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Water Rescues Underway Following Milton's Severe Flooding; At Least Four Killed in St. Lucie County After Tornado Outbreak; Milton Rips Roof Off Tampa Bay MLB Stadium, Set Up to be Shelter. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired October 10, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta.

Right now, millions of Floridians are assessing the damage unleashed overnight by Hurricane Milton. Water rescues are underway at this hour as the storm's torrential rains have triggered flash flooding and trap people in their homes. You can see some of this video right now of rescuers outside an apartment building.

Crews across Florida's gulf coast have been working through the night. The winds of the Category 3 hurricane have also proved very deadly, spinning off an outbreak of tornadoes even before it arrived. At least four people that we know of at this point are confirmed dead in St. Lucie County, about 150 miles from where Milton made landfall.

High winds shredded the roof off of Tropicana Field where the Tampa Bay Rays play baseball. You can see the remnants of that roof. They're just unbelievable. Earlier this week, it was announced that the stadium would be used as a base camp for 10,000 first responders and emergency workers. A short time ago, we heard from Florida's governor.

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GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): We will better understand the extent of the damage as the day progresses. And you have people that are out there assessing damage right now. First responders have been working all through the night to help people who were in distress. And what we can say is the storm was significant. But, thankfully, this was not the worst case scenario.

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ACOSTA: All right. And joining us now is the Hillsborough County Fire Rescue chief, Jason Dougherty. Chief, thank you so much for joining us.

I guess, just to pick up on what Governor DeSantis was saying there, is that also your assessment so far that, yes, this was a powerful hurricane, it was significant cause damage, but not the worst case scenario that so many officials were fearing?

JASON DOUGHERTY, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY FIRE RESCUE CHIEF: Yes, sir, I completely agree. It came landfall to Category 3, but we all know that it was a Category 5 when it was out in the Gulf. So, in some ways, we're fortunate that when it did landfalls Category 3 for the Bay Area where we're at, ended up hitting about 60 miles south of us. It originally was the track was right into the bay of Hillsborough County, the Tampa Bay area.

So, we were fortunate, but we still are outside assessing damage. We have a lot of damage still out there, a lot of downed trees, power lines and a lot of flooding.

ACOSTA: And I guess you fanned out across your jurisdiction. What are they encountering as they go into these neighborhoods? I assume downed trees, flooded roads, damage to homes, anything you can tell us?

DOUGHERTY: Yes. We have about 909 square miles in Hillsborough County and I get crews throughout the county. And exactly what you said, a lot of water, we have a lot of flash flooding here. So, we're still dealing with a lot of the rainwater. And with that, we have a lot of down trees from the winds and then the power lines, a lot of energized wire as well.

So, really challenging to get through that, it's going to take us time to do that and assess that. And with that, we have -- you know, there are some water issues with some of our pump stations, what have you. So, we're working through that and it's going to take us some time to assess the full damage.

ACOSTA: And what are the needs that you know of at this point? Do you have all the manpower that you need? What can you tell us about that?

DOUGHERTY: Yes. Our state and federal partners have been fantastic. And, locally, we were prepared for this storm. We brought plenty of staffing in. So, we are out there. What I really need is the community to stay where they're at, stay put, allow us to get out to the roads and throughout the community to make sure it's safe for them to get out, because we still have a lot of hazards out there in the roadways. And I know a lot of people want to get out what we call them the disaster tourists, want to get out and see what's happening. I really want them to stay put for us.

ACOSTA: Yes. Chief, I mean, to that point, when you've got lucky lose and rubber neckers and whatever you want to call them, depending on what part of the country you live in, I mean, those are folks that can get themselves into trouble by going out into this stuff.

DOUGHERTY: Yes, without a doubt, that's one of our biggest challenges. And we have cars, they know they're going to get stuck in these floodwaters. It's happening now, and that's taking some assets away to do some of these rescues, which we're here to do that. But we would really like to concentrate on the -- you know, see what the recovery is and see where we're at.

So, you know, talking about challenges, the debris, we have debris everywhere.

[10:05:03]

So, that's going to take a lot of time to sift through.

ACOSTA: All right. Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Chief Jason Docherty, chief, thanks very much for your time. We appreciate it.

DOUGHERTY: Thank you. I appreciate you.

ACOSTA: All right. Let's get out to our teams out in the field. CNN's Carlos Suarez is in Fort Myers. Carlos, I know you've had a busy night. What are you seeing where you are?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, so much of the damage that we have seen here in Fort Myers, Florida, was really brought on by what we believe were two tornadoes that hit this part of Lee County. The folks out here are at this hour starting the process of trying to clean up some of this debris.

We're in a neighborhood about 10, 15 minutes south of downtown Fort Myers, where we spent last night as that storm made its way north. This one house here, we'll walk over here so I can show you the damage, the owner tells me that he was here yesterday with his family last -- yesterday afternoon, and they started to feel this wind and they started to get worried. And, of course, because you can see how much plywood they have up, they really weren't quite sure what was happening outside of the house.

But at one point, they quickly realized that what was happening was a tornado was making its way through this part of Fort Myers. Over in Cape Coral, just on the other side of the Caloosahatchee River, there was another tornado that we believe damaged several homes in that part of Lee County.

And so we'll walk a little bit more to show you some more of the damage. This house here had its white fence torn apart. The folks here are in the process of bringing down what's left of it and then putting it out to the front yards as they decide what will happen next. And then to give you one bigger sense of just how things looked on the other side here, you'll take a look at the roof of that apartment building over there. It is also gone.

Jim, I can tell you over in Fort Myers Beach, things got a little bit about five to six feet of flooding over on Sanibel. They also saw that same kind of storm surge. We're being told that residents will be allowed to get back onto both of those islands later this afternoon. There had been a mandatory evacuation for both Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Monday into Tuesday. And then yesterday was really a ghost town.

The folks here are well aware of the power of a very strong storm. Two years ago, Hurricane Ian destroyed parts of Lee County, especially Fort Myers Beach in Sanibel. And so a lot of these folks made their way inland and now they're about to be able to go back home to take a look at the damage. Jim? ACOSTA: Yes. Carlos. I mean, that's what I was going to ask you about because, I mean, you're right. I mean, so many of those folks out on those barrier islands are still recovering from Ian and they're just going to get a chance to get out there. Do we know from local officials just how bad it is? Is it as bad as Ian or we just don't know yet, it's too early?

SUAREZ: It's I would say I covered Hurricane Ian and the damage is nowhere near that, although it is important to point out that Hurricane Ian made a direct landfall here in Lee and Southwest Florida. And this Hurricane Milton, of course, made landfall to the north of here. The storm surge numbers yesterday were, we were expecting, between 8 to 12 feet of storm surge. What we ended up getting in downtown Fort Myers was probably three to four feet. And a good amount of that water receded once high tide cleared out.

ACOSTA: All right, at least some good news. A lot of devastation, obviously, but we'll take any we can get at this hour.

All right, Carlos Suarez in Fort Myers, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. And to all your team members out there, thanks to them as well.

Let's go to Derek Van Dam in the Weather Center. Derek, I know you got the latest on the numbers on this hurricane. Interesting that the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, is saying, yes, this was significant, but they're not seeing things getting as bad as they thought they might have been. What can you tell us?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, there's a reason for that. And, Jim, so this was the third hurricane to strike Florida this season, the fifth hurricane to strike the gulf coast. We're tying the number of -- the record number of hurricanes to hit Florida in an entire hurricane season. So, that's saying something.

But when Governor DeSantis talked about how this was not a worst case scenario, it all comes down to where that eye wall made landfall. Also, plus the fact that the storm was on a weakening trend as it approached the coast, that was critical as well.

But just recapping the storm made landfall 8:30 in the evening near Siesta Key, and note that is south of Tampa. Remember, this is just incredible. The forecast that the initial National Hurricane Center outlook issued on Saturday of last week rather had a landfall point just 10 to 12 miles north of here. So, they were spot on and a hat tip to them.

But, again, in terms of a worst case scenario, we avoided it by a mere miles because we were on the reverse storm surge side. The reverse flow pushing water outside of Tampa Bay versus if it was a little further to the north, we would have had that onshore component like Sarasota unfortunately got.

[10:10:02]

And that's where we would have had the worst surge push into the Bay region.

Now, we're just now seeing winds drop below tropical storm force here along the space coast as Hurricane Milton exits off of the east coast of Florida, but you can see this slice of heavy rainfall that traversed the central parts of the Florida Peninsula, laying a deluge of rain, dropping over ten inches of rain, where you see that shading of pink, so much so that we're watching and witnessing these live high water rescues on T.V. this morning. In St. Petersburg, they received over 18 inches of rain, a foot and a half of rain, but this is interesting. A three-hour preliminary rainfall total of over nine inches, that is a 1 in 1000 year event. It is three times the amount of monthly average rain they receive in the month of October.

There was still significant storm surge, of course, south of the eye. That is here into Venice Beach, Fort Myers and into Naples, about 5 to 5.5 feet preliminarily. So, of course, it could have been a lot worse. And as it exits the Atlantic seaboard now, we're still getting that push of water into places like Daytona Beach, for instance, where three to five inches could -- three to five feet could still impact that area.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, Derek, of course, the day is early. I mean, the day is young. And so it's possible that, you know, as we get out into these areas, as rescuers get out of these areas, we might see things that are pretty bad. And maybe we have to be a little careful about saying it wasn't the worst case scenario. Obviously, it could have been a lot worse, but a lot of day ahead of us for rescuers getting into these hard hit areas.

Derek Van Dam and Carlos Juarez, thanks so much. I know, Derek, you've had a long day. I really appreciate it.

Still ahead, we've talked a lot about Florida's west coast, but after the break, we'll take a look at the tornado damage on Florida's east coast. That's how far these tornadoes were spreading over the course of this hurricane making landfall.

The mayor of Port St. Lucie of that hard hit area joins me next.

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[10:15:00]

ACOSTA: All right. Some of the most significant damage we have seen in Florida was caused by tornadoes. At least four people were killed in St. Lucie County when tornadoes touched down in the area prior to Milton making landfall. One twister ripped through a steel storage building, housing patrol vehicles for the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Department. Officials say the mangled building was destroyed within moments of the tornado touching down.

Joining us now to discuss is the mayor of Port St. Lucie, Shannon Martin. Mayor, thank you so much for joining us. What can you tell us about how things are going there? We've heard about this tornado coming through. What kind of damage did it cause? MAYOR SHANNON MARTIN, PORT ST. LUCIE, FLORIDA: So, as reported by the St. Lucie County Sheriff, and good morning, thank you for having me on, they did have a pavilion that housed emergency vehicles and that pavilion got destroyed in a tornado. I believe that they were doing everything they could to get some of the emergency vehicles out, and also making sure that no one was injured and luckily nobody was injured with that pavilion collapse.

ACOSTA: And how far are you from where the hurricane made landfall? And where are you expecting to see tornadoes like this coming through your area?

MARTIN: So, we are on the east side of Florida. The tornado, the hurricane made landfall around Siesta Key, Sarasota area. So, we are about three hours east of that. The tornadic activity was extremely unprecedented for our region. We've never seen anything like that before. I know I've never seen anything like that before in almost 20 years that I've been here. Even our local newscasters were quite surprised and shocked about the tornadic activity that we did see.

We had about three tornadoes, at least here in Port St. Lucie. The worst, of course, was the tornado that hit the Spanish Lakes community outside of the city boundaries in the county, where there are four confirmed deaths and a lot of destruction. We did aid -- our police department did aid our partners in the county and our sheriff's office and our fire district with assisting in that.

And I know we will be go County Administrative Emergency Operation Center around noontime today where I believe the governor is expected to be there and to provide updates to all of our residents and the region about the assessments and what's going on.

ACOSTA: And correct me if I'm wrong, Mayor, that was a senior living community there. Is that something along those lines? Is that right? And did they not have the ability to evacuate or were they just so far away? Is it because your community is so far away from where this hurricane was coming in that there just wasn't that kind of evacuation order or advisory given?

MARTIN: Yes. So, I do believe it was a senior community. Again, we always prepare for the hurricanes. We know what to expect. Obviously, being in Florida, we give all that information to our residents. I don't -- there's no way we could have predicted this type of tornadic activity. It definitely was not expected in that area.

Shelters were open in our county, so people did have the opportunity to go to shelters, if they so chose to. To my knowledge, they did not have any mandatory evacuation.

[10:20:00]

We did have bridge closures from to Hutchinson Island that the county spoke of and closed the bridges down last night. But, again, there's no way we could have predicted this type of activity because this is just not precedent. And this doesn't usually happen.

ACOSTA: Yes, very scary stuff.

Well, Mayor Shannon Martin, thank you so much for your time. All the best to you and your teams as you try to deal with all of this. Thanks very much for your time.

MARTIN: Thank you very much. Have a good day.

ACOSTA: All right, and you as well.

Let me go to CNN's Boris Sanchez, who is now in Clearwater. Boris, I know you've been out there in Clearwater, which was very hard-hit, a lot of flooding there. What can you tell us?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim. Right now, we're watching a water rescue as it unfolds. We've got a large law enforcement presence getting folks out of an apartment complex. I'm not sure exactly what you can see, but there are folks that are being escorted out on boats. There's a lot of equipment out here.

Officials are going door to door in this apartment complex to get people out. I've seen people come out holding anything that they can, their pets, their clothes. I actually talked to one resident who told me that they started panicking at about 1:00 A.M. when their apartment started getting flooded. We've seen at least a foot likely more of rain come down in Clearwater, and they ran out at 1:00 A.M. when the hurricane was still nearby. They ran to safety.

Around that time, emergency officials said that they started getting calls for help. They were able to respond. They've gotten tons and tons of people out. I don't have an exact number for you, but one woman I spoke to told me that all she was able to get out with was the clothes on her body. She said -- or rather, emergency officials told me that in this area, there's been up to chest-high, neck-high water.

We're watching these rescues unfold and we're watching these officials go door to door. We've heard them banging on several doors. I saw someone holding an official holding a sledgehammer previously. You see officials here off to my right putting on a wetsuit equipment. They're likely headed in now.

And if we could zoom in, I want to show our viewers, once officials clear a room, they mark it with an X. And you can see it up there on the right as these rescues continue. Like I said before, we've heard banging. So, they're essentially trying to find out if there's anyone who is in desperate need of aid as we're watching. Now, more boats go off to try to rescue folks.

Fortunately, Jim, what I've heard from folks that I've spoken to here, no reports of injuries at this point, but obviously all of that can change, given the fact that we're dealing with a very fluid situation. This area in Clearwater, one of the hardest hit by rain, but there are many across the Gulf of Florida that have experienced the powerful effects of Hurricane Milton, Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, Boris, was this area under an evacuation order? Do we know why the folks were still there? I know some people just ride it out. That's what they do.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it's hard to say, Jim. I don't know specifically -- we literally arrived here moments ago, so I don't know specifically this apartment complex, whether it was under an evacuation order or not. What I can tell you is that from experience, and talking to folks who decide to stay despite those types of orders, there's a number of factors at play. One of them is the cost of leaving. Having spoken to officials and residents here, it sounds like this was a community that was working class.

So, it may have been difficult for folks to access the resources that they needed to leave further. A lot of times you talk to these folks and it's the simple things. It's their pets. They don't want to leave them behind. And I've seen folks bringing out their cats and dogs. Obviously, there's a sentimental attachment and not every shelter takes pets. So, that plays a role as well.

And then lastly, Jim, a lot of it is just uncertainty. Folks don't realize that they're in immediate danger until it actually happens. I know yesterday when the rain started coming down at first, it just seemed like normal rain. But then as the evening picked up, it got worse and worse and worse. And, obviously, we've seen some really historic rain from Hurricane Milton, Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes, there's no question about it. And the images that your team is showing us right here, I mean, this is just -- it looks like nasty stuff. I mean, it looks as though maybe part of that community is fine and you're on dry land there. But that one section of the community where we can see those rescuers taking those boats into the water there, it looks like that might have been near some kind of a creek or stream or something that just couldn't handle all of that water and it overflowed into that section of the parking lot.

SANCHEZ: Yes, Jim, it's kind of unclear because we can't see the full complex obviously from where we're standing. But what I can tell you is that this is a very, very steep drop just from the street. You go down several feet into what's the parking lot. So, we're actually kind of on high ground, even though it's just street level. And as you look further and further down, you see cars that are submerged, you see apartments as well.

So, clearly, this was a position in which folks were in danger, many of them perhaps were not aware.

[10:25:00]

ACOSTA: All right. Thank you so much for your coverage, Boris. To all your crew members out there, I really appreciate it. And stay safe. Thanks so much, Boris. I appreciate it.

All right, still ahead, homes and businesses flooded and ripped to pieces. We'll check in on one restaurant owner. We talked to him yesterday. He's assessing the damage this morning, so far, not as bad as it could have been. We're thankful for that. We want to check back in with Bob Slicker. He's coming up next.

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ACOSTA: All right, welcome back.

[10:30:00]

For more on the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, let me go out to CNN's Isabel Rosales. She is in Tampa for us where we're seeing more rescues. Isabel, what can you tell us?