fortunately and unfortunately they have past experience. >> lessons from the 2010 flood did help us prepare for an improved flood response. now these include well trained, swift water rescue teams and improved realtime information sharing between metro departments. >> reporter: cnn's martin savidge joining me now live from nashville. martin, what's the situation? >> reporter: fred, i actually covered the 2010 flood, and, in fact, there are residents in the fields neighborhood where we are here that were impacted by that flood but say this one for them was worse. a lot of that has to do with the topography and where you happen to be when it rains. this is seven mile creek. the residents say normally this would be unyou could easily walk across. you cannot do that now. you can see that this creek is really more a waterway that is raging. and that's the point to point out, that was what the water looked like passing through this neighborhood. that's what flash flooding does. it's why it's so potentially dangerous. rises in a hurry, goes away in a hurry. but has a destructive force, almost like you would find, maybe with high winds, say a hurricane, or even a tornado. it leaves that kind of a footprint. digging up all kinds of debris, and depositing it all over the neighborhood. now, this happened about last -- many folks here say maybe around 10:00. 7:00 the weather seemed so good once the storms had cleared that some people went out and were actually planting flowers. by 10:00, they heard rain and then about an hour and a half later the water began to rise. it doesn't rise like a normal flood. it races in, like a kind of tidal surge. it's pitch dark. you can imagine people are in single story homes. and that's when the fear begins to rise with the water because how far will it go? and can you get out? manuel chavez was one of those who was caught. >> it was about right here. this is the level. of the water. >> reporter: how scary was it last night? >> very scary. >> reporter: what happened? >>. >> reporter: -- it started raining so hard, lightning, thunderstorm, we lose everything, couch. everything. everything. electronics. everything go. >> reporter: manuel, his wife and his mother were able to get to a neighbor's house that has two stories and they felt safer there but then they came back and found that they had very little left of their own home and it's much like that all up and down the street here. the incredible power of the water. and it's able to take people, whether you're standing by yourself in your yard, or whether god forbid you get caught in your car. that's how the deaths occur, freed reca. >> sometimes people don't realize how skbift powerful that water can be when it rises, and how it moves. thank you so much, martin savidge, appreciate that. let's check in with meteorologist tom seder in the weather center. tom, what's next? >> well, it looks like they're going to get a little bit of a break. although the larger tributaries, the rivers like the cumberland that runs through downtown nashville, that's going to continue to rise. it always takes a while for the larger rivers to rise and with that, unfortunately, we've even seen it rise a couple of feet in the last few hours. what a month this has been. record snowfall in colorado and wyoming, all time. we've had tornado fatalities. we've had 100 tornados, higher than usual and now of course this major flash flooding, take a look at the radar picture and you can see how it's moved through the region. it rained all day yesterday as a surge of warmth coming up with that moisture from the gulf of mexico in the south and with that we're waiting for the cold front. but we had what's called training. you've heard this term before, one heavy downpour after another, running over the same area, like boxcars of a train. you can see what's leflt is slowly dwindling but our flash flood emergency we had last night, but some watches in eastern tennessee into north carolina, the amount of rainfall was something else. fredricka, not many cities in the u.s. or even the world that can handle this kind of rafrl in a 24-hour period. -wide spread, four to 6. this is the rainiest day ever for nashville in the month of march, for a two day total it is the second highest ever. notice the 13 1/2 inches, that was 2010 and many last night had fears of the same scenes and memories of that, just catastrophic flooding, of course, in 2010. now, the rivers, most of the smaller tributaries are started to reseed. they've reached their peak at moderate levels. see this one here, mill creek, in woodbine, about 21 feet. but now you've got larger tributaries and rivers, this is cumberland river running through metro nashville. it's going to continue to rise, getting up into that moderate flood zone at 42 feet and stay there a while before it starts to reseed. any adjacent areas to that river, obviously, will continue to have some flooding and problems in the days ahead. now, storm damage was not just from the flooding, although that is just miserable and sad with the lives that it's taken but winds caused some problems. again, another day with 15 tornado reports. this on top of the two dozen we had thursday, and eight days before that. we had about 64. so this has been a tremendous month with a surge of what we've seen as far as severe weather, and you can see right here, it averages for march, you know, 78. that's for the country. and we've had 159. the threat now continues to move across georgia into the carolinas, but the instability, we found more toward dell mar, southeast areas of virginia, extreme north and northeastern areas of north carolina, and toward, of course, the chesapeake. but again, once this moves through the area, the threat for severe weather will come to an end, but hey, this is march, transition season. you can see some snowfall up in areas of upstate new york and areas of western pennsylvania. but what a harrowing night for them. unfortunately, with the ground saturated, fredricka, and rain again for this week, the fear will be there that, again, these streams and rivers will rise. it will not take much for them to cause more problems. construction's happening a while. it closed down a lot of streets because of the buckling. southward, in areas such as brentwood and beautiful franklin. it's so unfortunate but that's what spring is about. you don't expect to have record rainfall like this, and no city can handle that. >> this is the time of year for that kind of combination of weather, wow. that is quite the spike indeed that you just laid out for us. tom seder, thank you so much. and martin savidge out of nashville. to the deadly police involved shooting in virginia, sparking new questions about what exactly happened. the community is demanding answers after a police officer fatally shot a 25-year-old black man friday night. the officer's body cam, not activated at the time, the incident was one of three shooting scenes in that same virginia beach area, which left an additional person dead, and eight others injured. so two dead, eight injured. cnn's brian todd is in virginia beach. brian, what do we know about these shootings? were that at all related, talking three separate incidents. >> three separate incidents, fredricka, piecing together whether these are related or not, right now they appear to be treating them as unrelated, but it was a chaotic night on friday night, and more than 36 hours after those shootings occurred there are still so many key questions that have not been answered by police. whether they don't know them and they're piecing that together, or whether they choose not to release that information, determining that now. the key question, was donovan lynch the man shot and killed by a police officer friday night. was he armed or unarmed? reports that he was unarmed but the police chief addressed that in a news conference last night. here's what he had to say. >> i've seen some of the community concerns about mr. donovan -- or mr. lynch being unarmed. what i can tell you is that there was a firearm recovered in the vicinity of where this incident occurred. we would like to be more forthcoming but unfortunately we do not have body cam footage of this incident. the officer was wearing a body cam, but for unknown reasons at this point in time it was not activated. >> and as of last night, chief nutegate said they still had not spoken to that police officer. we have pressed the police all day today for answers on whether that's changed, whether they've had a chance to speak to the officer, whether the officer's hired an attorney, they have not given us those answers, we're continuing to press police on this. we do know they've executed search warrants this morning to get more evidence on the series of shootings that actually began in this area right behind me unfolded in three separate incidents, all around where i'm standing. donovan lynch shot and killed, just down the block there, on 20th street and pacific avenue. and just a chaotic series of events. police seemed to be still trying to piece a lot of this together, fredricka. >> all right, thank you so much, brian todd, virginia beach. right now, members of congress are in atlanta visiting the sites of the mass shooting at three asian spas. a gunman killed eight people. including six asian women, members of the congressional asian pacific american caucus, retracing the shooter's steps in an effort to show their belief that the killings were an anti-asian hate crime. cnn's natasha chen is outside one of those targeted spas. natasha, what are these members of congress saying? >> yeah, fred, they just left here a few minutes ago, after giving a press conference. they had started out their day in ackworth at young's asian massage and drove 20 miles south to this location to pay respects here and to the spa across the street. their point in retracing the steps was to indicate, you know, this suspect, they said, you don't just drive from cherokee county down to atlanta for no reason. that 27-mile journey, they feel, was an indicator of how this was a targeted attack and several of them spoke about the issue of a hate crime, saying that if this was not a hate crime, then what more does one need to do for something to be a hate crime? they also spoke to the rhetoric that's been heard in national discourse over the past year, and talked about how the former president plays into this. here's representative mark tacano speaking on that. >> they see it with their own eyes, and they feel what they feel and they have been gritting their teeth for an entire year. shaped by the words of a former president who i think brought about much of the anguish that the community feels today, and they do not want to be gaslighted into thinking that this was not what it was, which was a hate crime. >> i also spoke to congressman andy kim afterward. he told me about how hard this has been for his own family. he is of korean descent, talking about the fear and anxiety with his mother and sister, the fact that he has yet to find the words to explain what happened here to his 3 and 5-year-old sons, his boys who saw him and his wife crying when this happened but don't really understand why their father is in atlanta today to pay respects to these places, fred. >> all right, natasha chen, thank you so much. all right, startling news from the top health official in michigan, she says her state is in the middle of a third covid surge. what the chief medical officer told cnn just moments ago. next. e world around you may seem like an immovable, implacable place. it is not. it can be bright. quiet. and safe. it's a change that will be felt from this street. to this street. to no street. and everywhere in between. all it takes is the slightest push in just the right place and that will be the tipping point that changes everything. if you're 55 and up, t-mobile has plans built just for you. ♪ ♪ switch now and get 2 unlimited lines and 2 free smartphones. and that will be the tipping point that changes everything. and now get netflix on us. it's all included with 2 lines for only $70 bucks! only at t-mobile. michael: more than 100 years ago. simi: two branches of our family split apart. david: but now, ancestry helped connect us to our ancestors and each other. michael: find their stories. gigi: at ancestry. good morning, mr. sun. good morning, blair. 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what does that tell you? >> fred, cases are actually rising nationwide across the united states and michigan is no exception. their daily case number right now is about four times what it was one month ago. >> wow. >> so they definitely are in the midst of a surge. as students are returning to in-person learning they're seeing a lot of stunt to student transmission in schools and are seeing outbreaks related to school sports. it seems as if that's where the majority of the increased cases are coming from. >> oh, my goodness. and then how does the state go about trying to suppress the numbers, answer to it, what can it do? >> well, i do know that right now they are having students who play school sports get testing every week and that's definitely going to be an important aspect. making sure that they ramp up their testing and also doing source control so that once a positive case is identified, you backtrack to -- in order to figure out everyone that person could have been exposed to, in order to appropriately have those individuals quarantined, or isolated. they are found to be positive. we also know that the uk variant and the south african variant are both -- right now, and those variants are highly transmissible and likely also causing the surge. >> let's talk about how vaccine makers are starting these clinical trials or are in the midst of clinical trials, involving certain young age groups. do you believe the results will come in time for fall, you know, fall school to begin? >> so pfizer actually had already started doing clinical trials in children from the ages of 12 to 15. we're thinking that those results are likely positive, because they have now since broadened those trials and are testing in children as young as six months. the results from the trials from children ages 12 to 15 should likely be released soon, and that way those who are in middle school and high school can possibly be able to get vaccinated by the time classes start in the fall then younger age children may be able to get vaccinated as early as december or january of next year. this is a very big turning point in terms of the pandemic. i think, fred, sometimes we forget how important of a role children play. but there are 74 million children in the united states. so when we talk about getting the population vaccinated so that we can reach herd immunity we can't do that without vaccinating our children. >> then how encouraged are you about these studies indicating it is safe for pregnant women and those who are breast-feeding, that, you know, there's safety in the use of vaccines for many of them? >> well, i think that data is great because we previously didn't really have any data looking at pregnant women because they were purposefully excluded from those clinical trials. since the vaccines have been released the american college of obstetrics and gynecology has always said they supported pregnant women getting vaccinated, especially if they were high risk for covid. we didn't have the data to support it. now, with these latest trials coming out of boston, it looks like the immune response that are garnered from pregnant women who have been vaccinated are much higher than those who confer natural immunity from having been infected and they're passing those antibodies on to their children. we're not sure how long the antibody protection in infants will last but that's still a positive sign and shows a robust immune response. >> dr. richina bisset, always good to see you, thank you so much. >> thank you for having me, fred, have a great day. >> you too. the top doctors who were working to fight the pandemic from the start have been sitting down with our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta, his conversation can dr. deborah birx was particularly revealing. let's turn now to sanjay on what we can expect from this interview. >> well, fred, i think you're going to hear some tough, but fair conversations, illuminating, showing us some of the lessons of the past year. i think you're also going to hear some of what was going on behind the scenes, you know some -- we saw what was happening on television, but there was a whole another thing happening behind the scenes. dr. birx talked specifically about an interview she had done on the state of the union. >> i knew i was being watched. everybody inside was waiting for me to make a misstep. so that they could -- i guess, remove me from the task force. >> it is extraordinarily widespread. >> the cnn report in august, that got horrible pushback. >> everybody who lives in a rural area, you are not immune or protected from this virus. >> that was a very difficult time because everybody in the white house was upset with that interview and the clarity that i brought about the epidemic. >> i can tell just by reading your face, that was a really tough time. what happened? >> well, i got called by the president. >> what does he say? >> well, i think you've heard other conversations that people have posted with the president. i would say it was even more direct than what people had heard. it was very uncomfortable, very direct, and very difficult to hear. >> were you threatened? >> i would say it was a very uncomfortable conversation. >> fred, i have to say that i think dr. birx was perhaps the most introspective out of everyone that we interviewed out of the six doctors, very reflective. i think very self-aware of the damage that has been done to her reputation. she was honest about the mistakes that she made. i think as honest as she was comfortable being, at least. and her hope for the future, where she thinks this is all going to go in the future. but again, this was much more, fred, about -- about the lessons learned. there was clearly mistakes, and mishaps that happened throughout the pandemic. what were they? what can we prevent from happening next time. so i hope you get a chance to watch it. thanks. >> all right, looking forward to it, thank you so much, sanjay gupta, be sure to tune in, tonight, 9:00 eastern, for the full special covid war the pandemic doctors speak out only on cnn. up next, a political firestorm in michigan after the state's republican leader called the top democratic women witches, and that's not all. one of the women that he targeted joins me live in a moment. for people living with h-i-v, keep being you. and ask your doctor about biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in certain adults. it's not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to and stay undetectable. that's when the amount of virus is so low it cannot be measured by a lab test. research shows people who take h-i-v treatment every day and get to and stay undetectable can no longer transmit h-i-v through sex. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your doctor about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis. if you have hepatitis b, do not stop taking biktarvy without talking to your doctor. common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. if you're living with hiv, keep loving who you are. and ask your doctor if biktarvy is right for you. if you're living with hiv, keep loving who you are. with visible, you get unlimited data for as little as $25 a month. but when you bring a friend, you get a month for $5. so i'm bringing everyone within 12 degrees of me. bam, 12 months of $5 wireless. visible. wireless that gets better with friends. it's moving day. and while her friends are doing the heavy lifting, jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. it only takes about a minute. wait, a minute? but what have you been doing for the last two hours? ...delegating? oh, good one. move your xfinity services without breaking a sweat. xfinity makes moving easy. go online to transfer your services in about a minute. get started today. more pushback against a controversial law in georgia restricting voter access. the justice department is taking a look at the measure. and civil rights groups have filed multiple lawsuits challenging the bill, critics argue the controversial bill written and passed by republicans disproportionately targets democrats and black voters in what is now a critical battleground state after georgia flipped blue for the first time in nearly 30 years. the state's first black democratic senator calls the new law voter suppression and vows to fight it. >> unfortunately georgia has a long history of voter suppression, and when i say a long history, i mean in recent -- in recent years. and certainly it has ramped up with this bill that he signed into law. this is really about preserving the voices of the people and their democracy. and i honestly think, dana, that politicians focused on their own political ambition. it's what's gotten us here in the first place. >> yeah. >> you have legislators who are running scared, and so rather than having the people select their politicians, and politicians are trying to cherry pick their voters, this is an assault on the covenant that we have with one another as an american people and it's my job to protect it. >> georgia's republican governor continues to defend the new law, arguing that it expands voter access in the state, despite the fact that the measure adds restrictions. in michigan, the chairman of the michigan republican party is facing backlash for comments he called the three top democratic women in the state witches. ron wiser, the michigan gop leader, also used the word assassination as an alternative to voting out leadership. all the comments came during a meeting with a local republican club and his comments were met with cheers and laughter. >> i made a decision to continue to serve, to make sure we have an opportunity to take out these three witches in two years from now. >> jocelyn benson is the michigan secretary of state and as one of the top female democratic leaders in the state is it your view he was talking about you being a witch? >> i think that was very clear and, you know, i think that even more so that, you know, what he was suggesting violence over democracy is not just horrific, but it goes against what the people of michigan want and of course, though, is also part of a pattern you've mentioned we're seeing all across the country, republican leaders seeming to dismiss or disregard democracy at a time when we really need to be protecting every voice. >> right, and secretary benson, i mean, there was cheering and laughter that we heard on that tape. what does this tell you about the support that that sentiment has? >> well it shows that what we've been saying really in michigan for almost a year now as we've seen violent threats and hateful rhetoric percolate throughout our state and through the voices of political leaders, which is that those threats, that can lead to violent acts and it's no -- you know, no secret and no surprise that as a result of this kind of ongoing violent rhetoric that we're seeing violent threats as well targeting not just me, but of course the governor, the attorney general, and many others. and there's just no place for that in a democracy, and it really is a time for all leaders to step up and acknowledge that and acknowledge that civil discourse, that agreeing to disagree without being disagreeable is what we need right now. >> did out make you fearful, after people were arrested, a plot was broken up, a plot to kill, assassinate the governor, governor whitmer? >> you know, that doesn't -- i mean, sure, it's been a challenging year, you know, and people showed up outside my home in a dark saturday night in december when i'm trying to put my kid to bed. you never know and you always worry that with intense rhetoric like this someone can get hurt. but the bottom line as well, we were elected by the people of michigan to do a job and serve the state and that's exactly what we're doing and if people disagree with it, there's a way to handle that at the ballot box but what we also need to see, moving forward, is accountability for this hateful rhetoric and that's what's been missing. really, and why it hasn't really diminished over the past year, and it keeps escalating, of course, and we all saw the escalation on january 6th at the u.s. capitol. again, it's important that we have accountability for this rhetoric, and for these attacks on democracy and political leaders, and until we have accountability, we can't expect it to stop. >> wiser has since tweeted out, saying this, you know, he should have chosen his words more carefully, but this is very serious business, particularly after the plot that i just mentioned that was, you know, broken up, and just looking at the whole climate of the country, does a message need to be sent to him that these words, you know, are serious and nothing should be taken lightly, can he potentially even be facing any charges, you know, for using such rhetoric? dangerous language? >> yeah, i think quite clearly, an apology, without accountability, is meaningless, and, you know, the people of michigan deserve more than a leader of any political party who would suggest violence over democracy and this is, again, an ongoing pattern we're seeing in michigan and across the country. and until we do see some accountability, some lines drawn to say this is the line and you can't cross it, in a democracy, we can't -- you know, we're going to continue to see people try to stoke the fears of the -- of voters, of citizens through this type of rhetoric. and so it's really time, long past time, for leaders of both political parties to consistently in words and in action condemn this hateful rhetoric, not repeat it, certainly, not propagate it, and when they do so, and apologize like in this case, you know, that they're held accountable by others who say this is just not appropriate in this day and age. >> speaking of voters, as you know, of course, georgia has just passed a law that many critics are calling a voter suppression law and then in michigan you have more than 30 bills that may have the same intent. what's your view on what can or should or is going to happen to make sure that michigan does not follow suit in passing legislation that people would call suppression, a suppression of the vote? >> well, again, this is a continuation of the war on democracy that we saw subsequently following the november election that has escalated and really has taken on a new battle front in state legislatures across the country. so in michigan there's been proposals for legislation that would essentially create so many hurdles to voting by mail or voting absentee as to make it completely impossible. now in michigan there's a state constitutional right that voters have instilled in our state constitution to protect their right to vote absentee. a debate about the extent any proposals that infringe that state constitutional right. the fact is that last year's election, a record number of michigan citizens on both sides chose to vote absentee and demonstrated that they believe in that right. they believe in democracy and it's really important for every leader in michigan to recognize that, to listen to the voters on both sides of the aisle, who clearly want to be able to have access to vote, and really took advantage of that access last year in one of our most successful elections in recent history. >> all right, michigan secretary of state jocelyn benson, thank you so much for your time, appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. coming up, an elected official in ohio condemns anti-asian hate by taking off his shirt during a board meeting. the emotional moment all caught on camera, joins me live in just a moment. ng cartridges. big ink tanks. lots of ink. print about this many pages. the new epson ecotank. just fill and chill. i give to shriners hospitals for children because i want to be a part of something amazing. - i know my gift to shriners hospitals for children makes a difference in the lives of children. - our support gives kids a bright future. - i give because when i see a child smile, i smile. - when you support shriners hospitals for children, you're joining thousands of other caring people like you who have helped kids like me and over 1.4 million other kids do amazing things. - will you call the number on your screen right now and give $19 a month, just 63 cents a day? 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you had the big lie, the president who pressed the secretary of state on conversations trying to overturn the election, georgia stood its ground saying no, there was no fraud. one person, one vote, everything was good and then the next thing you know, the president, whether it be his wounded ego, or what, is now translated, turns into a -- the very kind of law that he has been advocating. how did that happen? >> well, it follows the pattern of the big lie. you know, continual assertion, assertion from the top, from a dynamic, charismatic leader, ignoring the truth, demonizing those who stand in the way and this is really important, amplified by media which can paint a broader narrative that supports the contention. now we have the media amplification, not just by traditional media companies or non-traditional for that matter, but by social media, which is driven by people, by followers, by real neighbors and friends. and so this has taken root. and it has taken its root in a completely polarized environment and there really is a straight line from the lie to the law here. >> there are a lot of americans who can't discern the difference between mainstream media, things that are checked, double checked, triple checked versus just information they find on the internet or via social media platforms. so what's the responsibility that, say, these social media platforms have? >> well, they have a responsibility. they very slowly and reluctantly come to accept that. not too long ago i was at a -- i took part in testimony where the media platforms and social media platforms were there saying we do not want to be arbiters of the truth. we don't want to get involved with this. we're just the pipeline, we have no skin in this game. that's changed and now mark zuckerberg himself says well there needs to be some kind of regulation, the question is what. we're not going to have amin industry of truth in the united states of america. we have a first amendment and we feel very strongly about that. it's very broad and it recollect protects a lot but it doesn't protect everything. you can't shout fire in a crowded theater. you can't impersonate a federal officer. you can't lie to the fbi. in fact, you cannot, without some threat of penalty, sell medicine and claim that it can cure a disease when you know it cannot. i think the fox lawsuit here is really interesting because we may be on the verge of establishing new levels of accountability and legal exposure when it comes not only to -- >> this is dominion suing fox news $1.6 billion because fox news never stood in the way, or, you know, collectively challenged people when they were blaming dominion voting machines as being porous, a reason why the vote should not be believed. >> right, and you say not only did you harm us as a company but you've charmed the country and we saw january 6th. so if that harm, like shouting fire in a crowded theater can be seen to be applied broadly or mis and disinformation. fox has to shell out $1.6 billion or anywhere near it, they'll feel it. >> frank sesno, thanks so much, always good to see you. >> thank you. all right, still to come, music city. flooded out. wild weather carves a path of destruction through nashville littering streets with dirt and debris. we'll go there live straight ahead. ) because our way works great for us! 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