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Milton's Intensity Rebounds: Winds Now 155mph, Just Shy of Cat 5; Milton's Wind and Water Could Turn Helene Debris into Deadly Missiles; Supreme Court Signals It May Uphold Biden's Regulations on "Ghost Guns"; CDC Report Details Social Media's Links to Teens' Mental Health. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired October 08, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We're back live in Treasure Island, Florida, a community that is set to be impacted, at the very least impacted, if not devastated, by Hurricane Milton. This hurricane that is now close to a Category 5 storm, flirting with Category 5 winds, is headed directly for this region, and there are so many complex issues at play. In large part, it has to do with recovery that's still ongoing from Hurricane Helene, which hit this area about two weeks ago.

There are enormous piles of debris throughout this area, throughout the west coast of Florida, and now we're talking about a 15-foot storm surge potentially on top of that. We want to discuss with a local leader.

Joining us now is Joe Ayoub. He's the mayor of Safety Harbor, Florida. Mayor, we're grateful that you joined us this afternoon. I understand that you actually evacuated, in part because you've seen what this storm can do.

I wonder if your residents are also heeding the warnings.

MAYOR JOE AYOUB, SAFETY HARBOR, FLORIDA: Well, Boris, thank you for having me on this show, and yes, there's mandatory evacuation orders for people that live in Zones A, B, and C. I live in Evacuation Zone C, so I'm following orders just like everyone else should be right now. This is a serious, catastrophic storm that's coming our way.

We are expecting widespread power outages. We're expecting trees to come down. We're expecting utilities, maybe water, maybe sewer, to have issues.

So we're asking residents, please don't take any chances. If you live in an evacuation zone or you live near the water, please evacuate now.

SANCHEZ: And Mayor, when it comes to this debris that's been left over by Hurricane Helene, it's simply too late to do anything about it, right? This isn't going to go anywhere.

AYOUB: Right. So before we even knew that no one was going to be an issue, we were projecting, as well as other cities in the area, it would take at least 30 to 60 days to clean the debris from Hurricane Helene. So we had a two-week window.

We were doing the best we could. We hired outside contractors to take the lead on this and do the bulk of the work. But every time the city hired a contractor, the governor would redirect those resources to the barrier islands, to beach communities, to help them out with their needs.

[15:35:00]

But we got frustrated residents in Safety Harbor because everything wasn't picked up before this storm was coming. And now those big piles of debris are going to become big piles of projectiles. So we're asking residents, if you can, to please bundle them up, secure them, cover them. And if you can, move them into a garage or a shelter.

But it's definitely an area of concern and frustration for residents right now, not just Safety Harbor, but all of Pinellas County.

SANCHEZ: Yes, and Mayor, quickly, I want to give you an opportunity to address those residents that may be hesitant to leave. They perhaps got through Helene and figured that they would be fine through this storm.

They appear to be two different storms headed in the same area, but potentially in different directions. And that has an enormous impact when it comes to the Tampa Bay area, right?

AYOUB: Yes, this storm could have huge implications. We get a lot of storm surge from Hurricane Helene. We're expecting greater storm surge up to 15 feet from Hurricane Milton.

And that's no joke. If people were around for Hurricane Helene, you would have saw firsthand the damage and the flooding that it caused. I mean, it totally washed away our pier. It caused a lot of damage to our marina.

I know people that live just a couple blocks from me whose houses were more or less destroyed by it. So this is not something to mess around with.

This storm is coming directly at us. If it happens to come directly at us or a little north of us, that storm surge is going to whip that water right into Tampa Bay. It's going to create real big issues for us.

And on top of it, people are going to be without power and possibly water in other utilities for a while. So there's really not a lot of sense in staying put at this point.

SANCHEZ: Yes, and as I've heard from officials over and over again, the time to get out is right now. The mayor of Safety Harbor, Florida, Joe Ayoub, thank you so much for joining us. We wish your community the best. And please keep us posted if there's a message you want us to get out there.

AYOUB: Great, thank you very much. Appreciate you having me. SANCHEZ: Thank you so much.

On that note about evacuating folks in this area of Treasure Island, all access is going to be cut off at 7 p.m. tonight. Just outside City Hall, there's been a bus that's been posted there.

I was told that locally officials had until 4 p.m. to register to be evacuated. The last time I spoke with a bus driver who left a short while ago and appears to have come back, she said that no one had gotten on the bus. I talked to residents that were kind of on the fence about leaving. I am hoping that those residents will soon get on the bus and get out of here.

Again, the Tampa Bay area has not seen a direct hit from a hurricane in something like 100 years. And I want to go to Isabel Rosales now, because Isabel, you're very familiar with this area and what it could mean to see a 15-foot storm surge come through. Tell us about that.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris, that would be absolutely devastating. I am toward the eastern side of where you're standing in Treasure Island over in Hillsborough County. So just across the bay, Hillsborough Bay is down that direction.

And this is essentially a one-two punch, right? Helene came and left all of this debris. This is the biggest concern right here, because, sure, you have insulation, but you also have things like pieces of wood like this. And hurricane-force winds, these are flying projectiles, extremely dangerous.

And, Boris, as you mentioned, you know, I lived and worked here for several years before coming into CNN. Milton appears to be the storm that they have been dreading here for decades, a direct, potentially, hit in the Tampa Bay area, something that hasn't happened in more than 100 years. They're worried about this.

So what we've been seeing is workers that have been contracted out to essentially gut these areas and get rid of all of this debris. The governor issued an executive order opening up all the landfills to storm debris.

I went over to the Florida Fairgrounds, a site I have never seen before for any storm, and that is mountains, mountains of storm debris like this being piled up. They need to get these away from the neighborhoods. They're so worried.

But I will say this, Boris, people are taking it seriously. Here in Davis Island, it was eerily quiet. So many neighbors heeding that warning and leaving.

SANCHEZ: We certainly hope that that is the case for folks that are in mandatory evacuation zones. Isabel Rosales, thank you so much for the update from Tampa.

We do want to get to some sound moments ago from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who was speaking live in Ocala. He had been warning about the potential for this debris to become a serious problem throughout the storm. Let's listen to Florida's governor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Storm is going to go across the Florida peninsula and it's going to exit on the east coast of Florida into the Atlantic Ocean, likely still as a hurricane. So that is going to bring significant impacts all across the state. So just be prepared for that.

[15:40:00]

That may mean mobile homes, even interior, other structures that may not be hurricane-proof. That that could create hazards, rivers, other bodies of water. As you have more rain and you have flooding, that could be an issue. And then you could have surge on the east coast of Florida. You could have erosion, you could have different things with the coast.

So this is not just an event about the west coast of Florida. That will be where the initial impacts and probably the most significant, but the impacts will not be limited there.

You should be executing your plan now. If you're going to get out, get out now. You have time today. Time will be running out very shortly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:12]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: New today, the Supreme Court signaled a willingness to uphold the Biden administration regulation on ghost guns, the mail order kits that allow people to build untraceable firearms at home, weapons that are turning up at crime scenes with greater frequency. It's one of the most closely watched cases of the year.

CNN's Joan Biskupic has been monitoring these proceedings. And Joan, the conservative and liberal judges appear to be on the same side with this gun law. What stood out to you?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN CHIEF SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Yes, usually, Brianna, when we're listening to oral arguments, you know, you have to do some guesswork about where they might be headed. But this one looks easy. Justices from both sides of the bench look like they were ready to side with the Biden administration on these guns that, you know, have the name of ghost guns because they're untraceable. They're not marked with serial numbers or registered and licensed the way most firearms are.

And what the solicitor general was arguing was that, look, under new ATF requirements, these kinds of kits that essentially take, you know, could take only 20 minutes to put together after someone's gotten them online should be covered by 1968 firearms law. And the government was appealing a ruling from lower court judges that said that, no, these kits are not firearms.

But listen to a -- let's listen to an interesting exchange between Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, representing the Biden administration, and conservative Justice Samuel Alito, who's usually quite suspicious of gun regulation. Let's listen to that, Brie.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAMUEL ALITO, SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: I want to stick with the definition of weapon for just a second.

ELIZABETH PRELOGAR, U.S. SOLICITOR GENERAL: Oh, sure.

ALITO: I'll show you. Here's a here's a blank pad and here's a pen. All right. Is this a grocery list?

PRELOGAR: I don't think that that's a grocery list. But the reason for that is because there are a lot of things you could use those products for to create something other than a grocery list. So it's not like --

ALITO: All right. If I show you, I put out on a counter some eggs, some chopped up ham, some chopped up pepper and onions. Is that a western omelet?

PRELOGAR: No, because, again, those items have well-known other uses to become something other than an omelet. The key difference here is that these weapon parts kits are designed and intended to be used as instruments of combat, and they have no other conceivable use.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BISKUPIC: Yes, Brianna, Justice Alito went away from that exchange, sounding as if he's very much open to the argument that Solicitor General Prelogar made and that in the end, these kinds of weapons that can be -- these kits that can be turned into a very dangerous weapon within an hour will be regulated. Just how all firearms are under 1968 law -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, that was a very interesting exchange. Joan Biskupic, thank you so much for monitoring that for us.

And coming up, a new warning from the CDC on the impact of social media on teens' mental health and the key actions that parents can take to help their kids avoid its risks. Next.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: A bipartisan group of 14 attorneys general across the country filed a lawsuit today against TikTok. They allege the platform has addicted young people and harmed their mental health. And this is coming on the heels of a new report from the CDC highlighting just how pervasive social media is in the lives of teenagers and how significantly it's linked to their mental health.

CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard is here with us now on this. Jacqueline, tell us about this study.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Yes, Brianna. Well, this new report from the CDC shows that more than three in four high school students, 77 percent reported that they do frequently use social media several times in a day. And this is seen more among girls than boys.

And this report also showed that about 30 percent of high school students, Brianna, said that they use social media more than once every hour. So we do see this frequent use. And this report highlights that this can come with some potential mental health impacts. Because the students who reported frequently using social media were more likely to also report experiencing bullying or experiencing a persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness.

On the other hand, though, among some teens, they were able to find community online, especially among some LGBTQ plus students. So having those positive connections online can have some protective effects when it comes to mental health, Brianna. So this does seem to be a nuanced conversation that's happening.

KEILAR: So, Jacqueline, how can parents help kids navigate social media?

HOWARD: Well, there are three steps that might be helpful. Number one, you can set early guardrails. So make it clear when you're having device free time, whether that's at dinner or before bed.

Number two, manage expectations by asking your teenager what they hope to get from social media. Is it to stay connected with friends or is it to learn more about your favorite sport or activity?

And then number three, decide on strategies together if they do experience bullying or if they do want to take a break from social media.

So these are some conversations that might be helpful. And then, of course, making sure social media does not take time away from getting enough sleep, getting enough exercise. Those are also still important.

[15:55:00]

So having a balanced relationship with social media is also good to talk about -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly is. Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: As Hurricane Milton takes aim at Florida, a new sign of the times in this world of climate change, Zillow is now offering climate risk data for home shoppers on its website. Its new feature will show how vulnerable a certain property might be to extreme climate events like hurricanes. According to a recent Zillow survey, more than four out of five prospective homebuyers consider climate risks when they shop.

[16:00:00]

Stay with CNN as we are following all of the breaking news on Hurricane Milton. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.

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