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Report: Category 4 Storm Starts to Lash Florida with Rain, Wind; Trump is Said to Be Preparing for Next Debate, Studying Video of Past Debate; Many People Are Not Evacuating Despite Orders in Florida. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired October 6, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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


[15:30:00] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, you are watching breaking news coverage of hurricane Matthew. White House officials say this could become the largest and most powerful hurricane to hit the United States in a decade and Matthew could make landfall at some point tonight in Florida. On the phone with me now is the public information officer of Brevard county, don walker, with us. At 3:00 p.m. eastern and don walker is the public information officer for Brevard county there. So, sir, tell us first about the conditions. We are looking at a live shot coming to us from your county and it's looking pretty ominous here.

DON WALKER, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, BREVARD COUNTY: Well, the mandatory evacuation started at 3:00 p.m. yesterday because we were trying to get people ample time to make the moves to find higher ground before this storm even hit our area. We're looking at conditions to become more hurricane-type conditions starting at about 8:00 this evening and going well through tomorrow morning anywhere from five to nine feet of storm surge, 6 to 12 inches of rain in some areas and hurricane gusts up to 140 miles per hour.

KEILAR: Tell us about the shelters and if people are using them. We heard the governor say no one wants to be in shelters, of they don't it's very inconvenient but they want to be in their own homes, but this is really an issue of life or death.

WALKER: It's tough to leave your home, we understand that but we've been trying very hard all week to get the word out to people that this is a life-threatening and extremely dangerous storm and we opened our shelters one hour after the mandatory evacuation started yesterday, we have a good number of people at our shelters right now, roughly about 2,500 people. We expect the number to continue to increase into the evening hours and we told people it's never too late to evacuate, and if they have any doubts about their safety or their family's safety they need to make those moves and get out as soon as possible.

KEILAR: OK and so you're watching as you have thousands of people there in the shelters. But for those people who aren't evacuating, why aren't the when you have such dire warnings?

WALKER: Well, the problem that we've been dealing with for several years is what they call hurricane complacency. We haven't had a major storm event anywhere this type of event since 2004 when we had hurricanes Jean and Francis, and since then the only other storm system we've had of any magnitude was Faye in 2008. So eight years since we've had a major event like this but we haven't even seen an event like the one we expect to experience starting tonight.

KEILAR: Sir, thank you so much, Don Walker with Brevard County. We appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. Some people in shelters but a lot of people staying in their homes.

Next we are going to take you live to Charleston where Brian Todd is standing by for us. Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, we are one of the barrier islands that may take brunt of hurricane Matthew when it approaches South Carolina. We'll tell you about evacuations and the concerns of storm surge and flooding just ahead.

KEILAR: Back to now to our breaking news. A category 4 hurricane approaching the U.S. and I want to turn to South Carolina where mandatory evacuations are under way along the coast. By day's end, nearly half a million people are expected to have left their homes, school buses are ready to ferry people to safety. The mayor says now is the time to leave, right now. Brian Todd is on the nearby barrier island of Folly Beach. What are you seeing, Brian?

TODD: Brianna, we're seeing people, residents of the island who decided to leave. I talked to a police officer who said about 2,400 people live here year-round, most have evacuated this is what we're talking about here, storm surge will be a big story on Folly Island. That is barrier island protecting Charleston from some of the storms or it won't do much to protect Charleston depending on how strong the storm is when it comes.

You have normal surf surge on the beach but we're expecting four to eight feet of storm surge. When that happens if you look at the low- lying dunes it means the storm will propel the ocean water over the dunes, over the boardwalk here, and then my photojournalist Eddie and I will pivot over here to show you the street.

The roads are at the same level of the ocean and we are told they flood very, very easily. Even in standard rainstorms and you have what could be a category 1 or 2 hurricane coming here as of tomorrow night late into Saturday morning. So as of this morning, governor Nikki Haley said about 175,000 people evacuated. She said that was not enough. They need at least 200,000 more people to evacuate from the overall general Charleston area and they've opened up the lanes of I-26, they've closed the eastbound lanes and opened it all up for westbound traffic to get out.

[15:35:00] That's gone very well. Another situation are the bridges, there are a lot of bridges that connect these islands back to Charleston and the bridges, some of them are low, the roads are low to the water and they could get flooding. If you're on an island like this, you could get cut off if the bridges that connect these islands go back to Charleston.

If you're on an island like this you could get cut off if they expect and in these islands you're stuck with no power, no way to get off the island, you are in for tough going. Bridges here, a lot of hi span bridges, 65 feet and higher connect these islands to Charleston and that's a concern, too. A local emergency official told me when the winds get to 40 miles an hour and above the bridges automatically close, they're too dangerous. That could be a factor, too. People are being urged to get out while you can. They're worried about not enough people getting out of here.

KEILAR: Don't let that window close get out, all right, Brian Todd in Folly Beach, South Carolina. Thank you.

We have much more on the hurricane straight ahead. Three days from the presidential debate. Donald Trump watching video of his last debate performance. What he's admitting to advisors behind closed doors. Also the Republican leader about to join Trump on the campaign trail next.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What are you doing here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're trying to barricade for the hurricane, get ready before it gets here.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You're not staying open, are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we are.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Seriously?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seriously.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Aren't you worried?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is going to happen? We can't do more. We're going to try to hunker down here, it's safer than my house.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How much is it going to be to get this place as safe as possible?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been almost three days we're working on it. We have to do the whole thing. The whole side and everything. The problem is finding wood. That's been one of the biggest problems to find the plywood. We're looking at --

Reporter: Were they running out?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A $15 sheet for $40 now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Back to our breaking news now, a monster hurricane you see the path there bearing down on Florida. It could make landfall as a category 4. We are talking 140 mile-per hour winds. We are going to take you back to the coast in just a moment but when this storm hits Donald Trump will be holding a town hall in New Hampshire tonight, a dress rehearsal for Sunday's rematch with Hillary Clinton. I want to bring in Alice Stewart, a CNN political commentator and Republican strategist and Symone Sanders, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist. We have heard Donald Trump watched the tape of the first debate and it may have made an impression on him. Our Sarah Murray is reporting that he may be open to gentle critiques from his advisors. What do you think they are giving him in the way of gentle critiques?

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think the fact that they are encouraging them to engage in this scrimmage tonight, this town hall in New Hampshire will be critical and this will give him the ability to show his ability to talk one on one with the people. I've been to many town halls in New Hampshire.

Those people can smell insincerity a mile away so his going through this scrimmage will give him the ability to demonstrate how he can connect one on one with people. It's a totally different dynamic in a town hall as opposed to a debate where questions are asked by a moderator and you talking into a camera.

But the key is not so much who and how he's preparing for but what he's going to do in St. Louis at the town hall. He needs to focus putting Hillary on the defensive and driving home his message of fighting ISIS, building our economy and working to reform immigration.

KEILAR: These town halls are really chances, Alice, for the candidates to have perhaps empathetic moments with people who are asking questions. Can Donald Trump do that?

STEWART: Well, that's what he'll work on this evening and certainly he can do that. I think that's certainly going to be something he'll be able to demonstrate in St. Louis. Look, here's the thing to keep in mind, if you remember back in 2012 Barack Obama didn't have too hot of a first debate against Mitt Romney. He came back in the second and third debate.

He was aggressive, he was uplifting and he put Romney on the defensive, I think we'll see that with Donald Trump. He'll be more aggressive, he'll be positive but connecting one on one with people will enable him to reinforce and stabilize his base but also draw in the independents and undecideds which is going to be critical for his ability to move forward and win the election.

KEILAR: Symone, you have Donald Trump, he is preparing more.

[15: 40:00] We have these reports he's looking at the tape, maybe he's getting a little bit of - after sort of defending himself, blaming it on mic failures, he may be coming to grips with the fact his performance -- and polls show this -- was not so great in the first debate.

How does that concern you if he comes ready to go, if he is prepared and realizes where he needs to make improvements. SYMONE SANDERS, CNN COMMENTATOR: Well, Donald Trump maybe has arrived

to what we know in the debate --

KEILAR: Symone, your mic, you're having a problem with your mic, so pull it out of your turtle neck a little bit so we can hear it.

SANDERS: Can you hear me now?

KEILAR: I can hear you now loud and clear. Go ahead.

SANDERS: I was saying I'm surprised Donald Trump might be coming to the realization that we all had the night of the debate that he didn't win. Especially, when he went down in that spin room. I'm not concerned, I think it will take more than one or two practice runs to get Donald Trump to a place of actual preparedness.

I am interested to see how he'll do in a town hall format, what we've heard from the Trump campaign post first debate and leading up to this debate has been a lot of insults, a lot of throwing things out there, salacious things about president Clinton and Alicia Machado and other things. So those things don't play really well in a town hall format with everyday American people who want to ask questions about what your policy for president will do for them.

So I don't think that these dry runs are going to help too much because I think after maybe a couple of minutes into the debate, into this town hall we are going to see the real Donald Trump unhinged, unprepared and temperamentally unfit to be president.

KEILAR: Do you think some of that changes though, clearly he was counter punching against Hillary Clinton, clearly she got under his skin. But this is going to be different when you're talking about a town hall. This tends to be a forum that is less contentious. This may be some -- we saw Donald Trump in the commander in chief forum. We saw a different Donald Trump than he saw at the last debate. Isn't that something that concerns you?

[15:45:00] SANDERS: No. I think Secretary Clinton is a great debater. You know, she has been through the debate wringer more than a couple of times. She's definitely going to come prepared she has thrived in the town hall format before.

So I definitely don't think Donald Trump's -- this format presents a threat to Clinton or supporters. I think this a real opportunity for undecided voters and people who are in the middle and swayable on the fence to take a hard look at both candidates and a chance for people to put their policies on the table.

And the Secretary Clinton and the Clinton-Kaine ticket, they have real policies. Talking about building up the middle class, instilling policies that don't just benefit people at the top but the people at the bottom. And the Trump campaign just doesn't have that I'm not worried at all. I think it will be good television, though, come this Sunday night.

KEILAR: I think you are right about that. Thank you to both of you. I appreciate that. The second presidential debate again moderated by Anderson Cooper airs this Sunday night at 9:00 eastern on CNN.

Hurricane Matthew is on track to rip into the entire east coast of Florida. We're just getting word that Disney is closing its theme parks in Florida. We're live on the coast, next.

Back to our breaking news. We've just learned the game between LSU and Florida in Gainesville has been postponed as the hurricane approaches. Big SEC rivalry between two powerhouse schools. CNN is covering all angles of this storm and for ways you can help those affected go to CNN.com/impact.

This hurricane could hit the U.S. tonight as a powerful category 4 storm. Florida's governor warns that this storm, quote, "will kill you." Right now its outer bands are lashing the state. More than 2 million people in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina are being told to get out. I want to bring in Rosa Flores, she's in Atlantic Beach, Florida. Tell us what you're seeing there. We know some of the outer bands are coming in as we brace for the worst here.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Brianna, you already can see the winds picking up, you can see the surf also rising a bit. But that is the big concern here, the big storm surge that they're expecting. Now, all of these people are expected to evacuate, but you can see up and down here that you still see vehicles, still see cars, still see people just kind of taking pictures which is what authorities do not want you to do.

And here's the bad news. The sheriff saying that 30 percent of the beaches have evacuated, only 30 percent, Brianna. That is a huge concern.

[15:50:00] We have a tweet from them, if you can pull that up. That really shows us what their concerns are right now in this area. There are about 456,000 people who are under the evacuation order here, and here is what the Jacksonville Sheriff's office tweeted. He says, "we have plenty of roads. We don't have enough cars on the road leaving. It is a concern. It is a huge concern."

Now, we want to drive here and show you some of that because the roads really seem very normal right now. And as you look at the neighborhoods around us, you see some homes are boarded up, others are not. I've seen even patio furniture still outside, piles of debris sometimes as people trimmed their trees. And that is what first responders don't want to see because once you see hurricane winds, all of that is going to be flying debris.

Now, the 30 percent that I was telling you about are the people who have evacuated in this area, under a mandatory evacuation. You saw it, it's so close to the beach. Today they added another zone to that evacuation area, zone C here. We were there and we talked to people there, Brianna, who decided not to evacuate.

A lot of those folks are not evacuating. I asked them why and they said, you know, it has never flooded. Water has never gotten into their homes. So they're planning to wait it out. Brianna. KEILAR: Never say never, that's really the thing. Some of this storm

complacency we've heard, Rosa. We're taking your pictures as we see you driving in the area. We've heard from officials who say, people are looking back to 2004 and saying, you know, it wasn't that bad.

But the thing is, they haven't experienced something like this where we're looking at 140-mile-per-hour winds. Rosa Flores is monitoring the situation there in Atlantic Beach, Florida. Thank you to for that report.

We still have special coverage continuing on "The Lead" with Jake Tapper right now.

[15:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)