captioning sponsored by cbs >> dickerson: it's sunday september 16th i'm john dickerson and this is "face the nation." florence has been downgraded to a depression, but her fury continues. as north carolina faces catastrophic flooding and record rainfall. we'll have the latest. where florence is headed next and what's she's left behind from our cbs team covering the storm the head of fema, brock long, plus two senators whose states have been hit hard, north carolina and lindsey graham. another storm making headlines this week, hurricane maria, which left an estimated 3,000 dead in puerto rico a year ago. the president disputed that figure drawing criticism from both parties and families of the victims. and the clouds darkened over the

white house as former trump campaign chairman paul manafort accepted ally bargain from special counsel, robert mueller. just what impact will that have on the case. we'll have plenty of analysis on all the news coming up on "face the nation." good morning welcome to "face the nation." hurricane florence is now officially a depression, but the rain and threat of flooding will continue over the next few days. as florence creeps through western virginia, the ohio valley and finally new england. parts of north carolina have received record rainfall in misses over 30 inches today the state is expected to get another 6-12 inches of rain. more than 580 people have been red cued from the storm in the that numr morehan 735,000withou

in the next couple of days. cbs evening news anchor jeff glor has been leading our coverage since before the storm hit and joins us from his post in wilmington, north carolina, jeff. >> john, good morning. north carolina as taken nearly nonstop punishment from florence for days now and as this storm continues its slow, painful slide inland there are new concerns this morning about potentially catastrophic flooding. a mandatory evacuation order has wish you'd for everyone along the little river and cape fear river about 60 miles northwest of here about 2800 households. the cape fear is expected to crest at record 62 feet come or tuesday with water possibly going a mile beyond its banks. north carolina governor roy copsier urging residents to take the threat seriously. >> we face walls of water at our coast, along our rivers. this system is unloading epic

amounts of rainfall. in some places measured in feet and not inches. >> in jacksonville and new bern hundreds who defied earlier evacuation orders had to be rescued from rising waters yesterday by rescue workers and volunteers. the mayor of fayetteville parts of in the evacuation zone warned his residents not to make the same mistake. >> you are refusing to leave during this mandatory evacuation, you need to do things like notify your legal next of kin because the loss of life is very, very possible. >> president trump has issued disaster declaration for north carolina which will make federal money available to those affected by florence and plate last night, the governor of virginia issued a warning to those in the southwest portion of the state about possible blood flooding. >> dickerson: not just the wind but the flooding, thanks so mu much, jeff glor. mark strassmann has ducked out of the rain is in hanger at the

u.s. coast guard in elizabeth city where helicopter crews have been hard at work rescuing those trapped by flood waters. >> good morning, john. that significant inland flooding that jeff just talked about remains a significant threat. and a rescue challenge and these air rescue crews of the coast guard expect another busy day today. they saved 57 people yesterday, hoisting them by cable to safety from cars, roads and rooftops. in one case they rescued 13 people including an elderly woman who leaned on two crutches to wade through waste team water she was raised 40 feet to the helicopter, an elderly woman. we flew with the coast guard yesterday from the area, you sense the scope of the challenge how unreachable some flooded neighborhoods seem. in the days ahead there will be more rain, more floodings, more rescues and in some cases they will be saving people that rescue boats can't reach.

john. >> dickerson: thanks, mark. want to now to the head of fema brock long at the headquarters in washington. good morning. administrator long let's start with statistic i've been thin thinking about all week, number of people who die from wind is around 8% from the associated press. but storm surge, flooding that's almost 50% is that the big concern with this storm? >> well, initially. when hurricane makes landfall particularly one that has major category winds, category three, four, five winds, storm surge has the highest potential to create the most amount of damage but unfortunately it also has the potential to cause the most loss of life. one of the things is katrina, 270 people lost their lies in mississippi because the ocean rose well over 25 feet spin areas. anybody that didn't evacuate from that doesn't live to talk about their experience from storm surge.

well, so, initially florence -- different storm than katrina obviously we didn't have a cat 5 landfall in florence. but what happens is you saw lot of damage, see a lot of people being rescued from storm surgeon the coastal islands the west side of the sound, now it's tu turning into a flood event. and the flood event people fail to heed warnings and get out or they get into the flood waters trying to escape their home and that's where you start to see death escalate. wind, even though hurricanes are categorized by wind it's the water that really causes the most loss of life. >> dickerson: what about interruption of medical care from these kinds of events, we reported over 700,000 are without electricity. what about the interruption of medical care how dangerous is that? >> so, what we always do is work with our partners over at hhs and we forward deploy disaster medical assistance teams, there's hundreds of people out in the field and not only to support medical needs but also

we are ready to support any evacuation transportation needs. the. >> dickerson: the interruption of medical care was responsible for 47% of fatalities in katrina is big part that have number that's been disputed about puerto rico the 3,000 number. the president said that 3,000 number didn't exist that they didn't die. how is it true that you're preparing for interruption of medical care in florence but the president says people who died as result of interruption in medical care in puerto rico are not worth counting? >> well, look, these studies are all over the place. the harvard study was done differently, studies different period of time versus the george washington study. big discrepancy whether it's direct deaths or indirect deat deaths. if you look at the root cause of any problem is, around here, one death, these guys know one death is a death too many. we work y thattry torevent that but if you want to get into puertoto

eds to next, got to fix aging infrastructure that wasn't ready to support the commonwealth before the storm hit and when they were borne out exponentially causes problems. >> dickerson: robe it's so important if you figure out how people died last time you can keep it from happening again. you say the numbers are all over the place. but the numbers are more than zero which is what the president said, he said the deaths didn't happen. i guess my question is this, the gw report as you mentioned again the bulk of the interruption of medical care which you're trying to take care of in floors they interviewed people from fema to come up with that number. so who is right, the president who says those deaths didn't happen or the fema officials why interviewed within my agency may have looked at funeral benefits tto help calculate whatever number. that's a number -- that's only number that we would be able to contribute to any study going forward. >> dickerson: let me ask you

this, puerto rico might get hit again, people who worry about dying from interruption of medical care which is the you will been can of those deaths that gets into 3,000 number, is fema concerned about people who might die from that result in puerto rico? >> we coordinate the power, for example, fema doesn't rebuild power grids, we basically pay for it and help to coordinate the resources they need. that's the same case that would be within health and medical industry. my authority to support rebuil rebuilding the power, if you get the power back up that solves 95% of the problem. bottom line we push forward on that authority as much as we can and puerto rico is a very vulnerable place. but we're focused on putting billions of dollars to work to prevent this. build it more resilient so it doesn't happen again. >> dickerson: let me ask you final question, "wall street journal" has reporting about you and your status suggested that because of your use of travel that there was inspector general's report and that

department of homeland security secretary nielsen went to you and discussed whether you should continue in your job. what is your response about th that? >> so that narrative is, ongoing investigation we've been working with the ig very clearly i can come back put context around that. but in regards to the secretary nielsen i've never been asked to resign. secretary nielsen and i talk every day, we have a very professional, functional relationship, we are both focused on florence right now. let's put some context on what the vehicles are that they're talking about. that job is incredibly complex. on my shoulders is presidential preparedness, i have to make sure fema has to make sure that the executive branch of government works on its worst day on any given time regardless of what we see. lot of continuity of government. those vehicles for supply me with secure coms the program. developed in 2008, way before i even got here, ran the same way that it ran for anybody before me.

and we comply every day, we'll make meaningful changes. i -- i have never made -- i would never intentionally violate any rules that i was aware of. >> dickerson: all right. administrator long, thanks for being with us and good luck with that long to-do list. >> thank you. dickerson: for more about impact of florence in north carolina we turn to republican senator thom tillis at the red cross shelter in charlotte, good morning, senator. >> good morning. dickerson: how is your state holding up in the wake of this storm? >> we're doing as well as we c can. this is a weather event that i believe will exceed the damage that matthew did just two years ago. while we were still recovering from that event we've got the same areas involved and rivers that are going to overflow their banks over the next few days and i think some of the worst part of the storm will actually -- hasn't occurred yet. it will as we see the rivers flow back to the coast. >> dickerson: when you say hasn't occurred yet, what do you expect?

>> well, with the rain levels and some of the cresting estimates for the cape fear rivers and tributaries that had ultimately to our sounds or out to the ocean we're talking about crest amount that exceed what we saw with hurricane matthew. we're just now in charlotte just now beginning to see the rain bands more consistently dump water in this region and supposed to move up through the mountains. the river bay since are going to take a matter of days before we'll see the full affect of the storm. we're already seeing number of roads cut off, interstates likely to be closed over the next 24-48 hours that creates number of challenges for the local communities and for disaster relief. >> dickerson: are you getting the federal help you need? >> we are. i think that the fema assets were positioned as well as they could ore the storm was going to make landfall, the red cross is doing extraordinary job. we have four evacuation centers here in the charlotte area that have people from as far aslmingd

columbia, south carolina. it's at capacity. we have three others that continue to have capacity with expected to see some of those fill up as the storm progresses as part of the region. >> dickerson: during hurricane harvey there were trouble with emergency services, people have difficulty getting through is that okay in this case? >> at this point, in our section of the state, yes. there are certainly areas in the eastern part of the state where florence made landfall where flooding, downed power lines, downed trees are creating challenges. but the reports that we're getting is we're working through them. they're trying to do everything they can to restore electricity to hundreds of thousands and i don't believe we've seen the end of that. we've seen several thousand homes and my own county here, mecklenburg county that are out of power that's going to continue. likely be weeks befo fully restored. >> dickerson: you got a vote on tuesday in judiciary committee

which you sit on, there's been some information about sexual misconduct allegations against brett kavanaugh, president's nominee. have you looked at the letter that is now part of his file? it's -- have you looked at that? >> i haven't seen the letter. as a matter of fact i believe that the member that first received the letter was at late as july. quite honestly i'm shocked that the matter didn't come up in the nearly 32 hours of testimony that justice kavanaugh was before us or nearly hour and half section that we had in a closed session. that information never came up so when we get back to washington this week we'll take a look at it. but really raises a question in my mind about if this was material to the confirmation process why earth over the past 4-6 weeks hasn't it been discussed among the committee members. >> dickerson: we should make clear this is something he's denied categorically, something that allegedly happened much more than 30 years ago.

but now that it is in the mix, is your feeling that this is a ploy of some kind or that this is while it is so long ago sufficiently important to look at, look seriously and put into your calculation and others as they make their vote? >> i've spent most of my time focused on hurricane florence. but the questions that we will ask and seek answers to next week are why sit on it for wee weeks. we understand that the person who wrote the letter is not willing to come forward so we have a confidential witness not willing to sit down at least in a closed setting, that the problematic to me. as you said judge kavanaugh as categorically denied the allegations and i put some weight on that. >> dickerson: very quickly, do you think he'll be confirmed by the senate? >> i do. i think that we'll move forward and confirm before october. >> dickerson: thanks so much nor being with us. we'll be back in one minute with a look at the situation in south carolina, senator lindsey graham

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>> dickerson: we turn to senator senior republican senator lindsey graham is in clem zone this morning. how is the state doing? >> just waiting on it to get where i live. it's hit the name areas ha tatthew hit two years ago and water from north carolina eventually makes its way to south carolina. north carolina took the brunt of ca. flt the people were floo floodet two years ago are going to get flooded out again. i don't know how these communities make it, quite frankly. like williamsburg county just going to be years to recover. >> dickerson: quickly senator kee people, did they heed the warnings? >> most did. some didn't. if you live near water should you have left a long time ago. the rivers are the most dangerous thing now. most people did, so i can't -- governor did a good job, the trump administration called me tbout four or five times, what

do you need that you don't have. i'm pleased with the federal and stat u tood judgment and unfortunately some people have not used good sedgment. >> dickerson: let me ask you couple of other pieces of news that are in the news, senator. in the mueller probe you've been focused on collusion, alleged during campaign. noere's now been ally deal from paul manafort the chairman of ule campaign how do you read that? >> i don't know yet. i know that from the judiciary point of view we found no evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and the amssians. i think richard burr said from the intel point of view that he has seen no evidence of collusion. but we're waiting on mueller. let's let mueller do his job, i don't know what manafort has to offer, i don't know if it's anything meaningful, but intent on making sure that mueller completes his investigation without interference and can answer questions about the report once it's issued. i'm very disappointed no democrat seem to be worried about the corruption at the

department of justice and the fbi regarding the clinton e-mail nnvestigation, early stages of the russian investigation. iom worried about that. when it comes to mueller let's obt him do his job. >> dickerson: you've trained prosecutors, you were a prosecutor, give me your sense of how prosecutor prosecute or f he's indicted more than 3 people, three companies, sixly deals and initiated actions that have led to two morally deals and got a victory in court. how is that prosecutor doing? y you got to look at the substance of what people pled to. ngme people pled to lying to the fbi like papadopoulos got two weeks in jail. i don't see that as a big event. manafort could have a lot of stuff or he could just have stuff around financial transactions. andon't know yet. atu don't look at the numbers. flynn would know a lot, i don't know what kind of deal flynn is going to get at the end of the day i haveheanyt ming out of the mueller world showing pollution between trump and the russians, but that's let

a guy like mueller do his job. i trust him to be honest and fair and time will tele. >> dickerson: what i was open hoping your experience as prosecutor and i am preachment manager who had to deal with a tase that started back in a land deal, a different thing when it wt to you. ouis started with collusion may end up somewhere else. the president has called it, continues to call it a witch hunt. so, given that record, though, is it a witch hunt or is it proceeding as would you expect a prosecutor to go forward? >> i think it's proceeding in a ty that these things start with a land deal and wind up with a hlue dress. this started with an accusation of collusion between the trump campaign and russia. fow we've got all kind of things w new york and mr. manafort's sobbying business apart from refore he met trump. so i don't know where it's going to go. only thing i can tell you, not one republican in the senate has done anything to stop this

investigation. the leadership of the house and re senate are republicans that dledged their efforts to make sure that mr. mueller finishes his job. i wish had some democrats concerned about stark and page, e at's going to be done later. but -- nothing's going to happen to mueller's investigation nvlitically. ining to be allowed to finish ow. >> dickerson: quickly to north korea when we last talked you had suggested that military think about moving dependents out of south korea. you mention that on the show, bob woodward talks about that in the book and that president trump was considering that option and two of you discussed ou. is that covered accurately in the book and what happened? washere was a point in time where it look like nothing was going to happen, there was no dialogue going. wd the way you lead up to this is that once you start movingtst that is signal to everybody that

now, we have engagements that i think are going to be fruitful. l hope they're going to be fruitful. we're not out of the woods yet comin it comes to north korea. but the hold discussion was around what should i do to handle this threat to our homeland. .ere is what the president was plling to do. if he has to he'll use military force to stop a missile coming to america with a nuclear weapon on it. originating in north korea. we were close to make that hard decision now we have some time. are they playing us, i don't eyow. if they're playing trump we're going to be in a world of hurt because he's going to have no options left this is the last stst chance for peace right here. >> dickerson: the way it was characterized in the book, if eson from suggesting moving dependents out and that that was read at the pentagon that if he sent that tweet out it would have looked like an act of war. is that the way it went down? >> he was very frustrated with north korea saying one thing and oing another.

i had suggested to him along with others that once you start moving dependents out then you're preparing yourself for military conflict, that's the last decision you make. d d we got very close to that but we pulled back and now we got a chance, i think, to get a osolution of this peacefully to convince north korea you're fftter off without your nukes than you are with em them in emrms of security and survivability. it got close. ehe president -- the whole point po president trump has no place to kick the can. the last 30 years everybody's got it wrong and he's running out of options. io dickerson: we've run out of time. senator thank for being with us. us. who built the nation's largest gig-speed network, is already moving-beyond. beyond wifi that just connects. to wifi that thinks about what your customers want. beyond the reliability you expect. wies o, business g

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♪ >> dickerson: we'll be right back with lot more "face the nation" including our panel and chief white house correspondent major garrett is here with his new book about the trump white house. stay with us.

>> this is a cbs news special report in wilmington, north carolina. we've had 1 1/2 feet of rain here and still going. the storm is moving into the western hills where it will dump heavy rain, possibly causing flash floods and landslides. let's go now to mark strauss man.