about things like comforting people and being there for people. he throws paper towels at people who are trying to get their lives together after a storm. and he creates these cringe-worthy moments that for people around him are hugely, hugely problematic. it s not just style. i think that there is, you know, the function of the presidency. this is it. it is not just being the head of the executive branch. it is also about saying the right things, about showing people that you are the leader in the situation, like you re not just trying to get a pat on the back. and that s where he struggles. comforter in chief is what it s been called in the past, and that is one of the responsibilities or roles, at least historically, of the presidency, john, as you know. but this president, it s been written and i think we ve all seen evidence, he will never admit a mistake. no. that s an article of faith that goes back to advice roy cohn gave him in the 70s and 80s, never complain, never expl
and gusts to 130. it s the surge that we re worried about, because this is what s going to happen as the storm rolls right onshore. comes right onshore, not that far from wilmington. there s florence, there s our john berman right there in the thick of the eastern or the north part of the eye wall. that s the worst part of what we re going to see for surge there. now, it does cool down to a category 1 storm as it comes onshore, not that far from conway or myrtle beach, you know that town a little bit better. but otherwise, it is going to be a rainfall maker, because from this point right here, to this point right there, that s about, what, 80 miles. 100 if you want to drive it. that s 48 hours to get there. so here s what the wind looks like. there s our john berman, there s wilmington, there s florence down there, there s charleston way down there. there s the center of the storm right now. as we move ahead to 3:00, it gets closer and closer. there you see the wind speeds. the wind sp
wavering in their decision and they are in it for the long haul. we accept the risk. we know what the risk is, we accept it. we re not looking for anyone to come bail us out or rescue us, if we get ourselves in a bind, like they say, it s on you. so we ll use our wits to get ourselves through it. reporter: and there s a bill of a thrill in it, too? absolutely. i m a thrill seeker. there s some of that playing into it, i m sure. reporter: now, folks on wrightsville beach just behind me are weighing the same decision. authorities tell me they believe only a handful of people are left on this barrier island, but one wrightsville police officer telling me he had a conversation with a man last night where he said, if you re going to stay, i need you to take a sharpie, write your name and your social security number on your arm so if we find you after the storm, we can identify you. he told me, john, that man is now planning to leave the island this morning. that s good. that s goo
hurricane matthew. we had significant damage with hurricane matthew, and it s nothing to compare to what this one is predicted to do. where are you going to ride out the storm? i m going to be at the emergency operations center at the county. so we re all we re ready. our staff s ready. at 45 miles an hour, we will stop sending our emergency service, and when that subsides, we ll be out again. but nell thuntil then, we prote staff as well. i m glad you brought up the 45 miles an hour wind speed. and i m going to sound like a broken record. you will not rescue services will not go out after 45 miles an hour when the wind speeds hit that. and the thing about this storm, the speed is going to be north of 45 miles an hour for maybe two days. and that s why it s important we did an evacuation. if you had any health problems, we encouraged you to leave, because we can t get to you. and it is also dangerous for our dedicated emergency workers to want to go get you, and then it p
and with the rainfall threat of this, certainly we can easily surpass what we saw with floyd back in 1999 and most recently hurricane matthew, 2016. you know, with floyd and matthew, though, the main threats were just the rainfall. now this one, we re talking about the rainfall and deadly storm surge becoming more and more likely, as this storm nears. you know, where you are in wilmington, which is where i spent the night last night, you re sort of between the cape fear river and then you have the ocean. in one of the events that could happen is the surge, the surge could actually push the river in the wrong direction. explain how that works. when you have the storm surge from the hurricane getting close to shore, any of the water trying to flow out of the tidal creeks, or such as cape fear river, has no place to go. it backs up. so you can have storm surge well inland from the beachfront. so it s not just an oceanfront