Will see first on the lead. And with american lives in jeopardy right now, President Trump is today sticking with his bizarre focus after using a laughably doctored map to push a false claim about the storm. Welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. And we begin with breaking news. Deadly Hurricane Dorian right now taking aim at north and South Carolina on the east coast of the u. S. The category 2 storm crawling up the coast, dragging out the danger. Tornadoes such as this one have even been reported. Another one hit emerald isle, North Carolina, tearing apart homes in this rv park. Hundreds of thousands of people do not have power across three states, the carolinas, and georgia. And survivors in the bahamas are just beginning to assess the damage from dorian. The u. S. Coast guard has rescued at least 135 people in that country after entire neighborhoods were flattened. One survivor telling cnn it was almost as if an atomic bomb had gone off. Im from tampa. I just want to let my family in the states know that were okay. Im so sorry. Thank god were alive. Its not just us. No, its everybody. Everybodys hurting. Were not any worse than anybody else. Everybody is hurting. Words cant describe it. I dont wish it on nobody. We have our team of reporters spread out across the south and monitoring the storm in the cnn Severe Weather center. Lets start with cnns rosa flores in myrtle beach, South Carolina. Rosa, tell us about conditions there. Reporter you know, conditions have been deteriorating all day long. Right now, im live from a location that shows some flooding. This is actually the first flooding here in myrtle beach. Were seeing about 9 inches right now. It appears that this water way here on the north side has flooded over. And jake, i can swing the camera around and show you, these individuals over here just tried to drive through this area and of course, they were stalled and now it appears that their car is not working. That, of course, is what Officials Say youre not supposed to do during a storm. But here in myrtle beach, were expecting the worst of it. The brunt of the storm, at about 6 00 p. M. Why 6 00 p. M. , well, thats when the eye of the storm is expected to be closest to this city. Now, according to the mayor, her biggest concern is what youre looking around me. The flooding, the potential flooding, and the storm surge, jake. 4 to 8 feet expected in this area. Jake . All right, rosa flores, stay safe, please. Now lets talk to the mayor of myrtle beach, Brenda Bethune who joins us on the phone. Madame mayor, youre at your Emergency Operation center. We just saw flooding in myrtle beach. How are conditions overall in your hometown right now . Right now, everything seems to be holding up really well. Our infrastructure is holding up well. We did expect some coastal flooding, especially closest to the beaches. Especially with the high tide and the storm surge. We know that the worst is yet to come. So we will wait to see what happens with that, but as of now, everything seems to be doing really well. Throughout the carolinas, there have been reports of tornadoes, as well as power outages. What is your greatest concern right now . Is it the flooding . Really, it is the flooding. We had such a horrific event last year with Hurricane Florence where we literally had days of rain. Three days of steady rain. And areas around us were flooding, that really closed off myrtle beach from all of the roads to get out of here. So we are watching the flooding very, very carefully. We dont think that it will be anything like what we experienced with florence. So were prepared for it. Were prepared for the worst. And we just are waiting to see what comes later this evening. And madame mayor, myrtle beach, obviously, is under evacuation orders, but not everyone has left. How many do you think remain, percentage wise . And what is your message to those who are attempting to ride out the storm in myrtle beach . You know, its hard to make everyone evacuate. And we had over 100,000 visitors in town during labor day weekend. We feel very confident that those visitors are out of town safely. And as far as the residents, if you are in your homes, things may look calm right now. But as i said, we dont know whats coming later. The worst is yet to get here. And i just encourage people to stay in your homes. This is not the time to be out riding around, taking pictures. Because we dont know exactly when things are going to kick up, such as winds or fallen limbs or power lines. Its just too dangerous. Myrtle beach mayor, Brenda Bethune, thank you so much. Well be thinking about you, and obviously, if theres something youre not getting from the state or local government, please let us know and well bring attention to that. Thank you. Cnns brian todd is in charleston, South Carolina. Nearly half a Million People have evacuated the state so far. Brian, youve been seeing flooding and even seeing some transformers blowing up. Reporter thats right, jake. And before we talk about that, im going to show you how its still a perilous situation here on the streets of charleston. Just a short time ago, we were transmitting less than a block away from here when this huge magnolia tree just toppled over. It hit this pole right here, but take a look at what it did over here to the lines. It hit the lines. The lines knocked down that pole. And so this is a very dangerous situation here. First responders have come. Theyve roped off that part of the street down there. You can see those power lines down. We just saw some police going to these houses behind me, knocking on doors, trying to get people to leave because of the fire hazard and, you know, just the overall danger of those lines being down. That transformer that you mentioned, we rolled up on that a few hours ago. We went down to Market Street and it was flooded in downtown charleston. And as we were getting there, we saw this downed power line still, you know, emitting live currents into the water, whipping around, just sparking, smoking, and then every couple of minutes, a very violent, dangerous explosion would occur. And, you know, the whole street that whole street got knocked out. But every time that explosion would occur, the businesses next to us would experience either a power surge or they would go out of power and come back on a couple of minutes later. And it was just it was a very dangerous situation. We had to warn people who were Walking Around and driving around to get out of there, jake. So theyre not out of the woods here yet. This is kind of the danger that officials here are telling us that people have to be wary of, even as this storms moves away from charleston, the danger is trying to come back here home too quickly and encountering situations like this. Thats right. A lot of the fatalities occur after the storms have already passed. Brian todd in charleston, thanks so much. Lets go now to cnn meteorologist tom sater for the latest forecast. Tom, tell us where Hurricane Dorian is now and where he is headed. Well, at the last couple of days, jake, dorian stayed approximately 100 miles off the coast of florida, parallel, the entire coastline. Now its closest approach, its now 60 miles just south of myrtle beach. Its about 110 from wilmington. But its those strong eye wall winds that are within 20 miles now. So were still seeing a surge threat. The good news for charleston, they were looking at nearrecord levels of water just behind hugo of 1999, didnt quite get to 10. 3, because at high tide at 2 00 p. M. , those strong winds onshore were just to the north. But now were seeing winds come in from the back edge of charleston and the harbor, trying to push that water back offshore, so thats good news. However, 5 to 8 feet storm surge still very possible and will occur. The eye seems to be collapsing somewhat. Its not going to change the category. Its still a category 2. But even that doesnt matter much, because the winds continue to broaden out. The Hurricane Force winds are now outward 60 miles. The Tropical Storm force winds are out to 195. It can still be broader than that. Its going to move up the chain. The warnings are in effect from hurricane warnings up toward norfolk. And of course in your area are Tropical Storm warnings. But its the tornadoes, you showed video earlier. Typically, well see little spinups with our feeder bans that are ef1, ef2. Those are massively large tornadoes. Its the heavy rain bands to the north and the core moving in thats going to cause some pretty good flooding into the carolinas. Watch out, cape fear. Watch out, cape lookout. This is not over with and will be with us for several more hours. Tom sater, thank you so much. Only a few buildings are still standing. Our correspondent just got back from one of the most devastated parts of the bahamas with some heartwrenching stories of survival you will see first this hour. Plus, we are following Hurricane Dorians path up the coast, where we are going to go live where the storm is headed next. Stay with us. Every day, visionaries are creating the future. So, every day, we put our latest technology and unrivaled network to work. The United StatesPostal Service makes more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. Ecommerce deliveries to homes at tmobile, what can you get when you a buy a Samsung Galaxy note 10 . A Netflix Subscription on us. And for a limited time. Buy any Samsung Galaxy note 10 and get one Samsung Galaxy note 10 for free. There are three words when you live with migraine. I am here. Aim to say that more with aimovig. A preventive treatment for migraine in adults that reduces the number of monthly migraine days. 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But we have to show you what happened in emerald isle about 30 miles from here. Look at this video. This is an area that was hit by a tornado earlier this morning around 9 30. This was hit with such ferocity that people who wee on the inside of the home who stayed actually were very scared skbr actually regretting the decision they made to stay behind. Coming back here now, you can see the rain is hitting pretty hard. Our iphones started going off with tornado warnings in this area. So at some point, well seek a little more shelter. You can see the heavy rain out toward the waterway. Thats what people are concerned about in terms of flooding. And weve been told by the police chief that once the water starts getting bad in this area, they may not be able to respond because theyve dealt with such heavy water before. This is really starting to turn in the last ten minutes or so, jake. All right. Ryan, thank you so much. Stay safe. Lets go north now from beaufort to Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Joining me on the phone is mayor Shelia Foster davies. The town is under mandatory evacuation and bracing for the storm. Mayor davies, thanks for joining us. Do residents of Kill Devil Hills still have time to get out of town . They do, but its a very short window at this point. Starting at 8 00 p. M. Tonight, we will be imposing a mandatory curfew. If anyones trying to evacuate, please do so, but youre really limited on the time now. Ive been to your beautiful town before, its where the Wright Brothers took their first historic flight. What is the biggest concern right now for Kill Devil Hills . Overrule, its just personal safety. Making sure people are doing everything they can to stay prepared and stay safe during the storm duration. On the backside of the storm, our biggest concern is we expect significant sound side flooding. Initially, the sound is going to be sucked out with the wind direction, but on the backside so when people think it may be calming down, we anticipate storm surge from anywhere from 4 to 7 feet aboveground. For anyone who is planning on staying behind, even though there is this mandatory evacuation, what do you want them to do to stay safe . Stay inside. Thats why weve put this curfew in place. Oftentimes, people want to go out and look and be the first one to snap the footage and film of what theyre seeing, but they need to stay in and stay safe. Were expecting Hurricane Force winds for a number of hours starting in the Early Morning hours. And then like i said, the storm surge. And until we can get out and assess damage at whatever point tomorrow afternoon, we just need people to comply with our warnings and orders. Mayor davies of kyl devil hills, North Carolina, thank you so much for your time. Stay safe. If theres anything youre not getting from the state or federal government, please let us know and well bring attention to it. Thank you so much. As Hurricane Dorian lashes the carolinas, President Trump has been busy on twitter falsely trying to prove to the world that he was right about something he tweeted on sunday. Why this is all about so much more than just a sharpie scribble. Stay with us. So bob, what do you take for back pain . Before i take anything, i apply topical pain relievers first. Salonpas lidocaine patch blocks pain receptors for effective, nonaddictive relief. Salonpas lidocaine. Patch, rollon or cream. Hisamitsu. I work hard and i want my money to work hard too. So i use my freedom unlimited card. Even when im spending, im earning 1. 5 cash back on everything i buy. Earning on my favorite soup. With freedom unlimited, youre always earning. Got it. Hi. Maria ramirez mom maria Maria Ramirez. 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