Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Hurricane Michael Makes Landfall Along Florida Coast; Interview with Florida Governor Rick Scott; Interview with Florida Senator Bill Nelson; Crew of Soyuz Spacecraft Rescued After Launch Mishap. Aired 8- 8:30a ET

Aired October 11, 2018 - 8:00   ET

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


[08:00:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The wind speeds were 155 miles per hour and the damage is extensive. Now that it is light out, now that we can venture out a little bit, we are just beginning to get a sense of how bad it is. You can see behind me, I'm in Panama City, this was a grocery store, an office building made of cinder block, that is just smashed into tiny, little bits. You can see the cinder crushed, the wood is all splinters. All the metal twisted into bits.

More than 500,000 people are now without power in three states. As of now, we know of two deaths connected to this storm, a man in Florida and an 11-year-old girl in Georgia. They were killed when trees hit their houses.

This was the western eyewall of the storm, 100 miles an hour sustained winds here, gusts of 120. It was worse as you head east. We're just getting a sense now of Mexico Beach in Callaway, how bad the damage is there. People just told me you will not believe it when you see it.

So that is the situation being dealt with now by state, local, and federal authorities. Joining us to talk about it is the governor of Florida, Rick Scott. Governor Scott, thank you very much for being with us. You are getting more information, more updated information than we are. Why don't you tell us what you are hearing about the aftermath of this storm?

GOV. RICK SCOTT, (R) FLORIDA: There is unbelievable devastation. My biggest concern is, of course, loss of life. So I know we have a lot of people that I have heard are injured. I will be going down to the impacted areas in just a little bit. We did search and rescue all night long. First off, the Coast Guard has been unbelievable. They did rescues during the night for us. We have a massive flow of search and rescue highway patrol, National Guard, utility workers pushing their way down to these impacted areas. And they're doing -- we're doing everything we can to get all the resources we need.

My biggest concern, of course, would be loss of life. And I want everybody, everybody to think about this. You survived this unbelievable storm, stay safe. Don't venture out unless you have to. Listen to the locals. We've got downed power lines. We have trees all over the place. This is a very -- a lot of this area has a lot of forest. We have got trees everywhere. It is going to take us time, but we're going to get to you as quickly as we can. But follow the rules when using a generator. I don't want to lose

anybody in this storm. So we'll find out what happened, but everybody is working hard to get to these impacted areas, and my heart goes out to everybody impacted by this. I just wish this had never happened.

BERMAN: Yes. Two reasons to stay off the road. Number one, you don't know what's on them. There are power lines down, trees down everywhere. Number two, the emergency crews need to get out to where they can. We are getting new aerial footage, new drone footage in, governor, from Panama City beach, where we are getting a sense -- again, we couldn't get the drones up yesterday. It was too windy, still too rainy. Now that it is light out, we really are beginning to see the scope of the devastation.

And what you are seeing on the screen right now, this is Panama City Beach. I'm not saying it wasn't bad. Sustained winds of 100 miles an hour, gusts of 120 in some storm surge, but it is even worse as you head east. These pictures we're seeing, governor, give you a sense of the damage that was done.

SCOTT: Oh, absolutely. And what I have heard, we had significant damage at Tyndall, significant damage at Mexico Beach. I have been talking to individuals down there. So we are -- our rescue crews worked all night long, 3,500 members of National Guard, over 1,000 individuals doing rescue. The Coast Guard, I have already talked to secretary of homeland security today. They are going to provide whatever resources we need. I talked to Brock Long who runs FEMA. They have promised everything we need to take care of our citizens. And so I'm going to get down there and make sure all the resources are there because I am very concerned about what's happened.

BERMAN: We spoke to someone with the Cajun Navy, that's the volunteer force that responds during and after these storms who said they have been conducting rescues in Callaway. Do you have any numbers or any sense in these community of how many people are now calling for aid and need to be rescued?

SCOTT: I don't know the exact number, but I know many people -- we know many people have been injured. Both of our hospitals in Panama City were -- one is in the process of being closed. Well, both of them are being in the process of being closed down. So we're opening up two temporary hospitals now. We know many people are coming in for injuries.

[08:05:04] So I don't know the numbers yet, but we're going to do everything we can to take care of everybody and get resources there as quickly as we can. I just want to thank the people that worked all night to get to these areas.

BERMAN: Again, the pictures we're showing, I believe Pirate's Cove Marina in Panama City Beach, and you can see how bad it was. Again, this was the wester eyewall. It is unclear to me, I'm standing in front of a building, governor, made of cinder block that was just blown to smithereens. It's unclear to me whether the was perhaps the victim of one of the small tornadoes we might think may have passed through. But some of this wind, the pockets of it, so fierce that even with the new building codes, the buildings were not able to withstand it.

SCOTT: Yes. I want everybody to stay safe. We've got a lot of debris. We have got a lot of downed power lines. We have about 360,000 homes and businesses without power. Just remember, there is a lot of trees in this part of the state. And so it is going to take us time. We are trying to clear I-10 right now to get the roads open as quickly as we can. But stay in your house. Listen to the locals. Be safe. Don't do anything foolish. We've got a massive flow of rescue workers coming now to help you.

BERMAN: I was speaking of Brock Long earlier, the FEMA administrator, and he was talking about the frustration that he has often when these warnings are given. And you've been out there for a few days warning people that this would be a monstrous storm. Still, so many did choose to stay. So going forward, looking at the damage that was done this morning, looking at how this storm gained strength as it made landfall, how do you get that message out?

SCOTT: So I have had quite a few hurricanes as governor. We had Irma last year. And one of the reasons why is we had more time, more people evacuated. We had over six million people evacuated. We had more time. And Harvey had just happened and people saw the footage of Harvey.

This happened so fast. I went up and down the coast doing events trying to get people to evacuate. I don't think the other thing people realize is the deadliness of this storm surge because we just don't see it. We saw nine foot of storm surge in Irma down the Keys last year. And so I tried to explain to people what happens when you see the storm surge. It comes in. It completely fills in your house, and then it sucks everything out. It's just you can't survive it. And people just have never seen that.

So I think part of it is it happened so fast. But now this is horrible. Now our job is to search for everybody, rescue everybody, get everybody the resources they need and we'll recover. We are a very resilient state. We have a very good economy, so we'll recover and Floridians are strong and we'll work together. But I want to thank everybody that has brought resources.

BERMAN: Governor Rick Scott, we know you are headed down to the gulf coast very shortly to see the damage first hand, thank you so much for being with us.

SCOTT: Thanks, John. Bye-bye.

BERMAN: All right, joining us now by phone is the senior senator for the state of Florida Bill Nelson. Senator Nelson, thank you very much for being with us. And again, like the rest of us, as the light comes up, I know you are getting the first sense of just how devastating hurricane Michael was to your state.

SEN. BILL NELSON, (D) FLORIDA: Yes. And as you go east of Panama City, that's where that wall of water on the eastern side of the eyewall is, and you are going to see a lot of destruction when the rescue crews get into Mexico Beach. You've got reporters further east in Apalachicola. Apalachicola is at least protected by a barrier island, so there is some break-up of that wall of water. But Mexico Beach is straight on to the gulf. And that's where you're going to see the extreme, extreme devastation.

BERMAN: What are you hearing from your sources on the ground from there? We haven't heard from Mexico Beach yet this morning. We have spoken to people in Callaway, we've spoken to people in Apalachicola, and they describe a warzone like setting.

NELSON: Which is what you would expect of a category four. As the wind goes up from a two to a three, the damage goes up exponentially. And I'm afraid that we're going to see that. Let's just hope in Mexico Beach that people evacuated, because if they stayed right there and got the full brunt of the storm straight from the gulf without a barrier island at least breaking it a little bit, there is going to be some significant loss.

[08:10:08] BERMAN: And we are hopeful, we are hopeful that when we hear from them we will learn that they're OK, or better yet, that they weren't even there when the storm hits.

Senator Nelson, I do want to tell you, we're looking at this aerial footage we're just getting in. It is our first chance to get a sense of the scope from the sky. This I believe is the marina, pirate's cove marina in Panama City Beach. And you can see how bad it was. There it's the storm surge, wasn't as bad on the eastern part of the storm, but also the winds. And I know surge is deadly, but winds can be very, very damaging. And these winds were like nothing the panhandle has ever seen. And people this morning are finding limbs everywhere, debris everywhere, and so very difficult to move around.

NELSON: What was particular deadly in this storm is that the Gulf of Mexico was four degrees hotter than is usual for October. You just think, October, things are supposed to get cooler. In fact, it picked up in a short period of time, that extra strength fueled from that hot water of the Gulf of Mexico, and then that was what was so surprising to everybody and so deadly as it approached the coast.

BERMAN: Whenever someone brings that up, whenever a politician brings up the rising temperatures of the water, you will hear people say on the other side of the aisle, you'll hear them say don't blame global warming for this. Don't blame global warming for that. Is it something that you feel needs to be addressed if Florida is going to experience these historic storms?

NELSON: Of course. Florida is ground zero. Look what's happening down in south Florida on the mean high tide that is sloshing over the street curbs in places like Miami Beach. Listen to the scientists at the National Hurricane Center. Listen to the scientists at the National Weather Service, and they will tell you that the earth is heating up, and the ferociousness of these storms is as a result in part of that heating up of the earth. So we've got to be clear-headed as we approach each storm season because this is what we are increasingly going to be facing. And as a result, we're going to have to adapt to that. Instead of living in the past, we are going to have to adapt to that with our building standards and our locations of structures in the future.

BERMAN: Senator Bill Nelson, senior senator from the state of Florida, thanks for being with us this morning. Appreciate the time you've given us over the last few days as this state and your state has been dealing with hurricane Michael. Thank you, sir.

NELSON: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: All right, there is, believe it or not, a new 8:00 a.m. update on Michael. No longer a hurricane. Still, though, perhaps damaging and a threat to some parts of the country. Let's bring in Chad Myers in the Weather Center for the very latest on that. Chad?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Still a storm capable of bringing down trees. John, it went right over the Augusta National golf course, now going over Columbia, South Carolina, in places now that are saturated from Florence that was there just a few weeks ago. So still 50 miles per hour, still raining in many spots. Charlotte, Columbia, you will see rain much of the day. The rain moving out of Atlanta at this point in time, and eventually this thing goes over Hampton Roads and out to sea.

But D.C., you will pick up a lot of rain today. Also the south towns there around D.C. may pick up around four inches of rain fall, maybe toward La Plata. That's where we're going to see most of that flooding possibility today.

So on Monday it was an 80 miles per hour storm. By Monday at 10:00 a.m., it was forecast to be a major hurricane at 1:20 in that exact location. But they got the up and down wrong. Remember I said yesterday you can be plus or minus 10 percent. They were plus or minus 20 percent. And we always know that the direction forecast is better than the speed direction. So we're worried about Mexico Beach. We're worried about Wewahitchka. We're worried about Blountstown. Those are the areas we haven't even heard from yet because every piece of communication there is gone. We're trying to get there. So is everyone else. The first responders are on the way. But I know there are many, many loved ones waiting to hear from people in that area. And there is nothing for them to even get a cell tower with. John, we're going to do our best.

BERMAN: Chad Myers, we appreciate the effort you put into this and the warnings you have given people. I do know it is frustrating for a lot of people on the Gulf Coast. Cell service is spotty. They want to get the message out to their loved ones that they are doing OK. Chad, thanks so much for being with us.

[08:15:02]

Alisyn, you know, I want to go back to you in New York. And I have to say, now that it is light out, it looks even worse. It looks even worse the damage that's done here. Where there is not debris, there are trees down, leaves down.

We have seen convoys of aid beginning to move through. I saw flat bed with front end loaders and earth-moving equipment. They have their work cut out for them.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Oh my gosh, John. It's stunning to see your backdrop now that the sun has come up. We'll check back with you very soon.

But we do have other breaking news to get to right now because this rocket booster failed during the launch of the Soyuz spacecraft. You are about to see very dramatic video.

This was carrying an American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut to the International Space Station. The astronauts had to eject in a very dramatic emergency maneuver.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is live in Moscow with the breaking details.

What have you learned, Fred?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alisyn. We have a great deal of new information that we have gathered in the past hour or so since we last spoke because we do now have the first images of these two astronauts after they were retrieved from that Soyuz capsule after making that landing there in the area very far to the east where they lifted off.

Alexey Ovchinin and Nick Hague who is, of course, the NASA astronaut, were pulled from that capsule. You can see them sitting on two couches, seem to be hooked up to medical equipment there, probably measuring their vital signs. Now, the information that we're getting from both NASA and the Russian space agency is that both astronauts are obviously conscious and appear to at least be in good health.

I do have some information that just got a couple of minutes ago. Apparently, right now, they're on a helicopter being transported back from the site where the capsule landed to the space station of where that rocket lifted off from in the beginning. Meanwhile, the Russians say they have already started an investigation into what exactly happened.

The information that we have is that rocket lifted off from the space center and about a little less than three minutes into the flight, there seemed to have been a malfunction in the main booster of that rocket. Now, we have been looking at the radio transmissions that were coming live from that spacecraft, and it was really remarkable to see the professionalism and the calm of these astronauts as they radioed back they had the emergency and they separated the capsule from the rocket, essentially, of course, ending the space mission, but most probably also saving their lives.

They then came back to earth, which is called a ballistic descent, landed there on earth and will be transported back here to Moscow very soon for further medical evaluation, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh, Fred, this is a remarkable story because that video of watching them eject obviously like harkens back to our worst memories of the catastrophic events with, you know, the Challenger.

PLEITGEN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And then to see them lounging on the sofa and that they survived seemingly in good condition and one piece is just remarkable.

Fred, thank you very much for all of that new information about this mishap. Thank you.

All right. John Berman is in Panama City, Florida. He -- the light has come up, and he is showing us the devastation from Hurricane Michael and everything that's happened there in the past 24 hours. Also remarkable, John.

BERMAN: Yes. The damage is extensive this morning. And, you know, yesterday before the storm hit, we met some people who decided that they were going to ride it out. And they were nervous. They were very worried because by yesterday morning, you knew this was going to be a very powerful storm.

We had a chance to speak to some people who decided to stay. We're going to get a chance to talk to them and find out how they were doing.

I'll give you a preview. They made it. They're okay. We want to find out how it was and how they got here.

Our live coverage continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:22:25] BERMAN: So, yesterday, we were standing along the beach and the sand on Panama City Beach, and we were speaking to two now friends of ours who had decided to stay. They were going to ride out the storm.

But safe to say, you were nervous. You were scared. You knew how bad this was going to be.

I'm joined now by Janelle Frost and Tracy Dunn.

I am so happy to see you guys here. You made it. Let me just first ask you. As you look around here to your community, what do you make of it?

JANELLE FROST, RODE OUT STORM IN PANAMA CITY BEACH: It's just devastation here. Like I said, the end of the beach that we're on, we didn't see this much. But when we came across halfway bridge, it was just like coming into a war zone. Everything looks like it exploded. It's insane.

BERMAN: All right. So what was it like? What was it like for you as this storm was bearing down?

TRACY DUNN, RODE OUT STORM IN PANAMA CITY BEACH: It was scary. It was real scary.

FROST: Terrifying. DUNN: You heard the winds, the rain. The trees were literally bent

over in half. We took cover for like two and a half hours in a small bathroom.

You don't know what's happening outside around. You can just hear the winds. Things hitting the house, you don't know. It's a scary feeling.

BERMAN: It's a scary feeling. You're scared going into.

Janelle, I'm going to ask you to show us your arm because you did something that sometimes we hear from first responders. You wrote your name on your arm. Why?

FROST: Well, sometimes in this type of situation, it's hard to say, but that's the only way they can identify the bodies. If it had gone to the extreme that they were predicting, better safe than sorry, you know? At least someone could identify you.

So, we had everybody in our party do that, write their name on their arm just in case. But luckily, we didn't. No casualties on our end. And everybody came through really well. But we're saying a lot of prayers for our friends and extended family down here that they didn't fare as well.

BERMAN: Yes, the damage is tough here and it's not going to be easy for the next few days. What's your situation? How are you set up?

DUNN: Grills. Actually, our neighborhood is coming together with all the frozen food in the refrigerator is now that now thawed out. So, we're just basically making the best of it, and joining and with friends and family around and celebrating being here and feeding the people that can't fend for themselves, helping each other.

BERMAN: You don't have power.

FROST: No.

BERMAN: Have you seen the work crews out this morning?

FROST: We haven't seen anybody out in our area, not yet. I know Alabama is -- which is our co-home state, we say, is sending out a lot of Alabama power people this way, sending out all their trucks.

[08:25:08] So, hopefully, by midday everything will be getting in gear, and we'll be able to dig out from this and see exactly the extent of everything.

BERMAN: What was the worst moment for you, Tracy?

DUNN: Well, it's hard to say what the worst moment is. You really don't know what the worst moment is because it all was bad.

Once you lose power, that's it. You lose all contact. You know, your cell phones, you try to save your battery for your cell phone. But when you lose power and it all goes black and you don't know what's happening. That's the scary part.

BERMAN: It really is. It is an interesting moment when you lose power in a storm like this because it's a sign now we're in it. Now we're in it.

FROST: There's no turning back.

BERMAN: Having made the decision, Janelle, to do this, writing your name on your arm, choosing to stay in your house for what was a category four, nearly a category five storm, did you learn anything, any lessons?

FROST: Well, life is just sort of a hit and miss, I guess, anyway. You have to make decisions sometimes in your life what I call selfless decision. And selfless being, I've got to get out of here, I've got to save myself.

A selfless decision being, there are more people around here that are going to need me. So I guess Tracy and I both just made that decision to try to stay and be as much help as we could to the people that couldn't get out. We just couldn't leave them.

So we stayed and thank the Lord everybody was safe and we were safe. But going what Tracy said, the scariest part was coming out of that room. Being in the pitch dark for two and a half hours is just -- I mean, it's really terrifying.

But coming out of there and not knowing what you are going to see when you come out. Is everything gone? Or like in our case, everybody but just a few trees blown over and debris, we were okay. But I can't imagine what these people here in Panama City are feeling coming out and seeing everything gone like this.

BERMAN: Janelle Frost, Tracy Dunn, again, I can't tell you how nice it is to see you this morning. Thank you so much for coming here and talking to us. I know people will be thrilled. The people who saw you yesterday will be thrilled to see you here doing well.

Glad you're safe. Be careful over the next few days because there still are dangers ahead. Great to see you.

Alisyn, you know, I got to say, again, people choose to stay for different reasons. And sometimes people say, well, how come you don't heed the warnings. Well, sometimes you are trying to help others. Sometimes you don't have the money to go. Sometimes you are not healthy enough.

There are reasons people that make that decision. We're glad that they made it through.

CAMEROTA: I thought they really sort of opened our minds to that yesterday when they were saying so many of their neighbors have big pets, big dogs, they can't get to a shelter, they can't a afford to leave, they're sick, so I understood that when they said that yesterday. But we are so happy that you checked back in with them because I have friends who were texting to ask about those two ladies. So thank you for giving us an update, John. Tell them we're happy

they're safe.

Meanwhile, back here, there is pressure building on the president to confront the Saudi government about what happened to this missing journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. We have an update, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)