as we try to get contact with ed lavandera. let's look at some of what we've seen over the last couple of days. >> the wind is whipping harder than it has over the last 24 hours. >> the eye did make landfall in wrightsville beach with a wind speed of 94 miles per hour. >> this isn't just water that's coming this way. the ocean and the wind are forcing sand up into the air. >> if you look all the way down, you'll see all these people. you might be able to make it out. that is the ocean. it's not supposed to be there right now. >> power is out all over the city. that tree over there to my left, to your right, looks like it's about to be uprooted. greating a lot of strong gusts. >> we're in riverbend. they experienced an extraordinary amount of flooding here. a lot of people said they weren't expecting it to flood like this here. >> the rain and the wind as you can see here through the microphone has really picked up here just in the last couple of minutes in myrtle beach. if we can get a shot of the ocean. i want to point out thi

ed lavandera, thank you very much.robably about the strongest that we have seen with the wind coming through here. it picks up and then it subsides. this is really the strongest that we're going to get a forecast in just a moment to see exactly what's happening and what's the worst. and if it's going to get better soon. here's the problem. besides the wind. and the rain, of course, and the water. everything that's being dumped here. the problem is that when the floodwaters come up so high, the thing that live underground and in the sewer systems that all has to come out. many times that's snakes. we're going to talk about especially whether he you're talking about the carolinas here in the southern region of our country. that poses a big and dangerous problem. we're going to talk to someone who deals with that on the side of this break. we're drowning in information. where in all of this is the stuff that matters? the stakes are so high, your finances, your future. how do you solve this? you partner with a firm that co

ed lavandera. scott mclane is in garden city beach, south carolina. scott, you have been making it around the myrtle beach area, north of where we were earlier today, assessing some damage. what are you seeing in garden city beach? >> reporter: hey, erica. we're about ten miles south of where you are, south of garden city beach. i am standing on what would normally be a beach. you can see the tide has come up and combined with storm surge, waves are approaching people's properties. you can see some stairs there that people built to get out to the beach, they're getting hit with some of the waves. if you look on this pier, i am told by some local residents that live here, one of the local residents that lives here, those pilings at the end are where low tide would be, and high tide comes up halfway through this. it's almost completely underwater, especially when waves come up. you can see how high this foam is coming up into this person's yard. thankfully, not quite at their house just yet. i'm going to try to make my way down here. the reason this is

let's go to cnn national correspondent ed lavandera. he's in jacksonville, north carolina. ed, what's the latest there? >> reporter: you know, as we come on air this afternoon, the rainfall begins. we had a little bit of a lull for the last couple of hours, but now another downpour here in the city and this is one neighborhood that's emblematic of what many people here in this area are dealing with. >> did we lose ed? it looks like we've lost him. we'll try to pick him up again, but joining me now is republican congressman from south carolina, ralph norman. congressman, as florence moves inland, your district is in the direct path of the storm. what are you hearing from your constituents? how are they faring, do you think they're prepared? >> we' haven't had the brunt of it yet, obviously but the problem we're having now is a massive amount of rain projected over the next 24 hours. the winds at 30 to 40 miles an hour, the down trees that are a hazard. we had a lady from one of my counties that i represent die when a tree fell down and she hit it. the undermining of our road

ed lavandera, stay safe and we'll get back to you.ten, i want to bring you now to the cessions on the ground here where we are in myrtle beach. this is john rhodes, former mayor, right? i'll get to why you're here, mayor. you're the former mayor for 12 years. so tell me what's going through your mind right now? >> well, it's a waiting game. we know she's coming in, we just don't know what time. it last two days in five different directions, but it's pretty well-set we're going to get some effects from it. hopefully it'll be down to a low category 1 where we'll get maybe 70 miles an hour, but the big problem is going to be the rain. when matthew was here it dropped 15 inches ora 15 inches of rain. this is going to be historical can 20, 25 inches of rain sitting in that area. so we're going to have a lot of problems from egress and veins coming in from place like this to get back into the beach. >> you've seen this before and know how unpredictable this can be. generally you know where it's going, the wind speed. it can move fast, do a

ed lavandera, thank you very much. downtown myrtle beach we'll find my colleague drew griffin where the flood threat is still very real. drew. >> reporter: very real, don, but i think we have to realize that what my colleagues don't have behind them, power. myrtle beach really has come through this unscathed so far. yes, they have some debris on the street they will have to clean up, but these sandbags never came into play during this storm. the wind has been dying down gradually as the storm passes. the big really concern -- it is not a threat to myrtle beach, but the concern now according to officials is all of the flooding that's going to take place in the rivers that will potentially block the roads that access myrtle beach. that's going to be a problem for all of the evacuees who are now really wanting to come back and also for all of the supplies that this town usually needs just to run, the gas, the groceries, everything else. so i think that officials here believe they have come through the hurricane portion of

ed lavandera has more from dallas. >> reporter: dave and christine, the mother of the 26-year-old manho was shot and killed by a dallas police officer in his own apartment says she simply wants to know why and how all of this could have happened. there is still much confusion and very few answers as to what transpired when dallas police officer amber guyger said she mistakenly walked into botham shem jean's apartment south of downtown dallas last week and fired the shots that killed him. the attorney for the victim's family said the officer received special treatment. they don't know why it took three days for investigators to arrest and charge her with manslaughter. they insist that could have been easily done in the hours after the shooting. dallas police say they want to be transparent. that is why they called in the texas rangers, state police force, to investigate this shooting. those investigators worked throughout the weekend leading up to the criminal charges filed sunday night. now the district attorney in dallas says there is a possibility these criminal charges could be upg

cnn's ed lavandera has more.ing our borders juan david ortiz is now instead called a calculating serial killer by police.isidro r. "chilo" alaniz/webb county district attorney:"ortiz carried out these murders in a cold and callous way."ortiz, a 35-year old border patrol agent, is accused of shooting four women in the head.chief deputy federico garza/webb county sheriff's office:"i believe ortiz targeted all victims due to their profession and being vulnerable. in addition, all the victims were defenseless and at one point ortiz was able to gain their trust and then viciously shot them."the killings coming to light after a would-be fifth victim narrowly escaped...ed lavandera/cnn correspondent: "investigators say on friday night juan david ortiz showed up at this gas station with a woman named erika pena. pena told investigators that they were talking about a friend of hers named melissa who had been found dead a week earlier. that'shen she says the border patrol agent started acting weird. when they got to this g

near the u-s-mexico border.ed lavandera has more.d with protecting our borders juan david ortiz is now instead called a calculating serial killer by police.isidro r. "chilo" alaniz/webb county district attorney:"ortiz carried out these murders in a cold and callous way."ortiz, a 35-year old border patrol agent, is accused of shooting four women in the head.chief deputy federico garza/webb county sheriff's office:"i believe ortiz targeted all victims due to their profession and being vulnerable. in addition, all the victims were defenseless and at one point ortiz was able to gain their trust and then viciously shot them."the killings coming to light after a would-be fifth victim narrowly escaped...ed lavandera/cnn correspondent: "investigators say on friday night juan david ortiz showed up at this gas station with a woman named erika pena. pena told investigators that they were talking about a friend of hers named melissa who had been found dead a week earlier. that's when she says the border patrol agent started acting weird. when th

ed lavandera, cnn. >>> and take a look at this road that has been washed away. the governor warns people to stay off the roads as much as possible. and this is why. much of the state is dealing with rising floodwaters from florence. a woman in spring lake, north carolina, did drive on the roads there. she ended up losing control of her car when she hit water. the car was swept off the road into the woods. the driver did manage to kick out a window and escape. >> the water is so high that it drains my car, drains the battery, everything. so i call my cousin and am like, hey, can you come and get me. then the water keeps building up it's like titanic stuff. you could see the water coming up. so i'm like, boom, and pushed the window out. as i pushed the window out and tried to swim out, the current just takes me down. >> reporter: how far from the main road are you? >> far. far. at least a half mile. >> officials have warned citizens to stay off the roads because that very thing can happen quite easily. >>> well, the town of lumberton, north carolina, is especially

here's cnn's ed lavandera. >> i'm not going to repeat the slander. >> you're not going to say what you? >> a texas senate debate isn't the kind of political moment that generates a great deal of intrigue. republican ted cruz and democrat o'rourke wasted no time scraping it out over who was more texan. >> within months of being sworn to be your senator, ted cruz was not in texas, he was in iowa. >> congressman o'rourke doesn't seem to understand that representing texas is not doing a photo op in each county with reporters in tow but it's standing up and fighting for the people of texas. >> reporter: el paso congressman o'rourke has the political world wondering if he can topple the republican senator ted cruz. o'rourke has embraced a progressive agenda. universal health care, education reform, granting so-called dreamers citizenship status, as well as criminal justice reform and legalizing marijuana. >> god bless texas. >> reporter: cruz is on a mission to paint o'rourke as a dangerous leftist. >> ready, one, two, three. >> reporter: and is fully embracing president trump, a strong econ

because they come up so quickly as we know, ed lavandera with the latest there. meteorologist allison chanchar is in the cnn weather center. a question, the thing they want to know is how long is this rain going to last. >> yes, that question of when does it finally end is on a lot of folk's minds. the problem is for the majority, you still have at least probably a good 12 hours to go, if not longer, before this system moves out. the reason for that is the forward speed is only two miles per hour to the west. it's going to take it time. in reality, think about that. two miles. most people walk it an average of 3 to 4 miles an hour. you could probably walk faster than this storm has been moving. the good news is it is still moving. you are starting to see that begin to push further and further inland. that's not good news for cities like raleigh or charlotte. along coastline, going to finally see an end to this rain, but not today. you're going to have to wait until at least tomorrow. and until that point, some of those rain bands are going to be quite heavy. wher

>> ed lavandera in jacksonville, north carolina. braving the elements for us.e'll keep an update from ed, as well shortly here. hurricane florence inching closer to the carolina coast tonight. conditions are forecasted to get worse and worse here in myrtle beach throughout the day tomorrow. i want to bring in mark, the public information officer for the city of myrtle beach. thank you so much for joining us. come on in a little bit closer. i spoke with you a little bit earlier. you had concerns about people getting out in the water. that was earlier. what about now? >> we're going to get what north carolina has been getting. our hearts go to the people in north carolina. we'll experience some of that tomorrow. the slowness of this storm may be one reason why people are reluctant to evacuate. all you have to do is look at the video and say gee, that's why people get out of the way of that storm. >> what are you seeing? >> so far, not much. the wind has begun to pick up. it's been fairly peaceful. tomorrow will be a different story. we're looking at 24 hours wort

i ed lavandera reporting. let's move south and west down the coast.ational correspondent miguel marquez is at a beach in north carolina. what are you seeing? >> reporter: yeah. we're starting to seat winds really pick up, wolf. you can see the trees here at the hotel where we are staying. they are starting to, you know, move quite a bit. there's a building that's in a construction just near here that's also here. we eglooking to see how that will stabbed up. we've opinion watching the beach. the waves building. police don't want anybody on the beaches here in carolina beach. they are already seeing some flooding, and that's why they don't want folks on the beaches here. there's a bummerm, a dune that s on that beach, and there's over 2 feet of water, and they are expecting as much as a third of this town is under water by the time is over. 6,200 people live here. the city manager estimating maybe 600 or so have decided to ride out this storm, but we're just beginning to see the amount of rain, that storm surge and the wind that will just sit over this

. >> cnn's ed lavandera is in dallas for us. what's the d.a. saying? >> the d.a.w that this police officer has been charged with manslaughter, they are going to continue to turn over evidence and present the case to a grand jury here in dallas county. and she left open the possibility that some more serious criminal charges could be filed, perhaps this officer instead of facing manslaughter charges, perhaps facing murder charges. but all of that evidence will be presented in the coming weeks to a grand jury. the family of botham jean have been very critical, and the attorneys very critical as to why this officer wasn't arrested in the immediate aftermath of the shooting thursday night into friday morning and wondering why it took so long, almost three days, for this officer to be arrested on this manslaughter charge. they believe that that is essentially giving this officer preferential treatment. on friday, dallas police had said that this was not going to be investigated as an officer-involved shooting, and that is -- and they turned over the case to the texas r

ed lavandera, cnn, jacksonville, north carolina. >>> and president trump has been briefed on the east coast. this is an update of him on the phone while vice president pence looked on. the white house said president trump is likely to tour the affected areas this week. >>> a trip to the carolinas would be a welcomed distraction for the president. paul man fort who has pleaded dplt to other charges is pleading guilty to robert mueller's office. and they have also hit a possible snag. an anonymous woman claims brett kavanaugh assaulted her when they were in high school. kavanaugh denies the allegation. >>> and mr. trump continues to insist that 3,000 people did not die in puerto rico from hurricane maria one year ago. he tweeted the new death toll was cooked up to make him look back. let's talk about the recent developments. with peter matthews joining us as you teach science, good morning to you. the president has the lowest numbers in the last six months. and many inside washington say this is a referendum on the president. what are your thought os that? -- thoughts on that? >> well,

cnn's ed lavandera in the areas hardest hit. some people are still waiting for help. what's the latest? >> reporter: hi, wolf. it's been a dramatic day here. very reminiscent of what happened a year ago during hurricane harvey in houston where private citizens descended on the small town, launching their own boats in the water to carry out rescue missions out of these neighborhoods. you can see the amount of water that has been taken on in many of these neighborhoods were more than 300 people have been pulled out of their homes. this is a combination of private citizens, swift water rescue teams, first responders and other officials who have descended on this town to pull these people out of these neighborhoods. some of them couldn't leave for financial reasons, others refused to evacuate. a whole wide array for why people are in these regions. the water is rising very rapidly. one person said they waited 12 hours to be pulled out of their home. the mayor here in new bern, north carolina says there are roughly still about 40 people they're hoping to pull out of their

the killings coming to light after a would-be fifth victim narrowly escaped...ed lavandera/cnn correspondentors say on friday night juan david ortiz showed up at this gas station with a woman named erika pena. pena told investigators that they were talking about a friend of hers named melissa who had been found dead a week earlier. that's when she says the border patrol agent started acting weird. when they got to this gas station, ortiz, investigators say, pulled a gun on her and tried to keep pena from exiting the vehicle. pena told investigators that she ripped off her shirt and ran toward a state trooper who was gassing up his patrol car, for help." according to warrant affidavit -- two of the four killings took place in the hours after pena made her escape -but before police tracked him down in the parking garage of this hotel -- where they say he was hiding in the bed of a pickup truck.police say ortiz confessed to killing four people between september 3rd and the 15th.all the victims - - four women -- worked as prostitutes, according to investigators.their bodies found over the past t

we'll go to ed lavandera with us. he's in moorhead city in south carolina. and in south carolina one of their mottos is "while i breathe, i hope." there is an irony to that, people are staying behind and they are putting their lives at risk and putting a lot of hope in the storm not being what they expect. >> chris, we are in moorhead city where we're seeing the first -- the strongest bands on the northeast edge of this hurricane starting to make -- come ashore here. this is cart rhett county. we spoke with the shelter director here. he believes most people have evacuated. this is an elderly retirement community. one of the concerns is the entire county is very low lying so they're not only concerned about the winds we're seeing now but they're concerned about the inland flooding. the winds are coming out of the north back out to sea. we're looking due south from where we are, the way north carolina and the coastline curves. we're looking due south into the atlantic ocean. this is the sound between the mainland and the barrier island which you can't even see

national correspondent ed lavandera was there and has the story. >>> i'mi innot going to repeat islanderisn't the kind of moment that generates political inteague. 2018 in texas is -- intrigue. 2018 in texas is different. t ted cruz and beto o'rourke wasted no time scrapping it out over who is more texan. >> i have an idea of values and interests of what being texas are. within months of being sworn to be your texas, ted cruz wasn't in texas, he was in iowa. >> congressman o'rourke doesn't understand that being in office is about barbs. >> reporter: beto o'rourke wondering if he can topple the republican senator, ted cruz. he has on his agenda, universal health care, education reform, granting dreamers citizenship status, as well as criminal justice remember and legalizing marijuana. >> god bless texas. >> reporter: cruz is on a mission to paint o'rourke as a dangerous leftist. >> one, two, three -- >> reporter: and is fully embracing donald trump, a strong economy, and increased border securit security. even in this debate, escaping the shadow of thank you very much was impossible. cruz

ed lavandera is out front. >> it's hard to believe a democratic senate candidate in texas can turn oute than 1,000 people to a rockin' lunchtime rally. but o'rourke had the sweaty voters energized. >> we're going to do this. >> he is within striking distance of ted cruz. he has reached peak status. >> people are yearning for something like this. >> it's ultimate, extreme. >> i'm the wonder woman for o'rourke. >> even the faithful is still the longest of longshots, but they hear the distant echos of obama's 2008 hope and change campaign. just before he went on stage, o'rourke doesn't feel the pressure to save democrats. >> everything's on the line, stakes could not be any higher. and we're meeting the moment. >> o'rourke doesn't show away from pushing the progressive agenda in this red state, he talks of improving education, universal health care, and a recent speech supporting nfl players who neil for the national anthem went viral. catching the attention of celebrities and athletes around the country. >> i can think of nothing more american than to peacefully stand up or take a knee.

ed lavandera. thank you.et's bring in ben mcmillan, a field correspondent for weather nation, is joining us from north myrtle beach, south carolina for us tonight. what has it been like to watch this storm, ben? >> reporter: yeah, wolf, from the carolina coast, we had very strong winds earlier in the day. those have started to die down. we see lessening of the winds. it doesn't mean that the threat is over. the next threat we are looking at is flooding. you see it behind me, covering trucks and houses, and those water levels are just going to go up. many storm deaths occur in tropical systems because of flooding, even more so than the winds. just because the wind is dying down, do not think that the threat is over. we want them to be vigilant throughout the next few days. >> we know a lot of people evacuated, but those who stayed, what are they doing now? where are they encamped? >> reporter: many folks, wolf, have left these areas as they were under a mandatory evacuation. we have actually seen people around

ed lavandera is off the coast. ed, where you are will be the first location to feel the real hurricane force winds. the storm surge there could hit, what, 12 feet? i mean, what are you looking at right now? >> reporter: well, it's odd because right now we're in the middle of like this dry and calm space between these bands that have been coming on shore here through much of the afternoon so it's a little deceiving given the situation we're currently in. not sure exactly how much longer this is going to last, but we have seen -- we're on the coast just a short while ago. we have seen those bands beginning to lash out at the coast. what is interesting in this part -- on this northern side of the storm that we're on is that we're seeing the winds come out of the north and towards the south, which is -- given the way this north carolina coast is here, that is essentially pushing the water away from the coast line. we know that that is going to change in the hours ahead and that's when the dynamic here along this part o

i want to bring in ed lavandera where hurricane florence has just hit in morehead. >> reporter: we're in the middle of the bands where the winds have intensified. not a lot of rain at the moment. that will change in a second and the winds have intensified where we're starting to see the rather light pieces of structure begin to come off. this flew over our location and landed here on this pier just a short while ago. you can see the whitecaps out in the sound. out in the distance that's the barrier island, atlantic beach. all of that has been -- access to that has all been shut down. the bridges are impassable here at this point. local authorities have really shut that down because the winds have now reached a point where there's concern for people's safety. people who chose to stay back essentially trapped there on that island, jake, and we've been speaking with emergency directors here on this -- in this area, and they say what they are most concerned about, because this is a low-lying county here around morehead city, that they are worried about the flooding, and right now the wind

i want to get the latest now from our ed lavandera, who is to the north of us in jacksonville, northarolina. ed, how are things? >> reporter: hey, anderson. we have been on the north side, the topside of this storm. we're really so far throughout the course of this day at least, the brunt of the storm and the heavy winds and rain that have been packed into this storm, and lashing out against the coastline. this is where the brunt of that we have seen throughout the day. we have driven from morehead city to south of jacksonville where we are. for the most part, everything seemed to be holding up rather well, but it is still extremely early. we have spoken with emergency officials in these areas and what they're most concerned about is that flooding situation that will come with this storm surge. for now, the winds have been coming out of the north down to the south, so that has essentially pushed the water for the most part out of the cities and the communities for the most part. but we know that's going to change in the hours ahead. and that's when the scenes around here could dramat