Transcripts For CNN CNN News Central 20240928 : comparemela.

Very much for being here. Have a wonderful weekend. Thanks to All Of You for joining us. Im kasie hunt. Dont go anywhere cnn new central starts right now all right. The breaking News Water rescues underway across several states right now in Life And Death situation, after Hurricane Helene made landfall as the strongest hurricane on record to hit floridas big ben. Im John Berman in tallahassee, florida this morning where its mostly just messy this city did not see the worst of it the Storm Made Landfall near harry about an hour from now as a category four storm with 140 mile per hour winds, it is now a tropical storm as it moves over georgia this is affecting so many states in as everyone wakes up this morning, were only beginning to get a sense of the impact this morning. First, responders they are seeing scenes like this. This was south pasadena, florida, flooded home on fire Dumpsters Gloating through the floodwaters and steen steinhatchee, florida A House just voted away on the Way Water just part of the aftermath. So just the record breaking Storm Surge that has impacted coastal communities nine feet in some areas this morning nine feet of Storm Surge and overnight deputies and Leake County began going out to check on people who stayed behind at least four deaths now has been reported from helene to end georgia, one in florida, one in North Carolina. Power is out for nearly 3 Million people in florida, georgia, and the carolinas happening now, dozens of Airboat Rescues are underway in Citrus County, florida. Thatt is about 170 miles from where i am and talent its between Tampa And Cedar key with us now is sheriff Mike Brenda Grass the sheriff of Citrus County sheriff. Thank you so much for being with us. I understand Water Rescues have been taking place all night long. Give us a sense of whats happening now. Water rescues have been taking place at Surface County says about 2 00 a. M. This Morning And Weve affected over a hot that rescue that were community. Weve been doing many. Thanks western approach that goes from the southern border to the north for The Border of Accounting Bosco also rescued about 50 deaths. And we have about kanye calls from service, were arrested pending and weve got 60 county Sheriffs Office assets out there. We have County Fire Rescue assets out there. We also have one of our Partner Agencies to Suffolk County Sheriffs Office theyve got their here about out here helping us out for rescue. Well, and just a short while ago, the Fish And Wildlife Conservation Commission folks, they showed up, they started helping us out. With some of the Water Rescues as well. Right now where im standing. This is beyond the location where Hurricane Idalias Storm Surge ended up last year in fact reports are sheriff sheriff, your audio went out. If you can step a little closer to the camera, we might be able to hear you better can you, hear me all right. We lost sheriff Mike Prendergast the important thing to know about where he is, its about 170 miles from where i am. It is not where the Storm Made Landfall, not even close, but the Storm Surge in the amount of rain you had water pushing into Crystal River and a huge amount of rain coming down on crystal rer. So, so many people in that county stranded as you heard him described the Water Rescues taking place. Again, whats so interesting Water Rescue South of me also Water Rescues north in atlanta. Atlanta, georgia. Lets get right to cnn senior national correspondent Ryan Young, who is there, ryan, give me a sense of what youre seeing pounded by rain right now, this is probably the heaviest amount of rain that weve received in the last four or five hours or so, we believe that Rain Total now is above eight inches with the last 48 hours or so, this was a very dry city for the last 60 days. Weve got a cold front that came through, dropped a lot of rain, and now we have this additional rain coming from the storm. Want to point at a distance here you can see were at an apartment complex. That is it dealt with flooding issues and you can see those cars over there that are underwater that gives you just how dangerous this has been recently. But we want to show you this video from an early Morning Water Rescue that has taken place just in the last hour or so. We know 25 rescues have been performed by the London Fire department. Theyve had boats to go Rescue Citizens from their homes or their apartments. We know that theyve had to get pets. Theyve had to get infants out because this Rain Is Falling so fast and its accumulating. There have been several creekside of overflow. It is creating a pooling situations with the rain. And so when you put that on top of the idea that we have all this large trees in the area. That were been dry for quite some time. Several trees have fallen throughout the atlanta area, creating Power Outages throughout the metro. But the real concern right now is the Fastmoving Water in fact, just in the distance here weve had seen several people trying to use gps to get to friends who live in this apartment complex. And now theyre trying to back out, but you see how heavy and how fast the water is accumulating here on the ground. There trying to tell people to stay home, mostly the roads are clear, but there have been people whove been venturing out in the last Half Hour or so john to see whats going on obviously, you want to tell people to stay home until at least first light. So you can see the roads ahead of you because this area here, you would not know what was flooding until youre right up on the water so that is the situation right now in atlanta with the water continuing to fall. The good news here so far, not heavy winds that were anticipated so kate it to come through here. There have been gusts above 25 Miles Per Hour, but not the consistent 25 to 35 mileperhour winds that with the combination of the rain and the rain could knock down trees in the city that has a great Tree Cover all over the area also talking about the airport, we know theres more than 100 canceled flights so far, but this is a fastmoving storm. There is a belief that maybe by this afternoon and this will push its way through this area. Right now, there are real concern are the rescues that are going on with first responders getting out here at night, saving people from their homes. John ryan, its so interesting. You just its brought up the wind because Hurricane Helene, it maintained Hurricane Force Strength winds until about 5 00 a. M. As it was pushing up through ultimately, it has slowed down some as a tropical storm, but it just shows you how big and how strong it was as it moved out over land. Go ahead, ryan. Yeah john thats a great point and a lot of times, especially as this far in north georgia, we do not deal with tropical force winds in this area. That was the real concern. Its been a long time since the City Of Atlanta had to deal with a tropical storm, got to think about how far we away from the coast . We were several hours away from where you are so the impact could still be seen in terms of the winds and the constant rain over the next few hours again Water Rescues were Ryan Young is in atlanta, georgia but you also ryan. Thank you very much. Water rescues in Citrus County, 170 miles south of where i am in tallahassee. I believe we have sheriff Mike Prendergast back with us now, the sheriff of Citrus County, sheriff thank you so much for sticking with us. Just give me a sense of whats causing this flooding. Is this the Storm Surge or is this the rainfall into the Crystal River no this is all Storm Surge. Its a little bit more than what we saw during Hurricane Azalea back in 2023, about 13 months ago in fact, i think were going to have about ten feet or so of Storm Surge and the national Weather Service gets out a survey where its going down a little bit. Were approaching the load. Take but the way the wind is blown right now and im looking off to my east and the wind is still flowing at a northerly direction and were anticipate a little bit later this morning a shift was all coming out of the west, which will mean that that water will stay into our base, into our rivers. And abortion, this very flooded streak that im standing here right now, which is our major eastwest Artery Entirety of the county and shorts on the u. S. Side over there in Suffolk County and its role of commerce comes off of Interstate 75 in all those roads that are out there we have an airboat approach. Youre right now thats been out. And its going to get pretty loud. Sum it up. Weve done over 100 Water Rescues citizens. You brought it back 50 pets and weve got Twitching Calls waiting and we know that this ward is going to be here for a long, long time later, Office Reporting all goes back up no reports of serious zachary. Thank god. Were posting a lot of other information out there whos called 911, its not a Rescue Stuff thanks. Object to never seen so were losing your audio again, its, its its hard to understand you, but we got the gist of it, 100 Water Rescues still very much in it. Thank you so much for what youre doing. Thank you for speaking with us. Best of luck to you and your entire team that i know is in mourning all night long, sir. Thank sheriff get right to cnn meteorologist Allison Chinchar. Lets get to Allison Chinchar to get a sense of where the storm is now in who can expect what else . Right . Thats right. And i want to emphasize here, john, this storm has made landfall, but this does not mean its over. In fact, for some of these areas, portions of georgia and the carolinas, the worst is actually yet to come. You can see now the bulk of the storm starting to spread into the carolinas still has sustained winds of 70 Miles Per Hour. And thats whats triggering a signal. Mythical number of Power Outages here over 3 Million people spread out from florida, georgia, and into the carolinas. All without power as of now. And its not surprising when you look at some of these Wind Gusts, perry, florida, not far from where the Storm Made Landfall 99 Miles Per Hour. But heres an interesting point. Douglas, georgia, more than 90 miles away from the coast just also had a 90 mile per hour Wind Gust. So thats why youre seeing these Power Outages even very far inland in some of these communities right now, youve still got several areas, Augusta Gusting up to 60 miles an hour, atlanta, around 40 Miles Per Hour charlotte, about 45 to 50 mile per hour Wind Gust. So youre going to continue to see those Power Outage numbers. Unfortunately, generally go up in the next couple of hours. Rain has also been a huge concern here. You can see the bulk of its still across portions of georgia now spreading into Tennessee Lot of Heavy Rain still across the carolinas and even some Tornado Warnings that we still have valid these watches are in effect for a few more hours and they could even expand northward just because thats where the threat is going to be today. But flooding by far is the greatest threat that we have for a lot of these areas. The green is a Flood Watch where the potential exists for flooding. The red areas. This is where we have Flash Flooding ongoing Flooding Concerns right now, anywhere you see these white boxes including the one around atlanta and then sever in western North Carolina. These are Flash Flood emergencies. That is the highest level of threat that you can possibly get in terms of a Flooding Scale and look at this, all of these white boxes in and around western North Carolina this area has had over ten inches of rain. Some areas over a foot of rain in the last 48 hours and its all come down quickly. There had been reports of landslides. There have been reports of numerous car Water Rescues, not to mention how many streets in these areas that are just entirely underwater. The unfortunate part is for these areas, more rain is on the way and will be for hours. John, this is not just another 30 minutes. There will be hours more of rainfall on top of these communities this is such a big storm was so many people being affected. Allison chinchar. Thank you very much here in tallahassee, they were prepared for a direct hit. It didnt happen. The storm passed east of here, the Wind Gust got you about 67 Miles Per Hour last night sara, thats not quite hurricane strike, but eight inches of rain over the last day or so certainly an impact even here in the capital city, sir. John, im glad youre out there is definitely a Water Event more than a Wind Event at this point. Thank you so much for the reporting out there and we do season im threes and down over there. Its hard to see though the breadth of the impact helene has brought here are just some of the images from the storm. Floridas Gulf Coast seeing unprecedented Storm Surge, the Wind Gusts literally dragging boats across the water. One resident telling cnn he fears that it will take days for Emergency Officials to reach his home, island of Cedar Key, forcing him to stay behind rescue is elderly neighbors, who simply were unable to evacuate the gulf is rising up to swallow the island. During Hurricane Dahlia a year ago, we got about seven foot of Storm Surge and it completely devastated the island. Were looking at between 12 and possibly 20 feet of Storm Surge. Luckily, im in A House at the top of a tall hill. I think ill be okay. But i dont know that Cedar Key as we know, it will exist in the morning. I know of at least a half dozen, maybe ten elderly people that just refus