chairman, manafort's campaign deputy rick gates and former national security adviser michael flynn. as for trump's former personal attorney, michael cohen, he is also pleaded guilty to charges in new york. sara murray, cnn, washington. >> thanks to sara murray. we now turn back to our special coverage of tropical storm florence. i'm erica hill live in myrtle beach, south carolina, where the winds and rains continue and the ocean behind me has been churning far more than when we first got here 24 hours ago. we're waiting on high tide here in the next hour. that is important as we know. the governor of south carolina lifting evacuation orders for a number of counties including the area around charleston. we're still waiting on more news for here in myrtle beach. what we do know at this hour, five deaths now officially related to this storm. the governor of north carolina

just a short time ago talking about in his words the epic amounts of rainfall. and that is true. in the state of north carolina, statewide record for rainfall has been broken. 30.5-plus inches of rain in the town of swansboro, north carolina. what's important to remember with this storm is it is not over yet. sitting over the area, barely moving along at 2 miles per hour, and it's what will come not just with the rain in the coming hour, but the flooding in the coming days that has many people concerned. cnn's scott mcclane is just a little bit north of myrtle beach in conway, is beisouth carolina driving around there, one of our roving coverage vehicles. power outages is another key part of the storm, scott. >> yes, this area has gotten a heck of a lot of rain. let me show you what we're looking at. on left of your screen, that power line, that transformer, down. the pole just comb ripped out of

the ground. and you can see another tree that is down on the road as well. we'll just come up here and turn over to show you a little more. we know there are 155,000 people who are without power in the state of south carolina. we know 87,000 of them are in horry county, in conway, which includes myrtle beach. there are a lot of people being inconvenanced by these power outages. a tree that's come down on these lines and, you know, this is a familiar scene for a lot of people in this area as we deal with the effects of hurricane florence. but, you know, we talk about the rain. 8 1/2 inches have fallen in this area so far. they could get another 10 inches here. so all that water has to go somewhere and eventually it's going to find its way into the waccawaw river system and they're expecting record

flooding in this area. i'll show you some of it. we've seen some bits of localized flooding. you saw where nick valencia was last hour. it is only going to get worse. they have -- it could be wednesday, it could be thursday, it could be beyond that by the time we truly see the worst of it. as we come up here, i'll show you where the water is just coming out of the roadway. again, this is just the first one -- one of the first signs of localized flooding that we're starting to see in this area. but, erica, as i mentioned, the worst is really still very much yet to come. >> all right, we'll be watching for that. scott mcclane with the latest for us out of conway. want to turn now to north carolina. cnn's brian todd is in onslo county, looking at some of the damage. what are you seeing? >> well, erica, we've seen a lot of street flooding. i just came out of the emergency operations center and spoke to several officials there, including the county manager who said that basically this area is

just, has just never seen a storm -- >> i think we just lost brian, we'll get back to him as soon as we can. i may have heard brian again. we are going to get back to brian so we'll get an update from him as soon as we can, re-establish connection with him. let's go to the cnn weather center where meteorologist allison chinchar is following the storm. what can we expect moving forward today? >> expect plenty more rain, even the areas on the coast where it's been raining for over 40 hours straight, more rain is still on the way. again, the reason for this is the forward movement of this storm is practically stationary for all intents and purposes. it's moving only at 2 miles per hour to the due west. i will say this, we do expect the forward speed to gradually start to pick up over the next 24 hours. that will be a good thing for a lot of folks that have been getting rain for over a day

straight. because eventually it will start to take back off. until the storm does that, heavy rain is still in the forecast. you can see some of these really heavy rain bands. we've got one just to the south of wilmington and one just to the north of wilmington. that's where you see the yellows and the orange colors on the radar. in some places, it's still coming down at 2 to 3 inches an hour. and, again, these folks, they're not just getting it for one hour, they're getting it hour after hour. this has to now be added on top of how much rain they've already had. to put this in perspective, we have set a new record for the state of north carolina. for any tropical system to hit this state. the previous record was 24 inches. that was back with floyd in 1999. one location already in north carolina has picked up over 30 inches. the thing to understand, that location we're talking about is swansboro. it's still waiting there.

even though we've already broken the record, the difference between the old record and the new record is likely going to continue to be a bigger spread. wilmington has picked up over a foot. elizabethtown has picked up nearly 2 feet. morehead city has picked up nearly 2 feet of rain. the key thing to note, it's still raining. so a lot of those locations, widespread, are still going to pick up an additional 6 to 12 inches. there are some places that are likely to pick up at least an additional foot of rain before the system can finally push back out. >> and of course the big concern is where does all of that water go. allison chanchar in the weather center for us. i think we have brian back again. as we were just mentioning, with more rain to come, the concern is, obviously, there is nowhere for this water to go. >> that's certainly true, erica. we're experiencing that in onslo county. we were just in the emergency

operations center. i was talking to officials there. he said they have 30 rescue missions that have already been done. most of them have been home rescues but they've had several caress skews as well. they have many more in line who are calling to be rescued. i was looking at their board operations and you could see a lot of people calling in and they were in certain areas. we're told there are swift water rescue teams from the state of indiana here helping out, pulling people out of their homes. those are boat teams but there are also some coast guard helicopter units helping people out in areas not even accessible by boat. it's a difficult slog here. we're navigating around these streets to see where we can get to to get as close as we can to where these people are being rescued. we can tell you one account is from either last night or very early this morning. they had an ambulance deployed to a cardiac arrest case. they picked up that individual. but then the ambulance started taking on waterp.

the team nearby was able to get those people out. they've had no deaths or injuries in the county. this is the worst storm they've seen really in collective memory. >> brian todd with the latest for us there, thank you. also want to bring in now accuweath accuweather's meteorologist. one of the things i've heard is just how accurate the forecasting has been here, which of course is helpful for planning ahead. now they have to figure out what to do and where to go if they are in some of these flooded areas. >> i think everybody realizes the severity of the situation now. it's going to be up and over

this lane of i-40. they say they have never seen anything like this in the past and they've learned a lot from the storm in terms of the impacts, the rainfall. we've already had a few feet of rain. it looks like 1 to 2 feet additionally. and the meteorologists have done an incredible job forecasting the impacts of this storm and the different flash flood impacts or flash flooding, river flooding and the storm surge inundation. all of those combined has created a very complicated flood scenario here. there are several flash flood emergencies that have been issued. it looks like there's new rain bands forming as well. there's one to the north here that has shut down i-40. there's been a few tornado warnings. it looks like the flooding situation of this storm is just getting started. >> and you talk about those bands that have been added. i mean, just give us a sense. with this storm sitting now and essentially sitting still, barely moving as we know, what is that doing in terms of allowing it to begin a little strength or create new bands?

>> i can actually walk faster than this storm is moving and that is very dangerous. there's nothing more dangerous or scary than a slow-moving, stalled-out tropical cyclone. you get such prolific rainfall rates in these rain bands. you can get 2 to 4 inches per hour easily. you can get tornado threats as well. the winds are gusting. downing trees already weakened from that hurricane. the floodwaters and the rising water table are weakening structures. so those trees are falling. there's nothing more dang russian for a situation like this. as these rivers begin to crest, it's going to create a more catastrophic situation from a different type of flooding and that's a slow-moving natural disaster portion of this storm. >> reed timer, appreciate you joining us as always, thank you. cnn's continuing coverage of tropical storm florence continues. we will be broadcasting live from myrtle beach, from north carolina, after this short break.

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here in myrtle beach, south carolina, we are still feeling tropical storm florence. we are far from alone as we know. you can see just the immense size of this storm. and we were even seeing as we learned just a few minutes ago from reed timmer new bands of rain that are developing. we are expecting several more inches here in south carolina. and it's not just the rain that will continue to fall. it is not just the records that have been broken in the state of north carolina. the other concern is what comes next. there is the flooding. rivers that are not expected to crest. 3, even 5 days, well in the middle of next week.

that is a major concern. even as rescues are under way for folks who need help in this storm. we can tell you that here in myrtle beach, the mayor telling me about 60% of residents did evacuate. she was very happy to report that number. driving around here we were out for a couple of hours. the good news, not a lot of damage. but, again, the concern is the flooding in the coming days. myrtle beach itself, the bridges, the roadways that can bring people in and out of this area. there's concern that perhaps those could be cut off by flooding by a number of rivers in the area. also the flooding coming down that's moving in of course from north carolina. that is a major concern. in the state of north carolina, the governor talking about the epic amount of rainfall. there is still much more to come. he was also stressing of course this is moving into other areas of the state. we're not just talking about coastal communities in terms of flooding. specifically he's talking about charlotte. he's talking about fayetteville. asheville. the southern piedmont area.

the mountains. the concern there is that as the rain moves in, not only in the swollen areas with rivers in the coastal communities, is there nowhere for this water to go, but in the mountainous regions, there's not a lot of real estate for this water either. it's imperative people listen to these warnings, to these updates from their officials, to stay where they are, to evacuate if they're told to do so and to not come home until those evacuation orders have been lifted. that is a process. they need to hear from the governor that the evacuation has been lifted. local officials need to make sure the roads are safe for people to be able to get back in. all of these things have to happen before it is safe for residents to come home. with a storm like this, it might seem like a long time, but as we know, much better safe than sorry. cnn's ed lavandera has been in the thick of it over these last 48 hours or so. i think we're going to try to get to him. possibly with a rescue. as we try to get contact with ed lavandera. let's look at some of what we've

seen over the last couple of days. >> the wind is whipping harder than it has over the last 24 hours. >> the eye did make landfall in wrightsville beach with a wind speed of 94 miles per hour. >> this isn't just water that's coming this way. the ocean and the wind are forcing sand up into the air. >> if you look all the way down, you'll see all these people. you might be able to make it out. that is the ocean. it's not supposed to be there right now. >> power is out all over the city. that tree over there to my left,

to your right, looks like it's about to be uprooted. greating a lot of strong gusts. >> we're in riverbend. they experienced an extraordinary amount of flooding here. a lot of people said they weren't expecting it to flood like this here. >> the rain and the wind as you can see here through the microphone has really picked up here just in the last couple of minutes in myrtle beach. if we can get a shot of the ocean. i want to point out this is so much rougher than what we saw when we got here a little over 24 hours ago. the water is also almost all the way up at that fencing you see for the dunes. moving in far closer than we saw yesterday. high tide. supposed to happen around 1:00 in this area. so that is a major focus as well. our live coverage from across

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water's been pouring out of that river over the last few hours. we've seen coast guard choppers flying into an area we can't access anymore. the water has been coming up rapidly. when we drove in here, we came across marty diaz. we saw her and her family frantically loading up the minivan. what's it been like in the neighborhood? >> this morning, we were under flash flood warnings, which with this kind of weather, always happens. we were kind of immune to it. when i woke up, my backyard was pretty much flooded and almost to my patio which is really abnormal for our area. then i drove down at the end and there was a house that -- two houses at the end and they were under water. we have a group and i took a live video and updated everyone. the curfew was supposed to be lifted today but i told them don't come back, it's not safe.

behind me, the neighborhood was flooded and there was a rescue. >> this is an area you didn't expect to flood at all? >> no. i actually looked up flood iq and we were minimal risk so that's why we felt comfortable staying. they were saying if you flooded during hurricane matthew, then you would flood with florence as well and we did not flood with hurricane matthew, not to this level. >> what have you been doing? i saw you at the tail end loading up your minivan, just taking out the most important belongings? >> yes, clothes, food and water because we're staying with a neighbor, and then our dogs. we have four dogs. we loaded them up. and then just the irreplaceable stuff. everything else in the house we're just kind of -- it's going to be a loss. >> has water gotten inside yet? >> i know our shed is starting to flood. actual inside the house, not yet. as of the last i checked. you can see the shed. our shed is completely under water. >> you seem to be holding up all right. i know this has got to be incredibly stressful to deal with. >> i cried this morning. i broke down and cried.

at this point, i'm accepting it. it is what it is. we can't control it. just pick up and deal. that's, you know, all we can really do. >> you were telling me, you've been watching the water creep up. it's not even creeping, it's moving quickly. >> our neighbors, there's the jeep over there, and then the house next to it. they were staying too. and they just left maybe like an hour ago and now they're under water as well. our original plan was to stay in this house because -- we're a very close knit neighborhood. and they said if you need to escape the floodwaters, go to the house. it's not looking like that's a viable option because their house is flooding too. >> how are your kids holding up? >> they're kids, they're resilient. it's like we're going camping. the past couple days we've been out power and it's been like camping. flashlights. they're like, we're going to a new house. kind of. not in the way we want to. but -- >> the camping trick always works. all right, best of luck to you,

thanks for talking to us. >> thank you very much. >> let me give you a sense here as you look back in this neighborhood, marty was telling us, you might be able to see there in the distance that yellow pickup truck at the end that is almost submerged in water there. the water was starting to creep on to streets all the way down there at 7:00 this morning. that water has moved up six or seven houses. already starting to trickle into the front porch here. so the water is about to reach the porch level. that's what they're dealing with. that's why they're in the rush

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welcome back. we will be continuing our coverage of tropical storm florence in just a moment. first, a big victory in the courtroom could mean a boost to special counsel robert mueller's investigation. >> he's accented responsibility and this is for conduct that's dated back many years. >> on friday, former trump campaign chairman paul manafort went before a federal judge and entered a guilty plea.

that's part of the deal struck with mueller's team that includes an agreement to cooperate in the russia probe. what kind of fallout can we expect? for that we turn to impeachment attorney ross gober live in new orleans. now, manafort is the fifth trump aide to offer cooperation in exchange for lesser charges. why would manafort be agreeing to this deal? now, after that conviction in virginia, but before his federal trial in washington was to begin? >> yes, i think what happened was manafort saw the potential years of his life in prison stacking up and he had to make a decision whether he was going to sit back and rely on the president for a pardon or whether he'd be safer going to prosecutors, offering cooperation and potentially getting leniency from them. that's how it works. if you cooperate with prosecutors and they think you did a good job and offered them a lot of information on others,

then they can go to the judge and ask for a substantially lower sentence. >> that's really the question, what kind of information he's going to be offering. in this deal, manafort has agreed to answer questions fully, truthfully, completely and forthrightly about any and all matters. what does he have to offer prosecutors? >> see, and that's what we don't know. you know, one thing to keep in mind, is he has already met with prosecutors several times. the way this works is before you get a cooperation agreement from the government, you have to preview things for prosecutors. you have to sit with them. you have to talk with them. they have to believe you have something good to offer and that you're being truthful. that's already happened. and we just don't know at this point what it is. but it has to be valuable enough to prosecutors. where they've given him this cooperation agreement. >> can we assume that that information is less about his business dealings and more about potential relationship between russia and the trump campaign? >> see, we just don't know. i think it's safe to assume that, you know, his prosecution

was entirely about getting at the campaign, at the trump campaign, and at the president, you know, that's what this was about. the allegations rolled. i don't think he would have come, you know, on to the radar screen of prosecutors without that. so that's what this was all about. now, we just don't know, you know, what we can offer. but one of the things to keep in mind is conspiracy law is incredibly broad. often those involved in a conspiracy don't necessarily know all the ways in which the law was potentially violated. what mueller's doing is putting together like a jigsaw puzzle and trying to figure out kind of what it looks like in the end and it's possible manafort offers a significant piece of that puzzle. >> he's 69 years old. until now, we've been talking about the prospect of him possibly spending the rest of lifz life in prison. so what does this deal mean in terms of his potential prison time? >> he was looking, if he got

sentenced in virginia alone, he was, you know, potential lie looking at the rest of his life in prison. he had an upcoming trial in d.c. that was supposed to start in a couple of weeks. if he got convicted there. even he was looking at many years in prison. probably the rest of his life. with cooperation, the way it works, if he cooperates, if he gives prosecutors what they want, what they're looking for, they can go to the judge and ask for substantially lower sentence. in addition, under the agreement, his sentence is in virginia, and d.c. would run at the same time, concurrently. the big potential benefit to n manafort now, if he cooperates in the way the government likes, the prosecutor will ask for a lenient sentence and that can make a substantial difference. >> we're still talking about years in prison. there's no way he walks away scott free. >> it would be unlikely he walks away scott free. there's a big difference between

five years in prison and ten years in prison and the rest of your life in prison for sure. it's all going to depend on what he offers prosecutors. and people in his position. and you can imagine have enormous incentive to give prosecutors as much as they can. and to be as helpful as they can to prosecutors. one thing i'd be concerned about if i were on team trump is there's also an incentive to not tell the truth or even stretch the truth to please prosecutors. because right now, paul manafort's life is in the prosecutor's hands. >> we should note the white house was very quick to come out and say this has nothing to do with president trump but you can imagine they are still quite nervous at this point, not knowing what manafort is going to give the mueller team. attorney ross garber, thank you for joining us. now, switching gears, whether you like it or not, you may be getting a text message from president trump next week. don't worry, it has nothing to do with politics. next thursday afternoon, fema is planning to test out a new

messaging service that they're calling the presidential alert system. that text will look a little bit like this. it could be used for major emergencies like severe weather which we're seeing now down to the south as well as missing children. cnn senior media correspondent brian stelter is joining us live from new york. we already have something like this. it's called am better alert. so what's the thinking behind rolling out this new service? the big question, will the president be the one in charge of what goes into those messages? >> you mentioned am bettamber a. we're all used to those severe weather alerts. we've had that experience of being in a room where everyone's phone lights up at the same time with an alert about the weather. the difference here is this is fema applying that same technology on a nationwide level. testing the ability to communicate to the entire country at the same time. and that's why it's called this presidential alert. i think because we're in this upside-down period of politics with a lot of people fearful of

president trump, concerned he might abuse his power, there's been a lot of speculation in recent days he would try to use this new technology in ways that are inappropriate. however, there's no indication of that. in fact, there's no indication that he even really knows about this test that's coming up next thursday. but it is an interesting moment in time to see the government testing out this new technology. i think we can show you what the text will look like on thursday that will be pushed to everyone's phone. it will be labeled "presidential alert." it will say, hey, this is a test of the national wireless emergency alert system, no action is needed. so that's the message that will be pushed out on thursday. it's result of a law that was passed by congress back in the obama years in 2016 in order to bring the u.s. government up to speed. so that, you know, it's not just an alert on tv, not just an alert on the radio. now there will be alerts on your phones in the event of a national emergency. so that's why it's being tested. but i know because we're in this

strange period of time with most americans feeling the president is simply untrustworthy, i think this is probably going to raise some eyebrows when it happens on thursday. alex. >> the president always looking to circumvent the media and take his message directly to the people but you can imagine there will be a lot of people who want to opt out of the option of receiving this presidential text, right? >> that's an interesting point. there will nobody opt out functionality, at least in regards to this test. the whole idea here is the government believes it needs to be able to reach the entire population in a true crisis. and of course those come a long very, very infrequently. but the test is to make sure that it is possible. you think back decade, the government's worked with radio broadcasters to put out those alerts you sometimes see when you're watching something and it interrupts you. we'll see that on thursday, the existing broadcast system will be tested. but the new text is the text messaging. in an age where most americans

don't trust the president, i think seeing an alert that says presidential alert will be curious. this is why the president's credibility matters so much. we know he makes up stuff all the time. when he's able to text message you an alert, normally that would be a good thing. normally the government needs to be able to do that. but in the trump age, it's going to raise eyebrows. >> all right, well keep an eye on your phones, thursday afternoon, folks. brian stelter in new york, thank you. still ahead, we'll take you live to lawrence where 8,000 people are forced out of their homes after dozens of gas explosions. that's in massachusetts. investigators there still trying to pinpoint what exactly what went wrong.

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all this comes as the governor of massachusetts charlie baker has declared a state of emergency in three towns. he has also taken the extraordinary step of replacing columbia gas as the utility company that is in charge of the recovery. >> we took this step after it became clear to us that columbia gas was simply inadequately prepared to take the steps necessary to effectively manage relief efforts. >> at least one person has died and around 8,000 people have been forced to leave their homes. officials say they've cleared more than 50 streets in north andover mass. it could be some time before life returns to normal and people are able to go home. cnn's alison kosik is with us live from lawrence, massachusetts. what are the authorities saying and doing now? >> well, at this point, we're seeing that authorities are trying to figure out what caused these massive explosions. and columbia gas of

massachusetts which owns those gas lines that were involved in these explosions has yet to give a definitive answer as to why they happened. you mentioned these news conferences happening with state and federal officials. hopefully we may learn more. now, at this point, the ntsb, as you said, is on the ground here, collecting efld, evidence, trying to figure out what triggered these stunning explosions that happened really cascading through three suburbs north of boston, killing one man, injuring more than a dozen others, damaging or destroying dozens of homes and buildings and forcing thousands of people to evacuate at a moment's notice in fear, wondering what will happen next. i want you to listen to what one resident had to go through. >> frantic call to my wife, i told her to get out of the house. the next thing you know, the police ordered everybody out of the house. homes down the street were catching fire. by the time i got home, it was just a lot of confusion and

chaos. it was just actually scary, you know. >> now, this is response that is happening is massive. at this moment, teams of three people are literally going through each neighborhood, door to door. the people include a utilities technician, a first responder and even a locksmith. because what these folks need to do is get inside the house, see if there's any sort of lingering gas, let's say, in an attic or basement, and shut the gas off and make sure they can give the all clear to these homes before people can go back. so the people you're hearing who are going back to their homes, those homes have been given the all clear. but the reality is, when they do get back to their homes, there is no power, there is no gas and there's no telling when the power's going to be back on. alex, i'm hearing it could be weeks before the gas is turned back on. >> all right, well, hopefully the ntsb will have some answers to those questions at their press conference in just around three hours time.

alison kosik, lawrence, massachusetts, thank you. turning to the confirmation of supreme court nominee kavanaugh. a decades old assault allegation is threatening to impact his vote in the senate. a woman who is still unidentified sent a letter to california senator dianne feinstein accusing kavanaugh of assaulting her when they were teenagers in high school in the early 1980s. feinstein redacted the woman's name and sent the letter to the fbi. judge kavanaugh is denying those allegations. but it does come at a critical time in this confirmation process. joining me is cnn supreme court reporter ariane devoge. what effect could it have on his confirmation? >> you're absolutely right, this is an anonymous allegation of an alleged incident that occurred 30 years ago and the woman is declining to come forward and kavanaugh is denying it. but she's alleging that kavanaugh assaulted her at this party when they were both in high school in the '80s.

she won't go public but she did send this letter to feinstein. fieinstein is the top democrat n the senate judiciary committee. feinstein said the woman requested confidentiality, declined to come forward or press the matter further. what feinstein did was redact her name and sent the information to the fbi. and kavanaugh, he's released a statement, strongly denying it. here's what he said. he said, i categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. i did not do this back in high school or at any time. in the letter, though, the woman alleges that kavanaugh physically pushed her into a bedroom and along with another male locked the door from the inside, put on loud music. she alleged the two teens were drunk and at one point kavanaugh was on top of her with a hand over her mouth and she said she feared she was in danger at that moment. she didn't say whether she reported it to the authorities at the time. but she did say she sought some

medical attention. we don't know any details around that or the timinging. and then as you said, the republicans here are furious because they know this letter was sent in late july and then only referred to the fbi after the close of hearings close to this friend, close to this vote, and i spoke to someone who's close to kavanaugh and he's in disbelief. he said kavanaugh's been vetted five times. this isn't something he would do. on the democratic side, some are angry at dianne feinstein, saying why didn't you bring this forward earlier? others say look, she was in a tough spot. the woman wouldn't come forward with the allegation. again, really important to note, kavanaugh, he's released that statement, and he's denying this, alex. >> really an extraordinary twist in what are already very contentious confirmation hearings in the senate. thank you very much. our special coverage of the flooding in the carolinas will continue right after the short break.

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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! i'm erica hill live in myrtle beach, south carolina, where it is just about high tide. as you can see from the waves behind me, things really whipping up out there in the ocean. i should also point out just about 24 hours ago, you could see a big stretch of beach in between the dunes and the water. that is no longer visible. about 60% of residents here in myrtle beach did evacuate. they're not allowed to come back yet. we're continuing to monitor the situation here. the biggest concern according to the mayor, the flooding that is expected over the next 3 to 5

days for the rivers in the area. flooding. as the governor in north carolina roy cooper said these epic amounts of rainfall also a major concern of course in north carolina. this storm florence is not going anywhere. that is also part of the issue. essentially sitting still. on a large area of the carolinas moving, barely moving, crawling, at 2 miles per hour. we learned of some new rain bands that formed earlier today. the storm will continue to pound the area. continue to drop rain, to bring these winds and there's nowhere as we know for the water to go. five deaths now confirmed connected to this storm. we know that rescue operations are under way. and a number of areas. there have been incredibly moving pictures coming out as well. a tree that fell on a home in wilmington, north carolina. killing a mother and an infant. images of the firefighters that went out to do everything they could to rescue them.