joining me right now is michael cramer. chael, what is your biggest concern at this hour from what you're seeing? >> presently, now that the storm has actually reduced in speed, our main concern is the storm surge and the rain. we're talking about 20 to 40 inches of rain, and 9 to 13-foot storm surge. to put that in perspective, most of our housing on the coast is elevated. and that would mean that even with an elevated structure, you would have water on the first floor, the first habitable floor. >> so for anybody who has stayed behind, who thinks just because they're in a structure that's elevated, they need to be on their guard, because they could very easily have water in their first floor. >> very much so. and that's why our council earlier in the week went and issued a mandatory evacuation for 8:00 last night, and then a curfew for 8:00 last night, trying to encourage people to leave, because this will be a devastating event for rain and storm surge. and people aren't used to that here. we do get storms, and our storms

michael cramer, thanks very much. we'll be back in touch. >> thank you. >> dana: bye bye. the outer bands of florence are now hitting the carolina coast. i'll talk to south carolina senator tim scott about final preparations there. stay tuned to fox news channel for continuing coverage of hurricane florence. i'm dana perino in new york. we'll be bark in just a few minutes here on the fox news channel. art at the new carfax.cm show me minivans with no reported accidents. boom. love it. [struggles] show me the carfax. start your used car search at the all-new carfax.com. ...to give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you don't. i'll take that. [cheers] 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar. new ensure max protein. in two great flavors. new ensure max protein. every year 790,000 americans it can happen anywhere, anytime. but during a suspected heart attack, immediately calling 911 and chewing bayer aspirin can help save a life. carry bayer aspirin. help save a life. experience a blend of refined ...and raw power. engineered to take the crown. the lexus ls 500 an

joining me now is nbc's al roker and michael cramer. he's the town manager of carolina beach about 25 miles south-southeast of here. it's an island under mandatory evacuation. michael, stay with me for a second. al, let me start with you. >> here is the latest. as you mentioned still a category 4 storm. we haven't had much of a change from our earlier update. however, it's a little closer now, 485 miles southeast of wilmington, north carolina. it's 130 miles per hour winds, so still a very strong category 4. its movement northwest at 15 miles per hour. it's actually slowed up just a little bit. the track of the storm brings it by friday morning at 8:00 a.m. just south of wilmington, and then skirts along the coast and makes landfall allegedly about as a category 2 storm sometime saturday morning with 100 miles per hour winds. two takeaways, one, don't pay attention to the category of the storm. the northeast quadrant of the storm, that's where the strongest winds, the strongest storm surge is going to be, and look at what that would mean

michael cramer, thank you very much. >> thank you. >>> coming up on "new day," we will speak to the virginia governor, ralph northam, and what are they saying about the storm? >> i'm headed to wilmington, north carolina. for now unless this storm shifts to the south, we may have to readjust how we cover this going forward. >>> trump says the administration is ready for hurricane florence, as ready as anybody has ever been. of course, in the same breath he said that puerto rico was an incredible unsung success. nearly 3,000 people died there. can the country handle that much more success? that's ahead. making my dreams a reality takes more than just investment advice. from insurance to savings to retirement, it takes someone with experience and knowledge who can help me build a complete plan. brian, my certified financial planner™ professional, is committed to working in my best interest. i call it my "comfortable future plan," and it's all possible with a cfp® professional. find your certified financial planner™ professional at letsmakeaplan.org. find your certified financial planner™ profes

michael cramer is the sound manager. i believe we have a connection with you on the phone. how are things where you are? >> right now pretty calm. we're in the eyewall and we've gotten a little bit of a break in the wind and the weather here for just a little bit and we're sending crews out to look at damage assessment and survey the area. >> bill: do you have an assessment for how you did overnight yet, michael? >> right now it looks like we have just a couple of small issues for damage, roofs here and there, small wall that has collapsed. but other than that, most of it is minor debris, trees and things like that. not very much flooding. we don't have too much in the way of power lines or phone lines in the road but we are completely out of power on the island. so that's about 6,000 residents. >> bill: you are about on the underbelly of the storm, is that right, michael, the southern end of it? >> yes, that's correct. >> bill: do you think there might have been a note of optimism being at that angle when the storm hit land? >> most definitely. we really haven't to date fa

. >> all right michael morris and of course julia boorstin on the west coast in l.a. this morning. thank you, both. >>> when we return, jim cramer stay tuned u e tcngsqwkox" right here on cnbc so, the whole world is talking about ai. big, bold promises like... it'll transform the human race! "squawk box" on cnbc but here's the thing. you don't live on mars. you build wind turbines. answer millions of customer calls a year. like this one: no, i didn't order this. it's terrifying. you run a real business with real roll-up-your-sleeves business needs. and that's why you work with watson. hello. so it can analyze weather data to help retailers increase foot traffic. assist thousands of online banking customers each week. and reduce delays for 25 million passengers. mahalo. watson isn't just the promise of ai. it's the real deal deep learning business ai. that knows your industry, protects your insights, and works with tools you already use. that's why it's the best ai for the job. >>> jim cramer is joining us now and i thought i love the, 48 cents, i am sorry it was negatively impacted but it is about raising wages for a bunch of gu