Hurricane Matthew Batters Florida's East Coast; Governor Rick Scott Gives a Hurricane Update.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Chris Cuomo live in Jacksonville, Florida where, I guess, Chris, you're starting to feel the effects of Hurricane Matthew. All right. So he can't hear me right now because, of course, the wind is causing all kinds of technical problems for us in Jacksonville. The monster storm hasn't even hit where Chris is in Jacksonville. Right now, we're standing by waiting for Florida's Governor Rick Scott to speak as the hurricane batters Florida's coast as a Category 3 storm. So far, millions of people have been ordered to evacuate. More than 400,000 people are without power, and more than 4,000 flights have been canceled. The storm already slamming places like Merit Island, Florida. That's near Cape Canaveral. You can see power lines blowing out from the storm's force. Wow. We're also getting a clearer look at the devastation in Haiti. Nearly 300 people died, that number expected to rise. Again, many in the United States now bracing for the worst. Officials warning that some communities could be uninhabitable for months. We are covering this historic hurricane like only CNN can. We have teams of reporters stationed along Florida's east coast all the way up through Georgia. All right. We're going to go to Boris Sanchez. He is live in Daytona Beach, Florida where the winds have been picking up all morning. Take it away, Boris.</s>BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol. Yes, we're kind of in a bit of a lull right now. We've gotten band after band of Hurricane Matthew hitting us here. The winds upward of 60, almost 70, miles an hour, and it has caused a ton of problems. We've got debris all over the streets, everything from palm trees to signs. I don't know if you could see it. There's a big sheet of metal right over there. A few moments ago, some roofing insulation almost hit one of our photographers. So there's a ton of trash just everywhere as the wind is starting to pick up and some of that trash comes back our way. There's also a lot of water, the rain seeming to fall sideways at some point. On top of all of that, you've got the storm surge that we've been talking about. I just got a chance to check the other side of the hotel that we're on where the water is. The waves are enormous. There's a board walk over there, and I spoke to a gentleman last night. He told me that the last time they had a direct hit here from a hurricane, that board walk was totally inundated. He's expecting something similar to happen here as the eyewall gets closer and closer to Daytona Beach. Another note, Carol, something that I never thought I would say. This morning, we've seen several people, civilians, out on the street. That guy right there is actually the chief of police, and we were talking to him on the corner this morning before we had to move, obviously, for safety reasons. And as we were having a conversation, some guy in a pickup truck showed up at the intersection and started doing doughnuts in the intersection and started swerving out of control, having to brake at the last minute before he went right into a store front. The chief cut off our conversation and went after that guy. He was jailed shortly after that. But just like him, we saw another guy that was just walking down the street taking pictures earlier. Terrible, terrible thinking to be outside in a situation like this where there are so many dangers. We've seen signs flailing in the wind, power lines moving around as well, almost about to snap. The dangers out here are very real, and they are extremely, extremely -- these people are putting their lives at risk. This is honestly stupid for people to be out here in these conditions, Carol. The best thing you can do right now in this situation, if you didn't heed the warnings and follow the mandatory evacuation, is just to stay inside your home and hope for the best. Carol.</s>COSTELLO: You know, Boris, I'm glad you use that word, "stupid," because I just can't believe it, but people will be looking at your picture, Boris, and saying, oh, it doesn't look all that bad. But hurricanes don't quite work that way because the strong winds come and go, right, Boris?</s>SANCHEZ: Absolutely, Carol. Yes, we've had moments out here where it looks just like a regular old storm, you know, a typical Florida summer storm. But within seconds, as we saw this morning when we quickly had to run away from that corner, things can take a drastic turn. Some of the palm trees behind me bending, looking as if they were going to break at some moments. And on top of that, we've had the lights flickering on and off all morning. So even though things may appear to be calm at some points, they are not. And the conditions on the ground can change very quickly in a very short amount of time.</s>COSTELLO: All right, Boris Sanchez reporting live from Daytona Beach. All right. So the winds have died down enough. We can get Chris a shout-out from Jacksonville that's farther up the coast of Florida. Chris Cuomo, what's it like there?</s>CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just the beginning here, Carol, in Jacksonville. Originally, we set up here hoping it would be the steady hand for the duration. Now, the advisory has changed and the Jacksonville area is expected to take the most concentrated impact from Hurricane Matthew. But that's still several hours away. Currently, it's about tropical storm conditions, about 40-mile an hour gusts and steady rain. Forty miles an hour is actually significant because that's when emergency services stop being able to get out and operate safely. Now, Jacksonville is particularly vulnerable because of what Hurricane Matthew presents as the greatest threat, which is not the wind as it was with Hurricane Andrew back in 1992 but storm surge. This is the St. Johns River. It represents one of the few cuts on the eastern coast of Florida. If you have a cut in the coastline, you get concentrated water flow. They measured a 17-foot wave from this hurricane 20 miles offshore. That gives you an indication of the volume coming this way. So in an area of a cut it pushes through, it will create storm surge. We're already at the bounds of this promenade here. We still have 2 1/2 feet of regular tide to go before noon without any storm surge, so when this floods over and these bridges stop being able to function at 40 miles an hour, now you have people who are stuck and in a bad way. Jennifer Gray, our meteorologist, has been detailing this for me all morning long. She is in Palm Bay. That place has been getting hit, that area of central Florida, big gusts, 80 miles an hour and more. Jennifer, how is it now?</s>JENNIFER GRAY, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Chris, 80-mile per hour gusts just before sunrise. It was really even hard to stand up, but now the winds have died down. Every now and then, it will feel completely normal. All of a sudden, you'll get a big gust but not nearly as strong as what we are seeing earlier today. I would imagine the gusts have dropped from 80 miles per hour down to about 35, 40-mile per hour gusts which is good news. We are on the south side of that storm though so it is pulling away from us, so our conditions are just as you would expect. But areas to the north, north and northwest of that eye like Daytona Beach all the way up the coast to Jacksonville where you are, conditions are going to continue to deteriorate throughout the coming hours, especially Daytona, that storm less than 30 miles away from you and so you are going to get the brunt of it during the next couple of hours. It's going to be extremely, extremely windy and rainy. We are looking at that eye just offshore and, Carol, you have to watch that so closely because any little jog to the west, that means that those 100- mile per hour winds are going to be right onshore, if not further onshore. Carol.</s>COSTELLO: All right, Jennifer, thanks so much. She's reporting live for us this morning from Palm Bay. I want to head to the Weather Center now to check in with Chad. So, Chad, currently this storm is a Category 3.</s>CHAD MYERS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: It is.</s>COSTELLO: How strong are the winds?</s>MYERS: The winds are 120. We just had a wind sustained from the Hurricane Hunter aircraft, Carol, at 116, so they are measuring that 120 still. Now, the reason why it's not 140 anymore, or 145 like it was forecast to be, is because there's not an inner eyewall anymore. We went through what's called an eye replacement cycle, which was the core which we didn't get in Andrew. We didn't get that core to break up before it hit homestead. That core broke up overnight and now we only have an outer core. So like an ice skater with one foot on the ground spinning around with her arms out, she's spinning slowly, slowly at 120, but not like spinning with her arms in at 140. That's the only difference. The pressure is the same. The risk is the same. The storm surge is the same. It's the same size storm. It just doesn't have that one inner core wall to make 140, so don't let your guard down with this storm. There it moves up toward Daytona. New Smyrna Beach, you're in the way right now. That storm is about to come onshore for you. Playa Linda right through here. Oak Hill getting slammed with 100-mile per hour winds. And then farther up toward Daytona Beach, we are seeing one more band come in for Boris. I suspect, in the next 45 minutes when this outer wall right here at about New Smyrna gets to him, he will have sustained winds of 100 miles per hour, and those are the damaging winds. A tree, a house, a power line can sustain 60 or 70, but when you get to that 100-mile per hour threshold, that's when you get the problems. That's when all of this starts to go away. The power lines go down and shingles come off. We even heard about a few roofs off the buildings. The closer you are to the water, the gustier it will be. Here comes another squall for Chris Cuomo up there in Jacksonville. If you want to talk to him, I recommend you do it rather quickly because he will be going away. That live shot will be going away quickly in the rain. Sometimes, we call it rain fade where the satellite just can't shoot up to the satellite dish or back down because there's just too much rain in the way. You'll notice that if you're a DIRECTV or a DISH customer. When it rains, your signal goes away. That's what's happening to our signals as well. But also something else, think about that DISH waving back and forth, it can't stay aimed at that satellite. So let's move you ahead now. This is about 15 minutes from now, Palm Coast, Daytona all the way down to New Smyrna, hurricane force sustained winds. Higher gusts than that. Later on today, that storm goes by Jacksonville. But this is a lumbering storm. Carol, it just seems like it's taking forever. We've been here all night long waiting for the storm to go by, but it's only moving 10 to 12 miles per hour and it's not onshore. It's going along a 300-mile, essentially, seashore all the way from Jacksonville down to about Daytona. And that's where it goes, it eventually gets into Myrtle Beach. It eventually moves out to sea, but the risk, a true risk today, is the water going up the St. Johns River, going into St. Augustine, going into Daytona. I think, and this is kind of -- I'm calling this an audible off the cuff. We had a shot from Daytona Beach. It was a surf line shot. See if the control room can find that. There's a fence out there in the surf, and it was completely dry about an hour ago. Now, those fence lines which are three feet tall -- those poles are three feet tall -- are completely covered with water. If you can't find it here, go to cnn.com. We do have it here. I do have it on magic four (ph).</s>COSTELLO: Oh, no, here it is. OK.</s>MYERS: There is the shot right there. This was a completely dry beach for much of the day. Now, you can barely see those poles. Every once in a while, a huge wave will come in, cover those poles up altogether. We're concerned about some over wash on some of those lower islands, of course, Carol. That's what storm surge looks like.</s>COSTELLO: All right.</s>MYERS: That should be a beach. It's not.</s>COSTELLO: It's not. OK, Chad Myers, thanks so much. With me on the phone right now is the St. Augustine Mayor Nancy Shaver. Welcome back, Mayor Shaver. Oh, you can see --</s>MAYOR NANCY SHAVER, ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA (via telephone): Welcome to you.</s>COSTELLO: Welcome to you. And while I'm talking to you, Mayor, I just want you to know that we're awaiting a press conference from your governor, Rick Scott. That's expected to take place at any moment now, so I may have to interrupt you.</s>SHAVER (via telephone): That's fine.</s>COSTELLO: And on the right of my screen, I have conditions now in St. Augustine. We have a local reporter doing reports there, and that reporter is being blown all around. So tell me what conditions are like in your town.</s>SHAVER (via telephone): The conditions are just as you see them. And our concern, obviously, is the safety of the folks who live here. We only had about half of our people evacuate as far as we know, so our concern right now is making sure they stay put through this dangerous period. We are obviously on alert everywhere. We've lost power in the city, some power outages throughout the county. We expect more. We turned our water off last night. So this is the time for people to stay put. This is an incredibly dangerous storm, and you know it. You've been reporting on it for hours now. And our concern is really making sure people stay where they are, stay safe. We have our crews ready to move as soon as they are able, but right now they're not moving anywhere.</s>COSTELLO: OK. So the rescue workers are not out and about. They're --</s>SHAVER (via telephone): Absolutely not, no. And we expect -- I have not yet confirmed that our bridges will be closed. We are, as you know, connected to Barrier Islands and those bridges will close at 40 miles an hour sustained winds, and we expect that to happen shortly.</s>COSTELLO: OK. So they're going to close the bridges soon. So you're asking people to stay in their homes right now. You don't want them to get in their cars and go over those bridges before they're closed at the moment?</s>SHAVER (via telephone): No, absolutely not. Absolutely not. We have an emergency operations line that they can call, but our advice right now is for people to stay where they are. The moment really to get in to a shelter or to evacuate has passed, so it's really asking people to stay as safe as they can. Stay where they are. We are not able to help out right now.</s>COSTELLO: All right. Mayor Shaver, many thanks. I'm going to, like, dip into this local reporter's report. This local reporter is talking to his anchors, but let's listen to the conditions in St. Augustine.</s>CHRIS PARENTEAU, MULTI MEDIA JOURNALIST, WJXT: -- have said, evacuate this area. Don't try to come out here. Don't try to look at anything. Just stay in your homes if you haven't already left. Stay in the shelters if you're already there.</s>COSTELLO: That was Chris Parenteau from -- what was it? -- WJXT. Many thanks for that. We didn't dip in early enough, but you see winds are picking up in St. Augustine. They're blowing very hard. They're very worried about the storm surge there in St. Augustine, but that will come later as that storm moves past. It is a massive storm, 314 miles across, and it's a Category 3. So you heard what Chad said, the winds are very strong. They could gust up to 100 miles per hour, plus maybe all the way up to 120. You heard the mayor say that she wants people to stay inside their homes. Only half the people in St. Augustine evacuated. She didn't sound pleased about that because you can't send rescue workers out at this point because the winds are too strong. The waves are too big, so they won't come rescue you. So please stay inside your homes. Don't go outside and take pictures. It just is not worth it. Where can we go next? I'm talking to my control room now. All right. So we're still awaiting this press conference from Governor Rick Scott of Florida. You can see the National Guard standing behind the podium waiting for the Governor to come out. So I'm going to take you to break, right? We'll come back. Hopefully, the Governor will be there. I'll be right back.