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Quest Means Business
Deadly Milton Leaves Florida with Flooding and Damage in its Wake; Red Cross Working to Support Hurricane Recovery; Lebanese Officials: At Least 22 Killed, 117 Wounded; Naples Zoo Cleans Up After Dangerous Hurricane; Chemistry Nobel Prize Winner Says It's Like a Dream; United Airlines Plans Major International Expansion. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired October 10, 2024 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:11]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Closing bell ringing on Wall Street at the moment. Don't be fooled. This massive sea of
red is not that frightening. We are only off about 60 odd points on the Dow.
Charles Schwab closing bell, that I would say is a firm, steady but uninspiring gavel. But the market as I say, not too bad. That's a lot of
red, but only 57 points down.
Those are the markets and these are the stories you and I are talking about tonight.
Search and rescue underway. The first responders moving through deep floodwaters, freeing those people trapped by Hurricane Milton.
US inflation continues its bumpy dissent towards two percent, not there yet, but well, on the way. It is like a dream. The chief executive of
Googles DeepMind talks to us about winning the Nobel Prize for chemistry.
We are live in London on Thursday. It is October 10th, I am Richard Quest and yes, I mean business.
Good evening.
The hurricane may have gone, the storm is still there and the cleanup and recovery is underway. Three million homes and businesses are without power
in Florida as the outer bands of the storm continue now across the eastern part of the state, and the water rescue continues.
There have been a hundred at least rescued from an assisted living facility in Tampa and the residents were wading through waste deep water.
President Biden spoke when he condemned the spread of misinformation about recovery efforts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Those who engage in such lies are undermining the confidence in the rescue and recovery work that's
opening and ongoing as I speak are continuing.
These lies are also harmful to those who most need help. Lives around the line. People are in desperate situations. Have the decency to tell them the
truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The storm caused deadly tornadoes and that worsened dramatically the destruction.
CNN's Randi Kaye is in Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It kind of hits home. It is really hard to see, it is kind of spooky to see all the damage.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Hours after Hurricane Milton moved off the coast of Florida, Floridians are surveying the extensive
damage which across the state.
There were a number of confirmed dead in St. Lucie County over 100 miles from where the storm made landfall following tornadoes.
MICHAEL BRENNAN, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER DIRECTOR: The tornadoes we saw develop yesterday and Milton were really kind of supercharged compared to
the typical tornadoes you see in a hurricane environment.
KAYE (voice over): New drone footage shows Milton's destruction on the West Coast of Florida where the hurricane made landfall as a Category Three
storm.
The storm's monstrous winds, ripping the roof of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg to shreds and downing several cranes in downtown St. Petersburg.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Things can be replaceable, but life cannot.
KAYE (voice over): In Fort Myers, Robert Haight says he got his pregnant wife and kids to a safe spot just moments before tornado bore down on them.
ROBERT HAIGHT, FORT MYERS, FLORIDA RESIDENT: I saw the tornado coming. I yelled at my wife to go look at it, it is cool, get the wife to look at it.
Started to get close at the trees, and we all started going for the hallway. Didn't even make it there on time, so we sort of through to -- and
I heard a piece of glass break and sucked the whole roof off and I felt the thing suck me up, I grab my kid and my wife and hunkered down.
KAYE (voice over): Another Fort Myers' homeowner says the storm ripped his home apart in a matter of minutes.
CONNOR RERIN, FORT MYERS, FLORIDA RESIDENT: All of this just happened instantaneously. These windows blew out. I was about probably right here
when it happened.
KAYE (voice over): One Tampa business owner braved floodwaters to assess the damage to his commercial property Thursday.
DANIEL BARN, TAMPA, FLORIDA RESIDENT: I don't know what to say. It is a lot. Born and raised here, never seen anything like this.
BILL FORQUER, FLORIDA, RESIDENT: With Helene, for the first time we had storm surge and took on water in the 20 bottom units. Now with Milton here,
we've lost the brand new car ports. Our dock is destroyed.
KAYE (voice over): While many evacuees are hoping to soon return home, hard-hit Sarasota's chief of Emergency Management is urging people to hold
on a little longer.
SANDRA TAPFUMANEYI, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT CHIEF, SARASOTA COUNTY, FLORIDA: It is still dangerous out there, so were asking for residents just to stay
put. You know, we know a lot of people evacuated, which we appreciate, but we need some time to clear everything so that it is safe for them to
return.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Now, Tampa recorded winds of up to a hundred miles an hour and 160 an hour. The local sheriff said he rescued a 14-year-old boy that he found
floating on a piece of fence. He was trying to return from a friend's house when he realized he could not get through the waters.
In Punta Gorda, several boats washed ashore, and then onto the streets.
[16:05:03]
Isabel Rosales is in Tampa, and I know from when we've spoken before, it is not quite home territory to you, but it is certainly very familiar these
areas.
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Richard, that it is because I lived in the Tampa Bay area actually for five years. I worked and lived here. I knew
Sheriff Chad Chronister for many years, having worked here and I was -- I am kind of stunned by watching him near tears looking at the devastation
around here.
And that is because I came to learn that 33 years ago, as a rookie deputy, he started here in this area of the university -- the university area of
Hillsborough County. Now, this is known as Uptown.
So this is a community he knows very, very well. And now look at it. Now look at it, Richard, just underwater. And if you see that sign right there,
Great American Assisted Living, this is where Sheriff Chronister's deputies came out first thing this morning to rescue 135 residents here, many of
them who cannot even walk.
They are using wheelchairs. They are using walkers. There are on medication. They are using oxygen tanks. So a very precarious medical
situation.
They were taken out of here via a vehicle that can go through these floodwaters and then bused over to a makeshift shelter to get them you
know, blankets, food, water, and help them out in these situations.
I spoke with Theresa, one of those 135 that were rescued and here is what she told me she saw.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THERESA, ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY RESIDENT: Well, I was in bed, obviously in and I didn't realize it was flooded at first, then then I heard crash
and I had the refrigerator and a microwave on top of it. It just blew out. It's on the floor. It's broken.
I mean, it was coming up in my bed, into my bed. I mean, it got -- it was terrible.
ROSALES: That sounds terrifying.
THERESA: The water was so cold, you know, and I am missing a shoe, my brace shoe and I don't know where it is on the wet floor, it was somewhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSALES: HSO has rescued about 200 people from this area alone, but listen, Richard, it is not just the human beings who have been impacted here, but
take a look right over there.
You see that? Look it that poor cat up there on the second floor. It doesn't even know where to go. Like where do you go when you have
floodwaters? Sure, these are reaching maybe two to three feet over here, but in other parts, deeper in the community. I mean, that was up to chest
level -- Richard.
QUEST: Right. So we were listening to the president earlier and he talks about the misinformation. Now, at one level that's political on a grand
scale and it is a long way in a sense, from where you are. But in a real sense it is exactly where you are, Isabel, because the people who are
affected have to now live their lives and they are hearing all sorts of stories.
What are you hearing from what they're telling you?
ROSALES: Right, and actually I did hear somebody shouting here earlier about FEMA, clearly upset. This has been one of the patterns that we've
heard about misinformation of how much FEMA has money to handle these disasters. A lot of rumors, false information.
And by the way, this was something that Sheriff Chad Chronister told me about that he is frustrated in sickened by the amount of misinformation
online that it does get in the way of them providing the help that they need to this community.
But listen, in terms of turning the next page. This is going to be very difficult. Sure, the floodwaters are going to recede, but these residents,
they are dealing with a mess. This is a heavily Latino community, living paycheck to paycheck, the sheriff told me, so this is not going to be easy.
It is going to be a long road to recovery.
QUEST: Grateful that you are there to bring the moment to us. I am grateful. Thank you.
Now, several rivers in Florida are at or near historic levels and the forecasters are warning the flooding there could last for days. Eighteen
people rescued from an apartment complex in Clearwater. Crews were able to use inflatable boats and go door-to-door.
Now, this Holiday Inn near Tampa, they were trapped by floodwaters overnight, so obviously everybody moved upstairs.
Grace Meinhofer is the national spokesperson for the American Red Cross. Grace is with me.
What do you need to help people? What is the most urgent need now?
GRACE MEINHOFER, NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON, AMERICAN RED CROSS: Hi, Richard. Thank you for having me.
The most important thing is that people stay informed and they know -- they are aware of what the local and state officials are saying.
The need for the Red Cross right now is three things. Number one is if you want to sign up to become a volunteer, visit RedCross.org. People who are
outside of the Florida areas, please donate blood. We want to ensure that we have the inventory necessary to supply for the weeks ahead, and a
financial donation is the quickest way for us to serve the people from Florida and provide the needs that they are going to have.
[16:10:08 ]
The Red Cross have been here for weeks now. This is a second disaster that we are responding in the last two weeks. We have provided refugees -- we
have provide food, water -- a lot of the things that the community is going to need.
QUEST: It is a sort of you've done it -- the marvelous work that you do, you do again and again and you don't get wary or tired by it. How come?
MEINHOFER: Well, you know, we try not to look like were tired, but it is a lot. It is long hours, sometimes 10 to 12 hours trying to make sure that
the community has what it needs and providing multiple services.
Not only do we provide shelter support, but we have emergency response vehicles that are on the ground that are going to be distributing meals,
water, cleaning supplies, which is going to be very important at the path of the storm. We have to make sure that the people stay healthy and clean
out their home.
People at the shelters, let's keep in mind, this is not just the shelter to spend a night. People that are affected that might not be able to go to
their homes now can go to a shelter, but people who can go to their homes and don't have electricity, for example, they could come to a shelter and
charge their phones, have a good meal, talk to one of our spiritual carer or talk to our disaster mental health volunteers that are there to provide
the hope that care and hugs that they're going to need in the next few weeks ahead.
QUEST: You see that is the point. Long after our cameras have necessarily moved on because there is another crisis de jure in the world, these people
will be living with the remnants of Helene and Milton and Ian and all the other hurricanes both in the past and those still to come.
MEINHOFER: Yes, the recovery process is very different for communities and it is very different for each disaster, but long-term recovery for these
communities can take months or can take years.
I mean, we've had long-term recovery that have lasted over a year, for example, for Hurricane Irma, for Hurricane Maria, it was two-year long term
recovery efforts that the Red Cross had in Puerto Rico, so it is very important to know that we are not just here prior and during the disaster.
We are going to be here for as long as the community needs us.
And for people who are affected, please visit RedCross.org or call 1-800- RED-CROSS to find out what help you need, to know where the shelters are located and to have a program and a place to understand what your long-term
recovery is going to look like.
QUEST: I am grateful to you, Grace for joining us. I will let you get back to the superb work that you and your colleagues are doing and please, our
thanks for everything, not just the Red Cross from where you are, but the Red Cross and the Red Crescent and the organizations worldwide in the
magisterial work that you do. Thank you.
MEINHOFER: Thank you, Richard.
QUEST: Now, we will turn our attention after the break to our normal diet of conversation that you and I go through.
US inflation has fallen to roughly where it was before the pandemic and it is the last CPI report before the presidential election, in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:15:55]
QUEST: Twenty-two people were killed, at least according to Lebanese officials after an Israeli airstrike in Central Beirut.
The witnesses say, one of the strikes leveled a residential building and as you can see, the rescue operation continues.
A separate incident closer to the Israeli border is drawing international outrage. The UN Peacekeeping Force for Lebanon says in Israeli tank fired
on its headquarters and wounded two peacekeepers.
Italy, which has peacekeepers there is furious and its prime minister has summoned the Israeli Ambassador in Rome over the incident, called it a
clear violation of international law.
Ben Wedeman is in Tyre in Lebanon.
Bring me up-to-date, please, sir.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: These strikes you mentioned took place mid evening in Beirut, but not the southern suburbs,
Richard, which have been a frequent target of Israeli strikes by day and by night, but this time within the city limits of Beirut, really in the heart
of Beirut, and one of those strikes, it appears to have been attempted targeted assassination where the third floor of an eight-floor building was
hit.
But in another strike not far away, it was a four-story residential building in a very densely populated area that completely collapsed. As you
mentioned, the preliminary death toll, the death toll has been rising over the last few hours, now 22 with 117 injuries.
Now, there have been reports in the Israeli media that the target of this attack was Wafiq Safa, who is sort of Hezbollah's diplomat, responsible for
external relations, but a source in Hezbollah has assured CNN that he had fact survived this assassination attempt.
Now of course, what we've seen over the last few months actually, going back to 30th July, is Israel has been targeting systematically senior
members of Hezbollah's particularly military wing.
But of course, just over two weeks ago, they did assassinate Hassan Nasrallah, the head of that organization. But as I said, in this instance,
it appears according to a source in Hezbollah that the reported, the alleged victim of this or target of this assassination attempt has survived
-- Richard.
QUEST: Ben, I realize you're not in Israel or you're not covering necessarily that side of the story, but in terms of the fact, you know, the
Israelis are still deciding how they are going to respond to the Iranian missile attack, how much nervousness is there in Lebanon about that Israeli
response?
We believe that the Cabinet has met to discuss and decide. And of course, again, the repercussions they felt region-wide.
WEDEMAN: There is not particular nervousness regarding whether Lebanon will be involved in any sort of Israeli response. The worry is the wider
repercussions because we have heard Iranian officials say if Israel strikes certain targets, the oil industry, for instance that Iran will strike back
at other oil installations in the region, not necessarily belonging to Israel at all, but neighboring countries.
And that if this becomes a back-and-forth of missile strikes between Israel and Iran, then this really could sort of descend into a full scale regional
war involving Iran-Israel-Lebanon-Yemen-Syria-Iraq and so forth.
So the fear is that this could be the tipping point to that sort of devastating war that has been feared really, going back to October of last
year.
[16:20:00]
But at the moment, I must stress that most people in Lebanon are far more concerned with sort of the daily events here where we are seeing, as I
said, continued airstrikes in Beirut here in the south. Throughout the day, we've been hearing loud explosions, Israeli jets breaking the sound barrier
over our head. We've seen rockets being fired out of South Lebanon into Israel, so really people are more focused on their immediate environment
than the grand geostrategic picture -- Richard.
QUEST: Ben, I am grateful, as always, you put it in perfect context. Thank you, sir.
Inflation, let's add into our agenda, our normal talking point -- inflation in the United States has cooled to its lowest pace in three-and-a-half
years. The CPI - Consumer Price Index rose 2.4 percent in the 12 months ending in September, similar to where it was during the pandemic. There you
are. You see, maybe just marginally elevated, but pretty much where it was.
This is the last look at CPI before the US election. The economy is a key issue according to Gallup. Fifty-two percent of people say the candidates'
positions are extremely important, which is the largest share since the 2008 financial crisis.
Rana is with me, Rana Foroohar, to put this into context.
So look, I had an interesting discussion because when my producer said 2.4 percent or whatever, I said, well, yes, but that's still nearly a quarter
higher than the target.
And so the target was -- they were already above the target when the whole thing -- when pear-shaped. Will the Fed be happy with 2.4 percent?
RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: You know, I think we are still going to see a quarter percentage point cut in November, probably in
December.
This report is interesting because it gives both sides something to like are not like. The White House is going to be saying, hey, look, we are back
to where we were before the pandemic. Okay, maybe it is not quite target yet, but look at what we've done with all of these headwinds coming at us
and there is a lot to be said for that.
In particular, I think they are going to be pointing that shelter has eased up, rents, housing. That is one of those pain points that people really
feel. And so you're going to hear them talking a lot about that.
But on the other hand, when you strip out food and energy, core CPI was actually up, and as you say, it is still not at target.
So you already hear the Trump campaign saying, oh, my gosh, it is going to be disaster if we let this White House continue. I personally think that we
are in a pretty good place. I think this is better than I would have expected. It gives a little fuel -- it is a little bit of fuel to those who
might have said, oh gosh, we shouldn't have done well that big half- percentage-point cut in September.
But, I feel pretty certain that this is not going to be any kind of a big policy disaster before the election.
QUEST: I never know with you, ma'am whether you're a dove or a hawk. Sometimes, you go one way. Sometimes I think, oh, there is Rana again,
dovish Rana and then you flap your wings and you become a monetarist hawk.
FOROOHAR: You know, it is true, and it actually reflects the fact that I have never seen in my 33 years of doing economic journalism a moment in
time where monetary policy, labor market, inflation was more difficult to predict because I think the pandemic decoupling all the changes that we
know have really thrown things up in the air.
It is just -- we can't look at historical trends and predict this moment, I don't think.
QUEST: And related to that, I mean -- not the decoupling, but you know, you've got Europe, which of course is weaker or might need more support.
FOROOHAR: Yes.
QUEST: You have the UK where I am tonight, they've got the budget coming up, which is not -- which is going to be an austerity budget without
actually calling it an austerity budget and the geopolitical aspects are horrific.
We heard Ben Wedeman a moment ago just talking about, God forbid, attacks on oil fields.
FOROOHAR: Absolutely. I mean, you know, decoupling is inflationary, reindustrialization is inflationary.
You know, the end of cheap money, you know, I just don't think we are going to -- we are not going to be back to the 70s, but we are not going back to
the 90s. You know, we are in a totally different environment and I haven't even added in natural disasters, the strained US labor market dynamics
where suddenly we are booming even though a lot of people feel a little bit more insecure than in the past.
Very, very difficult to figure out the underlying trends right now and where they are going to take us.
QUEST: I've decided you're a swan, graceful --
FOROOHAR: Oh, I like that.
QUEST: You are graceful on the top, while the rest of us pedaling furiously underneath.
Good to see, Rana.
FOROOHAR: Oh, you know it.
QUEST: Thank you.
FOROOHAR: Bye-bye.
QUEST: Thank you for being with me tonight.
As you and I continue our evening conversation, everybody was affected with Hurricane Milton. The zoo, I am talking of animals and birds in Naples,
Florida. How it kept the animals safe in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:28:11]
QUEST: Hello, I am Richard Quest. There is more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment. I will be talking to the president of Naples Zoo. Some of
their animals rode out Hurricane Milton at orthodox shelters.
The chief executive of Google's DeepMind tells Anna Stewart his Nobel Prize win feels like a dream.
You will hear all of that, but only after the news, because this is CNN and on this network, the news comes first.
The Red Crescent now says at least 28 people were killed in the Israeli airstrike on a school turned shelter in Gaza. Dozens of people were also
injured. One witness says the strike happened as children were playing in the school yard. Israel says it hit a terrorist operation at the command
and control center.
Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Robert F. Kennedy has died at the age of 96. She emerged as a human rights and environmental activists after her
husband's death.
In 2014, she was awarded the presidential Medal of Freedom. She was hospitalized last week after suffering a stroke.
Tennis' great player Rafael Nadal says he will play his last professional match next month. Injuries have limited his play in the last two years. He
won 22 Grand Slam titles. The second-most in men's history.
He will retire after playing for Spain in the Davis Cup Finals.
To our top story, Florida is dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Milton following the storm as it went through the state overnight.
Milton has brought severe flooding and destruction to many coastal areas. Officials said at least 12 people have been killed and tornadoes -- by the
storm itself and the tornadoes. And more than three million homes and businesses are without power. The officials also say the damage could have
been far worse.
Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis believes the worst-case scenario has been avoided. The storm made landfall late on Wednesday night. Our teams were
covering it. So when you look at the damage that we told you earlier here's how it happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We're coming to you from Bradenton. We have just gotten word that Hurricane Milton, the eye, has made landfall in
Siesta Key.
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: We got slopped, we got so much more of the rain. That's -- there goes the hat. And now it's really
gusting. That was a monster. That was take your breath away. Whoa, watch out, watch out. Now we're seeing signs start to fly, boys. Back up, back
up, back up. There's a construction sign that just about to blow through this intersection.
COOPER: You can get a sense of just how fast the wind is moving there. You can see it in the light there. It is now just whipping off the Manatee
River. It's coming in from kind of the north, I guess northeast, and the water now is really starting to pour over. If you look at the ground --
whoa. OK. That wasn't good.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In downtown Tampa, on Howard Avenue, and it is about the worst it's been all night. You can see the violence of this
storm right around me. It's starting to flood the street. We've had six inches of rain in the last couple of hours. We're going to get another five
to eight inches of rain in the next probably five hours here. And just look at this. I mean, it is -- the word is violent.
COOPER: Just take a look at this. This is a tree that has been uprooted. The roots are still -- the patch of ground it was in is still connected.
There's actually like a water pipe that's I guess -- in part of the root system that is now still connected and pouring water out of the pipe. But
the tree is almost completely knocked over. That's been knocked over by the wind.
WEIR: But, Anderson, I -- years ago, we covered Katrina at the same time and that was a kind of once in 100 years sort of lifetime storm that there
were primetime concerts and specials and fundraisers. The whole country was focused on that disaster for so long. But now these storms come and we
don't have time to absorb the last one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Bill Weir and Anderson. Now the zoo in Naples, Florida, says its animals are safe and being returned today in enclosures. The wildlife
center has been closed since Monday because of the flooding. Many of its animals like this anteater were taken inside before Milton hit. And these
southern scream of birds, well, they spent the storm in a bathroom.
Jack Mulvena is this zoo's president and CEO. He joins me from Florida.
Firstly, sir, thank you. Just a simple thank you for the magnificent work that you and your colleagues to keep the animals safe because this is,
obviously it's a labor of love, but it's essential. What was your biggest challenge?
JACK MULVENA, PRESIDENT, NAPLES ZOO AT CARIBBEAN GARDENS: Well, you know, before I say that, Richard, thanks for having me and our thoughts and
prayers are with residents in, you know, communities all over Florida that are dealing with this, and to our colleagues up in Tampa in central
Florida. You know, are our biggest concern was just making sure that we were prepared adequately for whatever this brought. You know, whatever the
storm brought to Naples.
QUEST: And as you dealt with the animals, I mean, what was the most complicated or difficult or perplexing animal to deal with?
MULVENA: Well, you know, you know, honestly we have an exhibit here where we have our lemurs, our mongoose, our mongoose lemurs, our siamang gibbons.
They all live out on islands in late 24/7 and coaxing them in to come inside is probably always our greatest challenge, because we'd like it to
be their choice.
QUEST: How did they react? Because their inmate sensitivity to natural phenomena, you know, we're familiar with the stories of dogs howling at
tsunamis. They know bad weather is coming. They know extreme weather is on the way.
Can you see that in their reaction? Do they show obvious realization of hurricane?
MULVENA: We, honestly, Richard, we don't see a lot of that. You know, the animals themselves are pretty acclimated to this region.
[16:35:04]
We all have subtropical animals here at Naples Zoo. So it's, you know, it's really just a matter of getting them to cooperate with us, but that's a --
you know, that's a product of a long time and a long process of our animal care and our staff and keepers, you know, establishing trust with those
animals.
QUEST: The reality of course is also that you're going to have to do this again. I don't know whether it's next month or in the new year, but you
know, I know, they admit to dirty little secret that nobody wants to say too much about. But you're going to go through this again many times.
MULVENA: Yes. We actually kick off our hurricane season with an all staff and I basically told them that. You know, it's going to be a year -- you
know, and Richard, it's not only the storms that hit us. It's every storm we have to prepare for whether it's heading our way or not. You know, we --
our preparation philosophy here is we're going to treat each storm as if it's going to be a hurricane direct hit on Naples Zoo, and to not do
anything different, and, you know, hope for the best but plan for the worst. But you're right. They keep coming.
QUEST: It's fascinating. I mean, because you just have to make sure that the animals are safe.
MULVENA: Yes, I mean, really that's what it's about. You know, our commitment here to the animals and the animals' welfare, their care, and
then secondarily to our staff because it's this fabulous, committed.
QUEST: Yes. Yes.
MULVENA: Unbelievable staff that take care of these animals and, you know, they all have families and homes, you know, it's hard to distinguish. I
would say their priorities 1-A and 1-B.
QUEST: Grateful to have you, sir. Thank you for talking to us tonight.
MULVENA: Thank you, Richard.
QUEST: Now, Elisa Raffa is with me. What and where is this storm? I'm looking at pictures of the ravages in a sense that the beach communities
and the full extent of what we're seeing at the moment.
So where's the dangers now? What's happening?
ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We still have some storm surge on the east coast of Florida, but this storm was just so far-reaching. It impacted the
west and east coast of Florida.
I want to show you that the first advisory forecast track from the National Hurricane Center that was issued was only just a few miles from what
actually happened. So we had very good confidence that it was going to impact the west coast of Florida. But look at what happened along the way.
We had a lot of wobbles. And this stressed out a lot of meteorologists, all these little kind of jog to the left and jog to the right that it took to
get to that path that we were expecting it to take.
And you could see again it wound up being a few miles difference. But this was incredibly important for us to monitor all these little jogs because it
really wound up determining who got the worst of the storm surge, particularly in Tampa Bay because of the way their bay is shaped. When you
look at the Tampa Bay area, we wound up getting that landfall just to the south of Tampa Bay. With it just to the south, that takes offshore winds
into the bay which pulls the water out and you get the receding rebirth the surge that (INAUDIBLE) wound up saving Tampa Bay from a lot of that worst-
case scenario.
We also had prolific tornadoes in this one. I will say it is common to get tornadoes and a landfalling hurricane. You have a spinning system with a
lot of moisture hitting friction on land so you get tornadoes. But you don't get these. You usually get the smaller ef-zeroes, ef-1s. These were
massive destructive tornadoes. In fact, the National Weather Service confirming that at least one was an ef-3 and that it is incredibly rare.
We had more than 126 tornado warnings just in one day. That set a record across the state, records that were set not that long ago, 2017, in Irma,
it was the last time we had, you know, as many warnings. And again, that record was 69 and we had 126. Prolific amount of tornado warnings for the
spin-ups that we were getting in the outer bands. We even hit top five with Helene. That was just two weeks ago.
Another thing to note about Milton was it was a little bit lopsided. As it got closer to Florida and interacting with the front that has wind shear
change and wind speed and direction with height, which made the hurricane, you can see here, a little tilted, a little lopsided. So it wound up having
more of its juice on the north side of it, which put that footprint of heavy rain on the opposite side of the storm that we usually see.
We typically see the heavier rain coming in from the dirtier side of the storm to the south. But because of the way this one was kind of sheared and
lopsided, you had more of that heavy rain to the north and this footprint of heavy rain was prolific. You had a foot to a foot and a half of rain.
All of this pink and purple stripe that you see here from Tampa through Orlando all the way to the east coast. And that's what's causing some of
the incredible flooding around the Tampa Bay area.
St. Pete got 18 inches of rain. Again, Tampa more, 10 inches of rain. That's what's causing the flooding and you cannot evacuated from that type
of flooding because it comes from the sky and can happen far inland -- Richard.
[16:40:11]
QUEST: I'm grateful. Thank you very much.
Now, the chief executive of Google's DeepMind LLM is one of this year's winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He's been talking to Anna Stewart.
Now if there's one person that knows about the future of AI it's him and he's talking to one of our reporters and correspondents who's an expert as
well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEMIS HASSABIS, NOBEL PRIZE WINNER AND CEO OF GOOGLE DEEPMIND: I'm actually very optimistic we're going to solve the problems given enough time and
enough smart people working on it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: The winner of this year's Nobel Prize for Chemistry says he hopes to inspire people to focus on AI in the world.
Anna Stewart, who will be with me in just a moment, caught up with Demis Hassabis, the CEO of Google DeepMind, and asked him if the news of his
winning a Nobel Laureate had (INAUDIBLE).
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HASSABIS: To be honest, it hasn't at all. It still seems, it's like a dream really, and it's very surreal. And it's still -- it still is today.
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I would think it's interesting with this application because this is one of those applications of AI that people may
not even know about. They may not know that a drug or a treatment they have in the future is the result of AlphaFold.
Do you wish that there was less conversation, less focus on AI chatbots, and more focus here?
HASSABIS: While I think it's -- I mean, I think that's what's great about this recognition as well from the Nobel Committee is it does shine a
spotlight on other types of AI that are happening. They're not chatbots like you said. Start making a massive impact in the world, but maybe more
specialized areas like science or biology, or medicine, and I hope it inspires many other people to work on those types of AI systems that can
help the world, you know, be a huge benefit to the world in these other ways.
STEWART: You know, it's interesting. You're so positive when you talk about AI despite the risks, but there are some AI pioneers like Yoshua Bengio or
Geoffrey Hinton, who are much gloomier about the outlook. Is your sense that overall AI will be a force for good?
HASSABIS: Yes, of course. So I'm in the middle ground. There are people on both extremes I would say that are very worried about the risks and focus
mostly on those, and then there are others that are, you know, saying there's nothing to worry about.
[16:45:03]
You know, I'm not in either of those camps really. I think that there's a lot of unknowns is what I would say. So I'm not actually -- I'm actually
very optimistic we're going to solve the problems given enough time and enough smart people working on it.
STEWART: AI is taking the prize for physics and chemistry in terms of the Nobel Prize. Do you think it'll ever get the Peace Prize?
(LAUGHTER)
HASSABIS: I don't -- I can't see how that could be possible anytime soon, but, you know, you never say never.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Anna is with me now.
All this business about proteins and with AI, and I always thought protein was something for the gym.
STEWART: The protein question is huge. I had no idea that AlphaFold, which is this AI program that helps predict protein structures, I thought, well,
what does that mean? You know, why is it relevant?
Proteins, Richard, behind every single biological process in the body. You know about some of them. Hemoglobin, insulin, antibodies, for instance, are
a type of protein. Drugs need to be designed to fit onto them essentially.
Now, finding out what a protein looks like turns out really difficult, not even microscopic, smaller than that. It's impossible. It takes years,
hundreds of hours.
QUEST: So how does this help? So could you get really geeky about this sort of stuff?
STEWART: Of course I can. And since 2020, AlphaFold has discovered 200 million protein structures and open sourced it.
QUEST: Right.
STEWART: Researchers around the world know what their target is.
QUEST: DeepMind is a deep -- it's not a secret. Everybody knows about it. But it's Google, I mean, it is so way ahead of everybody else, DeepMind.
STEWART: When we talk about AI, there is this temptation for people to think about chatbots, to think about AI assistance. AI is changing health
care, is changing medicine, at a rate that I can't even express. It will impact everyone's life but you might not know it. It's so --
QUEST: I was talking to Noubar who is the guy from the vaccines, the COVID vaccines, and -- at a panel recently, and absolutely AI's biggest
contribution is going to be medicine, AlphaFold.
STEWART: AlphaFold is already being used, one of the -- for malaria vaccines. A better vaccine for malaria. Just one of thousands of examples.
QUEST: Meanwhile, viewers are watching, they're thinking, you idiot Quest. You're talking about Moderna. I completely forgot the name at the heat of
the moment, but Noubar, the CEO of New Moderna, was saying this is what it's going to be about.
All right. Got to move on. I'll have a protein drink. Thank you.
United Airlines has revealed several new international routes for next summer. In just a moment, that's Patrick Quayle. He's the senior vice
president of Global Network Planning. He'll tell us about the new destinations. Why, why these? Why these? And also tells us about planning
for a hurricane in a moment.
QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:50:31]
QUEST: Tampa Airport in Florida will open tomorrow after the hurricane has gone through and multiple airports across the state remain close as the
damages assessed. It includes Orlando and Tampa, and they'll return in the morning.
To get a sense of the disruption, this is what air traffic over Florida looks like on a normal day. Just about a week ago. Lots, if you could just
see, the sort of traffic. Now the skies had emptied out when the storm struck, as you can see, nothing.
A short while ago I spoke to the executive VP at Tampa Airport. He said they're on track for tomorrow when this all opened up again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN TILIACOS, EXECUTIVE VP OF AIRPORT OPERATIONS, TAMPA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: We do have some minor damage to the airport in terms of number of
our jet bridge, our fuel farm, that we're currently working on, but nothing that is going to prevent us from starting operations. As of right now
nothing that's going to prevent us from starting up tomorrow morning. Again, we're still going through the assessment. I don't quite have a full
picture, but we're almost there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Patrick Quayle is with me, the senior vice president of Global Network Planning and Alliances at United Airlines.
Patrick, you are talking -- you are here to talk about something else, but I'm going to take the opportunity. Just give me a feel for the recovery
that has to take place at an airline like United, the size and scale of what you've got to face.
PATRICK QUAYLE, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL NETWORK PLANNING AND ALLIANCES, UNITED AIRLINES: Absolutely. First, Richard, it's great to talk
to you. You know, the most important thing in all of this is our employees, our team members, and the communities that we serve. And so the first thing
we do is we reach out to those who are impacted to make sure they're safe. And it really started before the hurricane reached. We worked with our
airports and understand where they're going to shut down. And because of that, we were able to add 18 extra flights. 18 extra sections into the
affected airports in Florida in order to do two things. One, bring down supplies before the storms hit. And two, evacuate people out of the region.
QUEST: Now, you have extremely sophisticated computer systems to rebuild the network after this. How long do you think it takes for you to get
things back to normal?
QUAYLE: We can stand it up really quickly, Richard. As a matter of fact, we're planning on launching our first flight back to Orlando this evening,
Tampa and Fort Myers are expected to be tomorrow, and then Sarasota is going to come online a little bit later. There's a fair bit more damage
there. But look, as a global airline, we are good at operating in difficult climates and environments and we're going to be quickly back into those
airports as soon as it's safe.
QUEST: You talk about being a global airline, today, every year, every year you do this tease, tease and reveal of where you're going to fly to into
the next year. Well, this year you come up with a couple of interesting ones. You've come up -- I mean, this whole lot in Europe, Bilbao and the
like. But there's two interesting ones. Knock in Greenland, Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia. And why Mongolia? I was there -- tell me why Mongolia and then we
can talk about it.
QUAYLE: Sure. Well, look, Richard, those are unique destinations, and based on my inbox today, that is where the vast majority of our customers and our
employees want to go, is these unique destinations. And so looking at Mongolia, we look -- this job, my job is part art and it's part science. We
look through a lot of data, but it's really how you interpret the data because we're all looking at the same data, but we all make different
decisions as airline executives.
And so we look through this data and we think there's an opportunity in Mongolia. Really it's twofold. One, we saw pre-COVID, a number of people
were flying in Mongolia, but they are connecting over Beijing. And that traffic has not really turned because China has been more or less closed.
And second, we're looking, and if you look at our customer base, adventure travelers, unique travel.
QUEST: Right. I've been to, I have an advantage over you. Last year we did QUEST MEANS BUSINESS from Ulaanbaatar. I think we've got some pictures of
me -- there we go, look at that. Me on a horse.
QUAYLE: You on a horse. Richard, you'll join the inaugural and you and I can both go on the horse in Mongolia.
QUEST: That's an invitation. But look, one thing I learned is, as I saw also because of what you're planning to do out of Tokyo into South Korea
and other plan, Palau, you're aiming to rebuild the Tokyo hub. United traditionally had a hub in Tokyo for intra-Asia routes. Is this a stealth
rebuilding?
QUAYLE: Well, look, if you look -- and you're right, United traditionally has had a hub in Tokyo. And if you look at what we're doing, we're doing it
differently. When you look at the hub that used to exist in the prior decades, there is places like Singapore, places like Taipei, places like
Seoul.
[16:55:08]
All of that we're flying double daily from the mainland. All of that from San Francisco. And so what we're doing is we're building it differently.
We're serving the largest population centers with wide bodies, with nonstop service, and we're adding unique content. Places that are simply much
harder to get to with narrow body aircraft.
QUEST: You can't say it, but I can. It's a hub.
Thank you, sir. Good to see you, Patrick Quayle, joining us from United. Grateful for you being with us.
QUAYLE: Thanks, Richard.
QUEST: I will take a "Profitable Moment." Not just yet. After the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's "Profitable Moment." What can one say? Tonight, we've aimed to bring you obviously as you saw with Anderson and Bill Weir and our
correspondents the awfulness of what happened last night when the hurricane hit. But we've also very firmly brought you the spirit of resilience and
the measures people are going to. Not -- we've obviously got the rescuers and the first responders who risked lives to go and, for example, rescue
those people in the old people's home.
But then you've also got those at the zoo. I mean, the animals. Yes, of course. The animals have to be looked after, cared for, protected, and they
can't help themselves. And then you've got Patrick Quayle tonight talking about how United already flying back into Orlando. This doesn't happen
because somebody says, you know, something, I think -- this happens because of months and years of planning.
People are ready for this. And even if this storm wasn't the storm that we were -- said it was going to be, we do know there will be another one
around the corner because if there's nothing else we've learned in the last two or three years, climate change is giving us bigger, nastier, more
aggressive, and yes, more expensive storms.
Now society has a big question to ask about beachfront properties and whether we should be insuring them and how should we be even living in
these places when we know things. But that's a story for another day.
Tonight, I think we just have to appreciate those people, organizations, companies that go above and beyond, whether it is the Red Crescent and the
Red Cross in other parts of the world, or whether it's in the United States or wherever it is. They are the ones that make life possible and bearable
when crisis happens. And for that we only have to say thank you.
And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for this evening. I'm Richard Quest in London. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper and we are following breaking news this hour as search and rescue efforts are underway
across hard-hit Florida after Hurricane Milton tore across the state. The rescues are not just taking places in flooded cities, although some of that
flooding has been devastating. The Hillsborough County sheriff says first floors of apartment buildings near the city of Tampa are simply underwater.
Cars are submerged. They had to help 135 elderly and disabled people get --
END
