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CNN This Morning

Liz Alpert is Interviewed about Hurricane Milton on Sarasota, Florida; Craig Fugate is Interviewed about Hurricane Milton Recovery; Jonathan Petramala is Interviewed about Hurricane Milton in the Tampa Bay Area; Orlando Takes Hit from Milton; The Latest on Hurricane Milton's Path; Kathleen Peters is Interviewed about Pinellas County. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired October 10, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

MAYOR LIZ ALPERT, SARASOTA, FLORIDA: And we can't get to the barrier islands yet to see what's happened out there.

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Well, that's certainly concerning, but it's -

ALPERT: Yes.

HUNT: I'm glad to hear that you have yet to have calls for - for rescue. That seems - that seems very promising.

ALPERT: That's -

HUNT: Madam Mayor -

ALPERT: Yes, that's very surprising.

HUNT: Yes, for sure.

Madam Mayor, I know you spoke with the president, Joe Biden, yesterday.

ALPERT: Yes.

HUNT: Can you tell us a little bit about what you talked about there and how you expect federal officials to respond to what's happened?

ALPERT: Well, he - he wanted to know, you know, how we were doing and, you know, wanted to know if there was anything we needed, and to let him know if we did. Gave me his phone number. And, you know, so it was very gratifying to hear directly from the president. It was very surprising when I picked up the phone and said this is President Biden.

So, you know, we've been getting the help we need from the federal government. A couple days ago I got a call from Secretary Buttigieg, said, you know, you know, there are possibly transportation dollars if we need anything like that. And, you know, so I've been really, really happy with how they've been just very - you know, making certain that we have what we need here in Sarasota and moving forward with all of the disaster assistance that we'll need.

And, you know, Secretary Scott also gave me a call. So, we feel like, you know, they noticed us here and they know we need help.

HUNT: Madam Mayor, as you try to assess the damage here as the sun comes up, one major issues is, of course, going to be restoring power.

ALPERT: Right.

HUNT: You talked about how yours is partially out. How big of a job do you expect that to be, and what can you tell your residents about how soon they may be able to expect that their lives will start to return to normal on that front?

ALPERT: I don't know, but I know, you know, FPL is - will, you know, is - is out. They were some - you know, they're part of our first in team that goes out to look and assess the damage.

Part of what will hinder them to get the job done is because of the trees across the road. And we're talking about really large trees. So, there's not like, you know, you can just clear a few branches and the roadways work. So - but that's what they're working on initially is just trying to get the major roadways where people can pass through and, of course, FPL trucks can pass through.

HUNT: All right, Sarasota Mayor Liz Alpert for us this morning. I know you've got a very long day ahead of you, so I really appreciate you taking some time to talk to us this morning.

ALPERT: Thank you, Kasie.

HUNT: Thanks.

OK, joining us now with what all of this recovery is going to look like is Craig Fugate. He is the former administrator of FEMA.

Sir, very grateful to have you here.

Let's - I just want to start with your kind of observations, understanding of the task at hand here for first responders as we watch this storm move kind of off the coast. It's now sort of affecting northeast Florida. We, of course, avoided the major storm surge that people feared. The worst fears were not realized in Tampa, but the winds for this storm were very, very intense.

What's next?

CRAIG FUGATE, FORMER FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: Well, as you start to hear, the search and rescue teams and the emergency responders are starting, and they're working basically as soon as conditions permit. So, they've started on the west coast. They'll be working their way through central Florida and over to the east coast. And that's the first stages, get in there, find where you got heavy damage and see if there's any search and rescue.

You know, we're hearing that 911 is up in many places. So, that should give us an indication that people are needing help, being able to call it.

But the next stage I think is the hard one. And that's for everybody that's been in their homes while the storm has passed over, and people that are evacuated, there's going to be this urge to get back quickly. And my - my advice is, don't. If your home and you're safe, stay there. Stay off the roads. It's very dangerous. If you've evacuated, stay where you're at because there's still a lot of hazards they got to clear. And it's going to take a little bit of time.

While all this is taking - going place, you know, FEMA is working with the state. They're looking at the types of damages and assistance that's going to be required again as the governor makes these requests. FEMA's going to be positioning to be able to support those - those needs. And for a lot of this is going to come down to people who didn't have insurance. And we start getting reports of damages.

You know, yesterday, we were hearing and seeing the impacts of the tornadoes. And as the sun comes up, we'll see what kind of physical damages we're seeing from this storm as this crossed the state.

HUNT: Yes.

Craig, you mentioned staying - people staying in their homes. I've heard others say that sometimes when we do lose people, it's in the aftermath of these storms. I mean what are the most dangerous things that people should take extreme care to avoid at this point?

[06:35:00]

FUGATE: Well, yes. I was the director in Florida when we got hit by four hurricanes. We actually saw greater loss of life after the storms. And they - they really come down to falls, carbon dioxide poisoning from running generators to close or in their homes, fatal car crashes when people are driving through areas where there's no traffic signals, there is debris. There's really, in many of these areas, just so many different hazards. Downed power lines, which people may not know if they're energized or not. And drownings. Surprisingly, you know, people in their homes are OK. But will they get out and they start driving or moving around, they fall into or drive into areas that are flooded mot realizing how deep it is.

So, it's - it's extremely dangerous. The emergency services folks are busy enough. So the - the thing we - we ask people is, stay home. If you need to get out and do some emergency work, fine, but be very careful. In fact, rather than getting so started today on - starting to make repairs, just check on your neighbors and make sure everybody's OK. And if you've evacuated, stay where you're at because it is not safety yet to get back into those communities. As local officials say, OK, it's safe, go back, but don't go back immediately. Just give them some time to get things cleared up this morning.

HUNT: Craig, we saw an incredible explosion of misinformation, conspiracy theories in the wake of Hurricane Helene, to the point that, you know, one Republican congressman in North Carolina had to put out this press release debunking line after line after line of things that were not happening. How does that kind of thing impede first responders, and what would you say to people about where they should get their information in the wake of this?

FUGATE: Well, just - it just takes a lot of energy to try to correct that information. The - the best source of information in this type of response is always going to be your local officials, your local mayors and county commissions. They're going to have the most accurate information. And I wouldn't - I wouldn't depend upon a lot of folks that are using social media and what they call influencers for your news. I'd get it from your local officials.

As FEMA assistance is being turned on by the president, FEMA will be clearly communicating that. And again, it's all kinds of rumors about FEMA assistance. The biggest thing is, if you're in an area of impact and you've been declared, you register with FEMA. The first thing they're going to say, do you have insurance? And if you have insurance, you know, apply your claim and see what's left. We know that a lot of people have flood damage that don't have flood insurance. We know a lot of people are going to have immediate needs. And FEMA will be their to support that.

But the biggest thing I tell people is, your best source of information on what's going on in your community is going to be your local officials.

HUNT: All right, Craig Fugate, the former administrator of FEMA.

Sir, very grateful for your time this morning. Thank you very much.

FUGATE: Thank you.

HUNT: All right, our breaking news coverage of Hurricane Milton continues next.

As we go to break, I want to show you a moment just after landfall. It shows you how strong the winds were for our colleague, Anderson Cooper, who was in Tampa when it hit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The water now is really starting to pour over. If you look at the ground - whoa. OK, that wasn't good. We'll probably go inside shortly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:43:00]

HUNT: All right, welcome back to CNN's breaking news coverage of Hurricane Milton as it churned through Florida overnight.

I'm joined now on the phone by Jonathan Petramala. He is a storm chaser who saw - filmed the aftermath of Hurricane Milton in the Tampa Bay area, including the roof of Tropicana Field. It is the baseball stadium where the Tampa Bay Rays play.

Jonathan, thank you for joining us here.

Tell us a little bit about what you saw throughout the night, how you got the video that we are all looking at right now. Just a remarkable scene.

JONATHAN PETRAMALA, STORM CHASER (via telephone): Surreal, really. Again, I live in St. Petersburg, so this is just a few minutes from my house. And everyone who sees this is just, you know, in awe because it shows really the force and the power of the winds from Hurricane Milton. And that was the - really the story in the Tampa Bay area. Most of the week the concern, of course, was the storm surge. But since the - the storm made landfall just to the south of the Tampa Bay area, that catastrophic, historic storm surge didn't pan out.

And that's great news for the Tampa Bay area. Not as good of news, though, for south of essentially Siesta Key, which is close to Sarasota and south of there. And that's where we spent most of our night, where we documented storm surge in areas like Venice and Port Charlotte, all the way down to Fort Myers. And there's a lot of damage most likely that's going to be caused by that storm surge in that area, similar to what we saw just a couple of weeks ago with Hurricane Helene here on Florida's west coast, which brought in, to this point, record storm surge.

So, it's going to be another clean-up. It's a one-two punch. And you just have to feel for everyone on the coast that's just dealing with one after another hurricanes this summer.

HUNT: Indeed, you really do.

[06:45:00]

And, of course, you - you're a resident there. I hope - I hope your loved ones are safe and sound at this point.

Can you take us to Siesta Key, the - what you saw in terms of some of the worst damage, the worst storm surge overnight. Again, we're still really waiting for the sun to come up in some of these areas.

PETRAMALA: Yes, so there's a couple things we have to battle for - once the sun comes up. Unfortunately, here in Florida, the state - the governor has requested a total flight restriction. So, essentially, it makes it almost impossible to be able to show folks what has happened. And that's going to really hinder us, as journalists, to be able to show exactly the impacts. And I feel like it kind of - it is the control of a narrative. So, it's an unfortunate situation.

But while the overnight hours we saw the storm surge coming into those low-lying areas and areas like Venice, that was on the southeast quadrant of the eye. So, that's where the largest part of the storm surge came at.

It didn't appear that the highest numbers that were issued by the National Hurricane Center, the 15 to 20 feet storm surge, I don't know if those numbers are going to verify just what we witnessed. We saw about seven feet or so of water in those low-lying areas. Still enough to cause catastrophic damage, major damage to homes and structures and businesses. We saw, you know, water well over the hood of cars. But again, we can't quite get into those areas at that point, especially when the storm surge is coming in. It's too dangerous. And now with - with daylight, we aren't sure how far we're going to be able to get in.

Typically, we could use tools like drones, like we are able to show you with Tropicana Field and give you a perspective and an idea and, you know, show you the reality on the ground. But, unfortunately, now, starting 7:00 a.m., because of Governor DeSantis' decree, we're not going to be able to do that, at least for 48 hours. And that's an unfortunate situation that we're going to have to deal with now as Hurricane Milton, especially with so many people that have evacuated, and they're just really at the edge of their seats wanting to see what the hurricane has left behind.

HUNT: And just clarifying, this is the governor, Ron DeSantis, who issued this order?

PETRAMALA: This is a - this is an order from the state. So, they - they ordered a TFR. It essentially memes that you can't fly. You can't fly a helicopter. You can't fly a drone. They're going to say that it interferes with rescue operations, which clearly that - there could be a conflict when you have helicopters coming in. But it also interferes with, you know, our ability to show folks back home.

And it's going to be a difficult return for people as well. Gas has been a problem now for three days when the mass evacuation occurred. It hasn't gotten better. The gas hasn't returned. There's a lot of gas stations that - that - if you go online and you look to see which gas stations have gas, they don't. And so it's going to be a really complicated return for folks. And again, it's going to be a mad rush for people to get back. They're not going to be able to see ahead of time what has happened to their properties because it's going to be more difficult for us as journalists to be able to gather that information now. And it's going to be difficult for them to even be able to get back because of the gas - the gas situation.

So, while the - the hurricane is gone, the problems that it's created is far from over here in west central Florida.

HUNT: All right, journalist Jonathan Petramala, based in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Jonathan, thank you very much for that.

And, of course, we have been continuing to cover Hurricane Milton throughout this morning. This historic storm carving its way through the heart of Florida overnight, spawning deadly tornadoes and catastrophic flooding. Millions are without power. We're only just beginning to grasp the scope of the devastation.

Let's get to our Victor Blackwell, who has been in Orlando all night long.

Victor, what did you see overnight? What are you - what are residents there grappling with now?

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we just heard from the mayor of Orlando, Buddy Dyer, who says that although the winds have calmed and the rain is taking a break, this is not over. He's asking everybody to shelter in place, continue to stay where they are. I mean Buddy Dyer was here for Ian two years ago, he was here for Charlie 20 years ago. So, he knows hurricanes and how they can impact this community. We're expecting to hear from him and EOC officials with more detailed later this morning.

While we're waiting to get a clearer picture of what it looks like here in Orange County, I checked with officials right next door in Brevard County, straight east here from Orange County. They've got more than 70 miles of coastline in Brevard County. Cape Canaveral is there. Cocoa Beach. Eighty-seven thousand or so customers without power. And a report of a tornado touched down there as well. No report of injuries according to county officials. We're still working to get some clarity from Cocoa Beach Police about that tornado that touched down.

[06:50:03]

Some damage to infrastructure. They did have to evacuate some people from an apartment building for some localized flooding there as well. A little more than 500 people who went to shelters in Brevard County. Far fewer than the thousands who went to shelters here in Orange County. About 2,600 here, about 1,000 in shelters in Osceola County, which is straight south.

So, those people possibly will be able, once the sun comes up, once their communities are searched, will be able to go back to their homes.

But as you talked about with Jonathan just a few moments ago, everybody's waiting for the sun to come up. We're getting just glimpses through these reports from local officials of what calls they got overnight. And we'll get you more from Cocoa Beach as soon as we can get details on that tornado that they say touched down there.

HUNT: All right, our Victor Blackwell for us this morning.

Victor, thank you very much for that.

Let's go now to our meteorologist, Derek Van Dam, with the latest on where this storm is as it, of course, churned across Florida overnight.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

HUNT: Derek, what are you seeing now?

VAN DAM: Yes, it maintained its category one status, even as it exited off the Cape Canaveral coastline. You can see the spin right there. Still gusting, tropical storm force in Daytona Beach, northward into other areas near the - the Georgia-Florida border. But it dumped a lot of rain. This is a big story that we need to

highlight here because that swath of pink that you see there is ten inches plus. In St. Petersburg alone, where they clocked in over 18 inches of rain, a foot and a half of rain in a three-hour time span. They received over three times their monthly average rainfall totals. That is incredible. That's why we're seeing the unfolding flood that is taking place across the central parts of Florida.

Now, there's still flash flood warnings for some of these locations as well. Daytona Beach, Deltona. Population there just over 750,000. And with that wind coming on shore on the back side of departing Hurricane Milton, it is still bringing the storm surge threat right here, three to five feet, extending as far north as Georgia.

This is incredible. As the storm sliced through the Florida peninsula, it knocked down trees. We have multiple reports of power outages because of those fallen trees. Three million plus customers without power.

And then you heard Victor talk about the tornado that we're trying to get some more details in southern Florida. This is in advance of Hurricane Milton's arrival. The outer rain bands caused over 126 tornado warnings, which is the most tornado warnings ever issued in one day across the state of Florida. And here is one of those just incredible video spottings of a tornado crossing a major road here in southern Florida.

Kasie.

HUNT: Just remarkable video there.

Derek Van Dam for us.

Derek, thank you very much.

And we are going to continue our breaking news coverage tracking Hurricane Milton next. And as morning dawns in Florida, people begin surveying the damage. In St. Petersburg, a mangled mess after a crane collapses into an apartment building. One witness said it sounded like a train crash.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:57:42]

HUNT: All right, welcome back to CNN's coverage. Breaking news coverage of Hurricane Milton.

In just a few hours, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell will hold a press conference to give an update on the damage from Hurricane Milton. And in Tampa, the worst not yet over. High tide in Tampa just minutes from now, 7:00 a.m. Officials there warning it could flood all over again.

Let's go now to Tampa, Florida, where Pinellas County Commission Chair Kathleen Peters joins us now. Kathleen, what are you bracing for as the sun starts to come up?

KATHLEEN PETERS, COMMISSION CHAIR, PINELLAS COUNTY COMMISSION, DISTRICT 6: Well, it's mostly assessing damage. We have 410,000 people without power here. Many, many power lines down, trees down, as you expected. Of course you've reported about Tropicana Field.

Our - our biggest issue, I think, right now is in St. Petersburg. They've had a main waterline burst, which is affecting five hospitals, 22 ALF's and seven - nine - nine dialysis centers. So, we're doing everything we can to bring resources in to move those patients, if we have to move them, and ensure that we have additional dialysis centers available for people that need those services.

HUNT: What have you been looking at in terms of needing to rescue people throughout the night as this has unfolded?

PETERS: So, I have not gotten that report at this time. I did get the report that they were not allowing emergency crews at some point, when the winds were over 100 miles an hour, to be going out for rescues. But I apologize, I don't have those numbers yet. I don't think the rescued numbers were as high as we expected. But most of our rescues has been hospitals. Our Largo HCA Hospital had flooding in the basement, and they were having power issues, so we had to move patients and get other resources there.

So, it really is those most critical that we focused on.

HUNT: So, at this - at this point, the hospital rescues are really your preeminent focus here as you're waiting to assess more?

PETERS: Yes. The - the lack of water supply is a big issue for those hospitals and the ALF's and the nursing homes. So, getting that water line fixed and ensuring that those patients have the resources they need to - to ensure that we meet their medical needs and the safety.

[07:00:07]

HUNT: All right, Kathleen Peters of Pinellas County, very grateful for you to take us - for you - to you for taking some time with us this morning as I know you have so much ahead of you today.

All right, thanks to all of you for joining us this morning. I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN's special coverage of Hurricane Milton and the rescue efforts across Florida continues now.