Transcripts For FOXNEWSW Americas Newsroom With Bill Hemmer And Sandra Smith 20180913

This radar now for days and wilmington has always been in the cross hairs. Not knowing what this storm does or any storm does of this magnitude. Once it starts to interact with land i urge our viewers as youre watching this, the forecasts are out there. Once the storm starts hitting land it is anybodys cast. Multiple forecasts suggest florence could hit and strike and linger and possibly linger for three days. You think about the magnitude of a storm like this that has gathered so much energy in the atlantic hitting with a force from a stretch 100 miles north and south of here. Youre talking a total of 10 Million People right now that have been threatened by florence. We await for the first rain here in wilmington expected at 2 00 this afternoon. Sandra florence now a category 2 storm but forecasters say do not let that fool you. It is expected to bring unprecedented amounts of rain and flooding. Tropical Storm Force Winds stretching almost 400 miles. President trump warning people to get out while they still can. President trump this is going to be one of the biggest ones to ever hit our country. Residents in the path of these devastating storms should comply with all evacuation orders and other emergency instructions. Weve been through it before. We hope we can get through it again. Just pray, thats all you can do. Right now its anxiety and adrenaline to do what we can. Not really fear because there is not a whole lot we can control at this point. Just the unknown were worried about. Not knowing whats coming or when it will come or how it will come. Bill well have a number of press conferences and every angle of the storm covered. Jonathon cyri is also on stand by and well talk to thom tillis in a moment but straight to january janice dean. I dont want people to let their guard down. Yesterday it was a 4. Now its a 2. The problem is it will linger as bill mentioned and it has all the energy of what we saw yesterday. The National Hurricane center has not changed their forecast in terms of how much rainfall or storm surge. The only thing that has changed is the core of strongest winds by about 20 miles. I want to show you, highend cat 2, 110 miles an hour is where we are now. A 3 is 111. Were off by one mile from a major hurricane. The fact that it will stall is what will bring the catastrophic potential. We have a tornado watch until 9 00 p. M. Local time. With these landfalling systems because of the sheer in the upper levels of the atmosphere and winds coming from different direction we have the threat for tornadoes. Not only that, the storm surge will be epic in some cases over 12 feet, 13 feet. And 20 to 40 inches of rainfall. If you can look at this track as we go further in time, we do expect a landfall around friday morning, tomorrow morning, and then look at this. This is 24 hours later it has not budged much. Thats why were predicting incredible amounts of rainfall that could cause devastating destruction. Here is the wind field. The core of the strongest winds have only been downgraded 20 miles. I want to make sure that people arent saying because its a 2 it is something we write off. No way. Look at the strongest winds. Well see hurricaneforce winds well inland into saturday. And those are the Tropical Stormforce winds still saturday morning. Tomorrow is friday. 48 hours dealing with this storm system that still has an input, still has a lot of power with it. And again the storm surge 9 to 13 feet. 20 to 40 inches of rainfall. This storm will be remembered in the Carolina History and thats why were concerned and thats why we dont want people to look at the 2 and think oh, well this is a nothing storm. It will linger for days and bring incredible amounts of rain. This is similar to what happened in harvey with texas last year. Thats why were concerned. Bill unfortunately you could be very right about that forecast. Well be back with you every hour. Yesterday a North Carolina official said get ready for a marathon, not a sprint. Thats what janice is describing there. Sandra still the case at this point. As we mentioned were minutes away from the next fema update on Hurricane Florence. The north and South Carolina coasts preparing for the worst. Jonathan serrie is live on the ground in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Whats happening there now . No rain yet but the winds are picking up. If you look behind me there are battering waves coming in from the ocean. Look at this video from earlier this morning. Wrightsville beach looks like a ghost town. Police are keeping everyone off the beach and streets during this very dangerous storm. Most people have already evacuated this island community. Many of them going to the mainland to wilmington where bill is. But for military families, the largest marine base on the east coast has set up shelters. Camp lejeune is opening up its doors to military i. D. S and families. Bring toiletries, games and nonperishable food. The conditions will be hot and crowded but very safe. More than 200 miles from the coast in charlotte, North Carolina, the Public Schools have canceled classes today and tomorrow in part to free up School Buildings to house evacuees from the coast. Back to you. Sandra jonathan serrie, well see you again soon. Thank you. Bill again, sandra, the fema briefing expected in a few moments. Well take it live. North carolina senator thom tillis is working with all officials state and local to make sure people in the storms path are ready for this and joins me now. Senator, good morning to you. A lot of anxiety and anticipation. You can imagine the mind and imagination reels when you think about the worst possible scenario. For some people it could be the worst case. What are you hearing about state preparation on your level . Well, we have sadly, we have experience. We have fema in place still recovering from matthew. Weve had a briefing from the Governors Office from our Emergency Management experts down in raleigh and were as prepared as we can be. The thing to help us be more prepared is to have any citizen asked to evacuate to do so for their own safety and for the safety of First Responders. Bill we spoke with the city official 30 minutes ago in wilmington. You know what he said, senator . He said theyve gotten lucky often in the past 20 years or so but he has never seen the number of people in wilmington leave as he has for this storm. That tells you something. Im proud of the citizens of wilmington and the local elected officials that have taken the positive steps, including the efforts of the governor to force mandatory evacuations. The people of North Carolina need to understand that matthew was a category 1 hurricane when it made landfall in the carolinas and it caused hundreds of millions in damage and loss of life. Hurricane floyd similar, a category 2 storm. This is a very dangerous storm. The surge threats have not changed. The rain estimates have not changed. It is going to hit almost all of the state. Everybody in North Carolina needs to Pay Attention and seek cover, stay away from floods. And listen to your local Law Enforcement, First Responders. If you have any questions about where you can evacuate dial 211. If you try to find Resources Available through fema and a number of other organizations on the ground. Bill great information. Thank you, senator. One last question as you look at this radar. This is your home state and im certain youve been to the shoreline countless times in your life. What is it like for you to sit back and watch this now almost helpless . Its very sad. We are helpless. I was down at the outer banks over the weekend with my family. The area i was in is in deep danger right now. If you look along the coast and you look up river, if you look at the cape fear and all the flooding and all the friends and elected officials, folks down there that are trying to batten down the hatches. My heart and prayers go out to them. I hope theyre preparing and i hope people in charlotte, asheville and across the state are doing the same. Bill are you coming down or staying in washington ill either be on a plane if there is one or i have a car reserved if i have to drive down. Ill be there for the duration. Bill be safe. Sandra thats the main thing. Bill thank you, senator. Republican from North Carolina. Fema administrators said yesterday it is like a mike tyson punch to the carolina coast and theyre waiting for that shot now as we speak. Sandra were awaiting an update now. Fema is expected to brief the nation shortly with Hurricane Florence closing in on the east coast. We await that and well bring it to you live when it begins. Still ahead well speak with North Carolinas Lieutenant Governor dan forest on how the state is preparing for this possibly catastrophic storm. On the wrong side of this storm where most of the damage is done. The forecast tells us that florences storm surge will drown many homes. Mitzi Psoriatic Arthritis tries to get in my way . Watch me. mike ive tried lots of things for my joint pain. Now . Watch me. joni think id give up showing these guys how its done . Please. Real people with active Psoriatic Arthritis are changing the way they fight it. Theyre moving forward with cosentyx. Its a different kind of targeted biologic. Its proven to help people find less joint pain and clearer skin. Dont use if you are allergic to cosentyx. Before starting cosentyx you should be checked for tuberculosis. 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I tell truecar my zip and which car i want and truecar shows the range of prices people in my area actually paid for the same car so i know if im getting a great price. This is how car buying was always meant to be. This is truecar. Sandra were moments away from the latest fema briefing at Hurricane Florence barrels straight for the carolinas, states of emergency have been declared across four states. Well bring you that update live when it begins. Bill were looking forward to getting more information on that. Meanwhile North Carolina Lieutenant Governor dan forest is with me live in raleigh. Good morning. What is your message to people watching and people in your home state here, sir . The message is, bill, nobody should be a hero or try to ride this one out. You dont live to tell stories about storm surge if youre trying to survive that in your house. You may survive the wind and rain but not the storm surge. You still have time. Now is the time to get out. Life safety is number one right now. Bill we just spoke to a couple walking by in our location here on the cape fear river. I said are you staying or going . They said theyre staying. I said how come . They said because you cannot get back to your home once you get out. And so many feel that way, they cant gain access to their own possessions in their house. Thats the sad thing. All that stuff can be replaced. I lost my own house two years ago in Hurricane Matthew. All that stuff was replaced. We moved on, built a new house and that sort of thing. It can be replaced. Its stuff. Dont you put or your family in danger. This is something weve never seen before. People have lived through hurricanes before. The storm surge that will come with this one and the flooding that comes with this one is unfortunately going to surprise a lot of people and going to put them in danger and put our First Responders in danger as well. Bill the one glimmer in your message there is being well received because talking to local people here they say theyve never seen so many people before heed the message and get out of town. They look at that radar, watch television, they see the images and that leaves a strong impression. Our shelters are filling up. In raleigh our shelters are full here. Were making rounds around the shelters to check on folks. Theyre filling up. People are taking the message seriously as they need you. You cant predict even where the storms will go. Weve learned that lesson many times. You can be far inland in North Carolina and still have major impact. Were expecting Tropical Storm winds here in raleigh. Well maybe lose power and in charlotte. You dont know what is going to happen with the floods, either. Get to high ground. Make sure youre prepared. We could be without power for three weeks in many places across our state and were as prepared as we can be on the front end. It is really the back end were starting to prepare for right now. Bill taking that twohour drive from raleigh last night there were very few cars on the road heading toward the southeast and several going the other way. A lot of people made their preparations a day or two prior. There is a scenario in many cases these storms do not have the same experience in you dont know where it makes landfall. You dont know what happens after the storm hits, and the fact that it could linger for three days. Thats a variable thats hard to predict. What can be your strategy, do you believe, in going in after the storm comes and passes . Well, let me on the first point first. Weve been watching the storm for a week and seen the track change multiple times. I think the danger is people look and say its downgraded from a 4 to a 2. Its barely a 2, one mileanhour away from a 3, a major storm as well. A 2 is a major storm if you lived through one. You dont know where this thing will track. There are people that look at these maps and think im out of harms way. 24 hours from now when it makes landfall you may not be. You cant predict that. The second question what do you do to prepare . We have one of the abouts Emergency Management teams in the country. Theyre very well prepared. National guard, highway patrol. First responders know where the hot spots will be and have to sweep in and do some serious work to try to rescue people and get power restored and that sort of thing. They have a plan in place to do that. You just dont exactly know what you are planning for because you dont know where the real hot spots are going to be after the storm passes through. Bill you look at the Barrier Islands and this is one of the most beautiful stretches of ocean line in all of america. After coming here for so many years we can both agree on that especially at low tide. Hard packed sand that gives you 300 yards of an instant playground. Its magnificent. These Barrier Islands have been populated by homes. You look at the google match images, if you get a direct hit the damage could be devastating. Last comment. Absolutely. I think well see a lot of homes washed and blown away and see Barrier Islands that have new channels cut into them and see the roadways. Highway 12 always gets washed away. Well see that happen. You have to prepare for the worst, bill. But again as i said earlier, that stuff is just stuff. All that stuff can be rebuilt and it will be rebuilt if it can be but human lives, you cant you know, you cant get those back. Protect yourself and your family. Bill good message. Thank you for your time. Someone will see 10 feet of water. We dont know where precisely. Thank you for your time and good luck. Back to sandra now in new york. Sandra thanks, bill. Well continue to monitor Hurricane Florence and keep an eye on that fema briefing. Were looking for that to begin any moment now. Otherwise there are big head lins were watching today. Two russians accused saying they have been wrongly accused in the poisoning of a former spy and his daughter plus were two months away from the midterm elections. President trump is taking steps to prevent election meddling as brandnew fox polling shows republicans gaining points in key races. Bill latest on Hurricane Florence now. In a moment from fema, federal officials in washington, d. C. Prepared in a matter of moments to give the latest what theyre doing and telling people. Well bring it to you live. Supposed to start around 9 15. Running a few minutes behind. Well bring it to you in a moment live as our coverage continues here waiting on florence. She is big and she is lurking and she is going to be here very, very soon. Sandra Russian State Television airing an interview that british officials have named as suspects in the poisoning. They say they have nothing to do with an attack that targeted a former russian spy and his daughter and later killed another woman. Amy kellogg is following this from london. What are the suspects saying regarding the accusations they were behind the poisoning in salisbury . They say it was a quote fatal coincidence that they were in they said they were tourists and they wanted to see the cathedral because it is one of the oldest working clocks in the world and say they had to make two trips out to salisbury during their 36hour stay in the u. K. Because in the first trip there was too much snow and slush about. Alexander petrov and the other man said they dont work for Russian Military intelligence as the u. K. Has stated they do. It has been revealed they claim to be in the business of fitness supplements. Scotland yard has laid out a different story about their trip that they say was applying a nerve agent disguised in a perfume bottle to the doorknob. They are in hiding and the u. K. s response to todays interview is that they just want answers about what happened in salisbury and not more lies from the russians. Sandra were learning there has been another odd poisoning in moscow. What can you tell us about that . Yes. According to the protest group pussy riot, one of their members has actually been poisoned. He took part in a stunt during the World Cup Final in moscow. He and others blasted onto the football field to make a statement about political repression in russian. He was in and out of Court Earlier this week for the cases of other Group Members and last night according to people close to him he started losing vision, the ability to speak and mobility. He was rushed to the hospital where he remains in intensive care. There has been no comment from official russian sources on this but one of the other members of pussy riot has said his life is not in danger but his doctor said he has poisoned and theyre desperately seeking a toxicologist. Back to you, sandra. Sandra amy kellogg in london. Bill here is another story, fox news alert. The coverage of Hurricane Florence ramping up waiting for the fema News Conference that will get underway in a matter of moments. Well go there live. The second it begins well get the latest information on the track of this storm and what so many millions of americans need to know. Trumps 2020 manager calling out google saying its the biggest threat to our republic . Whats that about . The rnc joins us in a moment. . Lowest price, guaranteed. Just stick with badda book. Badda boom. Book now at choicehotels. Com of course, daniel. Fridge, weather. Clear skies and 75. Trash can, turn on the tv. My pleasure. Ice dispenser, find me a dog sitter. Okay. And make ice. Pizza delivered. Whats happened to my son . I think thats just what people are like now. I mean, with progressive, you can quote your insurance on just about any device. Even on social media. Hell be fine. [ laughs ] will he . I dont know. Will he . Alice loves the smell of gain so much, she wished it came in a fabric softener too. [throat clears] say hello to your fairy godmother, alice. Oh and look they got gain scent beads and dryer sheets too bill fox news alert. Brock long head of fema. The briefing is underway. Lets go to the latest on florence now. Programs and policies according to regulation and bottom line is well continue to fully cooperate with any investigation that goes on and own up to any mistakes and push forward and keep going, keeping moving on. Regardless of an article, right now im 100 focused on floyd and thats exactly where our attention needs to be with the life safety mission. Well invite in our federal partners. Florence, excuse me. Would you see that youre confident that you are following the statutes and laws as it relates to these . Well get to florence and were going to push forward and concentrate on the life safety issues. Thank you. We will have time for q a. So in regards to florence, just because the wind speeds came down, the intensity of this storm came down to a cat 2, do not let your guard down. The storm surge forecast has not changed. Remained the same. Here is why. As the system is encroaching on the coast the wind field has expanded. What youll start seeing in the next coming hours is these wind bands that far precede the center of circulation will start pushing water up against the coast but more importantly up the bay and inland areas. Storm surge is not just a problem on the coastline, it will be a major problem way into the streams and tributaries that push into the sounds. This is a very dangerous storm. Storm surge is why you have been placed under evacuation and were asking citizens to please heed a warning. Your time is running out. The ocean will start rising along the coast and in the back bay and inlet areas and sound areas within a matter of hours. Your time to get out of those areas and storm surge inundation is coming to a close. I cant emphasize that enough. With that, the other thing thats going to happen is not only will we see high winds, 110 mileperhour sustained winds coming upon the coast. The wind field is large. There are hurricaneforce winds that extend far out from the center of circulation that will not only inundate the coast but youll see high inland winds as the storm starts to come in and push into the coast. Coupled with that is large amounts of rainfall. Youre seeing rain bands come along the carolina shoreline. The rain bands will be with us for several days. The forecasters are basically indicating feet of rain, not inches in portions of the carolinas and into virginia. So this is a very dangerous storm. Inland flooding kills a lot of people unfortunately and thats what were about to see. Keep that in mind. The other thing is i want everybody to know that fema and our federal partners have fully prepositioned in support of our state and local partners. Here again were here to help our governors achieve their response and recovery goals. Emergency management is a team sport. A whole community effort. As the system pushes through now were focused largely on life safety, supporting evacuation movements and supporting mass care. As the system pushes through and starts to exit the carolinas, virginia and the threat ceases well be focused on stabilizing community lifelines. We have to quickly understand the damage that has been done to the transportation systems, the communication systems, the Power Systems and were positioning and have been positioned for multiple days now to be ready to get those critical lifelines back up and stable as quickly as we can. But let me set the expectations. This is a very dangerous storm. We call them disasters because they break things. The infrastructure is going to break, the power is going to go out. It could go out for a number of days or many weeks. It is hard to say at this point. So not only that, but mohammed many of you from the carolina coastlines will be displaced for a while especially where the high storm surge is. People need to get their mindsets right that disasters are frustrating and it takes time to get the infrastructure back up and running but well do everything we can to push forward as quickly as we can to get things back and working along with our state partners in the private sector who own a large portion of the Critical Infrastructure that will be impacted. So with that i want to quickly turn it over to our partners over at noaa, take it away. Good morning. Florence is a category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 110 Miles Per Hour. It is moving northwest and is presently centered 170 miles east southeast of wilmington, North Carolina and 220 miles east of myrtle beach, South Carolina. Florence is a very large hurricane. Hurricaneforce winds extend outward 80 miles from the center and tropical Storm Force Winds extend nearly 200 miles out from the center. Florence is forecast to slow down as it approaches the coast so even today as we see outer rain bands from florence move into the outer banks of North Carolina, landfall is not expected for another 36 hours. Sometime friday afternoon, friday evening or saturday morning. It will bring a threat to North Carolina and South Carolina into the weekend. In North Carolina were particularly concerned where 9 to 12 storm surge and the beaches from the outer banks to wilmington, 6 to 9 feet of storm surge are forecast over several astronomical high tide cycles. As far as rainfall were still forecasting 20 to 30 inches, possibly 40 inches or more especially in eastern North Carolina and northeastern South Carolina. In addition to that there is a tornado watch in effect for eastern North Carolina today and tomorrow. The next advisory from the National Hurricane center will be issued at 11 00 eastern time. I want to take an opportunity to emphasize that the expanse of this storm. The tropical Storm Force Winds extend out 200 miles and Hurricane Force winds go to 80. It is a huge storm. The wind field will cause a storm surge on the coast. There will be a tremendous amount of rain. As the storm slows down lots of coastal flooding and combined with the on shore flow it will be hard for the water to evacuate. Youll see a tremendous amount of inland flooding. I want to thank the noaaa core officers for flying into the storm to get information and i would like to thank the air force for providing reconnaissance flights as well. Next we have our partners with the american red cross, charlie english, to give us an update on the mass care efforts underway. Thank you. We certainly appreciate your leadership and your inclusiveness of our faithbased and private nonprofit partners on the team. So thank you very much for that. The red cross and other private nonprofits continue to prestage resources in the theater of operations in the atlantic area. Just like to settle a little expectations. If the public has not experienced staying in a shelter in the past, you will be safe but conditions are spartan so we would ask you to bring your toothbrush, your pillow, other comfort items with you and well keep you safe until the storm passes. And then post landfall and post impact it will be a more comfortable situation for you. Would also like to take the opportunity to say that this storm is a significant event. Our resources will be stretched. If you are fortunate enough not to be impacted, we would like to have you consider being a volunteer. You can do that at red cross. Org or any other of the other fine agencies that you choose to volunteer with. Thank you. And folks, one of the most powerful arms of the whole community is the nongovernmental organizations like the red cross and here again when this storm passes this is about neighbor helping neighbor all the way up to the federal government. If you are looking to get involved and you arent in the carolinas but looking to get involved to help out the situation once this thing is past, go to the website red cross. Org. Next up we have our partners with the army corps of engineers, mr. Ray alexander. Thank you, administrator long. Good morning. The army corps of engineers is ready to respond to Hurricane Florence working with federal partners. We have over 200 personnel engaged to date with over 6 million in Mission Assignment dollars from fema, 19 Mission Assignments and over 13 million in federal coastal emergency dollars. In the Pacific Ocean division continues to assess and respond to the effects from the typhoon and hurricane out in the pacific. While here in the lat particular under our staff order act authorities were postured to provide temporary power sport, debris management, conduct infrastructure assessments where needed. As far as dams, there are five corp of engineer dams. All have sufficient Flood Control capability to accept the effects of precipitation from florence. Were working with the armys Installation Management command to insure dams in North Carolina and South Carolina, any effects of florence to those dams are mitigated. In terms of navigation were prepared to rapidly open federal channels and other navigation. Finally in flood response, were integrated with state and local county governments to provide Technical Assistance and flood fighting both before the storm and after. Thank you. Thank you. Next up our partners with the coast guard rear admiral austin. Thank you, mr. Long. The safety of the people in Hurricane Florences path as well as our own coast guard men and women and families are a top priority and were working with fema and other federal, state and local partners in preparing for the storm. In preparation for the storm the coast guard has taken the following actions. The ports of wilmington and moorhead city, North Carolina as entrance to Chesapeake Bay are closed. In preparation weve prestaged Shallow Water response boats as well as bringing in additional search and rescue aircraft staged in savannah, georgia and ready to come in behind the storm as soon as it is safe to fly the missions and prestaging other deployable forces with additional Law Enforcement, security and oil and Hazardous Materials response resources to be ready. And all coast guard, small boat and cutter crews will be outside the storm and ready to move in as soon as its safe to do so. For those in the path of the storm we urge you to do the following. Stay off the water, coast guard search and rescue resources will be unavailable before, during and immediately after the storm. Remember that social media is a great way to stay informed but please dont use social media in order to call for help. Please call 911 or channel 16 to reach out to get help. Finally once the storm has passed, please stay in a safe location while partners assess the damage and let you know when its safe to do so. Thank you. Thank you. Next up we have the office of disability integration coordination at fema. Its incredibly important for fema to help our partners do everything that we can to render the highest level of access needs we cannot only during the response phase but also after the recovery phase. Say a few words. Good morning. As the disability coordinator and director of the office of disability integration and coordination our responsibility is to insure that femas programs and services are available to and accessible to people with disabilities before, during and after disasters. And in terms of florence in particular we are working very closely with our partners at the state and local level at the territorial and tribal level and with federal partners and agencies like the red cross and hhs to insure people with disabilities have what they need during evacuation, sheltering, preand post landfall. Part of our coordination efforts are to insure that we are in close communication with our state and local partners to insure that any unmet needs that people with disabilities have during evacuation or sheltering and in terms of response and recovery are met and well continue to closely coordinate with our state and local and federal partners to insure that people with disabilities who are impacted by the storms have what they need to safely evacuate, and what they need in the shelters and effectively respond to and recover from the effects of the disaster. Appreciate that. Finally our next up Environmental Protection agency, reggie. Thank you and good morning. Im the director of office of Emergency Management usepa. Epa is the lead federal agency for inland releases of oil and Hazardous Substances through Emergency Support function 10 over the National Response framework. In addition to request for assistance from our states, tribes and local government, partners, some of the things that epa is currently doing prior to Hurricane Florence is to determine the status of preparation at chemical, oil, and production facilities that may be in the path of the storm. And to identify any releases and discharges of Hazardous Substances or oil caused by the storm. The agency has identified sites under super fund, Risk Management program and the facility Response Plan program for oil that may be until projected path of the hurricane and trying to assess any prelandfall concerns. In addition, were working with the states, tribes and local governments to identify Drinking Water and waste Water Infrastructure that may be in the current path of the storm. Epa has issued four fuel waivers in North Carolina, South Carolina, georgia and virginia. The purpose of the waivers is to help insure that there is adequate fuel supply and gasoline in the affected areas until the normal supply to the region can be restored. Currently epas Emergency Operations centers at headquarters in washington, d. C. , epa region 3, philadelphia and region 4, atlanta, georgia, are all activated and we have seems of onscene coordinators and equipment ready to deploy. Well continue to coordinate with and support our federal, state, tribal and local government partners as needs arise. Thank you. Lastly bill a lot of information and a lot of the news hasnt changed. It is all bad. Up to 9 to 12 feet of rain in rivers that push inland once the water goes in, it has to come out again. Up to 40 inches of rain for some. You look at some of the images from myrtle beach 80 miles south of here and Atlantic Beach in North Carolina. Some of the waves hitting the piers already are ominous. With me now the new hannover county commissioner. Woody white. What do you want your people to know . At this point most of the preparations are done. You have a few hours left to prepare and make sure and focus on your family first. Property can be replaced. It can come and go but loss of life is the big thing were focusing on. Were worried about the storm surge. Bill ironic the sun is coming out now. One of the final glimpses for two days. When we talk about preparation its not only evacuation and sheltering and Touching Base with our special needs registry, it is also preparing for the aftermath. What we know will be a long, sustained loss of power, access to food and water for some of our most vulnerable citizens. Were in this for the long haul. Bill many people wonder why people stay behind. Theyre here on the boardwalk. They say if we leave we dont know when we come back. How do you leave your property, your home, your possessions unguarded. Its hard. Particularly when we have folks ive lived here all my life in this region and seen the storms come and go and its a mentality and cultural thing that people dont want to leave. So we cant stress enough in surge areas, in high flood areas which we know will be very, very bad in this storm, leave. Property can be replaced. It is hard to compete against that cultural mentality of im hunkering down and staying here. I get it. Weve done it. My family does it when we can. This storm is different, bill. Were worried about it. But we think most people in those vulnerable areas have taken the precautions they need to take. Bill you will stay behind in part because of your job. What is your plan . We are. My official duties require me to be here. I will go back and forth between my home and the Emergency Operations center. Stay out of the way of the professionals. This is a parttime job for us in a Small Law Firm and i have a family. These elected positions are parttime. When i energy there im just watching and being there for support. Im letting the professional do their job. Theyre very well trained and experienced. Unfortunately because we go through this but well get through this fine and well rebuild and make this Community Better than it is today. Bill good luck to you. Well stay in contact. Thank you for your time and good luck to everybody here in this beautiful part of america. Woody white in wilmington, North Carolina. Another briefing coming up momentarily the National Hurricane center. As our coverage continues, florence getting ready to come onshore. Shes 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 americas 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. Weve seen dramatic upsets these midterms. As he seeks a third term cuomos 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 saying the democrats are trying to make him look bad. Meanwhile the sex in the city star has touted new energized voters to pave her way to the ticket. Weve seen it happen before in new york. Nixon has been quick to align herself with the socialist movement. Theyve been proved wrong time and time again particular any in this year when there is such a progressive wave. Weve seen in 2018 what normally might have been a predictable primary this year is very much not so. Sandra Jackie Heinrich joining us for the First Time Since joining the Fox News Channel family. Thank you very much, jackie. Bill welcome. Our coverage of Hurricane Florence continues in a moment here live in wilmington, North Carolina. Well get a News Conference with the North Carolina governor, roy cooper. He is up live in a moment here. We await to see what florence does. She is a menace, she is strong, she is powerful and now we wait to hear from the governor as to what happens next. Do not go. Well have it all covered for you as we continue live in wilmington. Because he always gets the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed, when he books direct at choicehotels. Com. Or just say badda book, badda boom. Book now at choicehotels. Com. Sandra this is a fox news alert. Were awaiting the latest projection of the path of Hurricane Florence as the storm of a lifetime bears down on the eastern seaboard and in just moments we expect to hear the latest from North Carolina governor roy cooper. Welcome to a brandnew hour of americas newsroom, everyone. Im sandra smith. Bill. Bill sandra, good morning to you. Im bill hemmer live in wilmington, North Carolina, laorking at a 200 mile stretch of coastline between North Carolina and South Carolina right in the bullseye of this monster storm. 80 miles up the coast to moorhead city and pop down to a beach hit by fran in 1996. You can drop down further into Wrightsville Beach and wilmington where we are, holden, sunset beach. Little river, South Carolina, down to north myrtle, myrtle beach. Georgetown, South Carolina. Thats a 200 mile stretch that now is in the cross hairs of a monster storm. Here is the governor, roy cooper. He has been on the air about this time every day for the past three days. Lets drop in and find out what he knows at the moment. Live to roy cooper. Today it becomes a reality. Get yourself to a safe place and stay there if you havent already. Over the next few hours, many roads will become unsafe and impassable from debris and floodwaters. Dont drive during the peak of the storm and dont attempt to drive through flooded roads. That puts your life in danger. I know many north carolinians see updated storm tracks, changing categories of the hurricane, and landfall predictions. Im concerned because ive even heard some people say that North Carolina is getting a break. Please hear my message. We cannot underestimate this storm. Wind speeds have dropped some from yesterday, but weve traded that for a larger wind field that expands 200 miles with Tropical Stormforce winds. And our greatest concern about this storm remains the same. Storm surge and massive flooding. Both are going to be extreme. Catastrophic effects, catastrophic effects will be felt outside the center of the storm with storm surge as high as 9 to 13 feet. Thats the second story of a house. Battering winds and relentless rain that will last for days. Make no mistake, whether the eye of the storm makes landfall along our shores or further south, were on the wrong side of this thing. This storm will bring destruction to North Carolina. And remember that Hurricane Matthew didnt even make landfall in North Carolina and look what it did to us. Floodplain experts at North Carolina Emergency Management know that from storm surge alone, tens of thousands of structures are expected to be flooded. And many more by rising rivers and creeks. If local officials tell you to seek higher ground, please listen. These orders are not given lightly. They are based on experienced Emergency Response experts who can predict dangerous and lifethreatening situations. As of now, we have about 108 shelters that are open with more than 7,000 people in them. Emergency managements goal is to set up even more shelters where people can stay safe throughout the duration of the storm. And even after. We appreciate local communities stepping up to host storm evacuees and were grateful to the volunteers for helping us out at these shelters. Ive ordered 2800 National Guard soldiers to report for duty to help in this time of crisis, and we are truly grateful for their service. And we also want to thank their families and the fam families of all of the First Responders who are making sacrifices with their loved ones who are serving in this natural disaster. Across our state we have more than 56 School Districts that are now closed and nearly all of the university of North Carolina School System classes have been canceled. Everyone needs to be prepared for Power Outages that could last for days and maybe even a week or longer. Duke energy and our electric coops are estimating power losses in the millions. Families need to have their emergency supplies ready. Water, food, flashlights, batteries, medicines, Important Documents that you may need to take with you if you have to evacuate quickly. You need a plan for your pets. And please remember if you do lose power, dont operate gaspowered generators inside your home or in a garage, crawl space or shed. This can be deadly. Stay away from loose or dangling power lines that may be knocked over during the storm. And no matter where you live, dont drive through roads covered by standing or moving water. The road that was there before the floodwaters may no longer be there. If you encounter a flooded road, turn around. Most stormrelated deaths are caused by drowning in freshwater. Heavy rains can cause swells in small creeks and can turn streams into raging torrents that will sweep away anything in their path, including cars. It only takes a few inches of water to cause devastation in a flood. North carolina needs to stay alert and continue to take this storm seriously. You can download the ready nc app or follow North Carolina Emergency Management on facebook and twitter. There you can get updates or learn and learn how you can weather the storm. I want to thank everyone across our state who is working to get us ready for this storm and i want to introduce to you part of our team that is leading those efforts. We have mike there at the end who is our director of Emergency Management. Dr. Mandy cohen, the secretary of health and human services. Colonel glen mcneil who is the commander of the North Carolina highway patrol. We have general jim trogden, our secretary of the department of transportation. We have alby lewis from fema with us today and were grateful for our fema partners who are embedded with us here and helping across the state. And we have bill 108 shelters in North Carolina alone with 7,000 people taking shelter in there. 56 School Districts have been closed. Thats just North Carolina. Well get to South Carolina in a moment. First want to go back to janice dean tracking the latest on florence. Hello again. Good morning back there. Good morning. What a great point. So we swapped categories for a larger wind field. Thats whats happening with this storm. The message is exactly the same as it was this time yesterday when this was a cat 4. It is going to be the flooding, the inland flooding and storm surge that will be potentially deadly and catastrophic. The only thing that has changed is the category. Were at 110 mileperhour. Thats one mile shy of being a major hurricane. I really dont want people to Pay Attention to the category because this storm is going to linger for days. And thats why it is so crucial that people are heeding the warnings and listening to their local officials. Already getting Tropical Stormforce winds along hattaras. 60 Miles Per Hour inland. New burns 35 Miles Per Hour and there is the center of the storm. Were anticipating a landfall now tomorrow morning, friday morning and then perhaps lingering close enough offshore well still get a lot of moisture being pumped into the shoreline. This is friday, this is tomorrow 3 00 a. M. It moves maybe 150 miles in 24 hours and thats why the takehome message is not the category, it is the epic amounts of flooding were going to have. Someone is going to get 30 to 40 inches of rain and someone will get 13 feet of storm surge. On top of that we have a tornado watch in effect for parts of North Carolina until 9 00 p. M. Well see weak tornadoes that could cause structural damage. This is the legacy of this storm. Surge, rainfall, surge, rainfall, 13 feet, 20 to 40 inches lasting for days inland and weve got mountainous terrain here. It will be a storm they wont forget in the carolinas, bill and sandra, back to you. Bill could get four or five high tides in that mix. The Forward Motion of this storm. It slowed down, right . 12 Miles Per Hour . It was moving around 17 Miles Per Hour and were expecting it to snail pace as it makes its way inland. 24 hours and only gone 100 miles . Thats impressively slow. Bill thank you, j. D. Back in a moment. Grab the documents that are important said the governor. Dont drive through standing water ever. We see that every time we see a storm. Dont fire up a generator indoors. It is those simple mistakes that can mean the difference between life and death. Roy cooper press conference ongoing there in raleigh. Sandra food, flashlights, batteries, Important Documents, medicine. Have all of that on hand. Theyre predicting this will cause immense destruction for the state of North Carolina. Residents on the ground there in the path of florence preparing for the worst as it continues to churn its way toward the coast. Griff jenkins is in one of those places. Atlantic beach, North Carolina. How are conditions there, griff . Well, sandra, were feeling the first outer bands of florence and you know as weve been saying all day this storm is enormous and the storm surge look at this pier. The 9 to 13 foot surge isnt near here. We have 24 hours for it to develop. You can see the pier rocking as it takes these waves. You are talking about a little bit of common sense advice. This is the part here in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina where we Start Talking about be safe. If you see water, turn around, dont drown. Were already seeing some flooding coming in because of the lowlying areas as you head towards moorhead city behind me. But right now were seeing the first of the water starting to surge in. I talked to a resident a little while ago who told me that he is actually, because of the downgrade of the wind, going the ride it out because his biggest fear, believe it or not, is nt this water. Its the flooding inland in jacksonville and other places and fears should he go inside he knows the worst part of this storm, as janice was talking about, is the flooding coming from the extended excessive rainfall as well as the continued surge. He doesnt want to get trapped inland and not able to get back here now. So really quite amazing conditions that are starting to deteriorate as we get the first parts of the northeastern band thats whipping at us. The waterways, the coast guard earlier this morning before the sun was coming up and it was light, we were at condition zulu. The bridge to Atlantic Beach has been closed other than to Law Enforcement and First Responders. Were starting every 30 minutes to get some of the squalls, the heaveier rains. Thats adding to the water on the island as well as most of this island has wooden polls holding all the power lines. When i talked to the chief of police and fire chief here they say theyre concerned about the power lines. That restricts First Responders movement should a line go down over a road. They have to worry about selfpreservation as they assist some people that stay behind. When you talk about structural damage. Its come up as far as my cameraman, dan and come up on the ledge were standing on. Well egress immediately as these conditions begin to get more significant. We had high tide about an hour ago here so we dont expect it necessarily to come much more. As the storm comes in the surge will come all past us. Within the next 12 hours where im standing will be under water. The question is, will that pier still be standing . Sandra were looking at this shot with you right now and if were just at the beginning here, that will get a whole lot worse. Griff, can you see anyone from your position right now . Is there anyone out there . You know, im just taking a look. We saw a few people earlier that had come down that decided to stay behind on Atlantic Beach that wanted to see it. They got scared. We had a heavy storm an hour ago. It drove everyone out. Really, the beach just to give a little bit of context, about 150 yards yesterday you could walk halfway down this pier and people were getting a last day of sun. Now its up to the dunes. They had storms 20 years ago and they did a land of sand reclamation to build up the dunes. There is no doubt these houses and front porchs will take a hit before the impact of the storm. Look at the surge coming up. This is the kind of stuff that were talking about coming up, the debris in the water and this isnt even the barely beginning of florences surge coming. That 9 to 13 feet is going to be much, much more serious in the coming hours. Sandra you are giving us an amazing look on the ground in the middle of it in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. Please stay safe to you and your team. Thank you for your reporting there. As the southeast braces for Hurricane Florence, the director of fema is in some hot water. Why he is finding himself in the middle of an investigation while dealing with this potential catastrophe. Plus President Trumps 2020 Campaign Manager calling on congress to act against google. Why he says the Search Engine of choice is a threat to the republic. Meanwhile lawmakers responding to the newly uncovered Text Messages from former f. B. I. Agent peter strzok. Why some are saying what we already know about bias at the f. B. I. Is only the tip of the iceberg. I can tell you seeing some of the unclassified documents there is more of the story that has not been shared with the fisa court. Actually with the American People. Omplete job from any one else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . Flonase sensimist relieves your worst symptoms, including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. It helps block six key inflammatory substances. Most pills block one. Flonase sensimist. Most pills block one. Alice loves the smell of gain so much, she wished it came in a fabric softener too. [throat clears] say hello to your fairy godmother, alice. Oh and look they got gain scent beads and dryer sheets too todays Senior Living communities have never been better, with amazing amenities like movie theaters, exercise rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars and bistros even pet care services. And theres never been an easier way to get great advice. A place for mom is a free service that pairs you with a local advisor to help you sort through your options and find a perfect place. A place for mom. You know your family we know Senior Living. Together well make the right choice. Sandra fox news exclusively obtaining even more new Text Messages from peter strzok and lisa page. In those texts peter strzok makes note of others leaking like mad. House Freedom Caucus chair mark meadows talked about the revelations these Text Messages contain. The bigger context of this is that this is not the end of it. I can say the department of justice has been working with jim and i to get us additional documents and i can tell you there are dozens of other documents that would support the fact that peter strzok and lisa page had ongoing relationships with multiple reporters and that they were feeding them information to spin a narrative. Sandra Catherine Herridge is live with the latest. The texts from december 2016 indicates that other government officials were apparently leaking about the russia probe one month after the president ial election. Then f. B. I. Agent peter strzok tells lisa page think our sisters have begun leaking like mad. Skornd, worried and political and kicking into overdrive. Two other f. B. I. Agents told fox news they believe sisters is f. B. I. Slang for the c. I. A. It is not clear what information was being leaked. Other texts reviewed by fox news showed the two former f. B. I. Employees discussing an april 2017 report confirming the existence of the surveillance warrant for Trump Campaign aide carter page calling the Washington Post story a scoop. Page and strzok then discuss how a competing News Organization is angry at strzok and page over the post reporting. The morning on twitter the president said the texts are a disaster and embarrassment to the f. B. I. And d. O. J. And he highlighted the claim others were leaking like mad to get at the president. Earlier this week strzoks attorney said there was no media leak strategy. His client was trying to stop the leaks. Republican congressman jim jordan and mark meadows said the new texts validate their complaints to the Deputy Attorney general. Todays new Text Messages would suggest the media leak strategy was exactly what we surmised in the letter we sent to Rod Rosenstein a couple of days ago. Fox news is reaching out to strzok and pages lawyers for a fresh comment. Sandra why are we hearing about these Text Messages now . Thats a great question. These texts from what we understand were recently provided to congress. The Inspector General Michael Horowitz who investigated the f. B. I. And d. O. J. s handling of the Clinton Emails identified the sixmonth gap in the Text Messages from december 2016 until may of 2017 and it was blamed on Software Problems and the f. B. I. Issued samsung phones. Over time more texts have been recovered and it is important to emphasize that horowitz and his team at the i. G. Are continuing these investigations and focusing their work on the alleged surveillance abuses with the National Security court and more specifically on leaks by senior f. B. I. Officials. Almost all the officials are gone from the bureau. Sandra thank you. Lets talk this over with the ateam, Fox News Contributor Jessica Tarlov is here. Noah rothman and former state Department Press officer and Financial Intelligence analyst for the treasury department, morgan ortagus. Strzoks attorney maintains media leak strategy refers to an initiative to detect and stop leaks. Do you buy that . I dont think anybody does. I dont know if the attorney buys it. If you look at what horowitz found in the investigation and what he released, there was at least 18 people at the department of justice talking to the Washington Post reporters. So the thing that really concerns me from a National Security perspective and what horowitz is currently looking at is the fisa process. When that information was leaked to the media, who authorized that . As a former Intelligence Analyst these type of fisa documents are highly classified. Very sensitive information. So who authorized these leaks to the media and why do we continue to see classified information leaked from this Political Leadership at the f. B. I. . Thats my main concern. Sandra shouldnt this concern all of us what were learning from these Text Messages . I think the culture of leaking that exists within the f. B. I. And certainly even in the white house is something we talk about all the time on these panels and i think it is concerning on both sides of the aisle. I think the demonization of peter strzok at a level that there are many on the republican side is not warranted and something we should also consider. There needed to be changes at the f. B. I. I feel like Christopher Wray is taking this seriously and well continue to see reforms there. I would love to hear what Peter Strzoks lawyer has to say about this and the continuing defense will be. Six months of a black hole will reveal a lot of Text Messages. I would add that peter strzok in 2012 was tasked with being in charge of an antileak project within the f. B. I. This is something he had done before and in 2017 Jeff Sessions came out very strongly and aggressively against the culture of leaks and so it would be consistent that peter strzok was part of that. Im not saying its whats going on here but before we have more testimony from him, before we hear from the lawyer again, i think were jurmg to conclusions. Sandra take away for you. Anybody looking for a smoking gun to emerge from the texts between an f. B. I. Attorney and officer on their cell phones is undervaluing the extent to which these individuals are aware theyre under scrutiny. There is a culture of leaks in washington reporters and Law Enforcement officers cultivate each others for missions grand and petty. Its how the city works and it is unsavery but the way of things. As far as the page texts go and what we know that what he did not page, mr. Strzok. We dont have much information save the information that we got from the i. G. s office which said that his bias affected the way in which he prioritized Hillary Clintons laptop, the winer laptop at the end of the Campaign Season and thats what we know he did. The Text Messages are not indicative of any particular effort taken. Remember, we were all hot and bothered about the secret society and the insurance policy. No f. B. I. Agents are talking about a secret society. Sandra we have to get to the google story. There was an internal meeting that took place at google following the election of donald trump in 2016. This shows google executives lamenting the outcome of that election. It has been leaked to the media. Watch. Pretty upset and pretty sad for because of the election. Around the country as many people know we do have sandra well, donald trump, the president s 2020 Campaign Manager is calling that video a threat to the republic and is now demanding that google leadership testify before lawmakers on capitol hill over what they said there. I think lawmakers on capitol hill have that in mind. The thing that struck me the most and i covered and talked about china quite a bit on fox. While theyre lamenting the legitimate election of donald trump. At the same time they were doing business with china with the communist party who we saw this week among many Human Rights Violations are putting religious minorities in internment camps and burning bibles for christians and putting muslims in prison camp. To be so tone deaf about the people who work for you who may have voted for President Trump and people who use your product who work for President Trump are acting like a startup instead of like a grownup corporation. Sandra enormous publicly traded company with an obligation to shareholders. In that meeting googles cofounder called the election or the outcome of the election deeply offensive. Called it a stressful time. And said the outcome conflicts with many of our values. Well, if you lived through the 2016 election and found donald trump to be president you were shocked by that. In particular in silicon valley. Admittedly from graog will employees to the founders of facebook and twitter say they have a liberal mon act will. Thats something they understand theyre under scrutiny for and lawmakers could take action as a result. The human response to this election, which youve seen a lot there, is something that im more forgiving of. The shock of that event. Sandra this isnt a personal environment. Its a corporate environment where the google cofounder is sharing his own personal values. There are conservatives who work for us do not feel at liberty to express themselves. Thats said directly in the video. We all understand how that response was. Sandra google is not apologizing the video. Theyre defending. Weve been able to freely express their opinions at these meetings. Nothing was said at that meeting or any other meeting that political bias influences the way we build and operate our products. To the contrary theyre built for jaoefr one and design them with care to be a trustworthy source of for everyone without regard to political viewpoints. They were citing the fact conservative employees dont feel at home in the companies and they need to deal with it. A high ranking official who was a hillary voter who said it was a legitimate democratic election and the results and you have to live with it. Corporations have a responsibility to treat consumers fairly and made up of human beings. As the top ranking officials at a Company Founded by children of immigrants and immigrants themselves cant come together and have a conversation about the implications of a Trump Presidency for the very fabric of america and our values, thats problematic. Donald trump going out there and saying that obamas state of the Union Speeches were pumped up on google searches and his werent which was untrue is feeding this conservative cry baby attitude about how Tech Companies are treating them. The shadow banning. Ive worked for two of the largest Financial Institutions in the world. You would never see at those large corporations that type of conversation happening from the leadership. I think its totally irresponsible and flies in the face of while google was doing business with one of the most repressed regimes in the world at the same time. It is not appropriate for a corporation to talk this way. Sandra life threatening storm surge along the southeastern coast. 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I had no idea the amount of damage that water could do. We called usaa. And they greeted me as they always do. Sergeant baker, how are you . They were on it. It was unbelievable. Having insurance is something everyone needs, but having usaa now thats a privilege. Were the bakers and were usaa members for life. Usaa. Get your insurance quote today. Sandra we are just 30 minutes out from the National Security center forecast as florence edges closer to the carolina coast. Before that federal disaster officials are urging everyone in the storms path to take their warning seriously. We are watching this storm. Were waiting on the latest update to come on the direction and path of this storm is taking. Right now the latest update that we got from fema is that it will make landfall tomorrow. When exactly we dont know. Bill, that has been the story as weve been watching this storm develop all along. We still dont have or know for certain the path. Bill thats adding a lot of drama and helped contribute to the anxiety that so many millions of people feel watching and waiting and looking at the radar you see on the screen right now. By telephone now is a gentleman by the name of mark kaplan. He lives on the South Carolina side of the border but he operates a Grocery Store in a tiny spit of an island called sunset beach. Half mile wide, three miles long. Right on the border between North Carolina and South Carolina. He also owns and operates the fishing pier nearby and mark, good morning to you. I know you picked up yesterday and moved inland. Ironically you chose the town of florence, South Carolina to ride this out. So we hope it goes well for you. Knowing your livelihood and your business is on that island, what are your thoughts right now, mark . Really, my thoughts are that im just hoping that everybody is okay and everybody stays safe. Thats all thats important. Bill i know you have a lot of concern about the fishing pier you own and operate. If you lose that, what do you do, mark . Well, i still have the Grocery Store, but well survive, you know. You make changes when you have to make changes when things happen. But as long as becky and i and the kids are okay thats really what matters and all the people that we care about. Life is the most important thing. Bill you were able to board up sorry stepping over you a little breakup in the signal. You were able to board up the Grocery Store and the pier before you left, mark. Do you think its enough protection . Its the only protection that we can do at this stage of the game is to board up. We boarded up the pier house and the Grocery Store. Thats the best that we can do. Bill what did you see on the island before you drove out yesterday . An absolute beautiful day. Beach looked fabulous like it always does. It was just a beautiful day. Not many people but a beautiful day. Bill well see what happens on the other side. Good luck, mark, were praying for you, becky and the rest of your family. Thank you, my friend. You bet. 16 miles inland in florence South Carolina is where he is riding it out. With me the chief of the Wilmington Police department ralph evangelous. Youve been in town for 14 years. Driving around you see a lot of businesses boarded up. A pretty good precaution. What do you have now . Well, were ready. We plan for these events. Nothing quite as catastrophic as this potentially will be with 30 to 40 inches of rain. Weve never seen rainfall that much. So were ready to go. People who have left are gone now. Whoever is here will have to huddle up. If youre in a low lying area thats prone to flooding get to a shelter immediately because we will be in a bad, dire situation for two or three days until we can really start responding en masse. We have over 300 people, essential personnel scattered throughout the city. Theyre here on 12shift. All days off and vacations have been canceled and infrastructure in place to respond. Its a waiting game right now. Bill were a few miles inland. The tide is moving out right now. A lot of people on the boardwalk for the past several hours saying hello to us and walking their dogs and getting in a jog. These people are staying put. They are. Thats a personal decision to make. I recommend everyone to get inland. We are going to see epic rainfall here and sustained winds for two or three days. Something we dont normally see in hurricanes. This will weaken structures and weaken our trees and well have Power Outages probably for a week is what were planning on right now. Bill what is the plan for after the storm . Thats when the work starts . How do you get a strategy ready for that . Well get a Damage Assessment as soon as the winds calm down as soon as we can get air assets and visual assets on the ground to look at the damage and we have our city county eoc, National Guard on stand by, assets ready. Were ready to go. We cant assess it until the winds get down to a more manageable number. Bill you hope if you have to face this reality you hope it blows away. Im captivated by a storm of this size. When you know that wilmington is in the cross hairs, what comes to mind . To think the eye will pass right over us is a bit unsettling and to be in that whole Northeast Quadrant of that storm is the worst place to possibly be and why we look at the epic rain totals that theyre predicting right now. So were okay. Well get through it. Bill you have a good attitude. Stay in contact. Well be here with you and figure out what happens on the other side. Thank you. Bill well go back to new york and sandra. Sandra as we keep monitoring that storm we are ore learning the fema administrator, brock long, is under investigation for some of his travel. Mike emanuel is live in washington with the latest from fema. Good morning. Fema administrator brock long is under investigation for using official vehicles to travel back and forth from washington to his home in hickory, North Carolina. Were told the department of Homeland Security Inspector General is looking into weather the fema administrators travel is governed by past practices. Long said he is 100 focused on florence but addressed the issue. Well continue to fully cooperate with any investigation that goes on. And own up to any mistakes and push forward. Fox told the Homeland Security secretary is treating the issue seriously but has not asked for longs resignation. Sandra in utah it was announced that one of the kidnappers and abusers was Elizabeth Smart will be released from prison. 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The aarp Auto Insurance program from the hartford . Lets take a ride with some actual customers and find out. Well, tell me about your experience when you switched to the hartford. When i switched to the hartford, im sitting there thinking, man, i should have turned 50 years ago. They saved me a bunch of money. You cant beat that. What blows me away about the hartford is their lifetime renewability benefit. Now this is their promise not to drop you even if you have an accident. I know when im driving, im covered. [narrator] drivers 50 and over can save hundreds of dollars when they switch to the aarp Auto Insurance program from the hartford and get other incredible benefits like lifetime renewability. Not an aarp member . The hartford can help you join in minutes. Call the hartford to request your free quote at. Or go to. Sandra the utah board of pardons and parole saying they did not have much of a choice when it came to releasing one of the kidnappers of Elizabeth Smart. The couple held the teenager captive for nine months in 20022003. Were joined by the prosecuting attorney in the smart case and joins us now. Brett, thank you for your time this morning. Elizabeth smart has strong feelings as a result of this. She is now 30 years old, married, two children. First off, what is her thoughts as she has learned this surprising news . Its been shocking certainly unnerving for elizabeth. She is a very strong, powerful woman today and it is an honor to work with her but this is definitely something that has her attention. She has been primarily focused on the unwillingness of the defendant to participate in Mental Health programming or to get rehabilitation while she is in there, not to mention coming out much earlier than we expected. Sandra there is a lot of confusion as to why its happening and why this woman will be released september 19th is the day coming up quickly. When her two sentences federal and state were supposed to be served consecutively. The timeline. Clarify whats happened. In march 2003 it was mitchell and barzee arrested for kidnapping Elizabeth Smart. Barzee began serving time in federal prison. That lasted from 2009 to 2016. In 2010 she pleaded guilty in state court to attempted kidnapping for the failed plot to abduct smarts cousin and given a 15year prison. She was returned to the Utah State Prison system. The federal and state sentences were to run concurrently. Her 15 year sentence will expire next week. Why wasnt this known and why did it play out this way . There are two gaps in the system in my opinion. First is that period of time you referenced when he was in the mental hospital. She was claiming incompetence. There were issues that needed to be addressed. The fact that those nearly six year she was given credit for is a gap in the law in my opinion. The second was where was the ability to toll the state sentence during the federal service . Thats a problem. Sandra we dont have much time left were following Hurricane Florence and its path and a lot of breaking news. Lastly, what are Elizabeth Smarts options . What does sthe plan to do next . Were looking into civil remedies but right now according to the state law, she has served her 15 years. So she served her complete sentence. We dont get a parole hearing which we could appear and elizabeth could share her voice. Were looking into it. Sandra our thoughts are with you and her family. We all remember an incredibly emotional time. She is doing well now. Thank you for your time this morning, brett. Well continue following the path of Hurricane Florence, breaking news continues and well be right back. If youre waiting patiently for a liver transplant, it could cost you your life. Its time to get out of line with upmc. At upmc, livingdonor transplants put you first. So you dont die waiting. Upmc does more livingdonor liver transplants than any other center in the nation. 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No. Schedule a complimentary goal Planning Session today with td ameritrade®. Ythen you turn 40 ande everything goes. Tell me about it. You know, its made me think, im closer to my retirement days than i am my college days. Hm. Im thinking. Will i have enough . Should i change something . Well, youre asking the right questions. I just want to know, am i gonna be okay . I know people who specialize in am i going to be okay. I like that. You may need glasses though. Yeah. Schedule a complimentary goal Planning Session today with td ameritrade. Sandra Median Household Income rising to its highest number in more than a decade. 61,400, 1. 8 growth that were seeing there according to the latest census data. Poverty levels declining for the Third Straight year. Charles payne, tell us what all this means, charles. Its an amazing story. As i dug into the numbers the highest income bracket every single race is at an all time high as a percentage of households. Asians almost 15 , hispanics 3. 8, blacks 3. 1, whites 8. 1. Huge upward mobility. We have a lot of problems in the country, the middle class that seems to be stuck. People who break through there their mobility is huge going straight to the upside. A mixed report but it is an extremely hopeful report. The wealth now that were seeing being spread across this nation phenomenal. Poverty coming down particularly for youth. Poverty down to its lowest since 2007 for youth. The only problem is that middle, just getting people that mobility has to start earlier. Sandra room for improvement. But we have to celebrate the fact were seeing a lot of wealthy households. For the black population 1981 it was 0. 1. Im talking almost 0 households for 200,000. Sandra jamie dimon. You have a mark cuban. Sandra no doubt about a possible ceo run in the next election. Thank you very much. Bill hemmer, to you. Bill thank you, sandra, Tropical Force Winds expected here in three hours in wilmington, North Carolina, in moments the National Hurricane center gives us the latest coordinates. Chevy also won a j. D. Power dependability award for its lightduty truck the chevy silverado. Oh, and since the chevy equinox and traverse also won chevy is the only brand to earn the j. D. Power dependability award across cars, trucks and suvsthree years in a row. Phew. Third times the charm. Todays Senior Living communities have never been better, with amazing amenities like movie theaters, exercise rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars and bistros even pet care services. And theres never been an easier way to get great advice. A place for mom is a free service that pairs you with a local advisor to help you sort through your options and find a perfect place. A place for mom. You know your family we know Senior Living. Together well make the right choice. Gimme two minutes. 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Moments from now well get a live update on Hurricane Florence from the National Hurricane center as this powerful storm closes in on the carolina coast. Welcome back to americas newsroom. Im sandra smith in new york. Bill sandra, good morning. Im bill hemmer live from wilmington, North Carolina, some of the outer Barrier Islands feeling the storm winds. Welcome back to the National Hurricane center im ken graham. Hurricane specialists are constantly watching Hurricane Florence giving the latest updates. Im getting handed updates. Winds 105 Miles Per Hour. Were 145 miles east southeast of wilmington. Were getting gusts on land at 50 Miles Per Hour. The impacts are here. You can see some of these rain bands where you get some of the tropical Storm Force Winds and heavy rain. Really you see it onshore as advertised moving inland. We constantly remind you not just to concentrate on the eye which is very evident on the radar but these bands. The hurricaneforce winds extending 70 miles from the center and tropical Storm Force Winds 170 away from the center. The impact far and wide from the center. The latest track just updated. You can see what im talking about the Hurricane Force winds and tropical Storm Force Winds. Real important not to concentrate just on the center. Where are we going . Well continue as forecast and a slowdown will happen. This is 8 00 a. M. Friday. This is 8 00 on friday evening. Staying a hurricane but then by saturday morning still a Tropical Storm. Not a lot of geography here to travel. The impacts will be long lasting and we keep talking about those impacts with time and if you look at the cone here, the center 2 3 of the time can be anywhere inside this cone. Even well inland you have to prepare for those impacts. Lets look at those impacts because thats what we have to talk about. And remember the category is just about the wind. Its independent of the actual impact. One of the large impacts we will have is the heavy rain. Along the coast where we make landfall and the system moves slow potentially 20 to 30 inches of rain. Rain bands you could see 40 inch total. 10 to 15 as we move inland. Even charlotte and raleigh could get 6 to 10 inches and asheville and roanoke 4 to 6. We have to watch out of the flash flooding. Heavy rainfall amounts and the storm surge. The number one killer when it comes to these tropical systems with the rainfall inland being the second. Look at these values. Incredible amounts of water. 9 to 13 feet of storm surge in areas around North Carolina. Now, well away from the center you can still get these high values because the wind field is so large. The longer we keep those Hurricane Force winds onshore the more water we push up into the areas like rivers. Miles inland, miles inland you can still see some of the storm surge. Just because you are not on the coast doesnt mean you could get big impacts. New as well this morning. Tropical systems can cause tornadoes. The Storm Prediction Center put a portion of North Carolina under a tornado watch. Were continuing to get the latest updates handed to me. Time for this to continue with the impacts. A longterm event through the weekend. Time to be prepared. Well watch it here from the National Hurricane center here in the operations area. Bill thats ken graham. We heard from him yesterday. He said this one really scares me. Today he has listened to the forecast that he is giving. There is very little if any good news in anything that he is talking about there. Given the winds or the storm surge or the flooding they suspect not only along the ocean but inland for miles that he describes right there. Acuweather was on with neil cavuto yesterday afternoon. He described the path of the storm. The storm will come on land and move on and inland. Not this one. Its approaching land at 12 miles an hour Forward Motion, and it is literally taking a jog to the left and the southwest. You rarely if ever see a storm do Something Like this especially of this size. What he said was think about a cork floating in a flowing river. It bobs its way down the river and thats what florence appears to be doing. Up and down the carolina coast, down in the South Carolina as well. If you have your car and drove 60 miles south you would hit North Myrtle Beach usually a tourist hot spot. One of the most populated tourist areas youll find in all of america. Its now a ghost town because of florence. Jonathan hunt is in North Myrtle Beach. You were listening to that. Whats the situation on the ground where you are there . Bill, good morning. In the last couple hours the wind gusts have certainly picked up to some extent here but for now for some certain subset of people it remains a dream day on North Myrtle Beach. A lot of surfers out here taking advantage of the surf that is coming up here. But this dream start to the day is very quickly going to turn into a nightmare for them if they dont get out of the water in the next few hours as that storm surge approaches, the winds pick up. The epic rainfall we have heard the forecast of come in. One of the big concerns here is the cherry grove pier. This fishing pier was completely destroyed by hugo in 1989. Badly damaged once again in 1999 by floyd. The hope is that it can survive florence. But clearly thats one of the big concerns here. Property damage is going to be widespread were told as a result of the storm surge and the rains that well get. As the dave pans across the pitch. You can see some of the homes up here. Some of those are not boarded up which strikes me as quite extraordinary. It shows that people are less concerned about the winds at this stage than they are about the storm surge. That is going to be the big problem on very lowlying areas like this one, bill. It is what is weve heard again and again and again from all the forecasters and officials, dont take note of the wind speed so much. Worry right now about the rainfall and the storm surge. In all of these hurricanes that we have seen over so many decades, bill, that is always the biggest cause of the loss of life. It is not the wind. Around 10 of deaths are caused by the winds in these situations. Around 75 of deaths are caused by storm surge and flooding, bill. Bill one of the biggest questions you get for the locals is why arent you leaving . You asked that question down there, what do they say, jonathan . Yeah, as you can see around us here there are several people, handful who havent evacuated North Myrtle Beach. Theyre hanging around and come down to take a look at florence as she approaches. Some said to us they arent getting out. We asked them why. Take a listen to their answers. We live on the fifth floor above sea water in a building thats hurricane rated. That was our precautions. Im a little concerned. I know where to put my faith. You have to see where the storm is going and i think sometimes the news channels hype it up too much. Of course, were not hyping it up, bill. Were simply passing on what officials say. This is a very dangerous storm. Bill. Bill youre the one who is the victim or the one who lost their home or the one who suffered and incurred so much damage up and down the shore. Thank you, jonathan. We came out at 7 00 this morning four hours ago. Weve seen dozens of people on the boardwalk. Wilmington is a town of 105,000 people. To think that everybody is going to leave is more wishful thinking. A lot of people is Higher Elevation and seen storms before. One said ive been here 35 years and not worried about it. Once we leave we cant get back. Various reasons as to why so many choose to stick it out. Sandra up next to you is a live shot in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. Griff jenkins is reporting from that. It is something and should serve as a warning to anyone near there it will get a lot worse. We have more now from South Carolina with kelly moore, the Public Information officer for a county that includes myrtle beach. Thats very important. Its a large tourist destination. Many of us know that across the country. Weve been there and heard about it at the very least. What is happening and the latest there . So our county is the largest county in the state encompassing the city of myrtle beach. We have inland areas we anticipate will be impacted by this event. This is a significant event for our area and our state. We anticipate significant rainfall. Certainly the potential for significant flooding and then that wind damage were anticipating Power Outages as well. Sandra some of the updates weve been getting from Business Owners are preparing for the worst. What are they doing . Absolutely. So businesses along the grand strand and even further inland are boarding up getting ready. Theyve evacuated the area to safer ground. Until the storm passes us by well work hard to get people in. For safety were pleased to see so many people have heeded the warning and left the area. Sandra a lot can change and is still changing. What are you seeing as far as your residents and their willingness to leave . How many have gotten out . How many are still trying to make up their minds, kelly . Weve seen about 70 of folks in the evacuation zones at this point have left. Were pleased with that response. Again for folks who decided to stay they need to be selfsustaining for two weeks. There will be Power Outages and high winds and a point at which our Public Safety teams wont be able to reach you. Be prepared for that reality if you choose to stay. Sandra were continually looking for fresh updates here. A shot in North Carolina, unbelievable situation playing out and those electricity outages we heard from the governor of North Carolina a short time ago being in the millions as far as what we could see as far as outages that could last days or weeks he suggested. Kelly moore, thank you for your time and giving us some color from the state of South Carolina this morning. Thank you. Thank you. Bill Tropical Force Winds hitting the Outer Islands of North Carolinas shore. Were in wilmington a few miles inland from the ocean here so we expect to get up to that level 35 mileperhour plus in 2 1 2 hours. Were waiting it out. We expect the rain to start falling about the same time. Federal government is getting ready. Senator richard burr told us yesterday never has the government been more ready for the storm like this of its size and theyve had about to week to get ready. Complaints already coming in about some price gouging throughout the carolinas. We hear it a lot. Looting and what people are experiencing as they leave the danger zone and seek shelter. During hurricane floyd we had flooding where i lived i lost everything. And its hard to get out and it is hard to get back in. This time im going further inland just to be safe. You might take something for your heart. Or joints. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in Clinical Trials to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Experience a blend of refined. And raw power. Engineered to take the crown. The lexus ls 500 and ls 500h. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Dozens of people 50 and over, who like me, are actual customers of the aarp auto and home Insurance Program from the hartford and over that time i noticed a common theme. People appreciate the value they get with the hartford. We originally signed up for automobile and homeowners together. The hartford was the only one that was able to save us money. Thats a good feeling, huh . Yeah, its good to have everything bundled together. [announcer] to get your no obligation quote, call the hartford at the number on your screen or go online it was a hailstorm that came through and it had some damage to the automobile, as well as the home but the hartford stepped in there and took care of it. For an Insurance Company to go above and beyond, i would say the hartfords been exceptional from the get go. [announcer] join the millions of customers 50 and over who trust the hartford. [announcer] call the hartford at the number on your screen to get a no obligation quote, or go online bill some of the numbers are staggering about Hurricane Florence and some predictions. 10 million live in areas with hurricane watch or warning and Tropical Storm watch. A huge swath of the american southeast. The governor of North Carolina in a moment is touring what seems to be one of the many shelters throughout the state. Duke energy says between 1 and 3 million customers could lose power. The company has 20,000 workers at the ready to start restoration as soon as the winds are down and the water is down and as soon as its safe enough to do that. A lot of electric Companies Moving throughout the highways coming in here last night warning that outages in some places of the carolinas could last for days and for some people it will be weeks. Sandra. Sandra bill, thank you. It was a bad night for democrats. Bernie sandersinspired candidate falling short in the rhode island governor primary and in the highprofile New York Primary today democratic socialist and sex in the city star Cynthia Nixon hoping to upset governor andrew cuomo. Joining me now is chris stirewalt. He is a fox news digital politics editor. Always a pleasure to have you on set. Good to see you. All right. Chris stirewalt. Start out with last night the bernie sandersinspired candidate. What does it tell us . Very good news for democrats. This insurgency that we have talked so much about with people like alexandria ocasiocortez. Thats great if you are in a district that matches a candidate like that demographically and progressive stuff. Rhode island is the most Democratic State in america. However, republicans can sometimes get elected there if democrats go off the rails. They almost went off the rails last night and the bernie challenger who will take out raimondo has been for Good Government and basic decency which doesnt always get a vote in rhode island primaries prevailed and in a better position to hold off alan fung to remain as governor. Sandra well see where that goes. The high stakes New York Primary. Andrew cuomo and Cynthia Nixon. Whats at stake . Regardless of her taste in bagels. I say it as a West Virginiaian. Aside from that she is a good campaigner and a really smart practitioner of the political media game. Sandra it sounds so surprising you are even saying that. I think she has taken a lot of people by surprise. She has. And she has put hustle into it and done all this stuff. We would expect that cuomo will get the win and probably get the win by a decent margin. The famous name, incumbency has power and she is probably too liberal for new york especially for parts of new york outside of the city. Sandra she is making him work for it. Michael goodwin turns about the hard turn left cuomo has had to make and she forced them to make that turn. He was reluctant to attack trump by name but with nixon pushing him to the left cuomo sensed the changing wind and hurling overheated charges without end. Sandra it is hard to overstate how overstated the political gifts of cuomo are. People talked about him for 2020. Look, to take nothing away from Cynthia Nixons charge she is running up the hill. It is a reflection this guy is not good at this. He is a legacy that compounds it. He is a legacy. He was born on third base and everybody thinks he hit the triple and it is simply not so. I should write a book. Sandra always good to see you, chris. Bill. Bill he is the king of another name. Another source. Thank you. Already feeling the outer bands of florence. Winds kicking up on the North Carolina coast and it will only get worse as the day goes on. First responders ready and waiting on the front lines. Wilmington, North Carolinas fire chief tells me what his team is doing to get ready for florence now in just a moment. Right now its anxiety and adrenaline to do what we can. Its the unknown that were worried about. Not knowing whats coming, when and how it will come. Ever get in the way . Embrace the chance of 100 clear skin with taltz. Up to 90 of those with moderate to severe psoriasis had a significant improvement of their psoriasis plaques. 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Bill florence on the radar as massive Hurricane Florence closing in now on the carolinas, were approaching that time of the hour of the day where florence makes landfall. Businesses taking advantage of residents. There are 130 complaints of price gouging. We talk about this far too often whether its North Carolina or florida or louisiana. What are you doing . What can you do to prevent that, sir . Thanks, bill. Were actually up to about 250 complaints so far. Most of the complaints are having to do with gas. The rest have to do with bottled water and were starting to see some from hotels from people who are moving off the coast heading inland. What we do is we then call the business to one, inform them of the law and two, find out what their story is. The law in North Carolina protects against a business charging an unreasonably excessive price. Price gouging is illegal because no business should take advantage of peoples desperation. When people are at their lowest, thats when we should be reaching out to help folks, not take advantage. When we get these complaints we investigate them and if theyre violations well enforce the law. Bill what do you tell the people of your state about this . Charity scams are a big problem during these natural disasters as well. Yeah. Price gouging affects the folks that are in the eye of the storm. But Charity Scams and flood damaged cars are consumer issues that will affect people across this country. Neighbors always want to help neighbors when theyre in distress. There will be incredible distress in the carolinas in the next week or two. And so we welcome peoples generosity from around the country. Make sure you are giving to legitimate charities and not somebody who reaches out to you with a goodsounding name trying to steal your money. Bill no question about that. A problem with irma in florida last year. What about looting . We talk to many people staying behind because theyre worried about their homes and possessions and not being able to get access. You have the Barrier Islands where thousands and thousands of homes are sitting empty without protection. Yeah. I mean, it may happen. I dont think people are as worried about that right now. The number one priority is life. You can always buy a new tv. You cannot buy a new life. So we want people to evacuate. We want them to be safe. Law enforcement is sticking around to the extent that they can safely and im confident they will make sure that any kind of looting or crime is kept to an absolute minimum. Bill i know you love your state. You love the tar heels. I cant imagine what its like to watch this radar bearing down on the state that you love. What is the feeling you get when you look at that monitor . Well, dread. Dread and sorrow. Weve lived through a number of these storms. Im thrilled that it is losing a little bit of its speed. Its a category 2. But folks need to remember hurricane floyd in 1998. That was a category 2. Took lives, calls billions of dollars in damage. The amount of pain and misery people are going to suffer is just awful to know that its coming and there is nothing we can do to stop it. We try to prepare as best we can. What we all need to do is pull together and try to help each other during this very difficult time that we know is coming. Bill good luck, sir. Josh stein, the attorney general in the state of North Carolina. Thank you, sir. Very wise words to many. Sandra fema warning people to get out of florences path. The ocean will start rising along the coast and in the back bay and inlet and sound areas within a matter of hours. Your time to get out of those areas is coming to a close. I cannot emphasize that enough. Sandra fema chief brock long. How prepared are federal officials for this monster storm . Well take you live to the white house. 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President trump insisting the federal government is at the ready to respond to anything that florence throws at the east coast. Last night at an event for the medal of Honor Society the president saying that his administration is getting high marks so far for its preparations. Listen here. President trump tremendous people working on the hurricane, First Responders, Law Enforcement and fema and theyre all ready. Were getting tremendous accolades from politicians and the people we are ready. This will be one of the biggest ones to ever hit our country. Remarkably in the middle of all of this the president reigniting his feud with puerto rico officials. The president said 3,000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit puerto rico. When i left the island after the storm hit they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. Time went by didnt go up by much. A long time later they started to report large numbers like 3,000. This was done by the democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible but i with a successfully raising billions to help rebuild puerto rico. If a person died for any reason like old age, add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love puerto rico. This all started on tuesday when the president was asked a question what lessons this administration learns from the hurricane that hit puerto rico last week. The president said it was an unsung success which drew sharp criticism from san pawn mayor cruz. She was back at it today. She said delusional. Paranoid. Unhinged. Trump is so vain he thinks this is about him. No, it is not. As all of this is going on news this morning that the dhs Inspector Generals office launched an investigation into brock longs repeated use of a fema vehicle and driver to drive to his home in North Carolina. Looking into whether the use of the driver and vehicle was appropriate. Sources say dhs secretary nielsen discussed it with long and addressed it earlier this morning. If we made mistakes in the way a program was run well get those correct. Doing something unethical is not part of my dna and not part of my track record my entire career. Well work with the oig to get anything corrected. Sources say its unclear whether the use of the vehicle was based on statute, regulation, or past practices. A report this morning dhs secretary nielsen asked him to resign over this. Were told that is not true. She is neither disgusted with him nor does she want him to resign. Sandra thank you, john. Bill here in wilmington, conditions changing by the hour. Winds from the east now shifting to the northeast. It will swirl for some time, maybe days. Folks looking to ride out the storm are warned theyre taking a very dangerous risk. The wilmington fire chief with me in person here. Tell me about first the local effort. What have you done to get ready . Lots of opportunities to practice here being on the coast and so this is weve put a lot of time in preparing and trying to coordinate our response from not even just a local perspective but regional, state and federal perspective. We have assets in place and a lot of people working. Firefighters and medics and county fire and a joint Operations Center that plans all of our operates all of our plans strategically from the response and the recovery perspective and we have a great Emergency Management system. Bill you think youre ready . Hopefully in 48 hours im telling you we were ready. I have the utmost confidence in our team and the preparation thats gone into this and i think well do a good job. In 20 minutes you can tell things are changing. Changing. I wasnt going to practice meteorologist. A little more comfortable its a cat 2 than 3 or 4. Bill isnt that a false . It can be. Its doubled in size last night and so while we are looking at maybe a little bit less sustained winds were potentially looking at a rain event that will go on for days. And bill you could take the size of florence and you would covering both North Carolina and South Carolina. What are you hearing from the government i mentioned before the public has no idea how hard it is to coordinate a rescue effort from the federal, state and local level. The local First Responders are down here preparing for. No community can do that on their own. We rely on state assets. We rely on federal assets to come help us out. In this particular storm we have them prepositioned to come in immediately after when we are in the recovery when were in the response and recovery mode. Bill you dont know what things will look like on saturday. Thats two long days away. We save peoples lives. Thats our strategy. To the degree we need tools to do that, thats the state Emergency Managements responsibility and i feel that our communication and coordination within five miles of here we have a federal urban search and rescue team waiting to be deployed. State swift water assets within 50 or 60 miles of here. Theyre poised and they are ready to come in and help us as local First Responders handle this emergency. Bill good luck to you. You have the right name. A lot of folks will need a friend around here. Buddy martinette. Thank you, chief. Well be in touch with you and your department the next few days and see how it goes. Back to sandra now. Sandra the pope meeting today with u. S. Cardinals to discuss the sex abuse scandal in the catholic church. Lauren green joins us in new york with more. Lauren. One vatican insider called the meeting today a crucial moment in the history of u. S. Catholicism. It lasted just over 2 1 2 hours and wrapped up about an hour ago. He met with the top u. S. Bishop. President of the u. S. Conference of catholic bishops as well as other top clergy. It was a lengthy, fruitful and good exchange. He asked for the meeting back in august after a letter was published by a former Vatican Ambassador extending coverups extending even to the pope and the pennsylvania grand jury report revealing 300 predator priests and more than 1,000 victims. Another issue that has Cardinal Mccarrick accused also. The cardinal said it was an evil lacerateing the body of christ. We cannot simply treat this as a matter that will be investigated slowly without any updates along the way. This matter needs to be handled and lay people should be heavily involved in this. More fallout. The pope has accepted the resignation of West Virginia Bishop Michael brancefield under investigation for sexual abuse and washingtons archbishop is under fire for his mishandling of the mccarrick investigation and cases in pittsburgh. He will soon return to rome where the pope may except his resignation. In order to deal with the crisis head on pope francis is calling on his top bishops from around the world to rome for a meeting in february calling for the protection of minors and vulnerable adults. Sandra thank you. Bill. Bill 11 40 here in wilmington, North Carolina, Tropical Force Winds hitting the Outer Islands. We expect to feel the same at 2 00 this afternoon. That has been the forecast. Fema said this is a team sport, not an individual matter. Were going to see how we all pull together in the carolina shore over the next 48 hours. Back in a moment as our coverage continues as we await florence. Insurance that wont replace the full value of your new car . Youd be better off throwing your money right into the harbor. Im gonna regret that. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement well replace the full value of your car. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty sandra fox news obtaining some bombshell new texts from former f. B. I. Agent peter strzok. Some republican lawmakers say the messages give startling insight about leaks at the f. B. I. Former u. S. Attorney and Fox News Contributor Andy Mccarthy joins us now. So when you look at these Text Messages, what do they tell you . Well, i think the important thing, sandra, is to place them in the context of when they happened. This occurred, the ones that were currently looking at, around december of 2016. That was, if we remember, not only about a month after the election, but several months after the f. B. I. And the Obama Justice Department Took the position and argued it to the fisa court in october, that the Trump Administration was in a conspiracy with the kremlin. And that conspiracy involved the hacking of democratic accounts. They would not have said that to the fisa court unless that was the version of events that they were running with. And what they figured at the time they took that position was that what they were doing was classified so it would never see the light of day but more importantly, Hillary Clinton was a shoein to win the election so no one would ever be the wiser. Now theyre a month after the election and it is starting to dawn on everyone there is going to be a new incumbent, donald trump unexectedly in office and able to declassify and unseal everything and people will have some explaining to do. Sandra thats really the bottom line here. It explains the exchange and we need to talk more about putting c reporting in our submission. Theyll declassify all of it. What did he mean by in our submission . It could have been one of two things. It could have been either remember, this is december of 2016. Theyve already filed the first fisa warrant application and gotten it in october. They were due to file for the second one in early to midjanuary so they would have been putting that together at the time. The other thing going on at this period of time was remember after the election, even though the Obama Administration had taken the position that russian interference was no big deal, as soon as trump won, they decided to highlight russian interference in the election and one of the ways they did that was president obama ordered the f. B. I. And other intelligence agencies to compile a report about russian interference in the election. Peter strzok was one of the agents who was very much involved in that effort. Sandra here is chairman of the house Freedom Caucus mark meadows who penned the letter concerning these Text Messages. On strzok and pages relationship with the media. Watch. There are dozens of other documents that would support the fact that peter strzok and lisa page had ongoing relationships with multiple reporters and that they were feeding them information to spin a narrative against this property. Is that illegal . Its not legal, its against protocol. The other thing is they are denying it and we have the proof that would suggest otherwise. Sandra andy . Well, number one i think there is proof that would suggest that. We heard of that when the intelligence or the special the independent counsel investigator came out with his report on mccabe which was all about leaking to the media. But the other thing, sandra, thats important to stress here is these guys knew they had taken the position in a u. S. Court that trump was in cahoots with the kremlin. Now trump is in power and about to take the reins of office. They needed to put out a narrative to justify what they had been doing in the months prior to the election. Thats what this is all about. Sandra whats the big takeaway from all this . The American People try to dig into these Text Messages along with us to decide what it all means, andy, if you can sum sum it up in your perspective. Sandra they used Counter Intelligence authorities to conduct a criminal investigation under donald trump under circumstances where they didnt have a predicate crime, period. Sandra thank you for your time. Nice to see you. Bill october 15th, 1954, hurricane hazel blasted the state of North Carolina. That was well over 60 years ago. Now the fear is on florence closer and closer to the carolina coast. National Hurricane Center says the storm is on track to make landfall tomorrow morning and the effects could linger for days. So were watching it and well get the latest forecast coming in 10 minutes top of the hour. 12 noon high noon here on the east coast. Weve been through it before. Hopefully we can get through it again. Just pray, thats all you can do. This isnt just any moving day. This is moving day with the best inhome wifi experience and millions of wifi hotspots to help you stay connected. And this is moving day with Reliable Service appointments in a twohour window so youre up and running in no time. Show me decorating shows. This is staying connected with xfinity to make moving. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Stay connected while you move with the best wifi experience and twohour appointment windows. Click, call or visit a store today. Sandra were following Hurricane Florence as it bears down on the carolina coast. The fema chief warning do not let your guard down on this monster storm. Forecasters predicting devastating flooding and days of rainfall measured in feet, not inches. Were live on the ground in the path of the storm plus a newly leaked video of google executives upset over President Trump winning the white house. His 2020 Campaign Manager calls it a threat to the republic and demands that google executives testify on capitol hill. Where there be any fallout . All that plus our oneluckyguy. Outnumbered at the top of the hour. Back to you guys. Bill Hurricane Florence now could lead to massive Power Outages. The warnings have been out there for days leaving millions without communications for days, some for weeks. Phone companies trying to keep as many people connected as possible. Gillian turner is live in washington watching that part of the story. Good morning. Good morning. 20 hours before florence makes landfall. Cyber experts are ringing alarm bells about digital preparedness. With each passing hour the window of opportunity to protect your home, workplace and family is narrowing. They insist it only takes a few minutes. Being digitally prepared to be off the grid potentially during the worst parts of this crisis that just a little bit of time up front before the worst hits is going to pay dividends for people at home. The first step everyone should take, charge everything including phones, tablets, laptops old and new. They can be useful. Digital cameras, watches and all other personal devices. This storm and the capacity for this storm to potentially knock out cellular signals, internet, and electricity. So that means we have the trifecta of things we rely on every single day. The second step. Back up all your information to the cloud including i. D. , insurance, bank and healthcare documents. And finally, step three, download apps and be sure to test them out. Social media apps like instagram, facebook and twitter can serve as alternate forms of communication when it goes down and other info sharing and recovery efforts. Its infrastructure we count on every day as part of our lives. We almost forget its there. If that infrastructure fails and not there for us, that we have these alternate methods of communication and reaching out to people. Checking in on them. When prepping for emergencies people focus on securing physical things, their homes, cars and other valuables and forget about Digital Infrastructure that can save lives. Spend a few minutes on digital preparedness. Bill thank you, Gillian Turner watching that part of the story. Back in wilmington, North Carolina if you drove nine hours due east of here you would hit Wrightsville Beach. Hurricane florence closing in on the east coast. Live Team Coverage from wrightsville and up and down the shore as the dangerous store gets closer by the moment. Were back after this break. Never drop to your knees, look into the sky for a momentary high, you never even tried till its time to say goodbye, bye everybody fights for a little bit of light, i believe. Geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. With a range of suvs perfect for any adventure, you can be in your element, in any element. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. There you go from the east and northeast. You look at this radar system, its a mesmerizing image, isnt it . The size of the storm, the way its moving. There is so much anticipation, and anxiety. And, understandably so, as we wait for florence to come. I will see you tomorrow, we will do another three hours here on americas newsroom. Great stuff from there. Bill, stay safe. We will see you tomorrow morning and cover it all for you right here on the Fox News Channel. Keep it here for continuing coverage around the clock. Outnumbered starts right now. Harris we begin with this fox news alert. Continuing coverage here on Fox News Channel as millions of people are on alert. Hurricane florence exploding in size, and even though it has been downgraded to a category 2, you got to see how big of a beach this is. It is bearing down on the carolinas as a much bigger, wider storm. The effects already are being felt far and wide with noon wearing wailings of catastrophic flooding, heavy rain from all the ocean waters, and lifethreatening storm surges as it hits the coastline. In the next few hours, as we are watching. You are watching outnumbered, i am harris faulkner. Here today melissa francis, town hall editor and Fox News Contributor katie pavlich, syndicated radio talk show host