MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
And let's get caught up quickly now on where Hurricane Dorian is now. It is traveling up the East Coast of the U.S., bringing heavy rain and wind and tornadoes to the Carolinas, which is where we find NPR's Jeff Brady. He is in Wilmington, N.C.
Hey, Jeff.
JEFF BRADY, BYLINE: Hello.
KELLY: Hi. What's the weather like there now?
BRADY: Well, we have a steady rain coming down. The good news is it's coming mostly straight down instead of sideways. We've had some pretty gusty winds today. But tornadoes have been the really big hazard. No reported deaths or injuries. But a tornado touched down south of Wilmington - left this 10-mile-long trail of damage to buildings, cars, boats were flipped over. Some areas near Wilmington also have received 9 inches of rain, according to the governor of North Carolina.
KELLY: Nine - wow.
BRADY: Yeah, that's a lot of rain.
KELLY: A lot of rain.
BRADY: We've seen some flooding, of course; not a whole lot of that yet, but a little bit of flooding. Most of the rain is coming later. Local officials expect to receive up to 15 inches of rain in some areas.
KELLY: Well, and we can hear it coming down hard around you right now. What are people telling you when you ask them how they're feeling, whether they feel like they need to get out?
BRADY: You know, folks here, they just don't get freaked out by hurricanes. They happen all the time. And they kind of seem to take pride in not getting too worked up. I talked with one man in his home - William Lovick. He lives in Wilmington. He's quite ill. Both of his legs have been amputated. He's diabetic, needs regular dialysis to keep his kidneys working. He's not evacuating, and he's not required to. Lovick says he's in a part of town that doesn't flood, and he's prepared for the storm.
WILLIAM LOVICK: Got a generator, gas cans full, got all my snacks. Just going to sit back and see what it does.
BRADY: Local authorities have been telling everyone that Dorian won't be as bad as Hurricane Florence last year. That storm dropped more than 30 inches of rain. And put - there was just floodwater everywhere. It actually cut Wilmington off from the rest of the area. Before Florence, the ground was already saturated. This year, there's been a drought, and it's a lot drier, so the flooding won't be as severe.
KELLY: Although, I gather the next big concern is storm surge and big waves that may get pushed in from the hurricane, so I guess you're on the beat.
BRADY: Yep, and we're looking for that tonight.
KELLY: Watching for that tonight. That's NPR's Jeff Brady, keeping watch in Wilmington, N.C.
Thank you, Jeff.
BRADY: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
