nearerer to the shore. and we hand it off to our colleague andrea mitchell on "andrea mitchell reports." >> thank you. and now as hurricane florence is taking aim at the carolina coast, an alarm, an extreme threat with forecasters saying that it could stall over the region for days producing historic floods. >> this is going to be a mike tyson pun foch tch to the carol coast, and then heavy rains. >> coming up, we will get the latest from the fema administrator brock long. and measure of success? why would the administration transfer millions before the hurricane season is about to hit. and then he shocked victims by praising what the team did in puerto rico. >> i think that what we did in puerto was tremendous, and incredible unsung success.

>> coming up, we will get a reality check from senator jeff america americaly. and could it happen again? we will talk to tim geithner, a key architect of the economic recovery from the di a sas trous -- disastrous recession. >> it was barely a recovery and now is not called recovery, but it is rocketship what has happened. and good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in new york with the very latest on hurricane florence's path and power. you are looking at the footage of the cat category 4 hurricane shot from international space station this morning. it is packing maximum winds of 130 miles per hour, and residents and business owners along the carolina coasts are heeding the calls to get out of fast. >> and the time to act is now.

we can rebuild, a tnd the power will come back on and the roads will be repaired, but we can't repair loss of life. don't be a number that stays behind. and be a number that evacuates. >> north carolina, my message is clear. disaster is at the doorstep, and it is coming in. if you are on the coast, there's still time to get out safetily. and no possession is worth your life. >> we have it all covered. joining me now is gabe gutierrez in conway, south carolina, and today show coco-host al roche ser here in the studio, and gabe, first to you. you are in a shelter there, and what are people doing, and how are the preparations going, and mou are the evacuations? >> hello, andrea. yes, we are in a shelter outside of conway, south carolina, and near myrtle beach, and people are trickling in throughout the morning and many more expected throughout the afternoon, and more than 100 people here, and we have spoken with this couple here, and edward and esther

cottingham who say they have decided to ride out the storm at the shelter, and they did not want to risk it this time even though they have ridden out others. and this is a medical wing with the red cross and they are prepared to take care of the residents who have medical condition, and this shelter is prepared to do so. and the local authorities are saying that if you have any doubts whether to heed the mandatory evacuation ord oer, you should get out. we have been speaking with a few residents who have decided not to and use sandbags to protect the property, but they are taking quite a risk when they do that, and the local authorities say that in all more than 2 dozen shelterers are going to be opened here in south carolina with the capacity of more than 20,000 people when all is said and done. some say that they are more concerned about the storm, an tree ya, after the track shifted overnight a little bit from the

south to southwest, and what is previously expect and now myrtle beach seems to be potentially in the way for greater impact. and now, we have been here in the myrtle beach area for the last day or so, and seen the traffic head out of the area, and shut down some of the eastbound lanes in a few of the major freeways to increase the traffic flow. we have seen the supplies in some of the local stores and the wal-marts and the other supply stores running low at this point, andrea. the question is if you are right now planninging to get out of here, you need to hurry up and do so today, because it is the critical day and the local authorities say, don't risk it if you are in one of the mandatory evacuation zones. 1.5 million people from the carolinas through virginia are n in those mandatory evacuation zones. an dree ya. >> gabe, that san enormous number of people at threat. what is happening with the models? a al rok al roker is in the studio, and

some people are confused with the american and the european models, and are they coming together? >> well, the fact is not really. i would rather vacate my home and be safe rather than the alternative and that is the case. right now, as andrea mentioned, the storm, and right now, it is a huge one, and category 4 storm, and don't pay that much attention to the categories of the 3 or to 4 and not that much of a difference and maybe we will approach a 5, but that is not the most important thing. and currently h south of south carolina, and it has slowed up 15 miles per hour moving 130 miles per hour. and by the time we get to friday 8:00 a.m. off of wilmington, and then coming close to on shore and some time between saturday morning and saturday afternoon as a category 2 to the north of charleston and north of myrtle beach, and then it continues inland and continuing sunday on into monday as a low pressure

system, and still dropping a ton of rain, and atlanta is going the be feeling the effects. looking at the rainfall from this, and you have catastrophic flooding from cape hatteras to where we could see up to 40 inches. but the european model here, what happens is today and tomorrow, it is going to be tracking close to the koeshgs and the bands of the rain are coming in, and the wind is coming in, and it is going to be 9:00 a.m. thursday and then into friday and saturday. and notice this, it is tracking along the coast. the northeast quadrant, the greatest storm surge there. and so from morehead city, wilmington, and myrtle beach, and maybe charleston, you will be in the northeast quadrant and see the strong storm surge and that is where we will see the most damage and the most destruction and the most possibilities of deaths. look at the difference of the

rainfall, and 10 inches plus from south of cape hatteras all of the way past charleston, andrea, and that is the difference in these models, and that is why we are so concerned. the winds of course are going to be a big factor, and what happens when you get the winds? downed powerlines. we have total outages here to the north of wilmington, and widespread throughout much of the carolina coast, and significant wind damage is expected and then we talk about the storm surge. this is what i am most frightened about and this is down towards charleston and two to four feet, but that is cha e changing. now at wrightsville beach, we are ro looking at surges on top of high tides of 4 to 8 feet. and at that night, almost at midnight at cape hatteras, and 12:35 there at charles tton.

and so that is going to be more than a two-story house on top of the high tides, and nothing is going to withstand that. it may wash in miles inland. so even if you are not along the coast, you will be feeling the effects. if this thing is lingering like the european model says, andrea, it is going to continue to create the storm surges, and that is where we will see the most death and destruction and 60% of the deaths happen in the flooding from storm surge. >> and you have the storm surge depending upon the model, 10 inches or more of rain. >> yes, we could see 40 inches. >> which is going to mean more trees down, and more power outa outages. >> and flooding. and the ground is saturated in these areas, so there is not much tolerance for the heavy rainfall, and no matter how you look at this, this could be a catastrophic, and will be a catastrophic event, and that is why the people have to evacuate, but keep in mind, if you decide to stay in place, nobody is

coming for you. >> and so we have in fact heard from officials that after this morning at 8:00 a.m., you can dial 911, but they won't come. >> absolutely. >> al, thank you so much, and thank you for all you are doing, a tnd the warnings, oof course, bring us to the fema administrator brock long. and thank you very much for being with us, and thank you you and all of your teams. what are your warnings and which model do you think is going to be most accurate? >> i don't focus on the models, but the official track that k compensates for all of them. each model measures different elements of the atmosphere, and various things, so i have great c confidence in the national hurricane's ability to forecast this. they are doing a great job. the citizens in north and south carolina have had many, many days notice that the storm is coming, and it is going to make landfall as a major hurricane. major hurricanes cause the most amount of damage and the most

loss of life, and this is nothing to be played with. today, the citizens along the coast there in the evacuation warning areas need to get out. they are running out of time to do so, and the elements are going to start impacting tonight and tomorrow, and anybody who stays behind is, as al roker said, you are putting your own life in danger, and no expectation that the first responders will come to get you if you decide to go. and the storm surge with 13 feet of ocean which is the ocean rising above main sea level and the action above that 13 feet, and anybody who sticks around to see that, they don't telive to tell about it. and that is the undeserving hazard. >> and there was a geo report that 50% of the fema employ years were not qualified for the jobs they were holding. has that changed in the last year?

>> well, that is taken way out of context. we have the national qualification system, and term qualified. we have never thrown anybody unqualified at the emergency management, and these guys are qualified. for example, there may be a qualification to be a public information officer, and i am not trained as a pio, and yet i am sitting in front of you doing an interview. so that term is being taken out. but this is what is important about the gao. and the gao report lines up well with the very open and honest after action report that we most recently put forward, but what is important in the gao report as i understand it, look, they discuss at the bottom line, this is a partnership. there has to be strong emergency management government capability at all levels of government for response and rekcovery to do well. that is what we are focused on. this is a team leadership and we have strong leadership in north carolina and south carolina and the are response and recovery

will be better served as result. any time you have diminished capacity or the infrastructure has been able to the rot and decay over periods of time, the bottom line is that the response not going to go well. so that is what america learned and the gao report says along with the open and honest aar. >> and you were in the oval office yesterday when president trump frankly shocked a lot of people calling the puerto rico efforts unsung success, and this is after the new study says that nearly 3,000 people were killed and american citizens and not 64 people as originally estimated by the government. how can we call puerto rico an unsung success? >> well, bottom line, any time you have one death from a storm, it is one too many and we work around the clock to prevent that everyday. i can't speak for the president, but i know that fema put 100% in pu puerto rico, and the people here are dedicated around the clock and stepped on all of the time.

and the bottom line is that we know and they know that we kept puerto rico from total collapse as a result of fema. when we are the only responder for many month, it is not a desirable situation, and what are we doing to fix that? what we need to have the nation to understand that we are building the backbone fo the commonwealth, and the 78 municipalities, and fema is the largest employer in puerto rico, and we have to build that capability along with the commonwealth, but this is the conver thags needs to occur, and occur in congress and across the united states. if fema is going to be putting $50 billion into puerto rico, and some estimates they will be putting a future of 120 billion tlrz what is the future of pure -- puerto rico, and how do we make it sustainable on an island and how can you make the ip f

infrastructure not die from damage, and so not only the primary reasons for death, but also the secondary causes, and that is tied to the weak infrastructure that we have been working around the clock to fix, and many of the municipalities want it, and if you want a true story, go to the 1,800 people that we have hire d to build a new future there. >> and we have had teams down there nonstop, and gabe gutierrez and others. and just as there were terrible parts ofinfrastructure in new orleans, it was a federal responsibility. >> no, you are wrong on that. most of it is owned by the private sek to, and fema does not control the maintenance of the infrastructure and you remember when i went back for the third supplemental to congress i had to ask for

special authority to fix the deferred infrastructure to rot. >> and the emergency rescue is the federalle responsibility is the point i am trying to make. and so, let me ask you about the red tape the. because after this tragedy, the people in puerto rico, and only 75 as of july 30th, 75 of 3,200 requests have been approved for funerals assistance, because thy needed approval from state officials when they for months and months did not have electricity or communications, and any way to clear up that red tape? >> i am sorry, ma'am. when it came to the amount of food, water and commodities that we put on the island, we put $2 billion of commodities into puerto rico, and but here again when it comes back to who actually runs the food chains, it is the major grocers, and there is all kinds of things, and what we need to do is like what we did with the hurricane

in hawaii, we reached out to the grocery stores and the major retail providers to understand what they have on the island and versus what we need to back phil, because it is again a partnership. if you are depending on fema to be the sole and only responder, that is not right, and that is what we are trying to the correct. with puerto ree koeshgs and the amount of money and effort put into puerto rico, is it going to be a wonderful place. and we are absolutely working everyday to make puerto rico resilient and economically liable. >> and the fema death benefits? >> sorry. >> the funeral benefits. >> yeah, right. so we do provide funeral benefit, and you know, we have been happy to offer up the numbers when it comes to the exact number, and i dont n't kn the exact number, but it is quite a bit. but, here's the thing, too, when it comes to indirect deaths, and indirect deaths, and not caused by the wind or the water or the building collapses or whatever

it may be, and the indirect deaths for any event are typically greater in many cases. if you are looking at the 2004 hurricanes in florida, for example, four storms in six week wee weeks, you had people who died after the storm passed because they fell off of the roof trying to make repairs, and they died in car crashes, because the stoplights were off, and chainsaw accidents and -- >> they didn't have medical help or dialysis machines or -- all of those things take place. >> so it is a question for hhs and why did the 65 hospitals in puerto rico had no plans? they were not mitigated or resilient, and so fema, we are a granting organization, and the money going to go back in is to fix the hospital systems to keep it from happening, but here again, it is not fee marks and they are not all things to all people or all parts of the infrasfra infrastructure and that is what we have to have the honest conversation about.

and this is a partnership. >> and when you are dealing with the omb, and the budget folks, do you have any say when they take $10 million and grant you, stipulate that you spend billions of dollars on puerto rico and the rest of the storm recovery, but when $10 million is taken out of the fema budget and reallocated to i.c.e. for detention facilities right before the hurricane season, those questions are being asked right now in the appropriation questions by the democratic senators? and right now, that money has nothing to do with what you are going to be seeing behind us, and it is not no impact on the response or our efforts to be prepared for hurricane florence, and it is unfortunately that we have a congressman that is playing politics on the back of florence. there is no story there. >> well, thank you very much, and good luck to you and all of the team there in fema behind you as we approach this storm.

>> thank you. thank you. >> thank you, mr. long. and coming up, we will get reaction from the senator jeff merkley who says that money was taken from fema to play for the zero tolerance immigration policy. stay with us right here on andrea mitchell reports on ms c msnbc. you always get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed?m let's get someone to say it with a really low voice. carl? lowest price guaranteed. what about the world's lowest limbo stick? how low can you go? nice one, carl. hey i've got an idea.

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you know, right now, that money has knot nothing to do wi what you see behind us, and it is not paying for this response and it is not coming out of the

di s disaster relief fund and no impact on the efforts to be prepared for hurricane florence, and it is just unfortunately that we have a congressman that is playing politics on the back of florence. there is no story there. >> that is fema administrator brock long moments ago reacting to new documents obtained by m democratic senator jeff merkley and released on the rachel maddow show showing that there was transfer of nearly $10 billion -- $9.8 million from fema to i.c.e. detention centers. and while you are a senator and not a congressman and the charges that you are playing politics on the back of florence? >> i think it is a shock to everyone that in the first month of the hurricane season knowing what happened a year ago that fema agreed to have $10 million taken out of the accounts

including significant amounts out of the response and recovery account, and another significant account out of the preparedness and protection account, and that is relevant preparing for and responding to the the disasters such as the approaching challenge from hurricane florence that is approaching the shore. >> and now the response from fema would also be that it is $10 million when they are spending billions of dollars. what is the significance of it as far as you are concerned? >> well, i think that the big question here is that fema is continuing to say what a marvelous job they did in puerto rico and the virgin islands, and i went down there after the hurricane struck, and months after, and they had blue tarps on the homes, because they did not have funds to repair the roofs, and so in addition, there

was a power grid that it took a year to restore electricity to the resident of puerto rico and can you imagine a year anywhere here on the continental u.s. to help the citizens to get power to the house, and the way it was rebuilt. the grid was rebuilt with the same flaw anchor stay towers. and the the ones that collapsed, and my conversation, and they said, yes, it is a stupid way to rebuild the power grid, because we are rebuilding it the way it was and the next storm is going to knock the towers down, and what the american people would like to hear is that fema and other agencies are saying what can we learn from puerto rico, from the virgin islands and texas so that we can do it better this time around. >> and you think that it is fema, and his point, and brock long's point is that it is not their fault they have decaying

infrastructure, and is puerto rico being treated differently, because they are off shore, and is there a double standard? >> it is clear. i came back realizing that a major reason that so much was done so slowly is that puerto rico does not have a voting voice in congress, and not in the house, and not in the senate, and maybe there should be a individual, and maybe we need to revise and make sure that all of the american cities that are in the additional territories have a direct voting voice in congress, because unless the administration is g going to stand up for them, and unfortunately, they have done a very poor job of doing so, then it is up to congress to act, and there needs to be a voice in congress. but let me say that this is kind of, and this information about taking the money out of response and recovery and more money out of preparedness and protection at the start of to hurricane

season, and it is to build more prison camps, instead of to a take the $10 million to yuse it for all of the important work that fema does, and by the way, i want to say that so many people in fema work day and night on the ground. this is a question of the leadership saying yes, we are not going to be bragging about the things that we did, but there were things that we could have done better, and we will work for that in the future. >> and what about the president saying that puerto rico is an unsung story? >> yes, he said that and that he would give his team an a-plus, and those compliments exist only in the mind of the president. the reality on the ground is that it is very sad to see that nine months after the hurricane struck huge number of homeowners had never received any help, and huge number of families still didn't have electricity. >> senator jeff merkley, thank you on both accounts. >> thank you, andrea. >> and we will be back.

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puerto rico was one of the best jobs that has ever been done with respect to di ssaster the job that fema and law enforcement did work alongside with the governor in puerto rico, i think it was tremendous. i think that puerto rico was an incredible unsung success. >> heck of a job. president trump taking a victory lap for the way that his administration handled puerto ri rico. and even though a recent study shows that nearly 3,000 people died in the devastation. let's bring in kristen welker, and "wall street journal"ist peggy noone. kristen, the president i guess i pushed out on twitter a statement on camera today, that he said the right kind of message and let's show that. >> get out of its way, and don't play games with it. but despite that, bad things can

happen when you are talking about a storm this size. it is called mother nature. you may not know, but we know. >> and the white house, they do that because they realize that what he said yesterday in the oval office was so off message? >> well, andrea, i will tell you that no doubt they realized that they wanted to have a new messageing coming out of this administration. they want people to know that they are prepared and they want people in the path of the storm to evacuate, and you heard him say that at the oval office appearance saying that, look, nobody has been this prepared for a storm, and they are taking it very, very seriously. it was basically an unsung success in terms of puerto rico, and the top democrats pointing out not only are the comments offensive because of those 3,000

deaths that you mentioned, andrea, and so i think that they are trying to redirect the conversation and the messaging here at the white house. and i have been talking to top officials, and saying, look, we are getting calls every hour and briefed around the clock, and taking it very seriously, and they say that the focus right now is on the response and making sure that they are implement manage of the lessons learned from the past to help those in the path of the storm this time. >> and peggy, the governor of puerto rico was on with chris matthews on "hardball." >> we have flooding last week in san juan, and flooding yesterday, and there is about 60,000 blue tarps or blue roofs. the suicide rate has gone up 30%, and suicide attempts have gone up between 55% and 60%.

so i really don't know where the president gets the nerve to call this is a success story. >> peggy? how do we reconcile these completely different views of reality. >> it is clear to everyone that puerto rico experienced a di s disaster. to give the president the benefit of the doubt, he may have been trying to say so many people went there for fema, and other agencies, and tried very hard to do a good job. >> and the military was there. >> exactly, and so he is trying to hold high their work and their reputation as a matter of loyalty, but because he is donald trump, a sort of character that is lack of empathy and he didn't say, these poor people had a dreadful time, and we are still working on it,

and there is also the defensiveness that he shows, and it is a funny thing, but he speak speaks defensively about things by habit. as if he is always experiencing himself to be being attacked. you can see a loft trump in the comments of sort of how they are all over the place. and how, you have to show empathy and sympathy and k connection with the people who have had a dreadful time, and it is the people of puerto rico have. >> and it is striking peggy, that yesterday, it was 9/11, and he is about to go to shanksville, pennsylvania, for the memorial service, and we have a hurricane barreling towards the southeast coast, and he is tweeting about everything but. he is living through his grievances on twitter. and when you are talking about the lack of empathy, and it is

striking. >> it is a funny thing with donald trump that he knows that he does not sound what he calls presidential. he doesn't approach his job in that way with that kind of awareness of the need of a personal dignity. i think that he feels that if he acts presidential and fully dignified, it is at concession to the critic, and it is the admission of i know that i am rough, but i don't mean to, and i will clean up my act, and so he continues to talk in the rough sort of the sometimes mindless, and truly mindless way. i think that he feels that it pleases his supporters, and i know it does some, and many of them are often embarrassed by the things that he does. >> peggy noonan going into the tough challenge for any administration right now. kristen welker, you will be reporting on every bit of it. and coming up, ten years later,

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by the time i left office household income was near the all-time high, and the uninsured rate had hit the all-time low, and the rates were rising and poverty falling ark a ingfallin so i am mentioning this so when you hear how great this economy is, i want you to understand when it started. >> and tim geithner bringing us back from the brink, and have we learned from the disaster and he is joining me now. thank you for being here, and you along with your predecessor b mr. paulson and ben bernanke at the treasury fed, a hand have w learned anything? >> and ben bernanke says that the en smi forgetting the costly

pr problem of the you are letting it outgrow the protections, and our system outgrew the k protections before the crisis, and it was devastating, because we went into the kcrisis with limited tools to prevent a panic. the system today, it is a much stronger system, and the reforms we put in place after the crisis are much more conservative and apply to a broader part of the system, but you have to preserve them and protect them, because the markets will try to go around them. even if you don't weaken the constraints if you fall behind the curve of innovation, they will be weaker in the future, and so that is one of the key lessons that you need to take from the crisis. >> where do you stand on the debate between donald trump and barack obama, and who is responsib responsible, and who had better economic growth, and president trump saying it is the great es growth, you know, in history. >> well, i don't think that i want to wade into the debate, but ultimately the strategy that

the u.s. adopted in the crisis was effective and not just preventing a great depression, but it brought the economy back from the abyss growing again in six month, and the financial rescue was much more effective than tried in any other country, and much more aggressive and forceful, and the taxpayers have received a positive return. as a action of the stimulus, the actions of the fed and the actions the president authorized, we had a stronger are recovery than what is typically true after a financial crisis and it meant that we could not just heal the scars of the crisis, but after the crisis, those eight years, a susta sustained rate of moderate growth, and the unemployment came down very, very far and for the first time in a long time you started to see the positive growth and real income which is very important. so the u.s. economy that you could say on the eve of the transition between the two

administrations was a very strong economy, and much stronger than it was on the eve of the crisis, and the much more stable economy with huge innovation, and so as a country today, we are a lucky country, because we were so effective in containing the risk of another great depression, and preventing the financials from collapsing, we have the ability to today to turn and try to avoid some of of the pre-date crisises that still contribute to the fortunes of the average american. >> and a lot of focus is on the white house decisionmaking because of the bob woodward book "fear" and he was on with rachel maddow talking about the president's decision making on trade and a tariffs. and so i want to the play this, and ask you about it on the other side. >> and so, there is a scene in the book where he is talking about the world trade organization, with which is a organization that actually gives us great leverage if there is

unfair trade practice in the world, and he said this is the worst organization in the world, and the ad vvisers who are expes in there say, no, it is closing his mind to the information that makes it possible for the president to weigh arguments and data. >> do you have concerns about the tariffs that are levied and whether they could be, you know, curve this economic growth and create new problems down the road? >> i do. and i think that they carry the grave risk that they undermine and damage the strength of the american economy and make it harder rather than easier to make us more competitive and successful in what is a competitive and tough world out there, and the risk is that they make the fortunes of the average

worker in america worse and not better, so i would share those concerns. >> and are there any other red flags that the you see warning signs if there were to be another recession down the road, and these things are sicklile cal, and so it is going to happen. what are the flashing red lights for the e kconomy? >> well, i think that as a country, we are still relatively fortunate, and that much of the things that you want to worry about in the world today lie out soo outside of the united states. you know, there is europe who has a lot of the formidable challenge challenges, and china, itself, has a number of formidable challenges and other emerging economies with problems to navigate through, and the u.s. has a more stable, and stronger foundation in the financial system. one lesson from the crisis or one of the many lessons is that it is hard to know where the risks are going to come from and the shocks, and you will be surprised, so you want to be reducing the amount of dry

tinder in the system so that the defenses against the risk taking are strong enough, and the emergency arsenal is strong enough to protect the economy, and the average person from any range of things, and anything that you can think about today and anything that you can maybe not foresee, and that is the best strategy not t to try to preempt or foresee the future, because you will be surprised and you need to be prepared for the dangerous event. >> former secretary of the treasury tim geithner. i should point out that mr. geithner is going to be featured on the new documentary "crisis of the wall street, the week

that shook the world." that is tonight on cnbc. and also coming up, more on the fallout of paul manafort. and minerals your body needs. all with guaranteed great taste. the upside- i'm just getting started. boost® high protein be up for life their medicare options...e people go to learn about before they're on medicare. come on in. you're turning 65 soon? yep. and you're retiring at 67? that's the plan! well, you've come to the right place. it's also a great time to learn about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. here's why... medicare part b doesn't pay for everything. only about 80% of your medical costs. this part is up to you... yeah, everyone's a little surprised to learn that one. a medicare supplement plan helps pay for some

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coast for an update on hurricane florence. msnbc and "today" host craig melvin in wilmington, north carolina. that's neighboring your home of south carolina. carolinas, that whole coast, really bracing for this storm. >> reporter: we heard governor cooper there. andrea, this is a part of the country that's become very accustomed to hurricanes. but nothing like this has hit the carolina coast in decades. governor cooper saying there that folks in north carolina and south carolina, we have seen a shift of the storm here over the past 12 hours or so. they can expect the rain to fall. hurricane style rain and winds for more than 24 hours. so the devastating affect of the rain, the wind, the expected here. to be catastrophic. coming up in the next hour, obviously going to be spending a lot of time here in north carolina, talking to the mayor of mayor of wilmington where we are. the county executive.

we're also going to be talking to mark sanford. of course, the long-time governor of south carolina. he's lived through and presided over a number of massive storms, as well. looking at just how prepared both states are ahead of this storm. president trump insisting that the federal response is going to be sufficient. that there are a number of folks on the ground who are already expressing some skepticism about that. >> and, craig, from the people you have spoken with are they listening to these warnings? are people taking action and getting out? >> that's one thing that's very striking. a lot of times you will hear local and state officials pleading with people to get out. even folks who have not been ordered to evacuate. folks who aren't under the mandatory vaugs orders. this time it seems different. yesterday on the drive from the airport, from raleigh here to wilmington, we saw scores of people on the highway. leaving town.

i think we have got a look at here at the highway above. i-26 in south carolina. folks who are still leaving town. it would seem as if more people are taking the advice of local and state and national officials and getting out of town. getting to safer ground. getting to higher ground. this is as was noted yesterday, this is already the larger peacetime evacuation that we have seen in this country. even the coast of virginia being told to get out. >> al roker was saying earlier and i know you're discussing this in your hour that the warnings are just so important because so much better to be safe than to have the devastation that could occur depending on the models with this kind of storm surge. >> the surge. the inland flooding. that we are expecting, as well. we are standing right in front of the perhaps aptly named cape

fear river. that's what runs behind me. but they're expecting maybe a ten-foot storm surge here and i think you made the point. someone else made the point earlier. it is not just people who are stupid enough to ride it out or brave enough. however you want to characterize it but puts the first responders in a tough spot. a number of hospitals said they're shutting down and spent time talking to a firefighter last night at dinner saying there's a point of firefighters stop responding to calls. so it puts everyone in a tough spot should things take a turn for the worst and that is a turn that virtually everyone here on the ground is saying is going to happen. that turn for the worst. >> craig melvin, i know you will be back in a moment to get ready for the big show. we'll be right back ourselves. >> thank you, andrea. rushed into booking one. that's why we created expedia's add-on advantage. now after booking your flight, you unlock discounts

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thanks for being with us. craig melvin is in north carolina. craig? >> andrea, thank you. live here in wilmington, north carolina. good afternoon to you. craig melvin here. wilmington, of course, one of several cities up and down the carolina coastline waiting anxiously for hurricane florence. it is right now the literal calm before the storm here in north carolina. as folks and first responders prepare for what's described as a once in a lifetime