. >> shepard: we'll hear from the head of the national hurricane center live and from somebody that is ignoring all the warnings, taking his chances to ride out the storm. let's get to it. >> shepard: hurricane florence is the news from the fox news deck today. don't underestimate the storm. that's the warning from federal and state officials this afternoon as hurricane florence closes in and the outer bands have begun lashing the carolinas. we want to take a look at the latest satellite images. the store is not yet ashore. it's right at 100 miles east southeast of wrightsville beach and wilmington. that is the spot where they believe it will come ashore sometime overnight. the hurricane force winds are already battering the coast from wrightsville beach and myrtle grove, topsail beach, atlantic city, moorehead city, all the way up to cape lookout. all that area along the north carolina coast experiencing the beginning of the hurricane force winds and could go on for many hours. according to the national hurricane center, the report of deadly flooding and storm surge has not changed ev

now to the national hurricane center for the latest update. t's listen together. >> welcome back to the national hurricane center. 11:00, here is an update. hurricane specialists behind me continuously watching the hurricane for updates. we have a brand-new update. the latest wind speed 80 miles an hour. the center located close to cape fear and not moving very fast. the latest reading looking at it at 3 miles an hour. very slow. a strong point to make away from the center. not only those strong winds right around the center, it means the rain bands aren't moving much. when you look at the radar they appear to be moving fast around the circulation. if you notice the area they're moving around is not changing. what happens is you get repetitive rainfall and the potential for tornadoes with some of these cells moving onshore. that's a problem with the rainfall rates and trying to keep an eye on gauges. one reporting the potential of 14 inches of rain. we already have a foot of rain in some areas. the problem is as we forecast the slow movement go

as tropical storm florence batters the states of north and south carolina the national hurricane center says the storm is moving west at just over three kilometers per hour but it is dumping dangerous amounts of rain authorities warn of catastrophic flooding and say up to two point five million people could be left without power. in the. a neighbor describes terrifying scenes as the storm bordine. was very dark. and the wind being higher like it is now in the higher then so all you could see was water and it was very low. so. here with the figure out what's going on out there. further up the coast in new bern a huge storm surge left hundreds of residents trapped as the wolf has rose around them. i know i rescue crews used boats and military vehicles to get the might. i never but some terrified of my life. it was hard i. just wondering what's going on and where the water's going to go and how i got to go and how we're going to get out and if we're going to get trapped in the attic and that. hundreds of thousands of homes and i without power authority is a warning evacuated residents to s

rain and flooding at least four people are killed and hundreds have needed rescuing the national hurricane center says the danger is far from over also coming up. the strongest stalled this year of battles across the philippines typhoon mancow has told the country's main island ripping off roofs and knocking off possible eyes as authorities assess the damage they warned that more floods and landslides could be to come. and in germany johnson. lies on the pressure of the sea as you're meeting as they scramble to stave off a challenge from the. coming elections polls suggest the party could be heading for the result in more than sixty yes. it's good to have you with us. at least five people have died in the united states as tropical storm photons but as the states of north and south carolina the national hurricane center says the storm is moving west at just over three. and is dumping dangerous amounts of rain is one of catastrophic flooding and say up to two point five million people could be left for the. new bern north carolina what looks like swamp land. is actually small town suburbia. sits at

for all of it, let's go straight to miami and the director of the national hurricane center standing e is ken graham. >> walking back to the national hurricane center, this is ken graham in operations with the hurricane specialist behind me continuing to look at several different systems. one in particular hurricane florence. right now it's 2:00 eastern. this is your update on

out of danger. >> ken graham, thanks for the work and you your colleagues are doing at the national hurricane center. ken is the director of the national hurricane center. we're going to be talking to him a lot. >>> joining me now is nbc's gabe gutierrez. he's in an evacuation shelter in conway high school in conway, south carolina. this is a major issue. there are more and more people under this hurricane watch who may not have the means to get away or the speed or the transportation ability or issues that stop them from getting away. these shelters are popping up all over the place. >> yeah, ali, that's exactly right. we've been seeing people trickling into these shelters throughout the day and we expect many more. more than 100 people are at this shelter right now here in conway, south carolina. it's about 20, 25 minutes inland from myrtle beach, and, again we expect more and more people to head up the highway as they head inland. this is the area where those highways, the eastbound lanes were closed down and all westbound lanes were heading away from this massive storm inland, and we were actual

hurricane center in many decades. not just the coast line either, far from it. catastrophic flooding and torrential downpours according to the national hurricane center could spread for hundreds of miles. overflowing rivers, flash flooding in the appalachian mountains are likely, they tell us. here is what it looks like inside the storm these pictures from hurricane hunters who flew straight into the eye of florence after circling its perimeter to gather crucial information that could save so many lives. this is a time lapsed video of their flight. when they reached the center, it's beautiful and sunny as it always is in the eye of the storm. state troopers in south carolina have reversed the flow of traffic on the highway, so that all leans go out. the locals call it contra flow. it's difficult and many times confusing but can be life-saving as it avoids traffic jams so people can get out of the hurricane quickly. even the navy is packing up and leaving. warships and submarines on the coast of virginia heading out to sea to avoid the storm there are some major health hazards in the storm's path, putting water supplies at the -- in t

let's go live to the national hurricane center right now.re joined by the acting director ed rapoport. ed, thanks so much for joining us. what is it about hurricane florence that makes the risk so great right now? >> there are a couple of extreme risks from florence. the first is going to be along the coast where we are expecting storm surge to be at life-threatening levels. we are taking a look at a map now of the south carolina and north carolina coast where in this red we have a storm surge warning. that is for life-threatening surge. the numbers we are showing are the heights we could see, the inundation, the depths the water will reach. nine to 13 feet along portions of the north carolina coast. that's because the water will be driven inland along the coast by the very strong winds. now, there will be storm surge that's almost as high to the south and to the north, so the entire coast of north carolina and south carolina is at risk from storm surge. then later we're going to have a huge risk from the hazard of inland flooding from exces

. >> odd say experts at national hurricane center. the explanation lies below the violent atlantic on the seabed. 60 miles offshore, the continental shelf the ocean goes from a depth of a mile to 120 feet and a steep incline to shore. as it gets more shallow, the storm surge rises. in that storm that rapid rise of water is moving moving five miles per hour until it crashes into shore. the national hurricane center predicting an 11-foot storm surge. concerned the drop from a cat four to a two creates a false sense of safety. >> even though the winds have decreased, our surge forecast has not. >> reporter: storm surge can flood a home within minutes. at three feet furniture including the sofa begins to float. at five feet the refrigerator can knock you out and at eight plus feet, there is no room to breathe. the surge of water has become with the worst yet to come. if and when that 11-foot storm surge comes, it will come over the sand dunes through the boardwalk and with the power of the atlantic behind it, it will push through potentia

this is a forecast that's come out of the national hurricane center here of where the center is goingto go. and, indeed, as it approaches the coast late thursday, overnight thursday into friday, we do show it slowing down. now, whether the track turns a little this way or a little this way, in the end, you're right, it's not going to make a great difference because it's a very large hurricane and it's going to create a large storm surge over a large area as well as a rainfall threat. and, in fact, let's take a look at that. this is the south carolina/north carolina map. this area in red is where we have the expectation of life-threatening storm surge. these are the values of the inundation we could get, 9 to 13 feet deep along the coast, particularly along the coast and up toward the rivers as well. because of the storms we mentioned is not moving much, it's going to drop a lot of rain in the same area and we're expecting flooding from that as well. so storm surge along the coast and this is the rainfall expected in inches. upwards of 20 inches in some places. all of virginia, north c

can graham as a director of the national hurricane center in miami and is live with us as bad as all this is, there is tim good news from the clouds. >> when you get that center on land, targeting cited ability. the slow movement, we are focusing around that center moving left, at the same time, really interesting if you watch this. you think these showers and really heavy rain areas, looks like it's moving fast when you step back from the radar but the reality is training over the same area as over and over moving at same speed at the center and the rainfall totals already 3.53, 13.8 inches of rain so still despite the wind coming down, still going to have a lot of impact. the when those totals really are incredible. we all rely on them, they've got it up to 40 inches of rain, it's exactly what you predicted. is there more to come do you think? >> when you look at these rainfall totals, we have dealt with the storm surge and was pretty scary and dangerous with this, you pile up the water with the storm surge but then all of a sudden you have to drain all of this rain so you still hav

you can see where the current point is for the national hurricane center.'m sure we have some significant wind damage with that western eye wall. also continue to get battered with a ton of heavy rain. let's time it out over the next couple of hours. there's the eye coming on shore. this computer model takes us by noon today still lingering near the coast. by the time we get to midnight, maybe over the top of myrtle beach, still bands of very heavy rain up toward wilmington and jacksonville. then during the day on saturday the storm has continuation of heavy rain. as the storm goes into south carolina, we still get these feeder bands coming off the ocean that will produce heavy rain. and sunday still heavy rain. we're talking three days in a row of heavy rainfall in the same area here of north carolina. as far as the rainfall forecast goes, this is one of our computer models. still adding it up, this goes through sunday evening, an additional 28 inches possible in the wilmington area. fayetteville 21. this isn't just going to be a coastal problem. it's goin

appreciate the update. >>> tom mentioned the national hurricane center. we're bringing in ed rappaport, the deputy director of the national hurricane center. ed, you know we have to meet on these occasions. i wish it was better news, but i hope people heed the warnings and get out. you have been tracking this storm all night. what is the best case or worst case scenario for those who are bracing for this hurricane? >> we're very concerned. it's a dangerous hurricane now, and it will be a dangerous hurricane at landfall. the details, as you've been talking about, won't be known for a while. but regardless of the exact time and exact location of the landfall of the center, this is a very large storm. and so there is a significant area that's going to be at risk from storm surge, which is the greatest killer in hurricanes. what we've got shown here now is the area that's under a storm surge warning. that means life-threatening surge. as mentioned, 9 to 13 feet of inundation is possible along the coast and up some of the rivers. this entire area is at risk. th

according to the national hurricane center, ten people were killed directly by the hurricane.rectly by the hurricane in the u.s. alone. however, 82 more are classified as indirect deaths that happened afterward. can you explain for people who are watching and listening why a storm surge and other factors often kill more people after the storm strikes? >> yes, we see that in every hurricane. we have -- oftentimes we have very few fatalities during the storm. but afterwards, people are tired, they've been up late and they want to get out there, work in yards, get on the roofs. people get injured are chain saw, people electrocuted, people fall off the roofs. it's just not being careful. if you decide to shelter in place, stay there. if you've evacuated, stay out until you're asked to come back or told to come back in. but we see it every storm, you're actually right on target with that one. >> david, as you probably are aware, president trump a few hours ago called into question the death toll as a result of hurricane maria which followed irma. i want to read his two quotes. 3,00

the us national hurricane center is warning of life threatening floods.s imaging from our forecasting team shows the hurricane‘s final approach. we'll hear from some of those who have decided to sit out the storm in a moment, but first our north america correspondent chris buckler sent this report from wilmington, north carolina. for days people have been preparing, and now the first of the strong wind and rain has really arrived. in 12 hours‘ time this weather is expected to deteriorate rapidly, causing real problems here. storm surge pushing water inland and this time tomorrow the eye of the storm is expected to be over the carolinas, potentially causing 2a hours or more of deeply disruptive weather. on the edge of the carolinas, the wind is strengthening and the water is rising. and this is just a taste of what florence threatens. the hurricane has been making a slow approach from the atlantic. and if what has been forecast comes true, days of flooding lie ahead. there is talk about storm surges of maybe nine feet and if it stalls like they are saying

where a boat is going down a city street as we await the brand new update from the national hurricane centern miami. there are changes to report on this hurricane. direction change, central pressure change, wind speed change. for all of it, let's go straight to miami and the director of the national hurricane center standing by live now, here is ken graham. >> walking back to the national hurricane center, this is ken graham in operations with the hurricane specialist behind me continuing to look at several different systems. one in particular hurricane florence. right now it's 2:00 eastern. this is your update on florence. you can see the center is still moving very slow. in fact, the latest information that we had with the aircraft and also looking on radar moving west at only 5 miles per hour. so moving very slowly. so around that center you can see that intense rainfall and also some still gusty winds with the latest information still remaining at 75 miles per hour. so, still a lot of gusty winds and, you know, very dangerous situation right center. let's look away from that. these rain

winds and heavy rains at least four people are dead and hundreds of needed rescuing the national hurricane center says the danger is far from over also coming up the strongest storm this year barrels across the philippines typhoon mango tears through the country's main island ripping off roofs and knocking out power supplies as authorities assess the damage they warned that more floods and landslides could be to come plus angela merkel's bavarian allies are under pressure to see as you meet in munich as they scramble to stave off a challenge from the far right and upcoming elections polls suggest the party could be heading for its worst results in more than sixty years. unexpired good to have you with us at least four people have died in the u.s. as tropical storm force florence batters the states of north and south carolina the national hurricane center says the storm is moving west at just over three kilometers per hour but is dumping dangerous amounts of rain authorities warn of catastrophic flooding and say up to two point five million people could be left without power. florence's first vict

let's go live now to ed rappaport, deputy director of the national hurricane center in south florida. >> good evening. this is a 5:00 p.m. eastern time update on hurricane florence. florence remains a dangerous hurricane closing in on the southeast coast. this hour, the center of the hurricane is looking less than 400 miles offshore approaching north carolina and south carolina. very dangerous hurricane, category 3 on the scale, winds of 120 miles per hour. don't think there will be much change in terms of intensity over the next day or two. likely to approach the coast late thursday into friday with winds near that strength. because of those wins, we are expecting a very high storm surge. as the center of the storm approached the coast, strong winds, pushing water ashore and it will mean a storm surge as high as 9 to 13 feet. along portions of the north carolina coast and up some of the rivers as well with somewhat lower values but still very dangerous all the way down into south carolina and up to the virginia border. there is a storm surge warning along the coast for life-threateni

finally, the national hurricane center's next update will be at 11:00 a.m. >> good morning. neil jacobs from noaa. in addition to forecast and decision support from the national weather service, noaa deploys assets to support recovery and response. noaa's navigation response teams are prestaging to assist in reopening ports as soon as possible. the national survey has aircraft on standby to support fema overflights for affected areas. noaa's office of response and recovery is also on stand bito assist the coast guard -- standby to assist the coast guard. a system is actively providing distress and specific location information to the coast guard. noaa is working with local emergency managers and industry to help amplify our forecast message, including working through over 8,000 weather-ready nation ambassadors. although the storm has made landfall, our work is not done. i want to say thank you to our hardworking team from the response and recovery personnel across noaa to our reconnaissance crews in the office of marine and aviation operations. and additionally to the nation

we've been reporting the storm at last check from the national hurricane center was down at a minimal hurricane at 75 miles an hour. 74 would be a tropical storm. it was due west at six miles an hour. there is the latest satellite loop of it. let's get an update. ken graham is the director of the national hurricane center. ken, we figured as it moved inland it would get strength. has it? >> yes, it has, shep. losing strength and still seeing the rainfall. so as we move -- continue to move inland, we'll see the winds come down. these are the areas that i'm still so concerned about. the center of it and the rain bands. if you notice with time, these rain bands continue to bring a lot of rain over the same area. so as we move northward, we'll see this transition from a storm surge and a growing fresh threat from the rainfall. >> shepard: when does this turn to the north? >> the turn to the north doesn't come. we finally have a system out of the great lakes that will turn it to the north. this is -- we're looking at right now this right here is 8:00 p.m. saturday. this is 8:00 a.m. sunday

let's go live now to ed rappaport, deputy director of the national hurricane center in south florida.vening. this is a 5:00 p.m. eastern time update on hurricane florence. florence remains a dangerous hurricane closing in on the southeast coast. this hour, the center of the hurricane is looking less

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that's the description from the national hurricane center. word their forecasters are using is catastrophic. first it, reports this storm, which right now is here, and huge, larger than the carolinas at this moment, and headed directly in that direction. it could pack, they say, by landfall, bin winds of 150 miles per hour in isolated areas. that the hurricane center is powerful enough to flatten homes and snap power poles. in addition, once the hurricane comes ashore, wherever it comes ashower, it is then expected to move inland and then stall. that's according to the hurricane center. the storm will stall somewhere along the east coast sit and spin and dump rain for days as much as three feet of rain in some spots. what does that mean? well, according to the national hurricane center, that means life-threatening flooding could spread for hundreds of miles with power outages and blocked escape escae routes. these shots coming to us from the international space station. florence was a category 2 hurricane just this morning but strengsd an str

the national hurricane center says waves out at sea and the strongest part of the storm are as high as 83 feet. seven nuclear power plants as you see on the map are in the path of the storm. we have meteorologist pedram javaheri in the weather center for us. it has slowed, but it is not less dangerous. >> that means it is more dangerous. they think it is a category two. i can ride it out. a lot less of a concern. it is in motion for multiple days. all of that waeter that has bee pushed up ahead of the system, up to 83 feet, all of this is a concern. that translates closer to land and it will not be 83 feet. the storm surge is the biggest concern. the clouds from west to east is from san francisco to colorado. that is one thing worth noting. when it comes to cyclones, 30% of deaths are storm surge and 8% related to the wind. the wind aspect does not take lives. it is the storm surge and rainfall. the storm surge has not changed one bit. as much as 13 plus feet. rainfall up to 30 to 35 inches if possible. we think landfall is late morning hours and afternoon hours of friday. outside of w

we're going to get the latest this hour from the directors of the national hurricane center and national weather service as well as our correspondents and experts. they are all standing by. first, let's go straight to cnn meteorologist jennifer gray. she's in the cnn hurricane center right now. jennifer, there's a new forecast for florence that's just been released. update our viewers. >> wolf, the storm has put on the brakes. it's only moving about five miles per hour, and this is the fear. this is the storm that is going to basically sit over the carolinas for the next 24 to 36 hours, just shredding the coast, bringing relentless rain and a lot of wind and storm surge and flooding for days. we're getting gusts around cape lookout and north carolina with 100-mile-per-hour winds and gusts of 120. this storm is not going anywhere fast. only moving at 5 miles per hour. the track has actually slowed a little bit. not making a landfall until tomorrow afternoon, and if the storm decides to just sit offshore a little bit, we could be looking at even a longer period of time before we get an act

the national hurricane center says, the 7:00 a.m. position, the center of the eye of the hurricane is about to make landfall. just as we were on in the last few moments. >> and that coast, the carolina coast has the ocean on this side, filled with rivers and inlets and things. craig is in wilmington, and that area is getting pounded as we speak. craig, tell us what you're seeing. right now, hoda. the 80-mile-per-hour-plus winds al was just referencing. we're feeling every bit of that. this was a full tree easily an hour ago. in the past hour, we've seen branch after branch torn off this tree. it's roughly half the size it was. another major concern right now, shingles off roofs. these shingles are flying about. this one came from the roof of our hotel. the last time we talked, about an hour ago, we actually had power. since then, we've lost power here, as well. one of the tens of thousands in the dark right now. we've also moved locations. we were right there on the cape fear river. we moved after the last hour because it was no longe

so this intensification was actually well forecast by the national hurricane center. a tropical storm all the way up to a major hurricane, and sure enough it did that. so the more data that we can collect with aircraft like this, the better the computer models get, the better the forecasts are going to be. so amongst metrological world it really didn't take anybody by much of a surprise what happened yesterday. >> well, here at the news desk i think maybe it just surprised me, perhaps not chad myers, but i guess what i'm asking is from what you've seen up in the sky, what do you want people on the ground in north carolina to know? >> well, what i can tell you is that all of the conditions that are necessary for a hurricane to continue to intensify are present. we're seeing very little wind shear up here at this altitude, the instruments that we dropped show the very favorable environment surrounding the storm, it's going to be traversing water temperatures that are around 85 degrees fahrenheit, so there's nothing to prevent this storm from continuing to intensify. its

the national hurricane center says the storm is moving west at just over three kilometers an hour and is dumping dangerous amounts of rain authorities warn of catastrophic flooding and say up to two point five million people could be left without power. florence's first victims were. they were killed when this tree crashed in the coastal city of wilmington north carolina. a neighbor describes terrifying scenes as the storm bordine. was very dark. and the wind being high like it is now in the higher then so all you could see was water and it was very loud wins so. here we figure out what's going on out there. further up the coast in new bern a huge storm surge left hundreds of residents trapped as the waters rose around them. so i rescue crews used boats and military vehicles to get the night. i never been so terrified of my entire life. it was hard i'm. just wondering what's going on and and where the water's going to go and how high it's going to go and how we're going to get out and if we're going to get trapped in the attic and that. hundreds of thousands of homes and i without pow

the national hurricane center is just out with new information on the strength and the direction of hurricanen without any numbers, the picture alone is terrifying, as are the possibilities. from massive sturges to more than 3 feet of rain to areas that could experience hurricane-force win for a day and a night. we'll be covering all the angles, all of the evacuations, the preparation, all of it. we want to begin

from the national hurricane center, 50 miles west-southwest of wilmington, 70-mile-per-hour winds. tropical force conditions through myrtle beach tonight, columbia tomorrow afternoon, making its way to the northeast eventually with a lot of rain and wind. flash flooding for over 15 million people, lester. >> all right, al, thanks very much. >>> as we've been telling you, that dangerous storm surge is bringing life-threatening floods several feet high to many parts of the carolinas. nbc's kerry sanders is at carolina beach, a coastal community that's been simply overwhelmed. >> reporter: as the pounding waves turned into an unstoppable storm surge, those who chose to ride it out are full of regret. janet rivera. >> out there is what's left of our dock. from our house to that is completely gone. >> reporter: this was her dock before. and now. the storm surge hit her house from all sides. the atlantic and the big waters leaving her home surrounded. >> it's incredible to look out every window and literally see waves. it's as if my house landed in the middle of the ocean. >> reporter: i

the 5:00 update from the national hurricane center just in. 90-mile-an-hour winds from hurricane florence. the eye of the storm is 20 to 25 miles away from where i am. east of where i am in wilmington, north carolina. moving so slowly. 6 miles per hour. crawling over the coast bringing so much rain. already 22 inches in atlantic beach which is not far from where i am and it will crawl down the coast to south carolina and north myrtle beach where chris cuomo is just waiting. chris, what are you seeing there? >> we're getting the first bands of rain through here. if people are looking at the satellite image from the radar, you see it will come through in bands. chad myers will check in with us in a second to tell us that you are about to get the heaviest part of the stink coming your way, john. you are a look at our future. this is the first band of significant rain i have seen. gusting winds in the storm range of 40-to-45 miles an hour. it is not significant taken once. taken over the course of ten hours, it softens things up. it creates vulnerabilities. that is the concern. for now, i'm o

janice: landfall, we think, we will get official document from the national hurricane center. e lowest pressure point of this hurricane will be in wrightsville beach. that's just historic point. remember, the strongest core of winds are on the outside of the eye. so, right now, the calmest point is moving over wrightsville beach. we still have the threat for those very strong winds on the back side of this storm, so we still have that to go through. the fact that this storm is moving so slowly, again, that's the take away, the fact that we are going to have still ongoing storm surge, relentless winds and rain and that's going to be going on throughout the day today and in throughout much of the weekend. it's not going to move quickly. only moving at 5 miles per hour. there is the current radar. you can see wrightsville beach right there they will probably make that the official landfall point. here are some of the wind gusts 105 miles per hour. cape lookout and the barrier islands there the storm surge, that will be the big creanissue heard all the reports of people rescued in

the national hurricane center warns of catastrophic flooding. this morning fema rescue teams are rushing to the aid of 150 people trapped in the river city of new bern, north carolina. they have been told to move to the second story or attic. the bridge to the town is blocked by deep water. so far more than 180,000 households have lost power in north carolina alone. mola lenghi is in wilmington, north carolina. >> reporter: florence wasted no time attacking the carolinas. thirst outer bands of the slow-moving storm quickly brought a surge of water inland. the rushing water toppled a cameraman in topsail beach in north carolina and then made quick work of the garage. the storm's powerful winds toppled this gas station canopy. florence has already knocked out power to thousands throughout the region. >> our power just went out instantly. we weren't expecting it. it was way too early. we were trying to charge our things for the storm to come and it already went out. >> reporter: officials say millions of people may be left without electricity and i

national hurricane center live now with the latest numbers. >> welcome back to the national hurricanee update at 11:00 eastern looking at the clock on hurricane florence. the structure very signature eye in the middle. the structure is maintaining its strength. by the structure you look at a healthy hurricane. one thing i want to point out you see the rain bands start to form. it is important as we watch this system come in it's not always about this eye in the central part of the storm. it stretches well out from the center even tropical storm winds stretching out 175 miles from the center represented in the yellow circle. think about that as we come on shore and the advancements of this storm. you'll get rain bands and wind ahead of landfall. we look at the hurricane warning for stretches right around the north carolina down to the south carolina coastline and watch the slowdown. this is what we've been talking about all morning. really approaching the coast. you start looking at late thursday into friday and saturday. look how slow movement we have. each day a little bit of movemen

as you well know, you have seen the forecast, we're hearing from the national hurricane center. this hurricane is headed for north carolina. wrightsville beach could be facing the worst of it. where are you focused might right now? >> we started friday with our preparation, and we're basically focusing on the landfall pretty much at wrightsville beach, a category 4. we're having a mandatory evacuation at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. residents are encouraged to get their belongings and move out. no visitors will be allowed on the island. we're all in a flood zone here, the entire county is in a flood zone. we're taking our essential vehicles and fire apparatus and things of that nature across the bridge and into a safer location. so we'll be doing that. we're manning our eoc, our emergency operations center, here tomorrow. we suspended all the town operations other than focusing on the storm. >> and tim, i mean, we're looking, the forecast and information i'm looking at is 6 to 12-foot storm surge and also the fact that in the latest track, the storm is slowing down. which can be in the af

the national hurricane center path obviously did not take that. it has come further south over the last day or two. >> we will watch what happens. power outages are climbing as we speak. more than a half million homes and businesses in the dark across the carolinas. whole towns without power and it could take weeks to fully restore. >> rain totals are climbing and 20 inches of rain. some cities could see eight months over the next couple of days. >> eight months worth of rain. can you imagine? 12,000 people in north carolina riding out the storm in shelters. we have fanned out across the region. we will have the forecast in a minute. craig melvin in wilmington, north carolina is having a moment of calm. bring us up to date. >> reporter: good morning to you. shortly before we got ready to come on the air, i want to show you this picture. perhaps you can hear in the background as well. it's a fire alarm that just started maybe five or 10 minutes ago. that fire alarm going off and people starting to leave. we didn't think there were a lot of folks in

the national hurricane center forecasting that that storm surge here would be about 11 feet. it would come over the dunes. it would come across the board walk here and then with the force of the atlantic behind it, it moves forward and can cause partial damage to homes, to buildings, may even take a home completely down. the distance it goes in, of course, driven a lot by the wind. we hear about the decreasing wind from a category 2 to category 1. so that may be some good news there, but it doesn't mean we're going to see any less of a storm surge at this point, according to the national hurricane center. i've got a question to ask you for bill if it's okay. i've covered many hurricanes. >>> bill, two things i kind of had noted just by physically being out here, earlier today i had my feet down in the water before we really had any sense of tropical force winds or anything like that. and i didn't really feel -- felt like 85 degree water temperatures. but even more notable is as i'm standing out here tonight, usually there is a much higher sense of humidity. under a raincoat l

i want to go to ken graham, he's the director of the national hurricane center. you have just come out with a new forecast a few minutes ago. again, the winds are a little less, but 105 miles per hour is not something most people have ever stood in or experienced. these are vicious, damaging winds, and the rain is still there. >> >> 105 miles an hour, it changes nothing in the impacts of this system because if you think about it, those -- the categories that's just about the wind. nothing has changed with the message about the heavy rain and the storm surge absolutely just like before. >> so the wind is an important consideration because if you've got newer construction like some of these buildings here, for instance, in myrtle beach, they might be able to sustain 100 miles an hour better than they would have sustained 125 or 130, but the rain issue, the flooding, the water, tell me how this all works. for people who don't understand a storm surge that could be nine feet or higher, does that really mean we're going to have sustained water that might be taller tha

another briefing coming up momentarily the national hurricane center.coverage continues, florence getting ready to come onshore. she's saying a whole lotta people want to buy this house. but you got this! rocket mortgage by quicken loans makes the complex simple. understand the details and get approved in as few as eight minutes. by america's largest mortgage lender. >> sandra: it is primary day in new york and all eyes are on the race between andrew cuomo and his challenger cynthia nixon. we have a new fox news channel reporters, jackie, welcome. >> in many ways this race is not just between cuomo and nixon but between establishment politicians and insurgent candidates. we've seen dramatic upsets these mid-terms. as he seeks a third term cuomo's campaign is running against trump diverting issues away from the state. >> the president had the audacity yesterday to declare the puerto rico recovery effort a success. a success. mr. president, wake up. 3,000 people died. >> this morning president trump firing back on twitter over his response to puerto rico

national hurricane model, but we want to show you the european model and the u.s., because it is showing a a difference, right? so you want to stay on guard. wilmington agrees with the national hurricane center, and the european model is one that we look at in terms of the reliability, but the zus showing farther no the north and the east, and we will watch that, too. and we want to point out that it is a active tropic season n. terms of the ingredient sws we e warm water, and wind sheers to break up the storms that you want, and we have low wind sheer, and that why we have the hot tropics right now, and nothing to slow down this development. certainly watching it over the next kocouple of days, hour to hour, because we could see some changes by friday morning. >> thank you for that, michelle, and marianna atencio, you are there watching the preparation, and first of all s there enough time for people to get out? how are the roads, how clogged is the traffic? >> these are a critical couple of hours cocop coming up. and today is the last day to have people gas ip and leave town, andrea. the roads were clear around the wilmington area when we drove the wrightsville beach this morning, but the

the national hurricane center wants to bring it in a little early, 8:00 in the morning as a category 2. this could still get to 3. hurricane katrina hit new orleans as a category 3. we're just about there. when it came out of the gulf, it was a 5. the water underneath katrina created even though it made landfall as a 3 a record 2-foot storm surge. early this morning, a wave height reported in that northeastern quadrant was 83 feet staggering the imagination. so the wall of water is still underneath this storm. the surge is going to be the same. the threat for loss of life and loss of property does not change. so do not pay attention to these numbers. it never was about that. it was about where the storm has come from, how strong it is, the vulnerable coastline and the massive slowdown. that has not changed. so the rainfall rates are going to be staggering, a couple of inches an hour for several days. we could see over ten inches a day for a couple of days. that 35, 40 inch total is going to be met in many locations. so the threat for loss of life from flooding, from storm surge is st

at sea level so we have this storm surge warning a new product out of the national hurricane center to emphasize just how deadly and dangerous storm surge can be because people don't often get the message with it. seven to 11 feet and already seen that in some cases and a couple of high tide cycles of this and the 3d graphic we have shows you exactly what happens when the water -- it's not a tsunami. this thing bills over time. the wind is driving this, in some cases low pressure but wind piling up the water depending on the bottom part of the ocean h. in the gulf it's worse, on the east coast, it pushing up and infiltrates your home. it does it slowly. people think it's not a big deal then all of a sudden it's in the first floor of your home and in some cases the second floor and that's where we're hearing these calls for help from folks who thought they would be safe but here comes the surge. you are up to date. our coverage continues in a moment. but first time for your weekend getaways. >>> coming up much more on hurricane florence. we're going back into the storm zone speaking wit

early this morning, if national hurricane center issued watches. we get the updates every three hours after the watches. it didn't take long for them to push into a warning from santee river south carolina up to duck, north carolina including albemarle and pimlico. this is coming. the system is still massive. >> last night, winds at 140, dropped this morning to 130. it slowed down this morning. now it's speeding back up. it's back to 140 which means the system has lungs. it's exhaling, inhaling. most likely went through a little reorganization with the eye. it is barreling still toward around the wilmington area. when we watch this, we have to understand this is much like katrina. when katrina moved into the gulf, it was a category 5. in new orleans, it was only a 2. the damage was done because when it was a 5, this water came with it and it shoved a record storm surge of 28 feet. that's the concern. it's much different to have a storm develop in open waters than near the coast. it's bringing water. now, this is what's different. in red here is the