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Helene Barreling North After Roaring Ashore in Florida as Cat 4; Rescue Missions Underway Amid Life-Threatening Storm Surge; Helene Battering Georgia With Damaging Winds, Heavy Rain. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 27, 2024 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[07:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. The breaking news water rescues underway across several states right now. A life and death situation after Hurricane Helene made landfall as the strongest hurricane on record to hit Florida's Big Bend. I'm John Berman in Tallahassee Florida this morning where it's mostly just messy. This city did not see the worst of it.

The storm made landfall near Perry about an hour from now as a Category 4 storm with 140-mile-per-hour winds. It is now a tropical storm as it moves over Georgia. This is affecting so many states. And as everyone wakes up this morning, we're only beginning to get a sense of the impact. This morning, first responders, they are seeing scenes like this.

This was South Pasadena, Florida, a flooded home on fire, dumpsters floating through the floodwaters. In Steinhatchee, Florida, a house just floated away on the water. Just part of the aftermath of just a record breaking storm surge that has impacted coastal communities. Nine feet in some areas this morning, nine feet of storm surge.

And overnight deputies in Lee County began going out to check on people who stayed behind. At least four deaths now have been reported from Helene, two in Georgia, one in Florida, one in North Carolina. Power is out for nearly 3 million people in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.

Happening now, dozens of airboat rescues are underway in Citrus County, Florida. That is about 170 miles from where I am in Tallahassee. It's between Tampa and Cedar Key.

With us now is Sheriff Mike Prendergast, the sheriff of Citrus County. Sheriff, thank you so much for being with us. I understand water rescues have been taking place all night long. Give us a sense of what's happening now.

SHERIFF MIKE PRENDERGAST, CITRUS COUNTY, FLORIDA: Well, water rescues have been taking place in Citrus County since about 2:00 A.M. this morning. And we've affected over 100 rescues in the coastal river community. We've been doing many more out in the south, all along the U.S. Highway 19 corridor, which is our western approach that goes from the southern border to the northern border of the county. And Bosco (ph) also rescued about 50 pets. And we have about 22 calls from service for water rescue spending. And we've got Citrus County Sheriff's Office assets out there. We have Citrus County Fire Rescue assets out there. We also have one of our partner agencies, the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office. They've got their airboat out here helping us out with water board rescues as well. And just a short while ago, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission folks, they showed up and they started helping us out with some of the water rescues as well.

Right now, where I'm standing, this is beyond the location where Hurricane Idalia's storm surge ended up last year. In fact, we had (INAUDIBLE) of about 10 feet-plus storm --

BERMAN: Sheriff? Sheriff, your audio went out. If you could step a little closer to the camera, we might be able to hear you better. Can you hear me?

All right, we lost Sheriff Mike Prendergast.

The important thing to know about where he is, it's about 170 miles from where I am. It is not where the storm made landfall, not even close, but the storm surge and the amount of rain, so you had water pushing into Crystal River and a huge amount of rain coming down on Crystal River. So, so many people in that county stranded, as you heard him describe the water rescues taking place.

Again, what's so interesting, water rescue south of me, also water rescues north in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia.

[07:05:06]

Let's get right to CNN Senior National Correspondent Ryan Young, who is there. Ryan, give me a sense of what you're seeing.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, we're getting pounded by rain right now. This is probably the heaviest amount of rain that we've received in the last four or five hours or so. We believe that brain total now is above eight inches with the last 48 hours or so. This was a very dry city for the last 60 days. We've got a cold front that came through and dropped a lot of rain and now we have this additional rain coming from the storm.

I want to point in the distance here. You can see we're at an apartment complex that has dealt with flooding issues. And you can see those cars over there that are underwater. That gives you just how dangerous this has been recently.

But we want to show you this video from an early morning water rescue that has taken place just in the last hour or so. We know 25 rescues have been performed by the Atlanta Fire Department. They've had to use boats to go rescue citizens from their homes or their apartments. We know that they've had to get pets. They've had to get infants out. Because this rain is falling so fast and it's accumulating, there have been several creeks that have overflowed. It is creating a pooling situations with the rain. And so when you put that on top of the idea that we have all these large trees in the area that have been dry for quite some time, several trees have fallen throughout the Atlanta area creating power outages throughout the Metro. But the real concern right now is the fast moving water. In fact, just in the distance here, we've had seen several people trying to use jeeps to get to friends who live in this apartment complex and now they're trying to back out.

But you see how heavy and how fast the water is accumulating here on the ground. They're trying to tell people to stay home. Mostly the roads are clear, but there have been people who have been venturing out in the last half hour or so, John, to see what's going on. Obviously, you want to tell people to stay home until at least first light so you can see the roads ahead of you. Because this area here, you would not know it's flooding until you're right up on the water.

So, that is the situation right now in Atlanta with the water continuing to fall. The good news here so far, not heavy winds that were anticipated to come through here. There have been gusts above 25 miles per hour, but not the consistent 25 to 35 mile per hour winds that with the combination of the wind and the rain could knock down trees in the city that has a great tree cover all over the area.

Also talking about the airport, we know there's been more than 100 canceled flights so far, but this is a fast-moving storm. There is a belief that maybe by this afternoon, this will push its way through this area. But right now, the real concerns are the rescues that are going on with first responders getting out here at night, saving people from their homes. John?

BERMAN: Ryan, it's so interesting. You just brought up the wind, because Hurricane Helene, it maintained hurricane force strength winds until about 5:00 A.M. as it was pushing up through. Ultimately, it has slowed down some as a tropical storm, but it just shows you how big and how strong it was as it moved out over land. Go ahead, Ryan.

YOUNG: Yes, John, that's a great point. And then a lot of times, especially this far in North Georgia, we do not deal with tropical force winds in this area. That was the real concern. It's been a long time since the city of Atlanta has had to deal with a tropical storm. Got to think about how far we away from the coast.

We're several hours away from where you are. So, the impact could still be seen in terms of the winds and the constant rain over the next few hours.

BERMAN: Yes. Again, water rescues were Ryan Young is in Atlanta, Georgia. Also, Ryan, thank you very much. Water rescues in Citrus County, 170 miles south of where I am in Tallahassee.

I believe we have Sheriff Mike Prendergast back with us now, the sheriff of Citrus County. Sheriff, thank you so much for sticking with us.

Just give me a sense of what's causing this flooding. Is this the storm surge or is this the rainfall into the Crystal River? PRENDERGAST: No, this is all storm surge. It's a little bit more than what we saw during Hurricane Idalia back in 2023, about 13 months ago. In fact, I think we're going to have about ten feet or so of storm surge and the National Weather Service gets out and does their survey.

The water is going down a little bit. We're approaching low tide. But the way the wind is blowing right now, and I'm looking off to my east, and the wind is still flowing in an ordinary direction. And we anticipate a little bit later this morning, a shift where it's all coming out of the west, which will mean that water will stay pushed into our bays, into our rivers, and, of course, in this very flooded street that I'm standing here right now, which is our major east west artery across the entirety of the county. It starts on the east side over there in Suffolk County, and it's where all the commerce comes off of Interstate-75 and all those roads that are out there.

We have an airboat approaching right now that's been out doing a rescue and it's going to get pretty loud, but to sum it up, we've done over 100 water rescues for citizens.

[07:10:01]

We've brought about 50 pets in. We've got 22 calls waiting and we know that this water is going to be here for a long, long time. Later on this morning, I'll report all the (INAUDIBLE) goes back out of the Gulf of Mexico. No reports of serious injuries or deaths, thank God, and we're posting a lot of other information out there.

So, if you need to be rescued, please call 911. And it's not a rescue, it's just one of those points and stuff, it's called a non-emergency line. And again thanks to all these great first responders, not only from Citrus County, but from all around the state who've been out there on the frontlines helping us protect our citizens.

And now, we have a hard task of recovering (INAUDIBLE) They've never seen the second (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: Sheriff Mike Prendergast, we are losing your audio again. It's hard to understand you, but we got the gist of it. 100 water rescues still very much in it. Thank you so much for what you're doing. Thank you for speaking with us. Best of luck to you and your entire team that I know is in working all night long, sir. Thanks, Sheriff.

PRENDERGAST: Thank you very much.

BERMAN: All right, let's get right to CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar. Let's get to Allison Chinchar to get a sense of where the storm is now and who can expect what else.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right, that's right. And I want to emphasize here, John, the storm has made landfall, but this does not mean it's over. In fact, for some of these areas, portions of Georgia and the Carolinas, the worst is actually yet to come. You can see now the bulk of the storm starting to spread into the Carolinas still has sustained winds of 70 miles per hour, and that's what's triggering a significant number of power outages here. Over 3 million people spread out from Florida, Georgia and into the Carolinas, all without power as of now.

And it's not surprising when you look at some of these wind gusts. Perry, Florida, not far from where the storm made landfall, 99 miles per hour. But here's an interesting point, Douglas, Georgia, more than 90 miles away from the coast, also had a 90 mile-per hour wind gusts. So, that's why you're seeing these power outages even very far inland in some of these communities.

Right now, you've still got several areas, Augusta gusting up to 60 miles an hour, Atlanta around 40 miles per hour, Charlotte about 45 to 50 mile-per-hour wind gusts. So, you're going to continue to see those power outage numbers unfortunately go up in the next couple of hours.

Rain has also been a huge concern here. You can see the bulk of it still across portions of Georgia and now spreading into Tennessee, a lot of heavy rain still across the Carolinas and even some tornado warnings that we still have valid. These watches are in effect for a few more hours and they could even expand northward just because that's where the threat is going to be today.

But flooding by far is the greatest threat that we have for a lot of these areas. The green is a flood watch where the potential exists for flooding. The red areas, this is where we have flash flooding, ongoing flooding concerns right now. Anywhere you see these white boxes, including the one around Atlanta and then several here in Western North Carolina, these are flash flood emergencies. That is the highest level of threat that you can possibly get in terms of a flooding scale.

And look at this. We're all of these white boxes in and around Western North Carolina. This area has had over ten inches of rain, some areas over a foot of rain in the last 48 hours, and it's all come down quickly. There have been reports of landslides. There have been reports of numerous car water rescues, not to mention how many streets in these areas that are just entirely underwater.

The unfortunate part is for these areas more rain is on the way and will be for hours, John. This is not just another 30 minutes. There will be hours more of rainfall on top of these communities.

BERMAN: This is such a big storm with so many people being affected. Allison Chinchar, thank you very much.

You know, here in Tallahassee, they were prepared for a direct hit. It didn't happen. The storm passed east of here. The wind gusts got to about 67 miles per hour last night. Sara, that's not quite hurricane strength, but eight inches of rain over the last day. So, certainly, an impact even here in the capital city. Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: John, I'm glad you're out there. This is definitely a water event, more than a wind event at this point. Thank you so much for the reporting out there.

And we do see some trees down over there. It's hard to see, though, the breadth of the impact Helene has brought. Here are just some of the images from the storm. Florida's Gulf Coast seeing unprecedented storm surge. The wind gusts literally dragging boats across the water. One resident telling CNN he fears that it will take days for emergency officials to reach his home island of Cedar Key, forcing him to stay behind and rescue his elderly neighbors who simply were unable to evacuate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BOBBITT, CEDAR KEY, FLORIDA RESIDENT: The gulf is rising up to swallow the island. During Hurricane Idalia a year ago, we got about seven-foot of storm surge and it completely devastated the island. We're looking at between 12 and possibly 20 feet of storm surge.

Luckily, I'm in a house at the top of a tall hill.

[07:15:01]

I think I'll be okay. But I don't know that Cedar Key as we know it will exist in the morning.

I know of at least a half dozen, maybe ten elderly people that just refused to leave.

The minute that it's safe enough to get out there, we're going to go start trying to pull people off roofs and hopefully they're alive people and not bodies. I stayed to help my island as best I could.

I think it will be days and days before anyone from the outside can get here. So, we're on our own. And I was unwilling to leave my neighbors without any help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: It is a terrifying prospect there. We are going to be able to see some of that soon in the morning light.

The storm also rocking areas of Georgia leading to massive rescue efforts this morning as entire families remain trapped in their homes from high flood waters. In Florida, you can also see roads and bridges you're seeing there virtually impassable. It's important to remember the Florida Gulf Coast was rocked by Hurricane Idalia. You just heard there just a year ago, some residents still trying to recover from that storm now facing a similar scenario all over again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW HELLER, HOME FLOODED BY HELENE: We didn't even think this one was going to be that big, but holy cow, that storm surge. The whole lower level of my home is filled with water. I ended up hopping on to one of my little kayaks to float around in my living room.

We knew we had the second level of our house here and that we're up high and dry. But this has been just a heck of a storm surge. It's wiped out all my neighbors. I see just the destruction going all down the road.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Yes, it just looks terrifying. All right, even though Helene is now a tropical storm, it is still extremely dangerous, and we have yet to see its full impact ahead.

We'll speak to a mom in Steinhatchee, Florida, who gave birth in the middle of a hurricane last year and decided to ride out the storm again, this time with her husband and three children.

Plus, New York City's mayor in court for the first time this afternoon to face his indictment on federal corruption charges. How Eric Adams is responding to growing calls for him to resign.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BERMAN: All right. I'm John Berman in Tallahassee, more than a million customers without power in Florida, 3 million customers overall spread across these states where Helene has had such an impact. Lake City, Florida, which is about a hundred miles from Tallahassee, saw some terrible damage.

We have an affiliate reporter who gave us a tour, watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Behind me, some of the damage that we've seen in the downtown area, this is either the siding or roof of a building that's been completely ripped off. You can see the nails torn up, also fell on top of a truck right near the front doors again here in downtown Lake City. There's also been a streetlight that's been on the ground, torn up, and some general stone that's just been pushed from the wind here in Lake City.

But that's not all we have seen. We've also seen downed trees on top of power lines. We've also seen other businesses that had its awning ripped off from the wind and the covers torn away when we were driving around, also a blackout because we've seen a lot of transformers starting to blow. So, the power has been out for a while.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The car has been moving, the poles are moving, the planters went in the way, really loud, really, loud noises.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: We drove through Lake City to get here to Tallahassee the other morning. We thought Tallahassee would see a greater impact, but it just shows the unpredictability of these hurricanes. Lake City ended up bearing much more of the brunt of it.

I want to bring Marybel Gonzalez, who's also in Tallahassee in another location this morning. Marybel, give us a sense of what you're seeing. I know that every time we came across a tree that was down, it was removed almost immediately after. They've been out clearing these roads since 2:00 A.M. this morning.

MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no, good morning. So much like you just said, you know, we were bracing for the worst here in Tallahassee. Fortunately for people here, that did not happen. We did hear some heavy winds last night. We saw some of that rain, but we know that there are other aspects, other counties, I should say, that were impacted more severely than we were.

And, you know, John, we were just learning minutes ago that there's been a fourth storm related death confirmed. We're talking about a four-year-old girl in North Carolina. We also know there was one death here in Florida, two others in Georgia. So, this was definitely a powerful storm, a historic one, a devastating one, and now we're also learning a deadly one.

BERMAN: It is so unfortunate, four dead so far. I do expect, unfortunately, that number to rise over the next several hours, particularly from what we understand are just catastrophic floods hitting the North Carolina area.

Marybel Gonzalez here in Tallahassee, thank you very much.

All right, this is our special live coverage of Hurricane Helene. Some of the impacts only now coming to light as the sun is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

BERMAN: All right, John Berman here in Tallahassee. On screen there, you can see live pictures from Englewood, Florida. That's five hours South of where I am actually right now beside me. I think you'll be able to see this in a second. We're seeing some of these -- well, no, you really can't. The work crews -- yes, work crews driving by here, line crews driving by. That's been happening all morning long.

You know, Tallahassee didn't see the worst of it, but they were staged. Thousands of crews staged here. Right now, they have more crews for downed trees, but they're getting there and they're cleaning them out right away.

There are flash flood emergencies in effect all over those still, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. In Asheville, 8.2 inches of rain fell so far. They expect major river flooding. There are also threats of landslides.

CNN's Isabel Rosales is in Asheville, North Carolina. Isabel, give us a sense of what you're seeing, and I understand the worst of it's not going to come for some time still.

ISABEL ROSALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, not for a couple of hours.

[07:30:00]

Good morning to you. Yes. What we're experiencing right now is moments of torrential rain, rain coming at you sideways, just slapping you in the face.