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tv   CNN Newsroom With Brooke Baldwin  CNN  September 14, 2018 11:00am-12:00pm PDT

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that's one small one giant leap for mankind. we've chosen a job so difficult... ...we're going to have to start from scratch. armstrong, we'd like you to command. your dad's going to the moon. let's go again. do you think you're coming back? we've got this under control. you don't have anything under control. first man. rated pg-13. hi there, i am brooke baldwin. don lemon standing by on the coast in south carolina. you're watching cnn special coverage of hurricane florence and the warnings about it are turning into reality. just some numbers for you. more than 600,000 people without
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power. more than 20,000 spent the night in shelters, and the prediction everyone feared the most is now happening, high water is trapping hundreds of people that didn't or couldn't evacuate. and remember, florence isn't stopping soon, moving at a speed not much faster than most of us walk, 5 miles per hour. that means it is dumping all kinds of rain coastal and inland. we are all over the story with cnn teams across impacted areas. let's start with you, my friend, don lemon, co-hosting coverage from myrtle beach. don? over to you, my friend. >> reporter: hey, brooke, how are you. listen, it is crazy. you get big spurts of rain and gusts and come through unexpectedly at any moment. sometimes it is still like it is now and a second later, you get a buildup. the concern is flooding, water, rain, of course because it is just sitting on the carolinas
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and spinning and drawing all of this water. as you said, 650,000 people really without power across the carolinas. most of those we're told in north carolina. there are 126 shelters all over this region. as you said, 20,000 people spent the night elsewhere, not in their homes, at least those in the shelters now. we have been seeing active rescues across north and south carolina. they're continuing to go on now. we have been seeing flooding as well. here's the thing, when we're out on the beach, there's a long row of hotels here, miles and miles of hotels. that tends to block the wind. you don't see how much the wind is blowing. then when you get away from the hotels, get on the streets, you can see that there are garbage cans and debris all over, projectiles. folks are out there need to stay in their homes if you hunkered down, if you're here and riding the storm out, stay in your home.
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we spoke a short time ago to a woman in new bern, stuck on the second floor of her home, said water is rising. water in new bern as high as 40 feet, storm surge up 10 to 15 feet. someone that's now knee deep in water, miguel marquez, in carolina beach. you have been inundated with wind, rain, water there. tell us what's going on. >> reporter: florence will not quit. it is just incredible how the storm keeps coming. got up this morning, we were in the eye of the storm, there literally was not a breeze. now this. this is myrtle avenue, carl winter avenue in carolina beach. it has actually come down, it is getting better now, the tide is going out, but the wind and rain and surge clearly not giving up anytime soon. about 95,000 people across new hanover county are without
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electricity. carolina beach, the town is without electricity. it is not clear how long waters will be this high, when they'll be able to open the bridge back up for people to get into town or out of town. at the rate things are going, it will be at least until tomorrow or sunday before the conditions will improve that they will be able to do that. one thing authorities in new hanover county are asking for is if you have an emergency at home, make sure it is life-threatening, make sure it is something that demands emergency services help right now because they're having a tough time. 911 operators having a tough time fielding all of the calls or downed trees, downed wires, things that aren't issues that emergency services are going to deal with right now. what you're looking at is the marina here in carolina beach. it is clearly filled to capacity, overflowing now. all of the boats are fine there, but it will be awhile before it comes back down.
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this is an area of town that floods in any event, but what has surprised people that live here is how quickly this came up, about half hour, 45 minutes or so, the storm surge came just about the same time the tide was coming in, and that's what we see now, this water, and it is not going down very fast either. it has come down a little bit. another tide coming in in the next 8 hours or so. that will be the test for this area, to see how long and how big the surge will be and how long these conditions will persist. don? >> thank you. migel giving out good advice. don't call emergency workers unless it is really a dire situation because they've got their hands full with rescues. live rescues are under way right now. i want to get to brian todd at wilmington where he is seeing some of that. brian? >> reporter: right, don.
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rescue workers are frantically trying to reach two people. we have a better angle than before. you see that tree came and split that room in half, that's a back bedroom. there are two people inside there. they're trying to extract them. it is an adult and a child. i have spoken to a relative of the adult, says it is her aunt in there. from what we gather, it is a woman and a child in there, and they're desperately trying to extract them. the call came in a little before 7:00 this morning, we're told by local fire officials. there was a man in there with them. they brought in a surgical team because the man was pinned, the surgical team was preparing to do an amputation, but were able to move and lift some objects. then they determined they did not need to do an amputation, they were able to extract that gentleman and take him out for medical care. we do not know his condition at this time. don, we're told that's about a
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30,000 pound tree, that's a back bedroom, fell and split that part of the house wide open. you can see these guys, they have been at this for hours. the battalion chief says these guys are so physically exhausted, but trying frantically to get to the two people. we don't know the condition of the two people. i asked the battalion chief, are you communicating with them, he said not at this time. that could mean a lot of things, don. we don't want to suppose anything. we can tell you they're trying to get to them. i did just see them bring a stretcher back there but that was a few minutes ago, and they're still working here. a dramatic rescue situation here, the conditions of two people including one young child are unknown at this time. >> brian, stick with me as you continue to monitor the situation. let's talk a minute. we have been talking about the evacuation orders all over the area and what they have been. what about where you are in
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wilmington, what were the evacuation orders? >> reporter: you know what, i'm not sure about evacuation orders here. let me pose a quick question to people. guys, did they say this was under a mandatory evacuation, this area? they did not. okay. local resident says they did not say this area specifically was under mandatory evacuation. you know, again, and this is a solid structure, a brick house. mandatory evacuation maybe not an issue here, obviously something horrible happened here, don. we have been here a couple of hours. these guys have been here several hours. they have cribbing equipment. they had to cut through brick that's fallen, part of a wall that was in the way of them getting to the people. they had to cut through not just wood from the tree but brick as well. and they're still frantically
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trying to get to those two people. >> brian todd, thank you very much for that. as you can see, brian, they've got their hands full. evacuations are happening all over the area, major flooding as well. listen, this thing is coming down, it is on top of us here. it is going to linger on. want to get to meteorologist jennifer grey at the cnn weather center. >> the storm is moving at a snail's pace, only 5 miles per hour. still a hurricane. 75 miles per hour winds. and it is still just sitting here. we have still the on shore flow. showers and storms that are pulling from east to west. it is still pushing rivers backwards. that's what's causing all of the inland flooding. still getting storm surge as expected, up to 11 feet in some places. this storm is now 20 some odd miles southwest of wilmington, and you can see the heavy downpours. these bands are starting to
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train where we get showers one after another in the same location. that's why places like new bern will see incredible rainfall totals. we have already seen rainfall totals more than a foot or foot and a half of rain. some of these areas will get another additional foot of rain before it is said and done. you can see very heavy rain there on the south carolina, north carolina border. wilmington, a little bit of a lull now. but that's not going to last forever. the rain will start picking up again, once again, there. myrtle beach is not quite as bad. heavy bands are coming for you in the next couple of hours as well. very heavy winds, still to come, very strong winds, 60, 65 miles per hour winds. at 8:30 tonight, still in wilmington, myrtle beach. it will pick up as this inches to the south and west. look at the rainfall totals. oriental, north carolina, more than 20 inches of rain. wrightsville beach has gotten more than 18.
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and like i said, rainfall totals could go up 6 inches or a foot in some locations, so we could have record breaking rainfall here easily. davis, north carolina had a 108 miles per hour wind gust. cape lookout, 106. rain accumulation still to come. we could pick up an additional ten inches of rain across some of these locations in north carolina and south carolina. don, it is going to determine where the bands set up, of course. the river gauges, major flood stage, moderate flood stage. we'll see records broken well inland, well away from the coast, don. >> reporter: jennifer, you said bands are coming toward us in myrtle beach. the forecast this morning at least earlier was the bulk of it may not hit us until 10:00, 11:00, midnight. what's in store for us here? we are starting to feel it more. >> all day you have been getting
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offshore winds. that's why the waves aren't that big, the surf hasn't been that big. another on the south or west side of the storm getting offshore flow. once the eye gets closer and winds shift, you'll get not only heavy rain, stronger winds, you get on shore flow. that will pull in more surge to the area, increase waves, and that's when we will see more flooding in the myrtle beach area. don? >> reporter: can i ask you, jennifer, you saw brian todd in new bern, the flooding for those people, a lot of issues had to deal with flooding. they're going to get much more. this is sadly for them, this will get worse. >> right. they're stuck in a band, what we call training. think of a railroad train on the tracks. keeps going over the same location over and over for hours on end. that's where you could see locations with the heaviest amount of rain. new bern is in a band training for hours, some of the highest rainfall totals, and doesn't
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look like it will be over for them anytime soon. rain is coming down at a rate of several inches an hour. >> all right. jennifer grey with the updated forecast. jennifer, thank you so much. i appreciate that. i want to get back in the elements and go over to drew griffin in myrtle beach as well. drew, we're getting bands of wind and rain. it is coming and going, comes and goes. what are you seeing? >> reporter: and the wind has gotten to a point that many of the official responders in this county have decided they're only going out in life-threatening cases right now, don, but i think the big news right now for us in myrtle beach is what jennifer was talking about, that we're on the backwards spin, offshore flow. even though we have high tide happening pretty much right now, tide is going out, there is no storm surge. so you're not seeing any pelting
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or overtopping of the first ocean boulevard which we've seen so many times before. we did take a drive. i want to show you some of the video. the damage around myrtle beach, not that great, palm fronds certainly on the streets, seeing a lot of awnings down, and a lot of police able to drive around, check on property and people that might be out. not a lot of damage. the real problem for south carolina, don, is going to be inland and it is going to be river flooding coming down from the rain, not necessarily the storm surge. even though we're expecting stronger winds coming, this hurricane will eventually be less of a wind event and more of a rai a rain event. certainly we'll see that in the coming hours.
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>> this storm will go further inland, come ashore, move further down the coast south in the carolinas. drew griffin, thank you very much. we'll get back to drew and our crews out here. the issue again as drew said, as jennifer said, brian todd, it's the rain. it's flooding. people are stuck in their homes. flood water will rise. that's where the dangerous situations will come in. brooke, you know, hurricanes most of the time come through quickly ashore, but when you get the ones that come through and they sit there and spin and bring in all that water and surge, what have you, that's where the big problem comes in. that's where people's lives really become effected by that. we're going to be here watching it. >> we'll come back to you. i was listening to your conversation with craig fugate saying this is the end of the beginning. don lemon, stand by. we'll come back for special coverage in myrtle beach. meantime, the other breaking story today, paul manafort. the former trump campaign
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chairman pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy. here's the biggie. agreeing to cooperate with department of justice and talk to special counsel robert mueller. those details are next. don't forget that the past can speak to the future. ♪ ♪ i'm going to be your substitute teacher. don't assume the substitute teacher has nothing to offer... same goes for a neighborhood. don't forget that friendships last longer than any broadway run. mr. president. (laughing) don't settle for your first draft. or your 10th draft. ♪ ♪ you get to create the room where it happens. ♪ ♪ just don't think you have to do it alone. ♪ ♪ the powerful backing of american express. don't live life without it.
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a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! welcome back. i'm brooke baldwin. we'll have more on the storm and flooding in carolina in moments. but three words in washington sent shock waves through the capital. i plead guilty. paul manafort uttering these words less than two hours ago in a washington courtroom. the plea deal is another massive
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win for special counsel robert mueller and his team. now the scary part potentially for the president, manafort agreed to cooperate on any and all matters. prosecutors say that includes interviews, briefings to special counsel investigators, testimony and other proceedings and turning over documents. so i have gloria borger and elie honig, analyst jennifer rogers. i want to begin shimon. tell me what this cooperation means. >> this is the guy by all accounts that the special counsel wanted to cooperate from the beginning, right around the time gates was cooperating. they wanted paul manafort. they finally got it. took some time. what this essentially means, he has to do everything the special counsel and department of justice wants him to do.
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it is clear that he has information that they wanted. they met with him according to documents just filed on september 11. special counsel met with him, spoke with him in a proffer meeting where he has to tell them about crimes he committed, crimes that others committed, and it was after then about two days later they entered into the plea agreement. this is a game changer for sure in the investigation, in this story and how things go from here. really everything that we've known all along in this case is that they really wanted paul manafort to cooperate. the other thing here, brooke, this is what a lot of defendants want in these type of cases, paul manafort faces a substantial amount of jail time, the rest of his life perhaps in jail. what the government agreed to do for his cooperation is write a 5k letter. filed a plea agreement moments ago. in this plea agreement they say if he cooperates, if he is truthful, and if he provides them with good information,
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they're going to write a letter for him. it is a motion they'll file with the court, and therefore he could eventually be released and not face any jail time, go on with his life, and live free. right now, he is sitting behind bars, facing potentially the rest of his life. so that's a substantial load to cooperate in this case as well. and brooke, when you think of this and where the story goes, we don't know. who else is left. so many people are cooperating with the special counsel. so many charges have been brought, indictments have been brought. the question is what else is about to drop here, perhaps where paul manafort is going to provide that information. >> thank you. let me turn to you, jennifer, elly. this is a pretty big fish. a pretty big fish. why is this so significant? >> federal cooperation is a proposition, it is different in state systems.
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someone comes in to cooperate with feds, they have to tell us everything. jennifer and i have done this. you start. did you shop lift when you were a teenager through the campaign and what you did yesterday in jail. it is an all or nothing proposition. everything manafort knows should become or already is in mueller's mind now. >> walk us through. skip past shoplifting in high school, skip to this was former campaign chair for the trump campaign, a man sitting in the trump tower meeting. what kinds of questions will they be asking, and does this mean they're going to get the goods? >> elly said he has to talk about everything he has done but has to talk about everything he knows other people have done, right? so it is not just things he was involved in, it is what he heard, observed, all of that stuff. they're going to take him through from day one to the end of his involvement with the trump campaign. how did he get involved, how did that come about, who did he deal with, what was he involved with, what are the russian connections, what he may have
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done in that. that's where he is important. he is one of the ones with most of that. >> how will they know if he is telling the truth? >> that's a great question, something we struggle with as prosecutors. you compare what he tells you to all of the other evidence, e-mails, financial documents, what you know from other witnesses. i have a laundry list of what i would ask about. trump tower meeting, tell us everything, how did it come about, who knew, why did it come up, what follow-up. why was the gop platform changed on the shipping of arms to ukraine a month after you came on board. why were you hired in the first place, having incurred 10 million of debt to this oligarch. and this is a guy close enough to trump, inner circle, papadopoulos and other cooperators weren't inner circle, and he has the russian connection. >> gloria, one of the biggies,
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will this touch trump. sarah sanders says this had nothing to do with the president or his victorious 2016 presidential campaign. it is totally unrelated. that's their story, they're sticking to it. >> rudy guiliani is saying the same thing. evan perez and i talked to a bunch of people affiliated with the sort of trump side of this, all saying the same thing, and they don't know. how do they know? when you look at this agreement and it specifically says your client shall testify fully, completely and truthfully about anything we want, they own him, okay, they own him, he can't plead the fifth. he has to tell the truth. he is going to go in and talk without lawyers. and of course it will be malpractice not to ask about everything he knows about the trump campaign during the time he was there, and that of course when you think about it
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preinauguration is the collusion part of the equation. so it's not surprising that sarah sanders and rudy guiliani are coming out on the record and saying this, and by the way, trump's attorneys said this all along, they weren't worried about manafort, but manafort had not cut a deal yet. and he has cut a deal as shimon points out to save his life basically, to try to get out of jail free. and he's got to tell the truth in this or else it is completely useless to him. >> he is 69, he was sentenced to 8 and a half years. this could be a game changer for him, depending on what he is able to offer up. gloria, thank you, jennifer, elly, thank you so much. coming up next, we're going to take you back to the carolinas where hurricane florence is lashing the coast. a member of the navy helping with the rescues joins me live. billions of mouths.
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beach, south carolina. this is our special coverage of hurricane florence. it is really on top of us now, the worst where i am won't happen for a couple of hours. we're still getting bands of wind and rain and gusts of wind up to 40 miles per hour. that's the issue here. the wind, yes, a little bit. there's projectiles and things blowing around, rescue workers, emergency workers are concerned about that. but the big concern is the water and the flooding.
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not much of a storm surge where i am, but there's flooding happening all over new bern and many areas in the carolinas. the problem again will be water. this thing is sort of sitting and spinning, whipping up all that water that collected out in the atlantic. we have witnessed many crews in the areas are witnessing live rescues going on for people that chose to stay and ride this particular hurricane out, which emergency officials warned don't do it. people decided to stay in homes. we have also been seeing issues for flooding in new bern, flood waters up to 40 feet. imagine that. 40 feet. on top of that, you have surge of up to 15 feet, and that's major. that's going to go on for quite some time. our meteorologists have been telling us this is really the end of the beginning here as you can see the wind now picking up where i am as well.
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my colleague, nick watt, has been watching this thing, not far from me, a couple miles up the road, ten miles or so in north myrtle beach. i don't know what you're getting there, but we're getting a band of wind and rain now where i am, nick. what are you seeing? >> reporter: yes, don, bands have been coming through all day. my worst fear was high tide. it just passed here. i thought i might be underwater where i am standing, and i'm not. that's probably because the eye of the storm hasn't started to move southwest towards where you are and where i am. here in north myrtle beach the local authorities have stopped sending out first responders on 911 calls unless it is a life-threatening situation. they're worried about gusts of winds which here are picking up all day. through the night we started hearing them, our house which was on stilts was hard to sleep, the house was moving around in the wind. today gusts got stronger and
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stronger. an hour ago, maybe longer was the first one that i thought could take me off my feet. the issue we might have here is we're on a sliver of land between that ocean, intercoastal waterway, water on both sides, water coming from above. and if that storm keeps on going at the slow jog of a pace and keeps dumping all of this water over where we are, this townhouse could flood. it flooded in the past and could again. wind and rain, and also the issue with the wind here, the longer the storm hangs around in a place, if you're getting 50 miles per hour winds for 24 hours, that will damage buildings. 135 miles per hour storm does damage, sure, but a slow moving one of sustained 50 plus miles per hour winds will cause damage. here so far we haven't seen the worst of it yet. few downed power lines, about half the customers in the town do not have power now, but no
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serious flooding so far. as you and i know where we are, the worst is still to come. don? >> nick watt, thank you for that. officials, governors, emergency officials have been giving updates through the day and throughout the evening in the carolinas, updating us on the number of people without power. at last check, about 650,000 people without power here and that's going to go on quite some time as the storm continues to turn here. also, at least 12,000, up to 15,000 people as a matter of fact who spent the night in shelters, 126 shelters in north carolina alone. my colleague, martin savidge is watching this thing. he is in wrightsville beach where it made landfall this morning. martin, i can't see you but i can only imagine what you're dealing with. what's going on?
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>> reporter: let me be clear, don, we are right at the edge of the intercoastal and wrightsville beach begins on the other side. we can't get there because the bridge is closed. it is closed because of the fact we're still dealing with very high winds. probably not hurricane, tropical storm i would say. every now and then gusts are really strong. we have been dealing with this for 24 hours now, the wind load on buildings as nick was pointing out is a marathon kind of thing. they can take it for awhile. but when you start talking about a full day and beyond, the weak n nls -- weaknesses will show up. we are looking at the water at wrightsville beach. we can't see far inland. we know from talking to authorities there that there is tidal flooding occurring in there. it seemed to happen around mid morning this morning when we were approaching high tide. looks like there's still water
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that inundated certain areas, close to the inter coastal. we want to get there as soon as we can, but of course not until the authorities say it is all clear. you should know the atlantic ocean is battering it heavily from the oceanside, and we heard there's some heavy beach erosion as well. as far as this particular area where the storm came ashore, the buildings are doing okay but right now it is still blowing hard. that's the amazing thing. it is still howling through here. the rain continues to pour down and it is driving a lot of water for the intercoastal onto shore. it eased some as the tide backed off. it is amazing the longevity of it. >> i'll take it. thank you so much. you can feel it watching your shot, the cameraman wiping off the lens, you and the helmet and
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life jacket in wrightsville beach. thank you so much. we'll come back to don lemon in a bit. we'll talk to a member of the cajun navy, commander here dealing with all of the high water rescues, getting folks high and dry and to safety. my live interview with him up next. lilly. she pretty much lives in her favorite princess dress. but once a week i let her play sheriff so i can wash it. i use tide to get out those week old stains and downy to get it fresh and soft. you are free to go. tide and downy together.
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impassable roads, washed out, maybe land slides in the mountains. do not drive around the barricades. these are the same urgings we have been doing throughout. be careful, be smart. if you have any questions, call the authorities. go to scend.org, get in struksz the -- instructions there. call the sheriff's office, 911. a lot of numbers are still operating that have been given before, but don't take things
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into your own hands and take a chance. the last thing we want to do is lose lives in south carolina because of impatience and because of not being smart. we have been in constant communication as you have noticed over the days with these conferences and talking to people around the state. and we're not for getting any part of the state. point out in marion county, nichols really was hit last time. they're likely to be hit again. i talked to the county administrator, current and former house members and senator, and i assured them and they knew because they have been in constant communication as well that we are pulling for them, praying for them, working with them, want to keep damage to a minimum, keep loss of property to an absolute minimum. the whole team in south carolina is backing them, not only them
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but every other part of south carolina. populated, tensely populated and sparsely. we have been on the phone, those of us, talking face to face with coastal mayors, coastal council members, sheriffs, emergency officials and all on the coast. >> south carolina governor henry mcmaster there with an update for people in his state. we want to get back to wilmington, north carolina as brian todd and his crew has been essentially posted up at this home for hours, witnessing a rescue in progress. brian, when you were talking last time, you spoke of a potential amputation for someone in the home, i saw a stretcher. tell me what's happening. give us an update. >> reporter: brooke, they just moved us to this part of the street. we had a better vantage point, we could see the rescue going on. they moved us to bring in an ambulance.
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that's coming through right now. as it comes through, i will tell you what the update is. yes, there was a situation where they had a potential amputee, but they brought a surgical team in, they thought they may have to amputate his leg. they found out they could move some objects and didn't need to amputate the leg. they extracted that person. we are told it was a man. they took him for medical attention. there were two other people as far as we know trapped in this house. it is just over my right shoulder. you can't see it from here, but just to the right of the emergency vehicle with flashing lights, massive tree fell on the house this morning early, three people inside the house. two people trapped. we do not know their conditions. we probably are going to be finding out pretty soon. the noise you here, you're going to see it in a second, the ambulance backing up. this thing is coming to some kind of resolution, obviously. what we can tell you is there was a woman and child still trapped in there.
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when i spoke to the battalion chief a short time ago, i asked are you communicating, he said not at this time. don't know what it means. they have been at it for hours. the 911 call came in roughly around 7:00, maybe earlier than 7:00 a.m. they got here, have been working at this for hours. they're physically exhausted, brooke. they are bringing in large cutters, chain saws, cribbing equipment to try to get to these people, try to just at thmove t. anyway, they have been frantically trying to get at them with heavy equipment. chain saws, cutters. >> let me cut in. i want you to listen. this is the information we just have gotten. i don't know if you have this. my executive producer got in my ear and said the mother and baby in that home have been killed. so we have two storm related
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fatalities there in wilmington, north carolina. do you know, was there anyone else in the home? >> reporter: right, brooke. they're going to bring those two out then at this time, looks like actually you can see it is a bit of an obstructed view. we saw a stretcher being carried to the ambulance. confirming then as you did that the lady and child in there were deceased. we had gotten unconfirmed reports of that, we couldn't confirm it, now we can. the first known fatalities of the storm. >> it is the mother and the baby in that home. obviously our hearts go out to this family. we have also learned that the father has been taken to the hospital, so that's the status in wilmington. so tragically, we have the first two fatalities in wilmington related to hurricane florence.
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when people can't or don't evacuate during a hurricane, first responders are inundated with emergency calls, volunteers from the cajun navy stand at the ready to help. they already carried out more than 100 rescues in north carolina, many in new bern. tony wade is the commander of the cajun coast search and rescue, he is with me on the phone. we are looking at pictures of all of this water, commander wade. are you in new bern now? tell me about the rescues you have been involved in. >> yes, i am actually in route as we speak. we have teams on the ground now, had teams on the ground all day. multiple groups have come together, fascinating to see all of this happen. once again, see it year after year, but it is fascinating. reports i am getting is a lot of water, a lot of calls from people for help. guys are doing a wonderful job trying to get responders out to
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the calls. the bad part of it, we have to watch for our safety close, take calls and respond to calls as it is safe for responders to get out there. we want to get to everybody we can, as fast as we can, but it is a horrible situation with the amount of water and people that stayed. rescues will go on quite some time. >> do you know how many rescues you have been in involved in since the storm hit? >> like i said, teams are dispatched all over, working with other groups. my communication with my lead guy has been sparce this morning. last i heard there were hundreds of rescues throughout. >> hundreds. >> how many my guys were involved in, i honestly can't tell you. communication has been sporadic. >> sure. let me ask you this. i read one of your fellow commanders said if people can go to the highest point in their home to make sure they have something to penetrate the roof for ventilation or escape, can you talk a little more about that? >> yes.
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first off, we don't advise anybody to go through the attic if possible. a number of things can happen. not have equipment to bust a hole through the roof, you have to get out. if trapped and watch water rise, unfortunately they have nowhere to go. like to see if you can get on top of the home, get to the highest point. if you have to stand in water, at least you're not in a situation you're trapped. you have to have an escape route in place. never close the door if there's no way to get out. asking everybody to bear with us. we'll try to get there. get as high as you can. make sure you have an escape route to get out of there, if you lock yourself in a room, make sure you can get out. we don't want the water to rise and trap you in there. don't know how much it will rise at this point. all the precautions you can take. if you have a cell phone, call 911. if you think you're getting in
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trouble, make the call now. we can try to get to you before it gets life-threatening. just take all of the precautions you can for your safrt. dangerous situation. a lot of weather to come. >> you be safe, to. toney wade. we appreciate all you have done, all that you are doing. i will let you go so you can do what you need to do to save some people trapped in homes. and we're going to take a quick commercial break. breaking news, we tragically reported. two deaths, a mother and her infant. we'll be back. join t-mobile, and get netflix included for the whole family. so you can get lost in space in your own backyard. or get pumped up for your grand entrance. t-mobile lets you watch your favorite movies and shows in more places, without paying more. get an unlimited family plan with netflix on us.
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our special coverage of hurricane florence in the carolinas continues now here on cnn. just to show you what's happening on the streets here, this is ocean boulevard in myrtle beach. you can see most of the people on the streets now, emergency officials and news media. i want to back up here. this is what's happening now. storm drains are working overtime. the problem will be flooding. it has not been an inundation of water yet, not a burst of water to start with, but it will be steady, steady, steady. storm drains are working overtime. we are watching police officers come and go, emergency officials on the streets. here is one police officer coming down the street as well. the sad news we have learned now is that two people have died. we have gotten the first confirmation of the first two fatalities here in the carolinas. that's the issue when it comes to these particular storms. you don't know, you don't get all of the information in right
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away, you don't know what's happening, fatalities, injuries and what have you until sometimes after, a long time afterwards. we're continuing coverage. we'll continue to follow it sadly. we have the first confirmation of two deaths, an infant and mom sadly. we'll continue coverage in the carolinas. i am don lemon. be right back. since joining nine months ago, my priority has been to listen to you... to cities and communities, and to my own employees. i've seen a lot of good. we've changed the way people get around. we've provided new opportunities. but moving forward, it's time to move in a new direction. and i want you to know just how excited i am, to write uber's next chapter, with you. one of our core values as a company, is to always do the right thing. and if there are times when we fall short, we commit to being open, taking responsibility for the problem, and fixing it. this begins with new leadership, and a new culture. and you're going to see improvements to our service.
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welcome back to special live coverage of hurricane florence. i am brooke baldwin here in new york. don lemon is standing by in myrtle beach, south carolina. we just confirmed tragically the first two deaths in the wake of hurricane florence. a mother and baby due to a tree falling on a home in wilmington, north carolina. thinking of them and really everyone stranded