very friendly, as we rolled out. but i will tell you, as we got to the state line, that feeling

sank down in my gut, leaving my house for the last time. right now, they are fighting the fight of a lifetime, it is headed toward the resort, it is at the storm's door, it is going to be a challenging several days, possibly weeks. >> you mention heavenly and kirkwood. tell me what those resorts are doing right now, to protect themselves. we saw sierra tahoe using their snowmaking equipment. in you're 30 years of living there, i thought universe that kind of use for it -- i think -- you'd think he would never see that use for it. -- you would think he would never see that use for it. >> the kirkwood manager for decades, he pulled a car that was really smart, during the fire between silverlake and huntington lake, they used the snowmaking system to save the structures and did an amazing job.

john rice, another amazing manager, longtime local, he did the same thing. you can see the results. he saved structures, and most likely, they will still have to do inspections. now go to kirkwood, matt jones, the manager out there, i guarantee you, there mountain managers and teams along with the kirkwood public utilities district and the fire department, the community fired apartment are getting ready to turn their systems on now. that's their first line of defense. they will also do structure protection. they will go around and make sure they have defensible space around each of their structures. but the caldor fire and the dixie fire and the tamarack fire our behemoths. mother nature is very upset right now. and these fires, when they are talking about it, the words unpredictable come out -- we've never seen this behavior before. those are professional spokespeople, and to hear that is challenging. i know those guys on the front line doing everything they can

from the ground and the air. >> and i hope folks watching this interview, the take away is, even if it is unimaginable to you, don't think it can't ever happen. have a plan, plan a and b, like you and your wife did, and you got out safely. kevin cooper, things a lot. take care. from a wildfire, to a her. we will talk to a college student next who had to get up and get out of the path of hurricane ida. let's check on the fire in lucas valley. you can see the smoke still rising, clouding up the hill. it's grown since we last checked in. aircrews are doing water drops. the good thing is, it's moving away from homes at the bottom there, and as you can see, it is burning in open space, tinder, dry conditions. there are some evacuations, police have not specified which neighborhoods. we will let you know. you can see fire crews on some

of the roads on that mountain. and at the bottom, you have the bottom of the valley, with homes. we will continue to watch

>> hurricane ida brett kavanaugh new orleans p would one of the most powerful hurricanes to ever make landfall in the u.s., it's left the region with no power, no working sewer systems, huge gas lines, and a food and water shortage. all this, as temperatures store. as a result, bay area students attending college are suddenly being sent home, after surviving the most frightening experience of their lives. look at this. one student is jamison wong from berkeley. a sophomore at tilling university. he joins us now live from austin, texas. thanks for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> what has tulane this headed to do in the wake of ida's impact?

we saw the impact on your dorm. what are they doing besides sending you home? class is canceled? >> for right now, we have no power on campus. i think running water is good, but the main problem is no power. so they've decided to do is cancel classes until september 12, i believe, then i believe we are online until early october or until they say it is safe to come back. >> online. distance learning. you went through so much of that last year with covid. a lot of students did. i'm sure this is not the way you imagined this school year will start -- would start. you shared us some video of the worst of the storm, when it was really pounding, what you had to do in your dorm to stay safe. >> a lot of my friends for living in a different dorm. they are really close to some construction. there's a big crane near that construction. the university, they were pretty confident the crane was stable, but they wanted to be extra

secure, so they evacuated all those dorms. so actually, me and 14 of my friends were all huddled in one four-person apartment, which actually, it wasn't too bad, but we'll have to huddle for the night and hunker down. >> i heard another student at tulane say they had to sit in the hall was because it was not safe in the rooms because of all the windows. were you told that, too? >> my apartment literally doesn't have any windows, but some of the dorms for the freshmen, one of the walls is basically all windows, so they are a little nervous about that, so they asked the students to go in the halls, where there are no windows, to be safe. >> being from the bay area, you've never experienced a hurricane. certainly not a category 4 monster. how surreal was this? >> it was pretty crazy. i remember there was a tree right outside my window, all of my friends, we all thought it

was going to come down because it was almost -- it was bending almost at 90 degrees. that was pretty crazy for me. >> i think we actually do have that. it was crazy. i can't even imagine. at the end -- right there, look at that. that roof, it probably didn't see much of a chance in the shingles. i'm wondering what is happening on campus. the biggest problem is no power, no services for so many places. but structurally, did the university do ok? >> yeah, i think for the most part other than the power, there were a few broken windows, maybe if you damaged roofs, but for the most part come all the buildings held up really well, so that's good. >> look, last year, covid altered your freshman year experience. you must've been hoping for a more normal experience your sophomore year, that's not going to happen. how are you going to -- before i ask you that question, i don't know if you can see the screen, one of the pictures you

sent me, i meant to ask you. >> i can't see your screen, but is it of a tree? >> it looks like and set of a building with a lot of things covered up -- inside of a building with a lot of things covered up. a white chair, bags, food for people? >> oh, yes, that is hurricane ie food. the university, when they know there's going to be a hurricane coming, whether they -- even if it's not supposed to be too bad, they are always very cautious, so they basically fill all these big bags of food and they give us enough food for a few days. just because if we have to shelter-in-place, then we'll have to worry about that. that is all the hurricane food. >> have to ask you, you're lucky you will soon come home to the bay area. but i imagine there are students who either can't do that for whatever reason or maybe they are international. what is the university doing for them, now that they have sent them away from new orleans into houston? >> they bust us all to houston

-- bussed us all to houston. the international students will have more trouble going on. i think they are going to stay in houston for the next couple of weeks. >> jamison, we have to consider this conversation on facebook live. we need to do a commercial break. i certainly hope the second half of your sophomore year will be wonderful.

>> thank you so much for joining us on this interactive show, getting answers. before we go, let's give you a look on that fire breaking out about an hour ago. this brush fire is in lucas valley, with sky seven overhead showing you the firefighting right now, with the plane.

aircrews are making the water drops, and the fire is moving away f tonight, the deadly storms slamming the east as we come on the air. several reported tornadoes. and now tornado watches and flash flood alerts from virginia right up into the northeast. d.c., philadelphia, new york city up to boston. those reported tornadoes already touching down in maryland and virginia. a flooded school bus evacuated near pittsburgh. and more than 100ing vae waited and at least one dead when flash flood waters rush into an apartment complex. rob marciano timing this out in the hours ahead. there is also news coming in now, authorities moments ago on the deadly school shooting in north carolina. just as the school year gets under way. the school on lockdown. pierre thomas with late reporting. the worsening crisis in louisiana. hundreds of thousands still without power. worries over food, clean water and