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Florida Deals with the Impact on Hurricane Milton; Former U.S. President Obama Campaigns for Kamala Harris' Presidency. 15 People Died from Hurricane Milton, 2.6 Million Homes and Businesses Still Without Power; Rafael Nadal to Play One Last Tournament Before His Formal Retirement from His Tennis Career. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired October 11, 2024 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR Hello and welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom."

The state of Florida reels from two major hurricanes in less than two weeks. We'll have a look at the immense damage from Hurricane Milton.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama hits the campaign trail in a battleground state for Vice President Kamala Harris.

And former President Donald Trump insults Detroit during a visit to the city, which is located in a swing state he hopes to win.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: We begin in Florida where millions of people are dealing with the lingering dangerous conditions in the wake of Hurricane Milton. Search and rescue efforts are ongoing. More than 24 hours after the storm made landfall, Milton has led to an infrastructure crisis in the state with some areas lacking clean water and electricity while extensive flooding damaged roads and buildings. So many people have lost everything.

Milton unleashed an extraordinary storm surge and torrential rain and spawned a swarm of tornadoes before moving offshore over the Atlantic. More than two and a half million homes and businesses are still without power. Roughly a thousand people have been rescued so far.

And in one remarkable rescue, the Coast Guard found a man Thursday clinging to a soft drink cooler approximately 30 miles or 50 kilometers off the coast after the storm disabled his fishing boat the day before.

Milton hit Florida as residents were still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall less than two weeks ago. CNN's Isabel Rosales is on the scene in Florida with the latest. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TERESA, ASSISTED LIVING RESIDENT: It's terrible and the water is --

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's so terrifying.

TERESA: The water is so cold.

ROSALES (voice-over): Teresa and over 100 other residents at a Hillsborough County assisted living facility awoke to waste high water in the middle of the night.

UNKNOWN: The chairs were just floating couches were floating. Everything was floating.

ROSALES (voice-over): This employee stunned by the flooding telling CNN they thought they were safe because the facility is in an evacuation zone.

ROSALES: This rainfall reaching to levels they never anticipated. You expect this in the Gulf, you expect this in the Bay, not in areas inland like this.

ROSALES (voice-over): But storm surge isn't the culprit. Instead, it was all the torrential rainfall leading to flash flooding.

SHERIFF CHAD CHRONISTER, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA: They were literally living in four to five feet of water and these are individuals that can't walk.

ROSALES (voice-over): By two in the morning, it was an emergency and residents needed out some of them on oxygen.

UNKNOWN: It was quite scary because we had to think on our feet because obviously it's last minute.

ROSALES (voice-over): Residents described water pouring through air conditioning units, leaving them terrified.

UNKNOWN: You can literally hear that thing coming around the corner and it just sounded like it was going to take the building with it.

ROSALES (voice-over): And in a twist, the facility house more residents than normal. Residents who had evacuated from the south in Manatee County, expecting they would be safe here.

UNKNOWN: Everybody was sitting in the cold waters. Everyone was getting frustrated, upset.

ROSALES (voice-over): They waited for hours, cold, scared, and some of them without any shoes, until it was safe for deputies to get to them.

UNKNOWN: Hillsborough first responders rock.

ROSALES (voice-over): One by one, first responders loaded them into a school bus, off to an elementary school. Now, a makeshift shelter for these unexpected guests.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Now, Florida may have dodged a worst case scenario, but it was hit by what one official called a one-two punch of back-to-back major hurricanes less than two weeks apart. Earlier I spoke with Ashley Giovannetti, the public information officer for Pinellas County Emergency Management in the Tampa Bay region and I asked her about the latest on search and rescues. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY GIOVANNETTI, PIO, PINELLAS COUNTY LARGO, FLORIDA (on the phone): Milton produced over 18 inches of rainfall and gusts over 100 miles an hour in Pinellas County. We did have some law enforcement here, conducted several rescue missions, including a major water rescue at an apartment complex where they pulled 430 residents from flooding.

The flooding reached to the second floor balconies. It was a serious situation. You know, we didn't see in our area the storm surge that we have seen in Helene but we were really hit hard. You know, our utilities crews are still busy clearing roads, repairing infrastructure and working to restore services.

[03:05:02]

So many of our residents remain without power. We're talking 75 percent of customers in our county were without power. And some residents are without water service.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, and I understand you're starting to get water back in now, but that is complicated by, well, you talked about the lack of electricity that and you need that for the -- for the pumping stations is that right?

GIOVANNETTI (on the phone): Absolutely. And kind of just overall is what we need going forward is just kind of empathy for our residents. As you talked about, we have residents that, you know, we're waiting in flood waters, barefoot, you know, so we need this empathy. They just went through two major hurricanes in our area and so many have lost their homes, their livelihoods and now they have to find a new place to call home.

Some it will be temporary, they'll be able to get to their structures and some permanently, some lost everything, their full livelihoods. So we are, so we're so grateful for our state and federal partners who are stepping up to help build back our community, but it's going to take time. And really we want to thank all of those that are reaching out to help us because it really was a one-two punch.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, and you know, that apartment complex, for example, that you mentioned, they said that will be unlivable. So many people have lost their homes. As you say, you know, people have been hit by this one-two punch emergency shelters. I mean they've been there since Hurricane Helene. GIOVANNETTI (on the phone): Yeah, we had some residents who never left

the shelter. They just went from one hurricane to another. We are doing everything in our power to get those who are still in shelters into a temporary or permanent housing situation. But it's going to take time. And we really, really thank our state and federal partners for helping us and helping us kind of merge these two hurricanes into one full recovery response.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah. So I understand you're starting to lift some of the evacuation orders. Almost all the bridges have reopened. People are going back home. But obviously, there are still plenty of road hazards, and especially considering that some of the hospitals are still closed.

I was listening to the sheriff and he was saying, you know, they have those intersections with no working lights and people are just blowing right through them. So what are you advising residents right now as they're sort of trying to get back?

GIOVANNETTI (on the phone): First and foremost, give your neighbors grace. But then secondly, you know, be cautious. Be safe on the roadways. We have a lot of lights, as you said, that are still out. We still have a lot of power out in our areas. There are signs torn apart. We have billboards that have nothing that say anything on them anymore. And we have infrastructure that's going to take a minute to get back.

So just have grace for your neighbors. Look out for each other. And make sure you're using those lights and those roadways as a four-way stop. And just stay safe. If you see a downed power line, if you see a tree in the road, find another route. And make sure that you're using your generators safely. But just overall make sure you are being cautious as we all recover together.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah your message there stay safe and that applies to you as well we wish you the best as well. Ashley Giovannetti with Pinellas County thank you so much for being here with us. I appreciate it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Former U.S. President Barack Obama kicked off a 27-day campaign sprint for Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday. He headlined a rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, highlighting the experience and values that Harris and her running mate Tim Walz bring to the table.

Obama also delivered his most personal and furious critique of Donald Trump yet. He described Trump as greedy and said his tax plan was a giveaway to billionaires and big corporations, adding that Trump's claim that he guided a robust economy is nonsense. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: And the reason some people think, I don't know, I remember that economy when he first came in being pretty good. Yeah, it was pretty good, because it was my economy. We had 75 straight months of job growth that I handed over to him. It wasn't something he did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, Harris was campaigning in Arizona and Nevada on Thursday. She praised late Senator John McCain during her Arizona stop and told the crowd that the presidential race will be tight until the very end.

[03:10:01]

She courted Latino voters in a Univision town hall in Las Vegas, outlining her plans on immigration reform and border security. Harris also questioned, answered questions about health care. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS (D), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A lot of the work that I've done over the years, including as Vice President now for almost four years, has been to address what we need to do to strengthen our healthcare system. Whether it be what we do to strengthen the Affordable Care Act, to make sure more people have coverage, to what we have done, which is we finally have capped the cost of insulin, for example, at $35 a month.

What that means is it's the story I hear constantly, including recently, from a woman here in Las Vegas, which is finally her mother, can afford to fill her prescription for insulin instead of trying to make it last for a longer period of time, even though that's going to lead to her health condition worsening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Former President Donald Trump spoke in Detroit, Michigan on Thursday in front of a room full of residents. He compared the city to a developing nation. He also said that the U.S. would end up like Detroit if Harris is elected president.

CNN's Alayna Treene reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, former President Donald Trump addressed the Detroit Economic Club on Thursday and laid out a series of steps that he said he hoped would reinvigorate what he called a collapsing U.S. auto industry. And at one point, he also criticized Detroit, of course, the same city that he was delivering remarks in.

But I do want to lay out some of the news that he made today. He vowed for the first time to have interest payments on car loans be tax deductible. That is the latest in a series of costly tax cuts that he has been offering, but he argued and suggested really that it would help car makers as well as consumers dealing with high prices.

He also said that he wants to revisit his own 2020 trade agreement with Mexico and Canada and said that he wants to renegotiate it so that Mexico has more Tariffs imposed on it for any cars that they are making in their country.

But to get back to his criticism of Detroit at one point he argued that Detroit is a developing city He said quote "it is more developing than most places in China calling it a once great city." And then he also used the city to characterize what he argued would happen to the rest of the country should Kamala Harris win in November. Take a listen.

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think anything that we're talking about today is high on her list. I mean, the whole country is going to be like, you want to know the truth? It'll be like Detroit. Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she's your president. We're a developing nation too. Just take a look at Detroit. Detroit's a developing -- Detroit's a developing area hell of a lot more than most places in China.

TREENE: Now Donald Trump has been critical of Detroit in the past, but the reason these comments were so striking, not only because he was in Detroit while saying this, but also because Detroit is Michigan's largest city. And we know Michigan is one of those three crucial blue wall states that he is campaigning in aggressively ahead of November.

Of course, he won Michigan in 2016 but lost it to Joe Biden in 2020. And when I talk to Donald Trump's senior advisors, they tell me that this, out of those three blue wall states, which also include Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, that they feel the most confident about their chances here in Michigan. So I'd keep an eye on that as we look ahead to November 5th.

Alayna Treene, CNN, Detroit, Michigan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And I want to bring in Natasha Lindstaedt, who's a professor of government at the University of Essex, and she joined us now from Colchester, England. Good to see you again. So I want to start there with Trump in Detroit, insulting the city while he was in the city. So what do you make of his comments in the context of the battle for those blue wall states?

NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Well, the first thing that came to my mind when he was criticizing the very city where he is just questions about his mental fitness (inaudible) does he realize that he is in Detroit why would you criticize the city where you are a particularly as the report mentioned this is a key swing state that he will need to win.

And that will be really important and where it is neck and neck and he is behind there and he lost Michigan in 2020. But as had been reported, he just went on this sort of rambling 90-minute speech that was largely incoherent, where he was engaging in attacks in the state where he actually is campaigning, and then promising some sort of economic plan that, as The "New York Times" reported, would add about $15 trillion to the national debt.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, it's not uncommon for him to criticize cities like San Francisco, Baltimore, for example, but it seemed like a strange choice while he was actually standing there.

[03:14:57]

Anyway, Harris, meanwhile, appeared in that Univision town hall trying to appeal to Latino voters. In that demographic, she is up against Trump, but not as much as Biden was in 2020.

LINDSTAEDT: That's right. I mean, the Democrats have been hemorrhaging support amongst Hispanic voters. Obama won over Hispanic voters in 2012 by 44 points, Clinton in 2016 by 38 points, and Biden by 33 points. Right now Harris is only ahead by 14 points.

And this is a key demographic because it's 15 percent of the voting population, and it's going to be particularly important in these swing states like Nevada and Arizona, where in Arizona you have about one in four voters that are Hispanic, in Nevada about one in five.

And in the state of Arizona, Biden had one in 2020, with 60 percent support amongst Hispanics. And right now in Arizona, Harris is ahead by 49 percent, 41 percent. So this is a demographic that Harris has been aggressively in their campaign aggressively trying to target both to change their minds for those that might be meaning Trump that also to get the vote out.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah you mentioned Obama there out stumping for Harris for the first time. What would you make of his comments and particularly his criticism of black men who might be thinking of voting for Trump or sitting out the election because of sexism?

LINSTAEDT: Right. I mean he's really trying to target mail voters in the state of Pennsylvania just more generally to question whether or not you're not supporting Harris because she is a woman and he was bringing up some good important points about this.

And he is a beloved figure to look at recent polling from YouGov amongst independents and Democrats he has 90 percent approval rating so he's a really powerful important ways in the Democratic party to get the vote on that's why he's been on this campaign blitz, but he did some other things that were important, criticizing Trump, particularly Trump's response to these two devastating storms and really targeting the fact that Trump has just been spewing out lies and falsehoods about where some of this federal aid is going to undocumented migrants.

And he was really targeting very vulnerable Americans and just basically doing things that could prevent them from seeking out help. He was also calling out Trump as a bully and saying that's really not a sign of strength.

And as the clip mentioned, he was targeting this idea that Trump is somehow better at running the economy than the Democrats. He said he was really just inheriting his good economy. And the statistics would show that inflation rate was actually lower under Obama. Growth rates were about the same and Obama's administration was adding more jobs towards the last term in comparison to Trump's term.

BRUNHUBER: All right, we'll leave it there, but always appreciate your insights. Natasha Lindstaedt, thank you so much.

LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.

BRUNHUBER: Israel launches a devastating new round of strikes on Gaza just ahead. What the IDF accuses Hamas of hiding among the refugees in the school and clinic. Stay with us.

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[03:20:00]

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BRUNHUBER: The Palestinian Red Crescent reports at least 28 people have been killed by an Israeli airstrike in central Gaza. The aid group says dozens of others were wounded at the school, which was being used as a shelter.

The Israeli military claims terrorists were operating a command and control center at the site. Gaza civil defense officials report a separate strike killed at least six people at a clinic housing displaced people in northern Gaza.

The IDF told CNN it wasn't aware of a strike on the clinic, but said a targeted strike hit Hamas terrorists near Gaza. The Lebanese Health Ministry reports at least 22 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on central Beirut.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is following this live from London. So take us through what we're learning about that developing situation.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so Israel struck central Beirut twice last night. One of those strikes leveled a four-story residential building.

And according to neighbors and eyewitnesses, people in the area, that building did not just have its residents inside, but also Kim displaced people, people who had come from other parts of the city or other parts of Lebanon, believing that they could be safe, believing that they could shelter in central Beirut, only to find themselves, of course, the target of this unprecedented Israel air campaign on Lebanon that's continued for weeks now.

Now, the supposed target of this attack was a senior Hezbollah official. According to security sources in Hezbollah that local media is reporting, he was essentially responsible for external affairs. One of the top diplomats for Hezbollah, Wafik Safi, but he did, according to a Hezbollah source speaking to CNN, did survive this attack.

Now, I have to emphasize the impact of this Kim, because this is likely going to be the deadliest attack on central Beirut since the start of this latest cycle of violence. So far Israeli strikes have focused on the southern parts of the city. Those are Hezbollah strongholds, but this is going to give people the sense. And as you're looking at those pictures, I believe those are live images of the aftermath of that attack. [03:25:02]

As you're People on the ground now are going to feel that there is absolutely no safe place in the country, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: You're right to underline the significance of this. Salma, meanwhile on Thursday, IDF forces fired on U.N. peacekeepers. What more are we learning about that?

ABDELAZIZ: Yes, this is extremely significant. And I have this information from UNIFIL, so that is the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. According to them on Thursday, an Israeli tank rather, fired directly at a U.N. observation tower in southern Lebanon that strike did hit the tower and caused two U.N. peacekeepers to fall.

Now, they both did sustain injuries, not life threatening. They are being treated. But there was also a second U.N. site, again, in southern Lebanon that was hit again by Israeli soldiers, according to the U.N. It was a bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering. There was damaged, damaged vehicles and communication systems.

Again, that's according to the United Nations. This is a U.N. peacekeeping force that has been place since 2006. It is very much part of the patchwork of different actors on the ground, Kim, that really keep the peace, keep the stability in that region. So this reads to the U.N. as a destabilizing factor. And the U.N. peacekeeping chief said, look, our troops, our peacekeepers are now in jeopardy, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, more chaos upon chaos. Salma Abdelaziz in London. Thank you so much.

Iran's president is scheduled to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Turkmenistan today. The talks follow an Israeli security cabinet meeting where an official tells CNN there was no decision on how to respond to Iran's missile attack last week.

Iran launched around 200 ballistic missiles last Tuesday, targeting Tel Aviv and military sites. Most were intercepted by Israel and the U.S., although some did get through. Iran's foreign minister is on a diplomatic mission to enlist the support of Gulf Arab possible Israeli retaliation. He visited Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. A regional diplomat tells CNN the United Arab Emirates won't allow its airspace to be used for any attack against Iran.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican today. The Ukrainian leader is visiting European allies and trying to sell what he calls a victory plan. That's his blueprint for winning the war against Russia, but its full details are yet to be made public.

Zelenskyy may have his toughest conversation when he meets Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Germany a few hours from now. Berlin plans to slash its military aid to Ukraine in half next year.

The devastation from Hurricane Milton is still being assessed in Florida, but there are signs that some things like the Tampa Airport may soon return to normal. We'll have details coming up and tourists stuck underground after a trip to a gold mine takes a very bad turn. Stay with us.

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom."

People in Florida continue to assess the damage and losses after Hurricane Milton left a trail of destruction from the Gulf Coast on the western side of the peninsula to the Atlantic Ocean on the east. The death toll from the storm now stands at 15 across six counties and more than 2.6 million homes and businesses are still without power across the state, according to poweroutage.us.

Tampa's International Airport is expected to reopen to the public in the coming hours, and tens of millions of gallons of gasoline and diesel will be delivered to South Florida over the next 48 hours. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says nearly 1,000 people have been rescued since Milton made landfall Wednesday night.

That includes a single mother and her four young children who are trapped by rising floodwaters inside their home before being rescued by a local news crew working in the area. She shared her terrifying story with Erin Burnett.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMBER HENRY, MOTHER AND FOUR CHILDREN RESCUED: I thought I was making the best move going towards Lakeland. I even called the officials and they told me it was not a mandatory evacuation and me and my children will be fine. But that was not the case. Around 10 o'clock, that's when I've seen water seeping in. I was getting buckets and putting it down the drain, but then the house literally ate us with water.

Me and my children had to get on top of the couch and when the couch got submerged in the water, I begin to look at the window seeing water come into the house. I was terrified because I heard transformers go off. And I just knew that me and my children were going to be electrocuted and we were just going to die right then and there. All I could do is pray and I had to be brave and my daughter, she's 10 years old and she's about to be 11.

And she told me, mom, her birthday is on the 21st. And she told me, mom, I don't want to die for my birthday. I was terrified. My uncle, her uncle drives trucks and she was like, can he come get us due to him being in a high state, but he was very far away.

I have a four year old and a five year old and they are two small children and it's like I Couldn't even hold both of them. I'm a single mom. I have nothing but me and my children. We were dark. We were in cold. I was afraid of snakes, I was afraid of being electrocuted and I was afraid to actually be the one that passed away and then my kids have to suffer.

[03:35:04}

It was very terrifying. So when I've seen the refrigerator float I got on top of the oven and I just seen the water pouring and I just told my children, we have to get out of here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The devastation from Hurricane Milton likely caused between 30 and $50 billion worth of insured losses. And that doesn't include losses that weren't insured. The estimate comes from Fitch ratings, one of the biggest credit ratings agencies in the U.S. Virtually all climate scientists believe devastating storms like Milton are the result of human caused climate change. But of course, not everyone is convinced. CNN's Bill Weir has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As earth overheats, these are the kinds of storms that take lives and livelihoods. But as families reel in private grief, it's the material loss that is so obvious everywhere in Pinellas County.

From the tower construction crane that crashed down on neighboring buildings, to Tropicana Field peeled like an orange by Milton's winds, the Tampa Bay Rays already have plans in the works to build a new stadium with taxpayers kicking in hundreds of millions of dollars. But what happens now is anyone's guess especially after the loss of entire neighborhoods, retirees and working-class American dreamers.

SANDY DAUGHTRY, FLORIDA NATIVE, PINELLAS COUNTY RESIDENT: I'm just really concerned for all these people. It's just devastating, it's like World War III or something, you know.

WEIR (voice-over): Sandy Daughtry hid in a closet during landfall and the day after rides her bike through the mingled wreckage of back to back hurricanes praying for neighbors she knows now have nothing.

WEIR: Long after all of these pieces of people's lives have been picked up, what will remain in Florida is a massive insurance crisis. In just the last couple years, dozens of different carriers have gone insolvent or stopped accepting new customers or been placed on state watch lists so as a result a home like this can be over $20,000 a year, way more than the mortgage. So most of these families had no coverage at all.

There's so many folks who are uninsured, right?

DAUGHTRY: Yes, yes, I know. That's why I just like it breaks my heart. I'm riding through here just like my heart is just shattered. I just can't even, it's just unbelievable, really.

WEIR: What do you think becomes of communities like this?

DAUGHTRY: I don't know. I really don't. I'm hearing a lot of people saying they're going to leave the state and head back up north, but I don't. I don't know if that'll happen. You know, maybe a mass exodus or something.

WEIR: Do you connect any all of this to a changing climate a warmer planet?

DAUGHTRY: You know, I'm not sure, I couldn't answer, I can't really answer that.

WEIR: Really?

DAUGHTRY: I just, maybe it's just a 100 year cycle or you know some kind of a cycle that we go through.

WEIR: Even though all the scientists are telling you this is what climate change looks like?

DAUGHTRY: Well, yeah, well that's the point. I'm not sure all the scientists are in agreement with that.

WEIR: They are. I can tell you they are. I'm here to tell you they are. 99 percent of them absolutely agree. You can ask anybody at NASA.

DAUGHTRY: I can definitely tell you our beaches are eroding. In my lifetime, all the beaches have. I've seen the water come up a lot higher than it ever has before. So, thank you all for talking to me.

WEIR: Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you for talking with us.

DAUGHTRY: Thank you for taking our interest.

WEIR: Really, you're a good neighbor. If there's a heaven you're getting in.

DAUGHTRY: Oh amen, amen. And that's honestly that's what I do. I ride around and just pray for people and just pray you know. I just it's just.

WEIR: You're a first prayer responder. That's very sweet. All right, good luck to you. Thank you.

DAUGHTRY: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Milton was the fifth hurricane to make landfall in the United States this year, and the strongest CNN meteorologist Chad Myers takes a look at Milton's history from the Western Gulf of Mexico to slamming into Florida's coast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Sure, let's do a little recap on how we got where we are right now. Back up four and a half days before landfall. This thing was a tropical storm or barely here in the Bay of Campeche. And then all of a sudden it roared to life as a 180 mile per hour category five right there to the north of Cancun.

Luckily it didn't stay category five. It wasn't forecast to. It was forecast to lose a lot of intensity because of some sheer and some dry air that was going to get mixed in. And that exactly happened.

But let's go back to where we were from Sunday 5am at a 50 MPH storm to Monday at 5pm as a 180 MPH storm. That's the rapid intensification we talked about. Now let's talk about the hurricane center's forecast. Back here, four and half days before landfall, kind of a straight track right toward the north and toward the northeast. Didn't take that track. It took a little farther south. Now we know that hurricanes don't go in straight lines.

[03:40:01]

This thing decided to wobble and wiggle down here across the southern gulf. But happened when it got close, four and a half days ago, the hurricane center said it was going to hit here and it hit 12 miles away from there. Pretty impressive. Pretty impressive no matter how you get to that landfall.

Now, the difference between where Tampa would have gotten a significantly worse storm is where it did make landfall. The 12 miles were 12 miles farther south. Had those 12 miles been 12 miles farther north, we'd be talking a different story for Tampa. The surge would have been in Tampa Bay, but the surge is down to the south, into Venice, into Punta Gorda, the areas south of there, where the wind was actually blowing the water out of Tampa Bay.

Something else as this thing was making landfall on the extreme East Coast, far from the center of the hurricane and far from any cone. We had tornadoes on the ground and now we know there were dozens of tornadoes on the ground and a couple of them at least were deadly, 126 tornado warnings total for that landfall mainly on the eastern part, but some in the central part as well. 126 tornado warnings and dozens were actually on the ground. But that 126 is more than the two and three added together because hurricanes do make tornadoes.

They do. But, boy, this was just supercharged for sure. More than three million people, at least for a time, were without power. This is going to take a very long time to put all of that up. Now, three million customers, nine million people, 12 million people, depending on how many people are actually in every household. But you can do the multiplication.

You get the idea. This is going to take a very long time to put everything back up, considering how stretched out all these power crews are from North Carolina through South Carolina and the like, even into Georgia.

And the rainfall that came down everywhere that's purple. That was 10 inches of rain or more. And that's kind of okay if you get it in a city block, but not okay if you get it all the way across the state covering counties.

And so where does that water going to go? And that's well, that's what we have. All the flooding. Look at St. Petersburg. It picked up more than 18 inches of rain in just one day. In fact, it picked up five inches of rain in one hour of that 18. So very impressive rainfall totals. The winds were somewhere between 100 and 105, maybe a higher gust somewhere.

But really, it was the rain and it was the tornadoes that caused so much damage here. And of course, the storm surged down across the south. South of where the eye did make landfall.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: One person is dead after an accident inside a tourist mine in the state of Colorado, and nearly two dozen people had to be rescued. The group became stranded when an elevator inside the gold mine malfunctioned. For roughly six hours, they were stuck at the bottom of the cold, deep mine, which is 1,000 feet, or just about 300 meters below ground.

The temperature was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit or 10 degrees Celsius. Those trapped did have water, blankets, chairs, and a radio, but no access to bathrooms. No word yet on what caused the accident.

The judge in the Sean Diddy Combs federal criminal case has set a trial date for May 5th of next year. During Thursday's hearing in New York, Combs appeared in jail, issued clothes with his ankles shackled. He smiled and waved at his family.

The musician and producer is charged with racketeering, conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Earlier this week, his lawyers accused the government of leaking hotel surveillance video to CNN, shows Combs beating his then-girlfriend. They want the footage barred from trial.

Well the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in just over an hour. We'll look at who's in the running after the break.

Plus, the king of clay decides it's time to retire. And tennis great Rafael Nadal will play his last professional match. We'll look at that just ahead. Please stay with us.

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[03:45:00]

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BRUNHUBER: More than an hour from the Nobel committee's announcement of the winner of this year's Peace Prize. So how is the prestigious award decided? All right, let's have a look here.

So nominations come from lawmakers from around the world, including university professors, previous Nobel laureates, heads of state, and from members of the Nobel committee. The deadline for nominations was January 31st.

The Nobel committee doesn't provide names of nominees, but this year there are 286 candidates, 89 of which are organizations, 197 of them are individuals, and one of them will be named as the new Nobel Peace Prize Laureate in just over an hour from now. And we will bring that to you live here on CNN.

Now, Henrik Urdal is the Director of Peace Research Institute Oslo, which studies conflict and resolution, and he put out his own short list of potential winners. I spoke with him earlier about his thoughts on who should receive the prize in a year of so many elections and so much conflict. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HENRIK URDAL, DIRECTOR, PEACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE OSLO: This is the super election year and so on top of my list election observers make that spot and I think the OSCE, Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights that are overseeing elections in the whole world would be a very worthy candidate for such a prize.

We're seeing that democracy is on decline everywhere in the world and so underscoring the importance of election since stabled democracy is a precondition really for peace and stability would be, I think, very appropriate this year.

[03:49:59]

BRUNHUBER: Democracy is in decline and war, unfortunately, on the rise with so many ongoing. The conflict in Sudan is often overlooked, but there's a group responding to that conflict that you're picking. So explain who they are and why you think.

URDAL: Yeah, exactly. The war in Sudan is one of the most serious humanitarian situations that we have in the world. And it's not getting the attention that it needs. And the Sudan's Emergency Response Rooms is a grassroots organization. It's youth led and its local and it's providing basic services, shelter, medical care, food and water to the population in Sudan.

That is under pressure and this is the 75th anniversary of the 1949 Geneva Conventions focusing on protections of civilians in war and so a prize to an initiative like the Emergency Response Rooms I think would be both very appropriate and important in terms of highlighting the need for supporting structures like this in the situations of war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The San Francisco 49ers are celebrating a big divisional win over the Seattle quarterback Rock Purdy through three touchdown passes in the Thursday night thriller two of them to tight end George Kittle. Seattle pulled close in the second half after a 97 yard kickoff return for a touchdown the Seahawks were looking to hold on to first place in the NFC West but a fourth quarter interception by the 49ers sealed the victory. Final score San Francisco 36, Seattle 24. Well, it is the end of an era for tennis fans worldwide, with Spanish

great Rafael Nadal announcing his upcoming retirement. The 38-year-old King of Clay says November's Davis Cup with Spain will be his final professional tournament. CNN's Patrick Snell has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT (voice-over): Rafael Nadal sealed his first Grand Slam title at just 19, winning the French Open on his favorite clay court surface in 2005. The first of a record 14 men's singles crowns at Roland Garros, where even his greatest rivals had the utmost respect for him.

RAFAEL NADAL, SPANISH TENNIS GREAT: It wasn't clay, my problem. I think it was Rafa, my problem.

SNELL (voice-over): His last Grand Slam triumph came in 2022, fittingly again at Roland Garros. Nadal overcoming to beat Norway's Kasper Rude and bite into the famed Coupe des Mousquetaire one last time.

NADAL: In some way I know I am in an important part of the history of the sport and that makes me feel proud, happy.

SNELL (voice-over): Throughout his career, Nadal battled a series of foot, knee and wrist injuries, setbacks that helped shape perspectives when he was fit and healthy.

NADAL: It's true that when you are coming back after a long moments, victories are more special, more emotional. But I always know that that's not forever.

SNELL (voice-over): Nadal, Djokovic and Swiss legend Roger Federer thrilled fans during an unprecedented golden era of dominance for the sport's big three.

NADAL: We did beautiful things together and important things for our sport. And in terms of professional tennis career, I think we push each other to be better.

SNELL (voice-over): And nobody who saw Nadal's classic 2008 Wimbledon final victory against Federer will ever forget it. An epic five-set marathon regarded as one of the greatest matches ever played.

There were the emotional moments too, as Nadal shared with CNN in 2010, after injury problems and the end of his parents' marriage a year earlier, forced him to take a break from the sport.

UNKNOWN: Did you ever doubt that you're going to make that comeback? How hard did you?

NADAL: Sure, I have doubts like everybody. In that moment I didn't know if I was going to be another time at my best.

SNELL (voice-over): Nadal, who also won two Australian Open and two Wimbledon Crowns, along with four U.S. Open titles, would movingly wear his heart on his sleeve in 2022 when Federer announced his retirement from the sport at the Lever Cup. Once rivals, now close friends, both men emotionally holding hands as they fought back tears.

Nadal won a total of 22 Grand Slam singles titles, at the time a men's record. 16 of those triumphs were overseen by his coach and uncle, Tony Nadal, who'd introduced a then three-year-old Rafa to the sport. Rafa Nadal won over 90 times on the ATP Tour. He was also twice an Olympic gold medalist.

Always a class act on and off the court, Nadal is rightly regarded as the greatest clay court player of all time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Experts are set to reveal if they've solved a mystery dating from the late 1500s, Christopher Columbus' actual nationality.

[03:55:03]

Apparent remains of Christopher Columbus were unearthed in Seville, Spain in 2003. Since then, the bones have been undergoing DNA analysis. Several countries have argued over the final resting place of the explorer. Many historians question the theory that Columbus was from Italy. The findings of the research are due to be announced in a documentary to air on Spanish broadcaster TVE on Saturday.

Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Kim Brunhuber, in Atlanta. The news continues with Max Foster in London after the break.

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