Lifethreatening flash flooding. Nearly half a million north carolinaians are without power as a result of a storm, which has knocked out power to more than a Million People in six states so far. Our Brooke Baldwin joins us now. Walk us through, brooke, what you have been seeing. Reporter sure. So we were one of the very first crews to get on the ground and see whats rested to as ground zero, mexico beach with our own eyes. You know, roads as you were pointing out because of the powerful 150mileanhour winds, roads are impassable. Power lines are down. Trees were down so we were able to secure a helicopter really early this morning. I started here in destin. As we flew along what is known as floridas gorgeous emerald coast, we started watching the coastline deteriorate from destin to panama beach and as we landed, in looking at it all first hand, you can tell quickly that its virtually gone. From the air, its clear, much of mexico beach after this stretch of beach is destroyed, while most of the 1,200 residents evacuated, they survived a near direct hit from michael. He didnt make it out in time the bridge is choiced and he was stuck. How does it make you feel to look around at everything just leveled . Well the thing is, you know, this is a small little up to. You know, this is our little up to. So every restaurant is gone. Every store is gone. All my neighbors, everybodys homes gone. So when you think about it, you know, all of their lives are gone. So how do you what do you do . Reporter scott says he lost most of his possessions, but he will stay and rebuild. I thought i had. All of this stuff going in here, its hard no talk about i to about it. Reporter all over the area, we heard this high pitching beeping. They are fire alarms, buried in the rubble, warnings that perhaps came too late. Again and again i heard from survives here who told me theyre simply grateful to be alive. These Three Friends were searching for one of their homes. It was hard for them to even recognize the street. Wow, no there are just no there are no words. No, theres not. Theres so many memories here. Reporter this woman named sherry says she didnt have time to grab anything but some clothes and her jewelry box. And to see this. Yes. Reporter it feels like what in. I cant describe it. Its just terrible. I just cant describe the feeling and i know im not the only one here that feels the same when theyve lost everything. Reporter mexico beach is virtually cut off from the rest of the state. Though emergency crews are working throughout the area, roads are still blocked. Power is out. And cell service is nonexistent. Halle, its mama. Im okay. Im okay. It was a lot more than and a lot rougher than we thought. How are you guys . Reporter our Satellite Phone was the only way for these women to contact their loved ones. I love you, too. Bye. Reporter oh, your daughter. Oh. Reporter the best part of the day, anderson, checking these people, there is no cell service on mexico beach. The loved ones, they see the picture up on the screen. They have been wondering if their moms, dads, Sisters Brothers were alive. We were able to show them those who rode it out are and rescued six facilitys in the wake of this hurricane. Its so early, they told me that number will rise, anderson. Brooke baldwin, appreciate it. Florida senator marco rubio has been surveying the damage. He joins us from there. Thank you for being with us. Can you describe what have you seen . Well, i havent seen mexico beach other than the i dont have head. Im here at the fema Emergency Center in bay county, very substantial damage. This is as bad as it gets in terms of power lines, Property Damage the mexico beach thing may turn out to be a horrifying tragedy in terms of both the property lochls i think the loss of life eventually. I was talking to the police chief, he was describing up to the last minute they were begging people to leave. Im talking at least a couple residents who were very elderly and a family with children, eight or nine, ten children that remained behind. You know, communications are down up here. So its still hard to sort of account for everybody and you know i dont want to speculate too much yet. But when that storm surge comes in, it doesnt just take the roof off the home, it takes anything that was in it. So its a tough situation here, really truly catastrophic as a storm in general. Panama city and other places, but the mexico beach thing is hard to describe, im not sure ive seen anything like it or a precedent for it. Obviously, with communications down, its so difficult for families who havent gone word of their loved ones. From what you have seen in the operations center. The interesting media needs, obviously search and rescue operations are under way in a number of areas. Is the state equipped to handle the needs that people are facing right now . Reporter so the state, florida does this as well as anybody, because of the experience. Unfortunately it comes in handy in situations. But i would sa i the most immediate, it will be there to provide assistance that needs backup. Heres sort soft short term, in the short term the most important need to have is to get communications up. Verizon is the lead provider in this area. It still is not working. At t which phone im on now is working a little bit. But thats a big deal the general public does not have access to each other or information. And then even the sort of First Responder radio system, its finally coming out live, damage, so communication is critical. I think starting tomorrow the shelters where people have been and other places start to run out of food and the conditions deteriorate. Then you will sort of have some longerterm planning for people and housing people and those are the sorts of things that become upon you very quickly. But this all starts with getting communication going. Power is going to take a while. Im telling you, there is not a system that needs to be restored. It needs to be rebuilt in some parts. Living in florida, ive lived through a bunch of these, this is not a couple lines down. This is total annilation of the system and its going to take them a while to get going. Are there places in the state that you know about that First Responders have yet to be able to get to in terms of access . Well, again, communications is impeding some of that. I think mexico beach is an example of a place we dont have communication. We know search and rescue crews have been there and are going house by house, but part of it is, there is some of the landmarks you would rely on in the past are not there. So i dont know there are any areas completely cut off. But i am sure unfortunately some people are in need we wont know about, they have no way to call no, phone force internet or to call 911 or get anybody to come to them. That is the challenge im most concerned about, the inability to communicate with people who might be in need after the fact. Thats why getting and without power, by the way, even if we were able to restore communications tomorrow, there are people that wont be able to charge a phone as an example and be able to communicate that way. So i this i that would be my bigger concern, would be to survey all this area. Its going to take a bit. And, so, you have great people doing everything they can. But we got some real challenges in the early part of this. And obviously people without power are not going to be here tonight. What is your message to the people of florida tonight who do have power as they start to try and put things back toke or figure out what the next step is . Well, first thing i always tell them is that these things are very disruptive. Even if you didnt have Property Damage. It takes weeks for kids to get back to school and everything else. I want them to know the best people in the world in Disaster Response are on the case and you are forced to live through a hurricane, florida and the people that work here that do this at the state level are the best in the world at what they do. All that said, it will be weeks before people have power. I hope the people are staying in a hotel room after evacuating. You do not come back to bay county. You give up that hotel room, it will not be there. I know you want to see the condition of your home. Will you have no power. Nobody will be able to come help you if you get in trouble in the short term. There are some real challenges i had. Have a little patience and faith that this will get better every day. This is truly as bad as it can possibly be for this area of the state. Im sorry we are speaking to you under these circumstances. I appreciate your time. Thank you and good luck. As for any elected official, its tough to see this destruction in the lives of constituents. Its even tougher when those constituents are also your neighbors. Linda albrecht, a mexico councilwoman. She joins us by phone. You know this community. I cant imagine just seeing the images we are seeing it and knowing it as well as you do. What are you haering . What you know, have you been able to talk to people . How are things right now in terms of search and rescue and the like in. Well, thank you for keeping this on the news or letting people know what a frightful event that mexico beach residents are going through. I am not there. I evacuated as they asked mandatory evacuations. So im about six hours away. But i have been in touch via texting and as senator rubio said communication other than texting is very bad. Cell phones dont work. Power is out. So just from word of mouth and texting. We clean up is slow. We have a lot of volunteers that have organized and they are cleaning up the streets. The roads going in and out of mexico beach have been fill with debris and the Big Equipment has not been able to get in as of this point that im aware of. Our City Employees who were able to get in because they lived in mexico beach are close by, they are running out of food and water. So supplies are being airlifted either tonight or tomorrow morning, so then they can continue on with their jobs. We also have eoc are our interim administrator will be representing mexico beach at the county eoc because we, they have supplies put there. But mexico beach represented all of the time and so shes just stepping in and saying im going to go there and fight for what we need. Thats the Emergency Operations center for people who dont know. A personal question, if i may. Do you even know how your home is tonight . Not officially. I have been asking and asking. I live on the east side of town on 98th and im watching your film right now and i recognize, i think its hard when you look at these homes, because theyre in such disarray, its hard to say yes i recognize this, but up until just now, i have never found a video on the east side of town on 98. I live right on 98. I did hear so i dont know officially but i did hear from somebody secondhand that i live on a house on. [ inaudible ] and i was told that just about an hour ago, that my house is not on stilts. Its gone. I dont know that officially and you know how rumors go around. Weve heard various rulesors in the last 48 hours. Im grasping to the hope and im praying that a miracle happened. But it could be very realistic. Oh, councilwoman, im so sorry for all you are going through and your community and i know everyone is thinking about it and praying. But i just go ahead. Could i say one thing . Sure. Im asking that the residents not return to mexico beach. They are not ready to have people return. The roads are full and the more people that return, theyre just going to get in the way and i know this weekend and i mentioned another program that this weekend will be tough and many will think, gee, lets drive down there and see how our house is. But until we notify you, please dont come down and get in the way of the cleanup crew. An important message. Councilwoman, i wish you the best. Thank you. Thank you very much, anderson. Just a short ways away from mexico beach is st. George island, it took a onetwo pound punch from the wind and the storm surge. You can see tree branches washing by, shingles, siding, pieces of front porches. Timbers the wreckage of a lot of lives floating in the front yard. Christa miller rode it by. She joins us now from phone from mannedies house. Can you mandys house . Can you describe the damage . Its completely gutted and start over from ground up. The walls, i had my mother stand against the wall. Shes a shorty, about 52, but the water would have been well over her head had she been in the house at the time. Wow. So it was both, though, i know we are looking at the house now, it was both the wind and the water the flooding . Oh, yes, of course. Yes. The wind the flooding went the highest its ever been on the island. My house is almost exactly halfway from the bay to the gulf and i had water at least over a foot up in my house. Ive never dreamed water would get that high. No wes dent thats ever lived there seen that water that high before. Our family has been there for hundreds of years. In terms of the rest of the area around where you are, i assume the damage is just as bad . It is. Most of the houses that are on this side have left anything on the ground level. Its completely washed satellite like there. I heard that you described the storm as feeling like a 48 train coming from all directions . Yes. Thats exactly how it felt. We were in appalachacola. We could see across to the bay and watch the storm as it came in. It felt like a monster coming down on top of you the whole time. You know, my dad kept saying, it will be over in a couple more hours, were about in the worst of it now. It seemed he repeated that three times, it was never going to stop. People say it was a fastmoving storm. It doesnt feel like that when youre in it. Yeah. Not when youre in it. Yeah, kristen miller, i appreciate the time you talking to us. Im sorry for all you are going through and all your neighbors. We wish you the best. Thanks, anderson, as soon as we rebe i would this area, we love tourism so much, obviously, the councilwoman said now is not the time. As soon as we get things back up and running, the best way is to contribute to our local small economy. We greatly appreciate that and appreciate everyone that comes to visit. You take care, well be in touch. Thank you. Coming up next, people waiting to hear from loved ones who were in places like mexico beach. You saw folks talking to Brooke Baldwin, one woman heard from her brother there. Well talk to her, later how all the devastation, people are planning how theyre going to rebuild. Well have that and much more as our live coverage continues. Width of your mower. Tha when youre done, it looks so good you post a picture on social media. And it gets 127 likes. Geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. 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She joins us now. Tell us about the last contact you had with your brother yesterday. Hi, thank you for having me. Yesterday around 2 00 or 1 30 excuse me, he texted many ethat they were okay and that it was hitting right then and then we lost contact after that, thats the last i heard from him. And has his girlfriend, i understand his girlfriend was with him at the time. Has anyone heard from her in. No, not as of yet. Just hoping its because hes probably out there helping people, if i know him, hes a great guy and maybe still because of no cell service im hoping. Our Brooke Baldwin was out there, gave her cell phone to somebody. There are people that dont have access to communication. I understand the friend is currently looking for him, trying to get into the mexico beach area. Have they had success getting there . Well, i heard from his daughter, he is going back in, looking for danny again, a man chris haughton. They have a fishing charter they run, danny pretty much emptied out the mexican beach ocean if you will. Hes a good fisherman. Can you tell us the area in case somebody is hearing this and gets to the area, they can ask around . Oh, yes, thank you so much. Tracy lived in beacon hymn, which is at kaylin lane, i think thats about four miles of mexico beach, really close there, still to mexico beach. And your brother lives in that area with her . Yes, they had decided to stay back and just ride it out. He had boarded up her windows and you know he was confident that he could survive and you know, so i am, too, i got a lot of hope yet. Lisa, i appreciate you being with us. If you could just stay with us for a moment. I want to go to Mikel Marquez in mexico beach. He has been helping get the word out about people there who came in the storm and want their loved ones elsewhere to know it. Miguel, explain where you are and what you have been seeing. Well, this is downtown mexico beach. Were just down from the pain pier of mexico beach. Where there are a lot of survivors who are starting to gather there. We asked about mr. Wiggins. Nobody either knew him or knew where he was or how he was doing. There was a fire fighter, actually, this is highway 98. This is the main road through town, huge chuchgs of it anks o missing. There is a fire fighter that comes up and he knows everything about time the next time he comes back we will ask about mr. Wiggins, if hes heard anything. There is a bunch of other names, of people over there, robin retzloff, she wants her family in michigan to know she is okay. Dawn vickers, dawn, her daughter, her grandson the three dogs, they are all okay. Her family is in vernon, florida. Robert brock, his family is also in florida. He wants them to know he is okay. Dave siebert wants his mother in mobile, alabama to know he is okay. And arnettoun arnett cofield, t okay. They will get out on an ambulance soon. I heard the Council Person speaking about the amount of assistance and help they v. They have search and rescue in here right now about 165 search and rescuers who are trying to go housetohouse. They have stopped for the evening. Ioing they can work through the evening. Conditions are just too dangerous. Its very, very difficult to communicate out of here, us getting this live shot out is done with a shoestring and bubble gum. This what you are looking at behind me, 36 hours ago, those were Beautiful Homes and businesses and literally, they have been scrubbed, washed, buzz sawed down to the foundation. That is sadly the situation where much of mexico beach right now. We drove in from 368 today and drove all the way up 98 and through some of the neighborhoods. There is not a neighborhood. There is not a house. There is not a hotel. There is not any one property in this town that is unaffected. Some of it is 100 gone. Much of it is damaged. You know, at least 50, 60 and maybe a small amount has just very minimal damage. We did meet a gentleman earlier, who we lent him our phone. He got on with his daughter and begged her. Do not come here. There is nothing happening here. Everything is gone. He went on to list the Hardware Store is gone the neighbors house is gone the neighbor down the street is gone. Everything is absolutely gone. Do not come here. He is staying here, though, his house has some damage. He thinks he can patch it up and be okay. We see a vehicle passing you by, do you have a sense of how many, you know, Emergency Personnel are on the ground . I know you said they stopped for the night, obviously, its very difficult to get around. Do you have any sense of how many Emergency Personnel are there or search and rescue teams . Because obviously time is of the es tenessence . Reporter we know that go ahead. Reporter we know search and rescue is here from both florida and louisiana. There are 165 of them. They are on 24hour shiftles. It is very difficult for them to work at night. But can you see, this is the first big sort of presence of Law Enforcement that weve seen coming through. There must be a good dozen maybe 18 cars now coming through, actually you can see theyre bringing in even more vehicles so they can get back and search in different ways. It is absolutely eerie to see these vehicles come through here. That i do have one bulldozer thats been working to clear this road throughout the day. But part of it are completely impassable. The strength of the water completely washed away 98 large chunks of it gone right in the middle of town. So you have to kind of snake through the back yards and through some of the other neighborhoods here to get around to the other side of 98. But, clearly, they are pulling in a lot more individuals now. These look like, these are probably county and floridabased search and rescuers, who are going to get up and start working here and getting into these neighborhoods and seeing whos here. Its just there is so much confusion. People cannot find their love ones. People cant get word out they are all right. We will stay here and see what we can do. We were talking about lisa baldwin is looking for her brother danny wiggins, frankly, you read the names of the people who made it through for loved ones elsewhere and cant get in touch. I cant imagine anything ive done in the last several days is as important as have you done for those families. So well keep coming back to you. If you could, could you read them again just in case . I just want to make sure any family members out there is able to hear if you can read them through, id appreciate it. Reporter i will. Robin retzloff, her family is i. Robert brock, his family is in florida. David siebert, his mother is in mobile, bam bachl. She left. She evacuated. He stayed here. He is now regretting it. He wants her to know he is okay. Annette cofield and her 92yearold mother. They barely made it through. The house all the windows are gone. Mother is in a wheelchair. They are probably getting out in an ambulance if they are not already gone by now. But they are all okay. Anderson. Obviously, any family members or friends of those people out there and heard that police calm, other members, let them know. Miguel, quickly, where are people tonight . If somebodys home has been destroyed, where are they staying . Reporter some of them are staying in their homes, no matter how bad they are. Fortunately, its not too hot and miserable a night here. A lot of people we met, there is an area just up the road here, where a lot of the emergency american nel are gathering. We couldnt do our line shots there. There was too much interference with the satellite signal. But a lot are staying there. There are Convenience Stores that were everything, all the potato chips. All the juices, everything, has blown into the streets. To be honest, people are skafening for food, using that to stay alive. One of the kids i met today said that was the first thing he had eaten today. Anderson. I appreciate you being there, thank you. We first saw this video last night a middle school gym in panama city with the roof peeled off from the hurricane. We will hear from the principal of that school next. Like vermont white cheddar. Then. Add bacon, bbq chicken, or baja blend. Catering and delivery now available. Panera. Food as it should be. Youll earn unlimited double camiles on every purchase,. Every day. Not just airline purchases. Think about all the double miles you could be earning. loud holy moley thats a lot of miles shhhhh whats in your wallet . Shhhhh chloe. Shes so cute. The most loved iphone meets the most loved in wireless. Right now, save 300 on iphone xs at tmobile. When you rent from national. Its kind of like playing your own version of best ball. Because here, you can choose any car in the aisle, even if its a better car class than the one you reserved. So no matter what, youre guaranteed to have a perfect drive. [laughter] vo go national. Go like a pro. See what i did there . Well, weve seen a lot of scenes of devastation today. One we saw last night on the program is still jarring. Its a middle school gym in panama city with the roof torn off. Damaged so cephaly a storm chaser was able to drone right through the school. The principal rick smith joins me right now. Thank you for being with us. You were on our show full circle earlier. I appreciate you coming back. Can you talk about the damage your school sustained when you saw that drone image . What went through your mind . Well, it was heart wrenching. Because i narrowed it for our kids in our community. That gym is a hub of activity. Its where we have our basketball and volleyball games. We have Great Community support. Its okay where our students graduated. So its a central hub for the school in addition to the students in the morning before classes begin, thats where they go. Its very concerning. What was heart wrenching is i know its a part of our kids every day in their school year, for them to see that type of devastation, its heart breaking. I understand that your staff has been going doortodoor checking on students. What are you hearing back from them . Well, were hearing good things so far. We have a great staff there. Ive had a chance to talk to some on the phone that happen to live near some kids, that they have taken it upon themselves to take time and knock on the doors and check on them. They have seen them going from various neighborhoods and the kids seem to be very positive. They seem to be looking forward to eventually being able to run, come back to school. And were going to be excited to see them. So far so good. It seems like in terms of loss of life or injury for our kids, it doesnt necessarily seem to have happened in that way. But we know that they have a lot of Property Damage, so that their lives will be disrupted in the weeks and months ahead. I know there was damage to the cafeteria. How did the rest of the school fair . And what sorts of resources do have you lined up or need lined up when school does open again . Well, we do have our gym is demolished. The cafeteria the roof of it about half is peeled off. Our classrooms we believe will be fine. They have hurricane shutters on those. Those were locked in place. We took time at the beginning of the week to get the school ready for the storm. What we dont really know is in terms of how the roof faired and if there is any structural damage that we just isnt been able to see. So i know our School District is working closely with Emergency Management to assess the schools and make sure they are safe. I know our superintendent is safety and security is his number one priority. So i feel very confidence that before we have any students or Staff Members go into those facilities, were going to have a very high level of confidence that those places are safe for them to go. Well, principal smith. I know there is a lot of work ahead of you. I appreciate you taking the time and i wish you and your students and faculty the best. Well, thank you very much. We appreciate you sharing our story. Coming up, the devastation of Hurricane Michael came into sharper focus today the death count rose the president decided it would be a good time to sit in the oval office surrounded by cameras, meeting with kanye west. To say it was surreal and poorly timed doesnt begin to cover it. Thats keeping them honest next. [ indistinct radio chatter ] still, we never stopped making it stronger. Faster. Smarter. Because to be the best, is to never ever stop making it better. Introducing the new cclass. 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Its taken us all day to start to come to the scope with Hurricane Michael, there will be dark days to come for so many that lost everything. Americans suffering tonight, missing their loved ones, not sure of the fate of their loved ones. Up until this program, we focused on them. Yesterday was today and people will be in need for a long time to come. While hundreds of thousands of americans are suffering tonight the president of the United States decided earlier today to take time to yuck it up with kanye west one of his celebrity fans. We will get to the surreal substance if we can call it that in a moment. First a reminder that at least six people have deciied as a ret of Hurricane Michael. Cnn spoke with a 12yearold boy in panama city this afternoon. We just saw three trees landing in all three of my neighbors yards and everything, that really got me scared and everything. Reporter chris you are only 12yearsold, were you afraid you were going to die . Ah, yes, because i have like my life to live for my future and my dream job, i want to be a construction builder. That was just after 1 00 this afternoon, nearly the precise time the president was hanging with kanye west. In fact, we will show you its on onehalf of the screen. Kanye west talks about making America Great hat and the other are cameras that captured devastation up to that point. This hat it gives me power in a way. You know, my dad and my mom separated. So i didnt have a lot of male energy in my home. And also, im married to a family that, you know, its not a lot of male energy going on. Its beautiful, though, but there are times where you know theres something about you know i love hillary, i love everyone, right. But the campaign, im with her just didnt make me feel like they didnt see my guy all the time. A guy that can play catch with his son. There was something about when i put this hat on, it made me feel like superman, so i had the balls, because i have enough balls to put on this hat. This made me a billionaire. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I was connected with a fewer ro psychologist that worksed with athletes in the nba and the nfl, he looked at my brain, equal on three parts. Im going to go ahead, drop some bombs for you, 98 percentile iq test. A 75 percent after owl human beings, eight numbers backwards, i will work on that. The other once, 98 . We can empower the pharmaceuticals and make more money. Thats one thing, ive never stepped into a situation where i didnt make people more money. So this one right here is the iplane 1. Its a Hydrogen Powered airplane and this is what our president should be flying in. Would i need saturday night live to improve on, liberals to improve on, if he dont look good, we dont look good. This is our president. He has to be the freshest the fliest, the fliest planes, our best effect port is entertainment ideas. If bemake everything in china and not america, were cheating on our country and putting people in position to have to do illegal things to ends up in the cheapest factory ever, the prison system. That was in the oval office of the white house. Kanye west talked about a lot of things, in addition to what youve heard, he talked about stop and frisk, tax breaks, attention deficit zoerksd 13th amendment, art programs, it went on and on. This isnt about the worthiness of those topics or kanye west. This is about the president sitting there listening, nodding, laughing, calling kanye west a smart cookie. Saying kanye west can speak for him any time, putting on this show less than 24 hours after the worst hurricane to hit the panhandle made landfall. Why did the president spend this time today of all days with kanye west . Because kanye west is a fan of his the president may lack empathy for many, many americans, but he always has time for his fans, anyone that says something nice about him or screams lock her up for him. Just last night he was at a rally in pennsylvania on the same day the landfall landed in the continental u. S. In more than 25 years. Earlier in the day the president was asked if he thought it was okay to go on a Campaign Trip given the gravity of the storm. Well, i hear they have thousands of people lined up. So we are in a little of a quagmire. I dont want to disappoint people. Some people were saying they got there last night. I think it starts at about 7 00, going to pennsylvania. So well probably go. Because what are you going to do, tell thousands of people that have been waiting there all night that were not coming . They have been waiting there all night. So had the hundreds of thousands of people in florida tant georgia who had lost power, that, tie spent a long night waiting. Many will spend tonight a long night waiting and many to come him maybe you dont think its bad for a president to go on the same day of a disaster or no hip pock chrissy he beat theed this after sandy, yesterday Hurricane Sandy victims across new jersey are decimated by sandy. Wrong. That happens all the time. There is and its been said many times a tweet from donald trump for everything. For this, this president , what used to be wrong is now right, simply because its him doing it. Do as he says, not as he does. What you are seeing isnt happening. He always seems to be able find a crowd of people to go along with it and cheer him on in a storm. Its a widely held belief that george w. Bush never recovered from his response to hurricane katrina. He flew over the scenes of damage and air force one this president s track record in hurricane response so far, includes throwing paper towels at puerto ricans, denying that thousands died in the aftermath of maria, from lack of power and access to medicine and doctors. Died earlier in greater numbers than they ordinarily would have. The president doesnt recognize those deaths. Those human beings as victims of the storm. Last night he was at campaign rallies, other americans sat in the dark without power, mourning the loss of their loved ones, the homes, the loss of lives they once knew. In the light of today, we started to see how bad it was. We heard that 12yearold boy talk about how he was afraid he was going to die. The president watches a lot of television. The president didnt hear that boys voice. He certainly didnt hear it live. Around that time, he was listening to a big named celebrity in the oval office, the president was busy basking in the warm glow he feels when the cameras are rolling, hes center stage, and a famous person is praising him to his face. Joins me now is van jones. Former special adviser to president obama, and david gergen. Van, is kanye west cursing the oval office, wearing a maga hat, hitting the desk. On a day when millions of americans are reeling from a devastating hurricane. I dont understand what the president of the United States and the people around him would be thinking that this was a wise thing to do today. Look, in is a right way and a wrong way for celebrities, people who have big platforms to engage the white house. Kim kardashian is a good example of it, it involves preparation. Focus on particular acts and frankly no cameras in the oval office. You can actually have a conversation. This is a situation where none of those rules were followed. He obviously was not as prepared as he could have been. People tried to prepare him, and they couldnt. It became a big show. I think we have to anticipate that what we saw with someone whos not in a healthy place from a mental point of view, and i think we got to back off treating him like a pinieda, it is Mental Health awareness week. I was very concerned by what i saw. I dont think the white house saw good judgment having him there with the cameras. Hes not hes someone whos not in a healthy place emotionally, psychologically, and the white house should not put people like that in front of the camera. David, again, i dont think this is about kanye west. Under what circumstances would anyone in the white house think this is good for the president to be doing today . I agree with what you and van have both said. Listen. I have no trouble with president s calling in celebrities to the white house, and enjoying each others company, you know, this started way back with Warren Harding in 1920, calling in al jolson. And it goes also way up to Richard Nixon calling in elvis presley, with cameras, by the way. He wanted the cameras there, that is part of the president ial tradition. I think what you put your finger on is the judgment that goes into doing it in the face of this horrific storm with so much suffering in the country. It would have been so much better to postpone kanye west for four or five days, have a conversation did the president cant go to the people who are suffering so much, have a serious conversation in the white house for god sake, about the relationship of storms, climate change, and when were going to do something serious about that. As opposed to having this fr frivoli frivolity. That is what is i think so disturbing. I dont know anything about kanye wests mental condition. What i did pick up on is something i hadnt thought about. He kept saying about this hat and putting this hat on, made him feel like a man. I kept wondering, is that whats going on with some of the men in this country and their relationship with trump. Does being for trump make them feel more masculine . I dont know the answer to that. There was an overtone in that session. Its also interesting, again, theres a tweet for everything. But to hear donald trump going after president obama in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, with springsteen and jay z. You know, it its one thing i guess when youre a citizen, its easy to attack the president for that, when youre president , he clearly sees it differently, because its him doing it. Yeah, well, i mean, the hypocrisy knows no bounds in that regard. I want to say, i was disturbed by the sort of father figure masculinity thing he was talking about, but to give him some credit, to give kanye some credit, his intention in going in there stated in some of the things he talked about, were laudable and praise worthy, talking about jobs in chicago, thats a good thing. He talked about some good stuff. The problem is, he was all over the place and wasnt prepared to make the case to the American People given the opportunity. I think it was predictable that you might have an outcome like that. I think look, i think that we need to have a conversation about why so many men men are over indexing for trump over women. We need to have that conversation. My big heart break comes watching everyone pile on to kanye and go after him in the way theyre going after him, when i think weve got to take a look at the fact that i he said himself that hes been diagnosed as either bipolar or having so many sleeping problems hes not always able to think properly. That should color the way we relate to him. I think the Trump White House needs to be put on trial for this spectacle. I hope that people will be kinder to kanye, he did have some positive tensions, he did not carry them out well today. If someone has an issue, they want to address the president. More power to them. I dont understand from the white house standpoint and why the president would go through with it. He said he was in a quagmire about having the rally last night. I understand him not wanting he said there were a lot of people waiting for a long time. This was one or two people in the oval office, it could have been postponed. I have to take a break. David, thank you. Van jones as well. Chris . Important points made there in that segment, i do think people have to look at what happened today as an example of something, and i dont think its easy pickens to attack kanye. Well be making that case tonight. Were also going to be taking a look at the latest on cashoby. The story makes less sense when we hear about the circumstances around this mans disappearance. And were going to look at the aftermath and keep people connected in all those states due to Hurricane Michael. Well be right back, more news ahead. Experts say to eat a lot of fruits and veggies, but are you getting enough of their nutrients . New one a day with natures medley is the only complete multivitamin with antioxidants from one total serving of fruits and veggies. New from one a day. You saw him trying to reconnect people who came through the storm. They have loved ones across the country, they dont know if theyre alive. These are people who Miguel Marquez has come across, theyre doing fine, they want their loved ones around the country to know. Robin redsloth. Don vickers and her family, theyre okay. Including their three dogs. Robert brock is okay. His family is in florida. David seaburg, his mom is in mobile, alabama. She evacuated, he stayed there. Hes regretting it but hes doing okay. A 92yearold woman and her daughter, they made it through, the windows are gone. Theyre probably going to be getting on an ambulance soon. A lot of stories that raise concern and a lot still yet to be told. I am chris cuomo. Welcome to prime time. The storm is gone, and nothing is left in some parts of the panhandle. Cities, towns, total ruin after the hurricane for the history books, blasted