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CNN NEWSROOM

The Path of Hurricane Matthew. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired October 7, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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


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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN HOST: Welcome to our continuing coverage of Hurricane Matthew as it barrels along the U.S. Southeastern Coast. I'm Michael Holmes in Melbourne, in Florida.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN HOST: It is now 11 o'clock here in Los Angeles. I'm John Vause. We'd like to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world.

If it makes landfall, officials say Hurricane Matthew will be the strongest storm to hit the area in more than 100 years. Powerful winds and rain have been lashing parts of Florida. Emergency officials in one county say it's too dangerous to rescue anyone who may need help. Today, Florida's governor was urging millions to evacuate.

RICK SCOTT, GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA: We're already starting to see the impacts and it's a monster. Again, our number one priority is to protect every life in this state. Again, if you need to evacuate and you haven't, evacuate. This storm will kill you. Time is running out. We don't have that much time left.

VAUSE: That was earlier in the day; in many parts, it is now too late to leave. So far, close to 200,000 people have lost electricity.

Matthew has already devastated parts of the Caribbean, killing hundreds of people in Haiti alone.

Here's a closer look at the area under a direct threat. More than 26 million people are under weather advisories, more than 11 million are under hurricane warnings in the most severe category; 1.7 million are under hurricane watch; 6 million are tropical storm warnings, 7 million more are under a tropical storm watch.

CNN is covering this story from every angle. We have a team of correspondents in major cities up and down the coast, from Florida to South Carolina, with the very latest information.

Michael Holmes in Palm Beach, Florida, expecting to be hit there in the coming hours.

And, Michael, you have been noticing the wind, the intensity getting a lot stronger in just the past 60 minutes.

HOLMES: Yes, absolutely, John. In the last 10 minutes or so, the rain has become absolutely torrential and we have been getting some very strong gusts of wind ripping through here. It is just really a portent of things to come.

It is just 2:00 am on the East Coast of the U.S. and I can tell you the worst of it is about to hit for another two or three hours. But it's getting pretty nautical here at the moment. You mentioned there are a couple hundred thousand people without power. It's been an hour or more now since emergency services said they are not going out if you call 9-1-1. It's simply too dangerous for them to do so.

So if you are hunkered down, that's where you are staying. If you have an emergency, you'll have to suffer through it until this abates and this could be many hours.

The high tide was two hours ago now. Of course, the big concern about storm surge, which could be as high as 10, 11, 12 feet or 3 meters or more, so these are barrier islands along here, where there are houses taking the full brunt of this.

You can just imagine what a storm surge will do to those places. They were largely evacuated. However, police were concerned that a lot of people did not evacuate and, worryingly, some of those in mobile home parks, which are the least equipped to handle stuff like this -- John.

VAUSE: And Michael, as we've been saying, officials made it perfectly clear the time for preparations is over. If you are there, hunker down.

For those who have decided to stay behind, how well prepared are they there in the Melbourne region, especially if they take a direct hit?

HOLMES: Yes. We have been here a couple of days now and we have been seeing a lot of people, private homes and businesses, boarding up, putting up metal sheets and wood sheets as well to cover their windows and the like.

They are familiar around here with hurricanes around here and a lot of people know what to do. But as you know, John, Florida is a transient state. People do come and go for work.

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HOLMES: And so there's a lot of people who have never been through anything like this and who perhaps haven't taken it as seriously as they might.

So we want to bring in Derek Van Dam to talk a little bit about this.

I know, Derek, you have been reporting in the last hour or so that the eye has taken a jog to the east, which is good news if it continues to do that, in terms of wind strength. I can tell you right here in Melbourne, in Florida, this has really picked up in the last half hour or so. DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Michael, in the next two hours, you will see the brunt and full force of Hurricane Matthew to say the least. The shift and the track is roughly 20 miles to the east, good news for anyone along the Atlantic coastline of the Florida Peninsula.

This could mean the difference between cat 1 winds and cat 4, strong cat 3 winds. Here's the latest from the National Hurricane Center. We get updates every three hours and this is the 2:00 am update.

It has dropped in strength by 10 miles an hour bringing it to a strong category three, 120 MPH winds around the center of circulation which, by the way, is becoming more defined. So this storm hasn't lost its ability to strengthen just yet.

Remember that eyewall is still over the warm ocean waters across this region, which act like jet fuel to help intensify and strengthen the storm.

You are looking at the latest radar. I want to point out a few things here. Right now, you can see the eyewall taking shape nicely. It is just off the coastline of Florida. Just south and east of Melbourne and the Space Coast region.

But if we zoom in closer to this area, we'll get into some detail.

What I'm starting to notice here, you see the dark shading of yellow and orange on the western periphery of the eyewall?

That circle in the center of the storm, that's where I believe the strongest winds are located. Guess what, those winds are traveling toward the shoreline.

You can imagine what this is doing as it pushes up against the sea or the ocean surface. It's building that storm surge, is what we call it, and that will bring that in for this particular region, perhaps seven to 11 feet, especially from Melbourne to the Space Coast area.

And we have the outer rain band impacting the central part of the state. We can't forget about Orlando. Remember Walt Disney World is closed at least through Friday because of the effects of the system.

Where's it going from here?

Let's time things out for you. We already have our tropical storm force, if not hurricane force winds, reaching the shoreline. Brevard County northward, there's the storm surge threats, 7 to 11 feet. This is current time but let's go forward in time.

As this moves up and parallel with the Florida coastline and reaching the Georgia border, we'll still see hurricane force winds reaching St. Augustine, the Palm Coast, Daytona Beach -- that's Friday evening.

And then our main focus moves to Southeast Georgia and into South Carolina. That's where we have potential for a major flood problem. So a lot of dynamics to talk about here. But we will cover them through the next hour.

Michael, back to you, out in the horrendous weather you are experiencing right now.

HOLMES: I can tell you, mate, it is, as they say in the surfing world, getting a bit gnarly out here at the moment.

Derek, thank you so much for that. As you say, definitely two or three or four hours from now it will be much worse than it is now.

But over the last half hour or so, the winds have really picked up. The rain has become torrential. We have been hearing cracks of trees. We've seen power going out around this city.

Sara Sidner, you are further north than we are here at Daytona Beach. This is all heading your way, as well.

What's the situation there?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we are 64 miles from you. We are getting those bands, as we have been talking about all night long. We are expecting to get them, what you are getting there here just shortly.

But it comes and goes. Right now it's OK. I mean, this blowing and the trees are bending and there's a lot of wind. The rain is not pounding like it does when those bands come in.

But it has been sustained winds. I think we are probably at tropical storm winds at this point in time.

So you know, is there going to be a lot of damage from these winds?

No. When this gets bigger and if it gets closer and we see hurricane- strength winds, then yes. That's why they have said we will put a curfew in place. One of the reasons for that is to make sure no one is lurking around, trying to break into businesses.

Right now it is relatively safe enough to walk around. You are not going to get pushed down. But they already had an incident in one part of Florida --

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SIDNER: -- where someone broke in to a store. So they want to make sure folks are in their homes, folks are hunkered down because this will get worse and worse and it can be very deceiving.

It'll be like this for a little while and then 10 minutes from now, it's a completely different scene, where you're getting battered by sideways rain because the wind is so high.

So this is why they have said, look, we are going to make sure you guys are in and safe. There is a curfew in place -- Michael.

HOLMES: What sort of preparations were done around where you are? As I said, we have seen a lot of boarding up. There's a lot of debris cleanup going on as well. Some people were urged to trim the trees back but don't put the branches on the side of the road, which, of course, could then become airborne. A lot of warnings like that. I imagine it's the same there.

SIDNER: Absolutely, the same here. Also we are seeing sandbags, just underneath my feet. The hotels have put up sandbags, people have put sandbags around their home.

We are seeing a lot of folks using the hurricane shutters, boarding up businesses. Anything along the coast, people have tried to make sure their property is at least closed off, hoping to keep that wind from getting in, breaking windows and doing damage -- Michael.

HOLMES: All right, Sara, thank you so much.

We have been mentioning over the last couple of hours one of the great concerns that police had was most people did seem to heed the warnings, either got out of town altogether or are in some of the many shelters that are being set up around Melbourne.

But there are some who held out and said we're not going anywhere and, worryingly for police, some of them were in mobile home parks, possibly the least equipped places to deal with what is here already and what's is yet to come.

John, back to you in Los Angeles.

VAUSE: There are thousands of people in shelters right now across Florida. We're told there is still plenty of room. But for those in the storm zone, it may be too dangerous to head there at this point in time.

Michael, thank you.

And despite those numerous warnings to evacuate, we've been talking about this a lot, some residents are choosing to stay and ride out the storm.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're prepared for it. We would have evacuated but my wife is one of the directors from Volusia County and she is overseeing a couple of shelters. So we will hunker down and stay with it and do what we have to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been through all the storms here growing up so this is just another one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have had friends that have left and friends that have stayed. And we are on the phone constantly, trying to see who's the first that's staying that's actually going to we are leaving. We are feeding off of each other's fears and our calmness, really. I mean, we are all scared.

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VAUSE: Storm chaser Jeff Piotrowski (ph) joins us now on the line from Port Canaveral.

Jeff, last hour we spoke to you. The winds were picking up. You can certainly see the ocean. The seas were rough and the wind was pretty strong.

What's it like right now?

JEFF PIOTROWSKI (PH), STORM CHASER: Well, the winds have definitely picked up. The hurricane and this eye as we talked about all day and all evening about how close this (INAUDIBLE) is, the winds, not the surface but just above about 500 feet, 400 feet above the ground here all over the Cape Canaveral area, winds are about 75 MPH and about five miles east of here, they're up to 85 -- you go 20 miles off the coast, they're at 140 miles off the coast they're at 120 miles an hour.

This is another breaking weather story in the last few minutes.

The buoy, this is an observation buoy just straight east of my location, 20 miles, just recorded 17-foot waves. That's a storm surge coming to the Northwest now, is 17-foot waves off Buoy 101. It is now tracking to the northwest. So storm surge is on the way.

But again, it all depends on where the eye goes, how far this come inland but big, huge battering waves now are just 20 miles east of the coast, 17-foot waves now that's just ahead of the eyewall.

Winds gusting to 120, 30, 40 miles east from my location and they are continuing to track to the northwest at about 15 miles an hour. So the winds have picked up here. We may have hurricane force winds here at Cape Canaveral within the hour and possibly higher gusts, maybe up to 90 as the eyewall gets closer and closer to us here. We will see what happens here.

VAUSE: Jeff, as we are talking, we are looking at your periscope, a live shot there as you drive through Port Canaveral. It seems pretty deserted right now. People obviously heeding the warnings to stay in place.

But back to this 17-foot storm surge you are talking about, it's 20 miles to the east.

What's the timeframe before that hits the coast?

And if it is 17 feet 20 miles out, what does that mean for when it impacts the --

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PIOTROWSKI (PH): Well, I'm going to -- stand by here. At my location here at Cape Canaveral, the winds are (INAUDIBLE) it's

not a 17-foot storm surge; it's 17-foot waves on the buoy, so just showing the water is ramping up as the water's piling up ahead of the eyewall as the high wind at 120 mph winds back toward the east 40 miles, as that water is piling up in the hind wind, its pushing the water up like a plow.

And that water is now -- the buoy report was the wind -- the water's up -- has risen 17 feet in the last couple of hours. So that's a big wall of water pushing toward the coast. And it will still take another two to four hours probably to come ashore. It may not be that high, obviously it's going to be lower than that number when it comes to shore.

We are not talking about a 17-foot storm surge. It'll be about half that number. But 6- to 8-foot storm surge is likely approaching east of Cape Canaveral now and northward as the eyewall approaches our location. That's basically what is happening right now.

The conditions are rapidly deteriorating now at Cape Canaveral. winds are probably gusting over hurricane force now. And I've got blinding rain and the trees are bending very heavily now. I'm waiting for power outages and telephone poles to start to snap. The winds are really picking up here at this location.

VAUSE: Jeff Piotrowski (ph), a storm chaser there on the line, giving us the very latest information from Cape Canaveral, 17-foot waves, about 20 miles east of his location, an indication that the storm surge is certainly on the way.

According to Jeff, it will be there in about two to four hours and when it arrives it will be about 8 feet, in line with the predictions that we have been hearing for the past couple of hours. Also, Jeff saying those winds have now reached hurricane force where he is.

We'll take a short break. When we come back, millions of people directly in the path of Hurricane Matthew. We will have the very latest from the Florida Coast in just a moment.

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HOLMES: Welcome back to our continuing coverage of Hurricane Matthew as it plods its way along the coast.

The big fear, is it going to hit anywhere?

And if it does, this is the place probably. I'm Michael Holmes in Palm Bay in Melbourne in Florida -- John.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause in Los Angeles. It is just 11:21 here on Thursday night.

Heavy winds are battering Florida as the hurricane moves on to the southeastern United States. It has already killed hundreds in the Caribbean.

Governors in the U.S. states of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina urged millions of coastal residents to evacuate. Many, though, decided to stay and now some police and fire departments say it is too dangerous to respond to any emergencies.

Let's get back now to Michael Holmes in Palm Bay, along the Central Florida coast.

Michael, the latest word is that 200,000 people are without electricity. But the prediction was the storm was as bad as expected. As many as 7 million people could in fact be without power.

HOLMES: Exactly, John. And before, we heard Derek Van Dam, in the last hour, telling us about how the eye had jogged a little bit to the right and how that was good news and would have marked impact on the strength of the winds.

But before that actually happened, the National Weather Service for this area, around Melbourne in Florida, put out a very dire, sort of frightening prediction, saying that what could happen here with Hurricane Matthew could lead to places being uninhabitable for weeks and perhaps even months.

Now hopefully, that dire prediction, with the change, the little change in direction, might not come true. But I can tell you, it's gotten pretty bad here at the moment. We've actually, in the last few minutes, moved position because of the strength of the winds and the rain as well.

Rosa Flores is on duty for us in Jackson.

I wanted to ask you, what's going on there?

It is certainly getting a bit rough here in Melbourne.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We just got the latest update from the city of Jacksonville. They are anticipating that this hurricane will hit as a category 4 when it hits this city. So that, of course, is a huge concern, with sustained winds of greater than 60 miles an hour.

And those conditions are expected to deteriorate anytime between now and Friday evening and then also through Saturday.

Now I want to show you around a bit. The big concern here is the storm surge. As you see here, the waterway divides the city, it pretty much splits the city. So they are expecting swells here between 6 feet and 9 feet. I'm probably about 6 feet tall but I have a ruler here that can give

us a gauge. So imagine three feet above me and those would be the conditions, the level of the water that they are expecting here.

That's why the entire downtown area, if you look at a map in the evacuation zone, you see that there's a thin red line around the downtown area. That is the reason. When we talk about the wind speed, I want you to look at this beautiful bridge that you see behind me here.

Just to tell you the story behind what these officials are dealing with, like I said, there's a river that splits the city in half.

Of course, how do you connect one side to the other?

Through bridges. It's a city connected through bridges. So there are sensors on this bridge and all of the other bridges.

Once the sustained --

[02:25:00]

FLORES: -- winds cross 40 to 45 miles an hour, those bridges will be closed. No one will be able to go from one side to the next. That was one of the reasons why first responders, specifically in this city, asked people to evacuate early because, once the winds pick up, it's going to be impossible for people to cross through this city -- Michael.

HOLMES: Yes, exactly. Big worries, too, here around Melbourne, too, about what damage may be caused to infrastructure, those causeway bridges, the sort of thing you are talking about.

Rosa Flores in Jacksonville, Florida, north of where we are in the Melbourne area.

Where, John, it's getting worse and worse, I got to tell you.

VAUSE: Michael, (INAUDIBLE) getting worse there but the latest word that we are getting from the National Hurricane Center is that Matthew is now a category 3, sustained winds decreasing from 145 miles per hour to 120 miles per hour, which fits in with that new track we have talking about, moving 20 miles east of the coast, right off the map, if you like, as it continues to head north.

It does not mean that the danger is over. Clearly, this storm is still packing quite a punch.

We will take a break. When we come back, more of our continuing coverage, including hearing from a storm tracker, a man who calls himself the weather paparazzi.

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HOLMES: Welcome back to our coverage of Hurricane Matthew as it barrels along the U.S. East Coast. I'm Michael Holmes, in Palm Bay near Melbourne, in Florida.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause here in Los Angeles. More than 200,000 people are without power as Hurricane Matthew lashes Eastern Florida. This monster storm is staying just off the coast with 130-mile or 200- kilometer per hour winds.

The storm surge could top 11 feet or more than three meters. Emergency services are being suspended in some areas because it is simply too dangerous right now. That means those who decided to stay are basically on their own.

Many more, though, heeded those warnings to leave.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were going to stick it out and guys came out and told us the weather is picking up a little bit more and going to be a solid category 4. Well, with wife and kids, I'm not going to take the chance, put their lives at risk. I wish a lot of people would take that same advice.

I got a couple of tours of combat. Not afraid of much but I'm not going to risk my life or my wife and kids' lives.

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VAUSE: Michael Holmes is right in the thick of things. He joins us once again from Palm Bay in Florida.

And Michael, every time we come back to you, the weather just gets worse, compared now to 10 minutes ago.

What's happening?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN HOST: Yes, exactly, John. In fact, as I mentioned earlier, we were about 20 meters over that way and the wind gusts were just becoming so intense it was nearly knocking us over.

So actually we relocated just around the corner to get a little bit more shelter from it. But yes, over the last probably hour, and in particular the last 20 to 30 minutes or so, the wind has really picked up, the sustained wind.

But in particular, the gusts have become really, really intense. And the rain, well, it's just like a tropical downpour at the moment.

What was mentioned by the National Weather Service before this slight change in the direction was that there could be catastrophic damage done by this storm. Still, one imagines there will be damage done, simply by the storm surge, as you mentioned.

That storm surge will be 3 meters, 12 feet perhaps, that much along this part of the coastline. You have got the barrier islands out there, these houses on these barrier islands. That storm surge coming over could be quite ruinous to those houses that are out there, let alone further up the coast.

I covered Hurricane Sandy back in 2012 and saw what was then a tropical storm force surge and what it did to the houses on the coastline there. I remember being one house that had been picked up and dumped 100 yards away in the middle of the road -- John.

VAUSE: Michael, one of the issues that had been brought up is that possibly why some people decided to stay is they simply are unaware of how dangerous these hurricanes can actually be. A lot of people haven't lived through storms in Florida as strong as this one and they just don't know the dangers. So that's why they stayed.

HOLMES: It's a good point to raise. You have got a section of the population in Florida who have ridden out any number of hurricanes. They are the ones that know what these things can do. You do get a bit of crying wolf sometimes, where everybody gets warned about a hurricane and nothing happens so the next time they are not so worried about it.

This time around, authorities were saying, you better take notice. This thing is massive. It could be a once in 10-, 20-, 30-, 40-year storm and a lot of locals took it seriously.

What you do have in Florida is a fairly transient population. A large percentage come and go, they move in here to work and they have not been through a hurricane. They don't know what it's like. They are the ones that perhaps take it a lot less seriously.

Where we are staying is a hurricane-proof or hurricane-rated building; 80 percent of the people staying there are locals who knew to get out of their houses and come somewhere safe.

Derek Van Dam has been following the movements of Hurricane Matthew. And a slight movement that, while it doesn't feel comfortable here, could be good news down the track.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Something where miles really matter here, Michael. You were talking about the evacuations, people either staying put to ride out the storm or perhaps listening to authorities and actually heeding the warnings and moving inland away from the coastline.

But one thing that is interesting to note and one thing we need to consider here is the last time a major hurricane impacted Florida -- we are talking about over a decade. There's been 2 million new residents that have called Florida home since then.

They may not even know they are in an evacuation zone or may be complacent and they do not know they should move to higher ground or away from the coast in the event of a hurricane.

Some people are just not familiar with the power of this type of storm. Look at the wind gusts we have at the moment. This just ticked up a few miles per hour near Vero Beach region --

[02:35:00]

VAN DAM: -- 69 MPH wind gusts, 59 near Melbourne. So we're talking easily over 100 KPH wind gusts going forward. And we expect that to pick up as the eye runs parallel with the coastline of Florida.

Michael said and you heard him mention that the exact path is so critical. Miles and kilometers really count because if it wobbles westward by 30 miles, it brings the strong winds on shore. If it stays offshore, the bulk of the destructive winds will actually stay 15 to 30 miles offshore. So really we are splitting hairs here.

We're definitely going to feel the brunt of the storm from Ft. Pierce (ph) northward into Melbourne, where Michael is located, the Space Coast, inland, even toward Orlando, definitely hurricane force winds expected there. You can really see the buildup on the latest radar.

Here's the eyewall. You can see the coincentric circle. You can just imagine the winds rotating about this. Some of those stronger rain bands with the shading of yellow and this is pushing up sea as well.

So the storm surge is the next major concern, not to mention the chance of severe weather; 7 to 11 feet all the way along the Florida coastline through Jacksonville, even northward toward Savannah.

Going forward, Michael, we will focus our attention from you up to the Carolinas and Southeast Georgia.

HOLMES: All right there. Derek Van Dam, thank you so much.

So important news there for folks today, no doubt in the hours ahead.

And the worst of it here, where we are, is probably still two or even three, four hours away. So this is just a portent of things to come -- John Vause in Los Angeles.

VAUSE: Michael, thank you very much.

Let's head a little bit north to where -- from where you are; Cocoa Beach and that is where Doug Keasling (ph) joins us now on the line.

So, Doug, give us an update on what conditions are like in your location.

DOUG KEASLING (PH), STORM CHASER: In the last half an hour, the conditions have deteriorated. We have sustained winds in the 50 to 60 MPH range here. So to give you a visual, imagine riding in a airplane with some moderate to extreme turbulence. Just being parked here on A1A (ph), as the SUV is getting rocked around.

VAUSE: So from where you are, what seems to have been the damage, how severe has it been?

KEASLINE (PH): The severity of the damage is not that extreme yet except the power grid is starting to fail. We are seeing numerous power flashes all over the place where the power lines are coming down and shorting out.

VAUSE: How many people do you think have stayed behind to ride out the storm. Many were told to evacuate but many stayed.

KEASLING (PH): I'm not seeing too many. (INAUDIBLE) friends with is almost completely emptied, maybe 15 households have stayed there and this place has at least 100. So I'd say a good part of the population did heed the warning.

VAUSE: Because the big concern isn't just the wind and the rain right now but also the storm surge. We heard a short time ago that there's 17-foot waves about 20 miles off the coast, that indicates the storm surge is on its way.

How exposed is Cocoa Beach?

KEASLING (PH): If they have 17-foot waves, it's going to be -- you are going to see water coming over the sand dunes on to A1A (ph). They do have a lot of barriers but there are still a lot of breaks in those barriers to get out to the beach. So it is not going to be good for this area, if that's the case.

VAUSE: So essentially especially the preparations, which they have done, is there anything they can do to try and deal ahead of time with a storm surge that big?

KEASLING (PH): If the storm surge is that big, there's really not much they can do about it. So it's just going to be play it by ear. Looking at NAC's (ph) forecast, they are saying the eye may not make it on shore. So this are might get spared and then again, it may not. We will just have to see which way the eye goes.

VAUSE: Will the direction of the eye impact the extent of the storm surge in any way?

KEASLING (PH): Yes, because the wind going around the eye is where the strongest wind is. So if you are in that northeast quadrant of the eye, that is where you will have the most extreme surge and the extreme wind coming in from it. So as long as that stays offshore and -- it will lessen -- I'm not going to be great but it's going to lessen the impact.

VAUSE: And how many hours before you think the worst will hit?

KEASLING (PH): Right now it's 2:41 Eastern; I'm thinking within the next four hours, five hours it will deteriorate rapidly from where I am at right now.

VAUSE: OK, Doug, thank you for the update. Doug Keasling (ph) there, a storm tracker, a storm chaser --

[02:40:00]

VAUSE: -- live from Cocoa Beach. Appreciate it, Doug. Thank you.

Jarrett Barrios is the chief executive officer of the American Red Cross, the Los Angeles region. He joins us now with details on the relief effort.

First of all, start with the situation in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

What's the focus for the Red Cross right now?

JARRETT BARRIOS, RED CROSS: We want people to know that there's a safe place for them if they can't stay at home. We don't want people to stay at home simply because they feel they don't have anyplace else to go. They can't get a hotel room. They can't afford a hotel room.

There are shelters. You can go to redcross.org or download the safety app. All of the information is right there.

VAUSE: Right now this applies more to Georgia and South Carolina because, virtually for Florida, it is too late.

BARRIOS: Great point. If you're in Florida, maybe still in far northern Duval County, but pretty much in Florida you need to batten down the hatches. Make sure your bathtub is full of water, make sure you have canned food, batteries for radio. You may be not getting television because there's no power. You need to rely on that battery powered radio.

And get current information and don't go outside until it is safe.

VAUSE: Florida, as big as the storm is, it's well prepared. Emergency services have been warning about the storm for quite some time.

Haiti, though, was a very different situation. They knew it was coming. But preparations there obviously nothing like you have in Florida or the United States. The extent of the damage there, we know about 300 people so far have been confirmed dead. The expectation is the number will rise.

BARRIOS: Right. Both Cuba and Haiti were seriously hit. Baracoa (ph) on the far eastern end of Cuba and that southern end of Haiti, that comes to about 60 miles from Cuba, very deeply damaged.

Cuba's infrastructures are a little more developed. They have a better public health system. Haiti is facing great now a lot of search and rescue, rescuing people. That's the first recovery. And the next one is the threat of cholera with the compromised water system, is another great public health risk.

VAUSE: Because they are dealing with a cholera outbreak for quite some time, the waterborne disease is an issue.

As far as Haiti is concerned, though, that bridge was washed out, connecting the capital with the southern peninsula, which is where the storm hit. Until they reestablish contact there, I mean, they are getting in but there's -- until they have a major contact reestablished, we won't know exactly the full extent of the damage.

BARRIOS: We won't know. And from a humanitarian perspective, it also makes getting aid there, which we know we will have to provide, much more difficult.

VAUSE: What are you getting in to Haiti?

What's the plan?

BARRIOS: So the Croix Rouge, the Haiti -- the Red Cross of Haiti has yet to activate the international network. We will, as will many other Red Crosses, provide support and there are many other important non-profit organizations that will also provide support in place, I'm quite sure.

VAUSE: Some difficulties also working with the government that's in a transition phase and there are a lot of difficulties ahead.

BARRIOS: They have suspended the elections. There's a lot of stuff going on there right now.

VAUSE: OK, Jarrett, thank you so much.

We'll take a short break here on CNN. When we come back, we will head back to Florida for the latest. Stay with us.

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HOLMES: Hello, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes, coming to you from Palm Bay in Florida, where Hurricane Matthew is well underway, although it is still several hours from being at its worst.

Power is out for tens of thousands of people. Emergency services are saying they won't go out. It's simply too dangerous.

VAUSE: And, Michael, you can really hear the wind is whipping up right now where you are.

Hello, everybody, I'm John Vause. Thank you for staying with us. Hurricane Matthew, as you can see, battering the coast of Florida at this moment. The storm earlier plowed through the Caribbean. At least 269 people were killed there, mostly in Haiti.

More than 300,000 are now living in temporary shelters after Matthew caused widespread flooding and mudslides.

Amara Walker has now more on the devastation caused in Haiti.

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AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hurricane Matthew was the strongest storm to hit Haiti in a half-century and the devastation is just now becoming apparent. Many were killed by falling trees, flying debris and swollen rivers.

The disaster has left Haiti facing its worst humanitarian crisis since the devastating earthquake six years ago that killed over 200,000 people and where tens of thousands still live in makeshift homes and tents.

Entire villages have been flattened, roads have been swept away by floods and there are reports of a fresh water shortage.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are estimating upwards to about a million people have been affected, mainly through flooding, through collapse of houses, complete destruction or partial damage. But we are also seeing a lot of crops and livestock damaged by the hurricane.

WALKER (voice-over): International aid is trickling in but the hard- hit southern region has been cut off from the rest of the country after a bridge collapsed, preventing much-needed supplies from getting through.

In the town of Jeremy (ph), residents were forced to sleep and cook outside because their homes were either flooded or destroyed. According to the U.N., more than 350,000 people need assistance, including shelter.

And Sunday's presidential election has been postponed. Another worry for Haiti, standing water. Aid agencies fear that mosquito-borne diseases and cholera will spread, which has plagued the country since the earthquake. Communications are slowed down in many areas. So the full impact of the storm remains unclear -- Amara Walker, CNN.

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VAUSE: Hurricane Matthew might just be one of the costliest storms in U.S. history. In a moment, we will look at how the impact on Florida could spread across the entire country.

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HOLMES: Hello, everyone, I'm Michael Holmes in Palm Bay, Florida, as we continue to follow the breaking new of the progression of Hurricane Matthew.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause here in Los Angeles.

And the worst of the storm could be just hours away now. Matthew has been downgraded to a category 3 with sustained winds of 120 miles an hour.

Millions of coastal residents in four states have decided to flee the path of the storm. Almost 400,000 flights have been cancelled through Saturday and more than 200,000 people right now are without electricity in Florida.

Michael Holmes, back to you there in Palm Bay. You are expecting the brunt of the storm right now. And it looks like it is getting worse.

HOLMES: Yes, it has gone over the last hour or two in particular. It is really whipping up here. The gusts are enough to knock you off your feet just about and the rain has become torrential. The thing is, we are still really an hour or two away from the worst of it.

So and perhaps even three hours from the worst of it. As you point out, there's been a lot of evacuations. The roads were full of people heading away. But a lot of people staying here in shelters and also in their own homes, riding it out -- John.

VAUSE: Of course, it's not just the wind and rain but the storm surge. So there are many, many tense hours to come.

Michael, thank you.

If Matthew is as bad as expected, it could cost a billions of dollars in damage and that might have a ripple effect across the United States. CNN's meteorologist Tom Sater explosions.

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TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hurricane Matthew is likely to have a devastating economic impact on Florida and the East Coast of the U.S. But let's concentrate on Florida and look at the interstate system. This is --

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SATER: -- interstate I-95, the main highway of the East Coast of the United States. Tremendous amounts of goods flow up and down this corridor. But let's start in Miami, the fourth largest urban area in the United States, a major center of finance, entertainment and international trade. It has got the number one cruise passenger port in the world.

Now let's move to Ft. Lauderdale, known for its boating canals; the yachting industry in and around Ft. Lauderdale is worth nearly $12 billion. And it's also got of the world's 50th busiest airports. Up the East Coast is Port Lucy, home to a nuclear power station and then Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center, home to NASA's $11 billion spaceport program.

And then you've got the Fun Coast of Florida, with Daytona Beach, nicknamed the spring break capital of the world.

At the north end of Florida is Jacksonville; cargo activity at this port supports nearly $27 billion in annual economic output.

And just north in to Georgia, the port of Savannah is the second busiest container exporter in the U.S. It has got the largest concentration of import distribution centers on the East Coast. So you can see here, from these maps, how devastating Matthew may be

to Florida and up and down the East Coast. Power could be out to over 7 million for several weeks. We'll be watching it closely, as I am sure you will as well.

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VAUSE: Tom Sater, thank you.

And you know it is bad when Disneyland closes.

You have been watching CNN's breaking news coverage of Hurricane Matthew. I'm John Vause in Los Angeles.

HOLMES: And I'm Michael Holmes in Palm Bay, in Florida, as Hurricane Matthew continues its path. "EARLY START" is next.