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Search and Rescue Operations Underway in Florida; 135 Residents Rescued from Assisted Living Facility in Tampa; Biden Speaks on Storm Misinformation; Harris and Trump Campaign in Battleground States; Obama to Headline Harris-Walz Campaign. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired October 10, 2024 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: -- 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,

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim. Yes. You're looking at a very, very active search and rescue operation that is a SHERP, that vehicle you're looking at right there, able to go into the deep flood waters that they're experiencing right now at the University Mall area.

This is strange scene for this area. This sort of flooding, this does not happen here. Behind that vehicle is actually a sign of the great American Assisted Living Facility and that is where deputies have just rescued 135 members. Let's move this camera to the right, right here, and you're going to see them right here. Many of them elderly, many of them elderly, many of them need to use wheelchairs or walkers, and what they're doing right now is they've been rescued out of those floodwaters by Hillsborough County deputies and Hillsborough County Fire Rescue.

And what's going to happen is they're going to be loaded into a school bus, like we saw just moments ago, the bus full to the brim with these people, for the assisted living facility, and they're going to take them away to a shelter or somewhere that they can get the appropriate attention, food, water, shelter, medical attention, most importantly.

I spoke with somebody here named Gary, who was inside of that assisted living facility, and he told me the water came suddenly and up to his knees that it was scary. The sheriff here, Chad Chronister, this was actually his district when he was a rookie. And he tells us that he has never seen anything like this in terms of flooding for the University Mall area.

And this is not the end of it. They have set up a command post, Jim, because, yes, they got all of these people out, but there's other people stuck in homes and in an apartment complex. I'm told by HCSO. So, they're going to be busy going door-to-door here and getting people who are trapped by these floodwaters out.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, you can see it all on their faces, just looks of exhaustion and desperation. I can't imagine what they're going through. I don't want to put you on the spot as well, but if any of them want to talk to you, I mean, feel free to see how they're doing.

ROSALES: I actually do, Jim. I do. I have Gary over here. And I just wasn't sure how that would work out with the camera since we're having some audio issues.

ACOSTA: Yes.

ROSALES: But --

ACOSTA: Well, give it a shot.

ROSALES: Gary, do you -- can you speak right now? Is that OK? This is Gary. Gary, can you tell me again what happened? How did the water come suddenly?

GARY: What happened was the water just came in. It's just -- because they've had the doors blocked, but it came in. There's nothing they can do about it. We have regular people, but we had other facilities from Bradenton come over here, and that's why there's so many people in here.

ROSALES: Yes. And the water came suddenly and unexpectedly?

GARY: Slowly, a little slowly. Keep going up higher and higher and higher.

ROSALES: At what point did you know that 911 had to be called?

GARY: Oh, about midnight or so, something like that. Yes.

ROSALES: From midnight, that was -- that call was made. And then, you guys have been waiting for conditions to be OK. We know that --

GARY: I don't know who made the call.

ROSALES: Who made the call, right.

GARY: Right.

ROSALES: We know that 911 operations was suspended shortly after 11:00 because of the high wind speeds, how unsafe conditions were for deputies to be out and about. So, right before daylight is when they started these operations. How are people? How are people after this situation, Gary?

GARY: Much more cold, because there's been some water all night.

ACOSTA: Oh, my God.

ROSALES: Waiting through the water?

GARY: Just sitting late. We had extra bed bought in for the other facility and there's nothing we could do. The water kept going up. You know --

ROSALES: So, people are just sitting in the water for overnight? GARY: Most of the -- yes, most of it, yes.

ROSALES: I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I heard just someone say all night. And I did see when somebody was loaded up into the school bus, somebody said, thank God for first responders. Thank you for this. What is the feeling, the sentiment that you guys had once you saw HCSO roll on in?

GARY: Oh, personally, I wasn't surprised, but how many people we had here, to help everybody, I'm totally shocked. I'm very appreciated. And, you know, I just -- you know, because I'm walking -- I'm able to walk but --

ROSALES: Yes. And so many cannot. I see them in wheelchairs.

GARY: Exactly.

ROSALES: Yes.

GARY: And --

ROSALES: And, Gary, thank you so much. And I see your hat, a Marine, a veteran. Thank you so much for your service, sir. And I hope that you get some food, you know, you get warmth and you guys get the medical attention you need. Thank you so much, sir.

GARY: Can I just take his jacket?

ROSALES: Yes, we'll get you a jacket, sir. Thank you.

ACOSTA: Oh, goodness.

ROSALES: Jim, I'll toss this back to you.

ACOSTA: Yes, Isabel. Thank you so much. And I'm sure they're cold if they've been sitting in the -- did I hear that correctly, Isabel, that. that these residents were in this facility and some of them were sit standing in the water or standing in the water in the middle of the night?

[10:35:00]

ROSALES: Correct. Correct. And --

ACOSTA: oh, my God.

ROSALES: Ma'am, would you be willing to talk to us? Would you be willing? He said that you guys were in the water for hours cold. Is that -- was that the case?

PATRICIA: Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. I remember when it started to come through and it was only about that deep, and it was coming from under the air conditioning unit like --

ROSALES: The water was coming from under the air conditioning unit?

PATRICIA: Yes, I guess outside, was getting full and I think there's a retention pond or something behind us.

ROSALES: Yes, and a way too.

PATRICIA: Yes. And it just filled up and started coming right in the building, the back door, because I lived all the way down the end of Hallway 1 and we were the absolute last room. And --

ROSALES: Scary, I'm sure.

PATRICIA: It was because you could literally hear that thing coming around the corner and it just sounded like it was going to take the building with it. You know, when the winds came. So --

ROSALES: Well, I'm so sorry for what you're going through. What's your name, ma'am?

PATRICIA: Patricia.

ROSALES: Patricia. I'm so sorry, Patricia. I can see.

PATRICIA: Thank you so much.

ROSALES: I can see --

PATRICIA: Thank you, guys. You guys came out. And (INAUDIBLE).

ROSALES: Of course. And to the first responders getting you guys the help that you need. Thank you so much, Patricia. Please be safe. Jim, back to you.

ACOSTA: Isabel, give those folks a hug for us. And I hate to ask something that maybe you can't answer, Isabel, and forgive me for asking you, but were these folks supposed to evacuate? I mean, that's the thing that I just have a question about is whether they should have even been left in -- or you know, in this facility overnight with the water coming up? I -- you know, forgive me for asking something. If you can't answer it, that's OK. We can find out, but --

ROSALES: No, no problem. No problem. So, my understanding, Jim, this is not an area that would normally flood to this level. We know that there's been mandatory evacuation of like zones A and B throughout Hillsborough County and Tampa proper, this is not it.

And of course, once I get in touch with the sheriff here, Chad Chronister, I'll ask him more about it. But there seems to be a situation where everyone was listening to the advice of, you know, forecasters and authority figures. And then, this just came unexpectedly. This incredible stunning amount of floodwaters.

ACOSTA: Unbelievable. All right. Isabel, we'll let you get back to work. Thank you so much. Give those folks a hug for us. My goodness, what an ordeal. All right. That's Isabel Rosales in Tampa for us. More on Milton after the break. Be right back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:40:00]

ACOSTA: Welcome back. Right now, millions of households and businesses are without power and state officials are warning that the danger from the flooding is not over yet.

This is Slicker's Eatery and Cortez, Florida, it has suffered significant damage from Hurricane Helene. We spoke earlier this week with the owner of that place, Bob Slicker, who had to put a rebuilding on hold to prepare for Hurricane Milton and Bob joins us now. He's on the phone. Bob, did your restaurant make it?

BOB SLICKER, OWNER, SLICKER'S EATERY: It sure did, Jim.

ACOSTA: Oh, good.

SLICKER: And thank you very much for having us back. I did get to tour the village this morning. We had no water damage. I had a lot of exterior damage that I didn't in the first storm. Both my air units and all the things that were outside were damaged by the wind and blown apart. But I got no water inside my building, which is the lowest spot in Cortez. So, at least we have that going for us.

ACOSTA: That's good. And what's the damage like across the rest of Cortez or what you've seen of it? How bad does it look? I can see some of the pictures you're sending us and it looks like the wind damage, as you were saying, that was a big factor there.

SLICKER: I'm just even getting there in my neighborhood alone. There's trees and I have roof damage, but the closer you get to the shore, the worse it is. Trees downed in the road, roofs off apartment buildings, all the trailer park, they suffered severe damage through all of that. But there was not any -- actually, we were in the northwest side. The eye wall was about three miles from us.

As far as -- I've never been in anything so loud and horrendous in my life for hours upon hours. First coming from one direction and then the other -- and the eye wall was --we were hoping we would get a break with the eye wall.

ACOSTA: And you've lived in that area for more than 35 years I gather. Have you ever seen a double whammy like this, Helene and then Milton doing all of this destruction?

SLICKER: Never ever. And just the total difference of the two. I mean, one four feet of water and the rest. We had sustained winds of 100 miles an hour plus. I'm sure in the second one. So, every large tree that I saw driving the four miles towards the island was down or damaged, broken. All fences, I think -- I don't think there's a fence standing in anybody's yard right

ACOSTA: Wow. Wow. All right. Bob, well, glad your business is OK. Glad you're safe. Please give everybody our best there in your part of the Florida and glad that you all survived. Thanks so much for your time. We appreciate it.

SLICKER: And we thank you so much for covering all of us. And my biggest fear was this morning I couldn't get a hold of my daughter. She was on the other side of the state.

ACOSTA: Oh, wow.

SLICKER: So, I was worried about tornadoes. So, we got a hold of her. Thank you so much.

[10:45:00]

ACOSTA: Excellent. All right. Thank you, Bob. That's great news. Really appreciate it.

I want to turn now to hurricane chaser Brandon Clement. He also joins us by phone from Englewood, Florida between Sarasota and Fort Myers. A lot of folks are joining us on the phone this morning because of all the tech issues that they're having in that part of the country. So, bear with us on that.

But, Brandon, you told us you haven't slept in 48 hours. How are you doing this morning? What are you seeing?

BRANDON CLEMENT, HURRICANE CHASER: Yes, I'm tired, but it could be worse for me because I'm not (INAUDIBLE) looking at the pretty catastrophic destruction in the area last night, you know. Most just thought, hey, we may have escaped the worst. Well, Tampa did, (INAUDIBLE) did. (INAUDIBLE) the way. First floors and homes completely washed out. And boats in the homes. Sand on roads. It's a really bad situation.

ACOSTA: And, Brandon, I mean, one of the things that we're hearing this morning is that maybe the damage was not as bad as it could have been. It's significant, but not the worst-case scenario. But I have to think because it's so early in the day that -- I mean, as neighborhoods are surveyed, as emergency crews are going out there, that they're going to find more loss of life, more devastation than perhaps we can get our arms around at this point. Is that your sense of it too?

Because I mean, we're seeing some video coming in. We're seeing a lot of mobile home communities that have been heavily damaged and apartment complexes flooded and so on. What's your sense of it?

CLEMENT: Well, like we were saying last night on live coverage that, you know, it looks like right now the best-case scenario could have unfolded because what being the worst of it. But we're cautious to say that, hey, we dodged the bullet here. Because I remember Ian, I remember saying, hey, it could have been a whole lot worse. And then, about 10:00 the next morning, we saw Fort Myers Beach for the first time with light.

And it's a similar situation here. I'm not going to say it does that as Fort Myers Beach, but there's some areas that are hit really, really hard. And it's by far and away, not the worst-case scenario because this thing came into Tampa, you're talking about a lot more population density and homes that could have been impacted. But if it's your home that was impacted, it doesn't matter to you. You know, it's a bad situation for those people. A lot of these homes flooded already with Helene. The second one came in and it was much, much worse than this area and completely knocked walls. And I mean, cook houses and things. So, one guy -- one house floated into his house and damaged it. Another one, I just saw a boat in the backyard, leaned up against the house. I mean, it's striking to see, but unfortunately, this is what you see when you see big surge events.

ACOSTA: No question about it. All right. Brandon, you stay safe. Thanks so much for what you do. We appreciate it. We'll continue to cover the aftermath of Hurricane Milton in Florida. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:50:00]

ACOSTA: The White House says President Biden was briefed after Milton made landfall last night before the storm hit. The president gave remarks from the White House, calling the hurricane the storm of the century. He also ripped the people spreading misinformation about the federal response to Helene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: They're saying that money needed for these crises are being diverted to migrants. What the heck are they talking about? Stop it. It's outrageous. It's just not true.

Now, the claims are getting even more bizarre. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the congresswoman from Georgia, is now saying the federal government is literally controlling the weather. We're controlling the weather. It's beyond ridiculous. It's so stupid. It's got to stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: President also vowed to help storm victims for as long as it takes to recover and rebuild. Also, today, Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris embark on a battleground state swing with the election less than a month away. The former president will be in Michigan today while the vice president heads to Arizona and Nevada. They're all states where the race is virtually tied at this point.

Also, today, a heavy hitter for the Democrats will rally support For the Harris-Walz ticket. Former President Barack Obama is set to headline a big event in Pennsylvania. That's where we find CNN's Eva McKend. She joins us now. Eva, what do we know about this rally today?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: So, Jim, what we're seeing from Democrats is a divide and conquer strategy with Harris campaigning at that town hall in Vegas. and the rally in Arizona tonight. Democrats looking to Former President Barack Obama really to boost the energy and engagement among the Democratic base with this event in Pittsburgh. And what this tells us, Jim, is that the campaign is at the stage where they're deploying their most powerful surrogates. Obama typically sent in to great effect in the closing weeks of Democratic campaigns. He will lean on folks as Michelle Obama did during the DNC when she essentially argued this is not the time to be delicate. If you don't hear directly from someone from the campaign between now and Election Day, we still need you to get out and vote.

And what we heard from Vice President Harris when we were with her in Flint last week is to tell voters in the places where you can already vote, if they already received their absentee ballot, to go ahead and turn that ballot in. No need to wait here.

But, Jim, this comes at a time when there are competing visions in the Democratic Party about the best way forward. There is -- Harris is still struggling to essentially recreate the multiracial coalition that allowed President Biden in part to win 2020. And there are different views about the best path forward, with some Democrats thinking the right ideas to invest in Republicans for Harris, turn out more conservative voters, while other Democrats argue that that money and the resources should be spent courting black voters in places like Georgia and North Carolina. Jim.

[10:55:00]

ACOSTA: Yes, and Former President Obama, I mean, I think one of the things that he's going to be trying to do, Eva, is to connect with African American men, because that is a segment of the Democratic coalition that they definitely want to keep at home heading into the November election. Eva McKend, thanks for following all of that for us from D.C. I put you in Pennsylvania, you're here in D.C. A lot of moving parts this morning, but thanks so much for joining us this morning on all of our coverage of Hurricane Milton.

I'm Jim Acosta. Our next hour of Newsroom with Pamela Brown starts after a short break. Stay with us for more on the storm. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:00]