The embedded purple hitting places like surf city. It is going to take a while to get there, but right now wilmington has all of the weather they can handle from this storm. Nbc news correspondent Miguel Almaguer is putting up with it as part of our coverage. Miguel, it is clear to see on the radar why it has picked up where you are. Reporter yeah, brian. As the winds here increase, we certainly can feel the bands of rain also picking up here. Power has gone in and out for many who are in this city here. The mayor of wilmington told us theyre expecting upwards of four feet of rain. We are starting to see the steady precipitation now here over the last several hours. We have been outside at this location, which is a safe location, for the last six or seven hours here. Brian, as we have rolled into the evening and now officially hit friday morning, we can tell you that the weather here is beginning to deteriorate significantly. We had heavy rain here earlier today. Now it is just whipping, and those winds here have been increasing throughout the evening. The white caps behind me on the water here continue also to spike up in height. We know high tide was a short time ago, but we can certainly see a lot of activity here behind us. Meantime, weve also seen blasts of lightning in the sky. Generators are also exploding in the distance. We see those flashes of green. As we mentioned, many places here are losing power. At least 160,000 people are in the dark right now. That number is certain to increase over the next several hours. Duke energy, the major energy provider, says that roughly 3 Million People likely will lose power before this is all said and done. Of course, theyre also worried about the storm surge. So you may not only be out of power but your home may also be flooded in the next several hours. Really a double punch here, brian, theyre bracing for as the storm runs . Miguel almaguerr gon the coastline in North Carolina. In wilmington but with a dryer gig is cal perry, who gets to drive around inside a vehicle. Cal, this is not like normal weather where you can follow a thunderstorm on the radar app into your community. These bands kind of fall apart, regenerate. There is yellow ahead of red and then purple embedded in the red, but we can tell that where you are is coming under the influence of a pretty strong brand of precipitation. Correct me if im wrong, was that the blue arc light of a transformer we just saw early on in your shot . Reporter yeah, it was. The transformers are starting to go in this area. As you said, unfortunately it is not an exact science in these hurricanes and you can kind of make a slight error of judgment, and we did about ten minutes ago. We went a little too far north. We are about, i would say, five or ten miles north of wilmington, sort of along the coastline. Theres that Intracoastal Waterway which separates the sort of barrier islands, small beach towns from the rest of the state really. As you see some of the debris here in the road. One of the issues in North Carolina and certainly that eastern part of North Carolina where we are now is the elevation really doesnt change. Were only about 30 feet right now above sea level, and thats about as far above sea level as weve been all night. Continuing sort of the conversation that you were having there with miguel, it is going to get worse and it is going to last for a long, long time. We are talking about 36 hours really projected with these hurricaneforce winds. As the trees are starting to fall town now, we continue to wonder what it will sort of look like in 24 hours. This area right here, brian, where we are right now, pretty rural. This is going to be a problem for people as that water comes in, especially when you heard those rescue those rescuers talking about this water rescue. So much of what surrounds either side of the road were on right now is water to begin with. The concern is, of course, eventually it will come over these roads, brian. Im curious to see for how long you are able to traverse a road like the one you are on, which is obviously elevated, kind of a berm with a falloff on either side. But those, of course, fill up with water right quick when you have precipitation falling at the rate we are seeing. Lets bring in david glenn. He has been kind enough to join us. He is a meteorologist for the National Weather service, their field office in Newport Morehead city, North Carolina. Unto you guys falls the great responsibility of warning the public. The warning are all over. You have tried to get as many people out of this region as possible. Let me ask you a basic question about the region and topography, and that is what is going to happen to all of this water . Well, youre correct. Eastern North Carolina has a very complex geography. We have the sounds that can slosh back and forth east and west and cause issues where the water backs up. For pam president ia for example, what we have had with this system, the Pamlico Sound has sloshed to the north and west because of the winds. We had storm surges at Cherry Branch at ten feet, one of the ferry services. A usgs Rapid Deployment gauge reported 9. 6 feet of storm surge in new berm, so some significant values that occurs when you have these storms. Even for florence it did not make landfall, it has been off the coast for us, it has been off the coast but hasnt made landfall yet, it has had these catastrophic storm surge values. This shows the mass of the storm during the day as pictured by the go satellite, and then you see day give way tonight from east to west, and you see the lights come up of all of the Population Centers at the top of the map. There is new york and new jersey to give people some perspective of the cloud bands coming off of this storm. Let me ask you about the wind gusts. Have you been surprised, especially the gusts that have been picked up by the offshore buoys tonight. Have you been surprised by the gusts offshore or inland . No, sir. Actually, theyve been pretty much in line washingthat what wn the forecast. For us in carteret counties and counties adjacent closest to the center of the storm where you would have the stronger winds, we have had wind gusts up to 105 Miles Per Hour at fort macon. Some of the sites along the outer banks, avon and buxton had gusts of 70 Miles Per Hour. There was a high guest of 112 Miles Per Hour which is pretty significant because the eye wall wrapped around that one just to the south of. It was in some pretty significant observation there. What is also important is that the height of this buoy is only at three meters. It is not very tall. You have to realize the buoy is bouncing around in 25, 30, 35foot seas. That value of 112 Miles Per Hour is pretty significant. This is meteorologist bill karins here with msnbc. I saw that the water level in new bern is starting to recede. It is still above ten feet so still problems ongoing. Always we look ahead to the next high tide cycle which is around 11 00 a. M. Tomorrow morning, what areas are you targeting . As of now, the beach and coastal communities have done okay. It has been the Pamlico Sound areas. What areas are you concerned on the coast once the winds shift . There are areas that have been impacted by the storm surge. It is not going to relax very much and the tidal impacts are pretty minimal for those portions of the Pamlico Sound because it is not going to allow it to go back out through the inlets on the east. For the ocean side, were worried about what is going on, especially on the eastern and southfacing beaches of carteret and in the outer bank areas, but though areas are still in i believe were going with seven to 11foot of storm surge possible. As the storm meanders slowly to the west and southwest, the strongest part of the wind field should move a little farther away and eventually help to decrease some of the storm surge values. David, give me a prediction. When all is said and done, what municipality on the main land do you think is going to have the highest precipitation total and what neighborhood, how many inches are we talking about . Oh, whoa, thats going to be a tough one because we still have many hours left to go in this, 24, 36 hours left until this is over. We have had high rainfall amounts in Carteret County, so it probably will be along one of the immediate coastline areas and it could be upwards of 20 or 30 inches. Also join us in something weve been trying to impact upon our viewers, and that is when they hear that a storm is downgraded, when people lets say theyre under a mandatory evacuation order, hear that an incoming storm has gone from a 3 to a 2 to a 1, we try to tell folks that speaks mostly to sustained winds, and this storm is going to deliver the water of a much larger numeric storm, correct . Yes, thats exactly right, brian. One thing to note about this storm and storms that weve noticed in past is that it became a very strong storm offshore. That allowed it to build up this energy, to create a larger wind field, to create this storm surge well before it got close to land. Just because the category of the storm and as you mentioned, youre exactly right, thats only the wind field. Thats all that it pertains, to the strong winds. It doesnt tell you anything about other impacts like storm surge, heavy rainfall, even tornados. It doesnt tell you anything about that. We really emphasize talking about the impacts of each of these threats that can occur within hurricanes. And one final question before we let you go and brag on your work at the National Weather service, and that is when do you expect conditions to really start to degrade at myrtle beach . Myrtle beach is a little southwest of our responsibility. I can see on radar now that the eye is or the center of the storm is shifting closer to wilmington, so it wont be very much longer. I can see it is mostly an offshore wind for myrtle beach, so it still will be probably six to 12 hours before you get into some of the heavier rain bands and the stronger winds there for the myrtle beach area. I would like to brag, you know, our staff here is 24 7 365, but when we have hurricanes and events like this the staff comes together. We have people sleeping on cots and on the floor. Im proud of the team we have here. You took the words out of my life. I know you are not a politician, but every couple of years theres a move in washington to privatize the National Weather service, and that would be replacing the known with the unknown. In all of our experience here, you guys, Public Servants all, are there to keep us safe and let us know what is coming. You do a great job day in and day out, even though we usually just refer to you when the weather is severe. So on behalf of everybody here and everybody in harms way, you guys seem to have gotten all of these predictions right. Thank everybody there for us. We really appreciate it. We sure will, brian. Thank you all right. Meteorologist david glenn who works for your National Weather service. I asked david about myrtle beach because i wanted to, as were watching the degrading conditions there, we had a branch down in the road in front of our car, Tammy Leitner remains in myrtle. Tammy, perhaps you heard david give the prediction of when conditions are really going to start to go south for you, no pun intended. Yeah. You know, one thing i can tell you, this storm is no doubt fickle. It started to rain and just as quickly as it started it stopped. You know, im not sure what to make of it. The wind has kicked up. It stopped. It kicked up. It stopped. No wonder people here in myrtle beach are confused. I can tell you theres a mandatory evacuation and order. People left days ago, but people have actually started calling the Emergency Operation center here and asking if they can return. People are confused. They dont know what to make of this storm because here in myrtle beach it has been pretty calm. Theyve had days to prepare for the storm and the storm really has not arrived here yet. As you can tell, it is still pretty calm other than a little bit of wind. People have left or people have stayed and they have hunkered down, but they really dont know what to make of this storm. Businesses have shut down. It is pretty much deserted here and people are just waiting for the storm to arrive, brian. All right. That is a great point you made, that people are calling wondering when they can come back. While youve been talking, bill karins has been putting together an animation that will show us when the storm is going to reach where you are and its strength. The problem is for anyone who is complacent, hes talking about winds predicted between 70 and 80 Miles Per Hour. Thats where people lose their ability to stand up. Tammy leitner. Down in myrtle beach. Yeah, yeah. Oh, you are still with us. Okay. Yes, sorry, brian. I didnt know you were still talking to me. Thats right. 70 Miles Per Hour, youre right. Thats when they to lose their ability to stand up. Thats what i think a lot of people dont realize. The people that are staying here, they havent realized that even though this storm has been downgraded to a one, it is no less dangerous. Really, the danger will come not only once the storm comes through but once it passes because thats when the real the danger can continue with the flooding. Once that wind passes, the rain will continue. As you know, theyre predicting rain 20 inches, 30 inches of rain, and the flooding thats a lot of rain in a short period of time. Brian. Tammy leitner in myrtle beach where it is going to get sporty before too long. Bill, we are able to see that bit of rain that tammy reports came through there. It is not good that people are calling the Emergency Operations center wondering is that it, is the storm over, can i come back to my place. Yeah, i know. At this point they dont want people on the roads. I mean the storm will arrive there. Right now South Carolina is on the dry side of the storm. Tomorrow night at this time it will be pouring rain and there will be Tropical Storm force winds for 24, 36 hours in the myrtle beach area. So we are watching the storm as it slowly drifts towards the wilmington area. The highest winds will be with this band on the western edge of it, and that will eventually mush into the wilmington area. It is going to take a little bit to get there. Ill slide the map around a little bit here and you can see, this is the myrtle beach area down here. Theres nothing. I mean it is barely spinning rain. It is not raining much past the wilmington area. But once we get in here, this is where we will see the strongest winds and this is where we will get the most significant wind damage with these thunderstorms as they come on shore. Theyre barely off the coastline now of surf city and theyre going to be approaching the Wrightsville Beach area. The distance tracker on this, well show you just how far away these are now from the coast. Thats about 22 miles. It is moving at about six Miles Per Hour right now. So in about three hours from now you will be in that westernmost eye wall in Wrightsville Beach. If were going to get wind damage with 90 to 110 Miles Per Hour wind gusts thats when it will occur. This is one of the computer models that tells us what the radar will look like in the future. Here is how were starting off right about now. It shows the eye clearly here and shows that band off the coast. As we go and progress it, we go through time, we go through the morning, and we go all the way to 7 00 p. M. Friday, so this is about 18 hours from now, 20 hours from now, with the eye not even in South Carolina yet. The westernmost portion, the heavier rains barely even in myrtle beach, and then the wilmington area would be on the back side of the eye with the winds coming off the water with tremendous strong winds and torrential rain. Our friends to the north who have been suffering all day long from the heavy rain and worst flooding so far from areas around new bern and Carteret County here still in the heavy rain bans. Thats at 7 00 p. M. This evening as the sun is setting. It gives you a general idea of what were dealing with with the storm there. As far as the storm track, theres how it goes. It pretty much agrees with the Hurricane Center. Still a hurricane, barely, category 1, in 18 to 20 hours from now and not over the top of myrtle beach until we go throughout friday night into saturday morning. It is going to be a painful, slow, turtlecrawl. At the same time even though it weakens to a Tropical Storm, torrential rain bands importanting in off the coastal areas into the region and well deal with multiple high tides. We will have to see how the numbers verify for the beach communities. We have had the tenfoot storm surges on the sound side. We will see what the beach flooding looks like. I went and looked at all of the predictions for the next high tide cycle which will be tomorrow morning 10 00 a. M. To noon, and we are still expecting that to be the highest water marks for the beach communities. So if people are wondering about their favorite beaches, how theyre going to fare, up to this point it has been okay. We will see what the winds do in the next three to four hours and what the high tide does tomorrow morning. Theres some benefit to having daylight. Things are scarier in the middle of the nierkts and of course the last high tide cycle at 11 00 eastern time. When we come back we will be joined by telephone by the mayor of new bern, North Carolina where theyve got all of the storm they can handle tonight. Who would have thought, who would have guessed . An Energy Company helping cars emit less. Making cars lighter, its a good place to start, advanced oils for those hardworking parts. Fuels that go further so drivers pump less. 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About an hour after i left the station they they had to close it down. Man. And you have already got water we are looking at some of the video. This is daylight video we are seeing on the air now, which means youve got much more water than this. Yeah. You know, irene i got three inches in my basement and that was a very high hurricane. This one right now i got about twoandahalf feet, and this one is going to stay a while. Irene got in and it got out and we had it mopped up in about an hour. This one is going to be around a while. Have you done Everything Possible for Public Safety . Did you have absolutely. Did you have a lot of people that wanted to stay . Well, yeah, at first. I dont think anybody remembers hurricane hazel around here. This is kind of what it reminds me of, not that im that old, but, you know, i am 64 years old. So, you know, my parents told me quite a bit about hazel, and the water portion of that event is very much what were dealing with now. Yeah. Were looking at the radar. Theres just i wish i could tell you theres relief coming, but these waves of rain are just relentless. Well, it is just going to sit right there and feed itself off of being on the water stalled. I just think it is going to be a while. We have been told 20 to 40 inches, three to four feet of storm surge. You know, were just thankful that the category 4 and category 5 didnt happen. Again, the water end of it, it is everything we were told it is going to be. Weve been meeting for several days with the county, the Emergency Operations center with the county and the city, and our First Responders i mean im so proud of the job theyve all done, the whole city of new bern employees. Theyre now as we speak out in the Emergency Operations center, and, you know, we really have this thing coordinated with all of the state, federal and local resources. We have water emergency teams in as far away as houston, texas. We have five or six linemen crews waiting for the winds to slow down enough to where they can get out and start doing repairs. Right now we have 14,000 customers out of power. Mayor, this is meteorologist bill karins. At one point in my career i worked at wcti, channel 12 there. I was there for bertha and i saw that water level and this looks five times as bad. Have you had any water rescues in the city of new bern itself . Zbl zblab. Yes, absolutely. We had quite a few and were going to have some more. We have 16 new personnel that came in to assist and so we are doing water rescues. We went around today, i personally watched the city fire truck, the National Guard with two new bern buses knocking on doors, telling people to get in the bus and go to a shelter. Now we still no, how about your Business District where the sheridan and the marina is located down there and if you head down middle street, how are those businesses . Do they have water in them . Yes. Yes, they to. Some of those businesses actually have basements. But, yeah, quite a few of them are flooded. Sorry to hear that. You know, new bern is were survivors and were going to pump this stuff out, clean it up and be ready to do business. Probably wont be tomorrow morning, but, you know, give us a couple of weeks and we will be spitshined, ready to go. Well, it is a Beautiful Community in ormal timnormal ti. It will be again. You have had a lifetime of living there on the water, which is what has attracted so many people to the lifestyle in new bern, North Carolina. We hope everybody keeps a level head and toss the right thing. We keep seeing a video of a guy driving a new silverado up to the headlights in standing water. Thats not helping anybody. No. Least of all your new silverado. Yeah. I dont i dont know what that one was about, but you do get those type of folks riding around. We have a curfew. We have a curfew at 9 00 at night through 7 00 in the morning, and we do that to protect our citizens. We have a lot of folks chose to go west of 95, and were really stepping up our security the make sure that our residents are safe and their belongings are safe. Sorry, mayor. Have you talked to any of your friends, your fellow mayors of any of the small towns around to see how theyre faring out on the river . Yeah, i talked to chuck allen over in goldsboro and theyre doing pretty good. He was very concerned about what is going on in new bern. You know, we have a metro mayors group and we really work very close together and we provide each other resources as needed. So, you know, it is just the outpouring has been tremendous and the Cooperation Among agencies here in the county has been something to be proud of. Unfortunately but unfortunately up to this point youre the mayor of the town that appears to be hit the hardest, is that correct . It is. It is. You know, im not you know, this is terrible, but were able to get through it and well be better for it. We believe you. We believe you, mayor. We will be thinking of you tonight and tomorrow and praying for everybody down there. Best of luck to you. Mostly, thank you for setting aside a few minutes to let our viewers know about the situation in new bern. Thanks. Thats the mayor. Thanks for your concern, and we will yes. Well send some tourists your way once it is cleaned up. Dana outlaw is mayor of new bern which is sadly in the bulls eye. Look at the relentless waves of yellow precipitation. It is so unique because the city hit the hardest so far is inland, away from the coast, which if you dont know the topography and how the water works it blows your mind, what . Why . It is not near the center, we havent had rainfall yet. It is just because of the rain and the river that didnt allow the river to flow out like it normally does. You can see how it happens. Another break and we will be back with more coverage right after this. It is such a good time to kiss it is such a good time to dance it is such a good time to [ laughing ] scoobidoo doobidoo scoobidoo doobidoo [ goose honking ] [ laughing ] a bad day on the road still beats a good one off it. Progressive helps keep you out there. Your digestive system has billions of bacteria but life can throw them off balance. Realign yourself with align probiotic. And try new align gummies with prebiotics and probiotics to help support digestive health. 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. Find out more and get out of line today. Leave the structure, call 911, keep people away, and call pg e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. 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That one is doing very well at its job, and that is now a former roof over the gas pumps at a bp station. Dont mean to make light of it, but they are so often the first structures we watch go down when the winds come up. Theyre actually made with breakaway couplings in case that happens so they dont to more damage than that. We are covering the landfall, the slow, gradual landfall of what thankfully now is a category 1 storm, florence, on the coastline of north and South Carolina. It really is all the storm they can take in so many communities. We are going to have a lot of people lose everything they have in the world. We are going to have high water here for days, and the wind risk is not over yet either. We want to show you something from earlier tonight. Our own correspondent Gadi Schwartz was out in some of those high winds and heavy rain action on radio island, North Carolina. Reporter it is treacherous out here. As bad as it looks right here, we have actually moved locations. I am using a building as a wind block. Right over there where you see the light hitting, it is extremely windy there. We are talking about wind gusts well above what we were seeing earlier, which is about 60, 70 Miles Per Hour. This is an area thats starting to see the tide rise again. We will get high tide at 11 00. When that tide rises, we are also expecting to see a tremendous storm surge that could be catastrophic to some of these areas. Beaufort is just across the bay there and theyve already started to see flooding in some of their streets. We know the storm surge has come up and surrounded some houses and actually worked its way through the stilts and is encroaching on some of the houses, so tonight, unfortunately, the power has been cut or has been lost here on radio island where we are. It looks like across the bay we dont see any lights over at beaufort either, so were not sure what the power situation is over there. But you can see the situation is getting even more critical out here. These winds are not going to allow First Responders to go out and save anybody. So at this point it is all about hunkering down wherever you can find safety, and this is what were going to see sweep through the north and South Carolina in the next few hours. So that was radio island, North Carolina, correspondent Gadi Schwartz. Conditions have improved there since. That was really the calling card of the storm initially. It was after dark, and then before they were forced inside, they were forced inside because of the threat of the storm spawning a tornado in that area. Were going to take a break. When we come back, well go to one of our shoreline locations in North Carolina thats in the midst of one of the heavy rain bands. Well also talk to meteorologist bill karins about what to expect next. It is a slowmover carrying a lot of water and depositing it on the shoreline. 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Wilmington, North Carolina, that town no stranger to hurricanes. They are veterans. This is not their first time around the bases, but that town has been on the list of likely landfall targets for days. Theyve just come out the back end of an intense band of rain, but as you see, this storm feeds off the warm water off the coast. So it is kind of a builtin rotary engine until it will lose some of its energy when it moves over land. The eye wont reach wilmington for hours yet. Correspondent Miguel Almaguer has been on the coastline, taking all of the wind and rain as the storm nears wilmington. Miguel, again, it looks like from radar you are coming out the back end of an intense band of rain, but it doesnt look any lighter where you are. Yeah, brian. It has actually gotten worse over the last couple of hours. I want to start though with the good news. There havent been any reports of serious damage to structures, but the bad news, brian, as you know, it is still early in this storm and as you mentioned we are just getting the first serious wave of rain. The last check, a county official said that hurricaneforce winds are now hitting the city of wilmington and we can certainly feel that out here. The rain has been blowing side ways over the last several hours. As a matter of fact, the winds have been picking up here. Some buildings here have lost power, many are actually running on generators now. But as the night goes on, they fear we could face a much bigger blackout situation here. That will get very dangerous for First Responders who are standing by at the ready but say they do not want to go out in these conditions. It is understandable. Were not far from our hotel, just about 50 feet or so, so were in a safe location here. But for anyone thats venturing out across the city, were told these can be lifethreatening situations that are now unfolding. The water here is rising along the coastline. It is also flooding local streets here, and First Responders simply dont want to have to go out in these conditions if they can help. So far there have been no calls for help at least at this early hour but we fear that will change as the storm rolls on. I can tell you, brian, the conditions here are getting worse. Luckily it is happening in the middle of the night, but nobody should be going out if they can avoid it, brian. Miguel almaguer, wilmington, North Carolina. Miguel, thank you. You can go inside. We appreciate you reporting from outside. Bill karins back with us, our meteorologist. Im watching miguel. You and i have both been in these. We cinch up our rain jackets to make us feel good. You are soaked to the skin. Yes. Out in the storm, i was talking to weather channel, you know, jim cantore who has done a million of these storms. My goodness. They will wear like wetsuits underneath their outfits to keep them warm because they know they will get wet and soaked. You learn the tricks. Here is my question for you. For how many hours are conditions going to remain like that for the folks in wilmington . Theyre just getting into it. Theyre probably like, when is our storm coming. When does the eye arrive . Let me look behind me, get a closer view here. We are in what i call the secondary band, what you saw him blowing around in, in the wilmington area. Thats not the main event. The main event is the western eye wall which is Holding Together pretty well. Whatever wind damage will be done in the wilmington area will be when this moves over the top of Wrightsville Beach and towards wilmington. I have timing in about three or four hours over Wrightsville Beach. Again, it is moving so slowly. And then four to six hours into the wilmington area. A note, we broke the record for the storm surge in the morehead bmorehead Morehead Beaufort area. The wind direction was out of the northeast, blowing the water out. As the storm has moved past it now towards the west, the winds turn to the east and the water level shot up in a hurry. Im sure a lot of people there, whoever is left there everyone was told to evacuate. I know we have our crew thats there and obviously the police and stuff are still there, but that water level im sure is because of that water height, it is in businesses in downtown beaufort this morning right now. We are going past the high tide, but because the wind direction hasnt changed it hasnt been able the release it, so it is still staying high. That water level should be even higher at the next high tide throughout the morning hours. Thats kind of some of the stories we are watching there. We have avoided a lot of the horrendous surge problems. Remember we were saying seven to 13 feet and the Hurricane Center went down to seven to 11 feet. We havent seen those values yet. The surge in areas where it broke the gauge is right to the four to fivefoot range. Again, this is the fatalities, from all of the storms in the u. S. When they went back and compiled and show why people died, storm surge is 50 of the pie. Thats why were concerned what the storm surge is. The rain, flash flooding and rivers is 27 . The surf from the waves is only 6 . This is what surprises a lot of people, is the wind is only 8 . Earlier brian was asking me about the tornado threat. Well, 3 of fatalities with land falling systems are from tornados, too. Thats why we always care about that and we still have a tornado watch going throughout the night. We are Still Holding to the numbers. We will wait and see what the morning high tide looks like. We probably will get the landfall somewhere 8 00 a. M. , 11 00 a. M. , somewhere in that window. As it is making landfall, the backside winds will be pumping the water towards the beach from Wrightsville Beach up to cape lookout, the emerald isle area, winslow county. We will just deal from there, brian, with the horrendous rainfall for this area, which the rain story will go through saturday, maybe saturday night and even into sunday in the mountains of western North Carolina. When the mountains of North Carolina get five to ten inches of rain, thats another issue with flash flooding. We are already seeing rooftop rescues because we were told on the air earlier tonight yes. At this stage in the storm they have to be by boat. You cannot launch rotor aircraft in this, v22 ospreys, any of the helicopters they have at camp lejeune, they will not fly in this. 60 to 80 Miles Per Hour wind gusts, firefighters in these rescue boats, think of the logic ticks, 60 to 80 Miles Per Hour winds, you are in beat and with people on a roof top and you are trying to get them into your boat safely at night. Thats what is happening right now in eastern North Carolina. Those are the heroes out there doing that work right now, and, you know, those people will be grateful for the rest of their lives to be plucked from their roof tops. It is unfortunate they got caught in that situation, but it seems to happen for every storm. Meteorologist bill karins. Our thanks. We will take one more break here. Back with more of our live coverage right after this. Whats inside . A moment of joy. A source of inspiration. An act of kindness. What will it bring . An old friend. A new beginning. Some welcome relief. Or a cause for celebration. The help youve been looking for. Whats inside . Possibilities. What we deliver by delivering. I want to show you something that was a ubiquitous shot earlier today, just about when nighttime arrived. This was on all of the Cable Networks and people could not figure out where this picture of the ragged old glory getting tattered in the on coming winds, where the picture came from. Mariners know when i call it the frying pan light platform. It is 34 miles off the coast of North Carolina. It is an old platform, looks like a drilling platform. Used to be occupied 24 7 by the u. S. Coast guard. The wind gave that flag all it could take today, and apparently it let loose late in the day just about at nightfall. We are joined right now by john van pelt. He is a field correspondent for weather nation. That is the fancy title, a fancy way of saying he is also a storm chaser. He is in Morehead City, North Carolina tonight. John, what have you seen in your travels . Hi, brian. Stuff not unlike you have seen many times in your past. Here in Morehead City we have been waiting for the surge because it has been one of the biggest concerns weve had all day long. We have had wind, right now it is in the mid 30s, gusting into the 50s here, but earlier with the anometer on the truck we measured a guest of 105 Miles Per Hour. We will give it in high the high 90s to say there might be error in the measure. We had category 1 stormplus winds for a good while here in Morehead City and the gusts into the category 2 range. After hours of thinking it was going to happen, the surge is starting to come up in Morehead City on the waterfront and waves are breaking from the sound on to the road. I was looking at some of your video showing roofing and masonry and insulation. What was this that collapsed . Reporter yeah, brian. That was a pizza parlor, and i think it was the awning or the canopy that may have had some outdoor seating. Concrete blocks, bricks came apart, and unfortunately part of the business it looks like the entire ceiling has fallen in also from wind. Thats the biggest major damage we have seen so far, although theres a gas station a mile away from us that had all of the aluminum siding torn off of it with the steel ibeams being laid bear to the rain and the wind. John van pelt, thank you for checking in with us on your travels. Be safe in your travels. Look for the water with this storm, not so much the wind, as the hours go by. John van pelt with us from the road. Cal perry is still on the road in wilmington, North Carolina. Cal, we wanted to check in with you one last time in this hour of our live coverage. What have you found in your travels . I see you are at one of the gas stations . Reporter i can confirm the weather is past at the parking garage in the nbc headquarters where we get our gas because the trees are down in sort of downtown wilmington. The power is sort of fluctuating and popping on and off. We have seen a couple of transformers go in the last few minutes. This is the first real band that wilmington has gotten. Remarkable, just sort of ten miles to the north of here as you work your way up the coast, as you work your way sort of parallel to those barrier islands, the weather getting really sort of bad. It is unfortunately going to stay bad for the next sort of 24 to 36 hours. Obviously the elevation is something weve been keeping our eye on. Again, brian, in downtown wilmington, this is just sort of the first of the storm after it has been raining for sort of eight hours. This is the first time weve seen the wind pick up. Yeah, well, im glad, i speak for all of the folks wondering why youre in a car driving around with a hurricane on top of you. Im glad if it is going to curtail the extent of your travels, though it has been useful tonight getting this perspective. The ghost town that is downtown wilmington, North Carolina, and we hayessten to add for a good reason. Theres a satellite truck on the right. Because people have been told that unless you have to be here, dont hang around this town. So hopefully our crew will get some muchneeded rest. That is going to do it only for this hour of our live coverage. Chris jansen is going to take the next leg of our live coverage as we enter the overnight, into Early Morning hours as this storm enters a new phase as the eye of the storm nears landfall. Of course, it is going to be a manyhour event. We will still be at this throughout the day tomorrow. That coverage will continue at the top of the hour. At ally, we created a savings account with a great rate. But if thats not enough, our app helps monitor your spending too. And if thats not enough to help you save, we could start a carpool. Look at this traffic. Dont worry. Ok, if thats not enough well start a trainpool. 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A storm surge of tenfeet h