Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Deanne Criswell is Interviewed about Hurricane Idalia; Idalia Makes Landfall as Category Three Storm. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired August 30, 2023 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pulling the water onto land. This is what county officials were warning people. They said overnight the storm surge would move in and they were concerned about flooding.

County officials are urging people not to walk through the water. You never know what might be in those floodwaters. But we have seen several people walk through the waters today and even try to drive their cars. But the cars kind of turned around when they realized that the water might just be too deep.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: A slice of what we are seeing in low-lying coastal communities along the gulf of Florida as Hurricane Idalia and that powerful storm surge barrels in.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

SANCHEZ: But the issues don't stop at the coast, as we head to John Berman, who is in Tallahassee for us.

Strong winds being felt further inland, John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. The storm has now moved inland as a category two hurricane. Winds still above 100 miles per hour as it moves slowly towards Georgia at this point. The wind, though, really not the concern as we continue to see these pictures of devastated storm surge around the big bend area and as far south as Tampa.

With me now is FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell.

Administrator, thank you so much for being with us.

We're talking to our correspondents up and down the coast who are seeing some of this storm surge firsthand. What's your area of greatest concern?

DEANNE CRISWELL, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: Good morning, John.

You know, I think our biggest area of concern right now is, as this storm is moving inland, making sure that those people who did not choose to evacuate, that we have our search and rescue teams ready to support the state's already, you know, really capable search and rescue teams that they have to go in and help support and help anybody that was stuck in harm's way right? So that is our focus this morning of making sure that anybody that was left in this area and needs help, that we can get in there.

But I think my other concern, as you mentioned, as this storm continues to move inland, that the people in the path of this storm, in Georgia, in South Carolina, that they still need to take this very serious. Even with a category two, that brings excessive winds, but it's also bringing rain. And we know that there's parts of Georgia and Suth Carolina that are prone to catastrophic inland flooding. And so people need to still listen to their local officials and listen to what they're telling them to do to make sure that they are making sure that they can stay safe during this storm as it passes through.

BERMAN: Yes, here in Tallahassee, they're expecting anywhere from six to 10 inches of rain total. It feels like it from where I'm standing, I can tell you that right now. And they're concerned about fresh water flooding, streets being flooded out. They don't want people out driving around it.

Again, the storm surge along the coast, which is 10, 12 feet in some areas. Do you have a sense of when it will finally pass? How many more hours do people need to be on high alert there?

CRISWELL: You know, I think as you're seeing, this storm, with the different bands that it has, you know, it's coming in spurts, right, where we're seeing heavy winds and rain and the storm surge. You know, I think that we still have several more hours of this.

And this is, again, where people really need to just listen to their local officials so they know when the storm has passed and it's safe and they're not going to get another band of moisture that comes through. This is, you know, bringing all kinds of different hazards. And as people do go out into the community, they leave their home, they need to take a lot of caution because there is going to be a lot of debris, downed power lines, hazards in the area, and we don't want to lose anybody as a result of some of these hazards that happen after a storm.

BERMAN: You respond to so many different kinds of disasters. If the worst of this is the storm surge, what's unique in terms of your response to that? What is the response to severe, even record-breaking storm surge?

CRISWELL: You know, what we have seen with these hurricanes over the last several years is that the increase in the water, storm surge as well as the rainfall, that's what's killing the most people, right? And so that's why we had so much focus on making sure we got the message out to people, to not just focus on the cone but to evacuate.

But, again, our biggest concern is always those people that chose not to evacuate, making sure we can get in and account for everybody that perhaps stayed behind and making sure we can get them to safety if they need to. BERMAN: In terms of - you know, I'm sorry that I only have a small

window as to where I am right now, I can only see the rain and feel the wind here in Tallahassee. Power outages, utilities, things like that, what reports are you hearing in terms of how many people are being affected?

CRISWELL: Yes, right now the report that I got this morning is somewhere over 130,000 people without power. But we expect that number to go up as the storm, again, continues to move inland.

I've got to tell you that the amount of mutual aid that the state of Florida brought in to support power restoration is significant.

[09:35:04]

And what we saw during Hurricane Ian is that they were able to restore the power rather quickly. And I expect the same to happen here as soon as the storm passes and it's safe for these mutual aid resources to come in and support that power restoration.

But people need to be prepared for it to be out still from 24, 36, maybe even 72 hours, right, in some areas. And so making sure that they have what they need to protect themselves, to have their medicines, to stay cool and whatever else they need to insure that they can support themselves until the power is restored.

BERMAN: You talked about what's next. Georgia, the Carolinas, what can they expect?

CRISWELL: They're going to get a lot of wind, John, and they're going to get a lot of rain. And I'm concerned about some of the areas of Georgia and South Carolina that have already gotten a lot of rain.

I spoke with both governors and heard what their concerns are. And we know that there's a lot of local areas that can have catastrophic inland flooding. And so people need to be really cognizant of those areas that they know can flood.

BERMAN: Yes.

CRISWELL: With this increase in the amount of rain, making sure that they're not walking through it, they're not driving through it, and that they're waiting until the storm passes and the water recedes.

BERMAN: I'm going to give you one more opportunity to send that message. For anyone listening, anyone lucky enough to still have power and access to a television signal along the gulf coast where the storm surge is happening, all the way to Georgia right now, what's your message to people who are in this?

CRISWELL: I -- the biggest thing people can do right now is listen to their local officials. They are going to tell them what the current state of the storm is where they are at. That's going to be in different phases along the -- from the western coast of Florida, all the way to South Carolina. Your local officials have the best information. Listen to them and don't put yourself in harm's way. BERMAN: FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, your work is just

beginning. This storm still bearing down in Florida, now Georgia and the Carolinas in the crosshairs. You won't be able to even get the aid to the people who need it until it moves through. I know you have people staged -- thousands staged throughout this state. Thank you for being with us and thank you for your efforts.

CRISWELL: Yes. Thank you, John.

BERMAN: Boris.

SOLOMON: All right, John, thank you. I'll pick it up. But we appreciate you being out there for us as well, live in Tallahassee.

The pictures have just been incredible to see. Some of the videos you can see, the flooding and the water on traffic signals as high as sort of the stop sign. So, it's really been incredible. We know dozens of counties are under some sort of evacuation order.

SANCHEZ: Yes, incredibly dangerous conditions for anyone who decided to brave the elements and stay behind.

And, obviously, that historic storm surge that we've been talking about likely to get worse in the coming hours, in part because we're anticipating high tide. It is a unique time of the month for the moon, and that will impact the tide and it will impact the amount of water we see in coastal communities.

So, for more details on the storm surge let's go to Allison Chinchar. She's live for us in the CNN Weather Center.

Allison, walk us through what this means.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right, because I think you hear these numbers, you know, three feet, six feet, 10 feet, but no one really understands what that actually means in real life.

So, here's a look at what it would normally be as you've got those waves kind of coming in one by one. Well, as that water level begins to rise, that normal sea level starts to creep closer and closer towards houses, towards businesses.

Then you get to four feet. Now you've started to see that inundation. Those floodwaters are entering those buildings. Once you get to 12 feet, you've now exceeded the first story of any property that you're going to have.

And I know these numbers seem extreme, but that -- above four feet, where you would have that inundation creeping in, we have already had two areas that have picked up those numbers.

Take a look at this map. Again, two separate areas have picked up at least four feet of storm surge. The first being Cedar Key. We've now had full reports of over eight feet of storm surge. And East Bay, near Tampa, picking up over five feet. So, you've had some of those numbers already start to verify as we go through the morning. And those numbers are going to go up. You're going to start to see more places dealing with that storm surge because here's the thing, as this storm, even as it moves inland, it's still going to be pushing from those outer bands all of that water back towards Cedar Key and a lot of these other communities along that eastern coast there, right there, stretching down through Cedar Key and down into St. Petersburg. So, again, it's still going to be a concern here for the next couple of hours as that storm moves inland.

We're now down to a category two storm. Sustained winds of 110 miles per hour. But I want to emphasize, the wind gusts are still going to be the equivalent of category three. So, even though the main storm is still sustained at category two, those wind gusts are still going to be about a category higher. It's expected to be a category two as it crosses into the state of Georgia and then continues to weaken as it pushes into the state of South Carolina in the next 24 hours.

[09:40:00]

So, you've got some of those at least triple digit mile per hour wind gusts that are going to cross over into Georgia. Even as you come over towards Savannah, you're still looking at those wind gusts of about 75, up to 100, 110 miles per hour. So, still significant numbers there.

And that's part of the reason why power outages are going to be a concern. Right now between both the state of Florida and the state of Georgia that number is now up to about a quarter of a million people. Yes, over 250,000 people looking at power outages right now across these two states. That number is likely to go up as we go through the day and that storm continues to spread.

You're really going to see those power outage numbers go up across the states like Georgia and South Carolina as they start to get more of those heavy bands and the strong winds. Keep in mind, Georgia, South Carolina filled with trees. So, you've got a lot of things that as they come down they can take out those power lines with them, which is another concern as to why we're going to start to see those numbers go up.

Rainfall also a big concern for those areas inland. If you look at this, from Tallahassee, all the way up to the outer banks, you're talking widespread rainfall of four to six inches. But there will be some spots that pick up eight, nine, even 10 inches of rain before it's all said and done.

So, guys, again, you've got a lot of factors here. Storm surge is still going to be impactful. You've still got those strong, devastating winds, as well as the potential for flooding.

SOLOMON: Yes, we've already seen storm surge in some areas setting records, in fact.

Allison Chinchar.

Thank you, Allison. SANCHEZ: Still plenty more news to come on CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We're

going to speak to two men who are riding out this storm and we'll also take you to Steinhatchee, where the water right now is rising as we see some incredible video.

Stay with us. We're back in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:46:06]

SANCHEZ: This morning we're seeing all kinds of signs of Hurricane Idalia's strength as it makes its way across Florida. But there is one incredible video we want to share with you that came ahead of the storm's arrival. It's a rare weather phenomenon known as St. Elmo's Fire. Look at that.

SOLOMON: Yes. So, during this week's evacuation in Tampa, the 50th Air Refueling Squadron from MacDill Air Force Bace captured what is really a stunning display. So, what you're seeing, this is actually not lightning, but it's plasma, continuous electric spark in a charged atmosphere. It's also known as a witch's fire and often appears during thunderstorms. Incredible.

SANCHEZ: Really impressive display of mother nature's power.

We want to take you now live back to Crystal River where CNN's Sara Sidner has been reporting.

And, Sara, I see that you've recently moved, in part because the water keeps getting further and further in.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I'm not a fan of standing in high tide. We are not there yet, but it looks like it. We're probably -- we're actually just more -- I'm going to get out of the way here so Adolfo (ph) can give you a look at the scene without my big head in there.

I'm going to give you a look. We are more than a football field away from where we were standing literally 30 minutes ago. That's how far the water has come.

What you are seeing here is the driveway and the parking lot of a hotel where some of us are staying on the second floor, of course. It was drier than a duck's back about 30 minutes ago. Now it is underneath three feet or so of water. So, the storm surge hasn't even begun. The worst of it isn't even close. We are still several hours away from high tide.

And, as you know, you have king tide, which is happening. You have the super moon, which is happening, all at the same time as you're seeing these surges. It's going to get much more messy here in Crystal River and up and down the west coast of Florida.

But first, speaking of messy, speaking of a dangerous time, we have two brothers who are waiting out the storm in Perry, which is very close to where the storm made landfall. It is now a category two storm, and it will diminish as time goes on, but that doesn't mean the danger is gone.

We've got Chris and his brother, who is with us. They are in Perry, Florida.

Fellas, tell me what it is that you are seeing right now.

CHRIS (via telephone): Lots of trees down. We're on our way to Cross City (ph) right now coming through (INAUDIBLE).

SIDNER: Trey (ph), if that's you, I think Chris - Chris and Trey, if that is you, again, these are brothers who stayed in Perry. Are you seeing any flooding where you are? How is the place where you are? I don't know if you're still in your home, but what are you seeing as far as floodwaters right now, or as far as storm surge?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have any. We're driving on the roads.

SIDNER: Good.

Are you seeing any of the effects - OK, we're having some - we're having some technical difficulties, as you might imagine. That's what happens during the storm. That was Chris and Trey in Perry. We're having a little bit of difficulty kind of getting their signal out, as you might imagine. That's one of the things that happens in a hurricane, in a weather event, in a tropical storm even, you have lines go down, you have towers go down, where it's hard to hear from people.

So, if you haven't heard from a family member who is in the midst of where this made landfall, that is not all that unusual if they stayed in areas that they were told to evacuate. But in the coming hours we will see some movement of crews to go out and try to fix these things, but not until the winds and rain have completely died down where it is safe. People need to watch out for power lines, for example, and they need to watch out for water.

[09:50:05]

We have seen a couple of people taking some chances, going through this flood water. It is never a good idea. You could get stuck.

I want to go to John Berman now, who is in Tallahassee. That place has experienced something they haven't seen in more than 100 years or ever with hurricane-force winds.

What's happening where you are?

BERMAN: Yes, it's interesting, Sara, you know, we lost those two guests who were in Perry. I drove through Perry last night on the way here and Perry is one of the bigger towns in Taylor County. Still a small town, some 7,000 people.

The issue there is inland a little bit. The issue there is not the storm surge. It's very much the wind and the trees. Big trees. Everywhere. And we're seeing all kinds of reports of serious tree damage in Perry. You know, one big giant oak after another just falling down. I would not be at all surprised if the people you were speaking with have lost power in the process of losing internet. Could just be very hard to get in and out of there for some time because of all the tree damage and then some of the freshwater flooding they are undoubtedly going to get there.

Here in Tallahassee, this is the state capital, this is where the state storm response is being coordinated from. But where it's being coordinated from is being hit right now with I would say tropical storm force winds generally. The gusts feel like they've been 40 to 50 miles an hour. Tallahassee's never been hit, as Sara has said, by hurricane-force winds. It doesn't seem like they'll get them this time. Not from what I felt. And as the storm passes a little bit to the south and east of here, as it heads up into Georgia, it doesn't seem as if it's going to get the worst of it in terms of the wind. Perry, where those two men were, that saw the eye pass over them, which is why they've seen even more severe damage.

The concern here though also is with the trees. You can see some of the trees here. As the wind and the rain soaks the roots, there is concern that these trees could topple. Not getting any reports of power outages, major power outages here, although Deanne Criswell, the FEMA administrator whom we spoke to just a short time ago, was saying they have some 130,000 customers, reports of 130,000 customers in Florida at this point without power. That number is going to rise. But it's probably going to rise more in Georgia and the Carolinas as this storm moves in that general direction.

The major concern, though, does remain the storm surge where Sara is in Crystal River, up the -- down the coast to Tampa, where Derek Van Dam was before the storm surge is sending in the Tampa Bay area, that water rising several feet above where it's ever been above. And then Steinhatchee - And then Steinhatchee is, obviously, one of the areas of greatest - I'm just -- the control room is telling me, do we have Bill Weir in Steinhatchee? OK. OK. So, OK. Sorry, we're trying to get Bill Weir up in Steinhatchee, which is seeing just devastating storm surge there.

While we try to get his signal up, Boris, and you are a Florida native.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

BERMAN: You've obviously seen storms like this as they hit Miami. That feels like a more common occurrence than what's happening here.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

BERMAN: No storm this powerful has ever hit the big bend area. And they're feeling it now.

SANCHEZ: Absolutely. And Governor DeSantis was talking about the unprecedented nature of this kind of storm. A storm of this magnitude hitting that area. Of course, the infrastructure for hurricanes in south Florida far more developed because storms of this size are far more common there. As you were driving to Tallahassee yesterday, John, I'm wondering what

kind of preparations you saw. Was there a concern that perhaps the infrastructure in this northern sort of part of Florida, the big bend area near the panhandle, was it ready for a category three storm?

BERMAN: It's a great question. I would say there are two different stories as I drove last night -- late last night from Steinhatchee, where Bill Weir is right now seeing this storm surge, to here. And Steinhatchee, and along the coast, they were boarding up, they were putting, you know, the sandbags up and they evacuated, many people evacuated, because there's just nothing you can do in the storm surge. And we're going to see pictures from there. And we have all morning. If that water rises 10 to 12 feet, no sandbag is going to stop that. If your structure, if your house is in the way, your house very likely will be destroyed or severely flooded.

As you headed inland, there were some areas, like around Perry, I would say, where we just spoke and lost communication with those two gentlemen, I saw very few preparations. Not much of anything at all to get ready for this storm. Gas stations were still open and had gas in the town of Perry as we drove through it, which is unusual, as you know, Boris, for days sometimes before a storm hits.

Now, here in Tallahassee, I will say, it did seem as if there were some preparations. I don't think -- obviously I didn't have to worry about storm surge here. It was the rain and the winds they were concerned about. But the gas stations were closed.

[09:55:02]

There was no gas to be had overnight. And most of the stores were closed as well. And there's very little action out here on the streets. I think people by and large in the capital city are paying attention and are staying hunkered down, Boris.

SANCHEZ: That is definitely a good sign that folks there seem to be prepared.

And, John, as you were speaking, we were also seeing video from Steinhatchee and from Perry, Florida, where it appears that the rain is just pounding because of the powerful wind there. Obviously, storm surge, wind, tornadic activity, all of these many concerns.

John Berman, thanks so much for the reporting.

SOLOMON: Yes, and let's actually stay in Perry because we're hearing from a resident of Keaton Beach, Florida, who evacuated his home and is riding out the storm in Perry, Florida, that we've been speaking about. Idalia made landfall near Keaton Beach.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From -- are you from this area?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keaton Beach, man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My house is down in Keaton.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know if there's there or not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you got anyone that you're in touch with to know what's going on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, there's a guy. He's a - he's a couple of miles up the -- off the coast. He says it's horrible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said trees are falling in the yard. He said he's scared.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is he OK, though, physically?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right -- as of 20 minutes ago. I don't - I haven't called him back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And - and you - you know, we were trying to get a gauge on how many people stayed behind and how many people, you know, left and got shelter like you did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Almost everyone at Keaton Beach. I think they all left. If they stayed, I mean - I mean we've -- I've been there 40 - 40 years, man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I went through the storm of 1993. It was called the no-name storm. The storm of the century. And - and we didn't know it was coming. We rode it out. Twelve foot -- 12-foot surge in the house. So -- but this right here, I don't know. I don't know if I'm going to have a house to go home too, man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm feeling for you and I'm feeling for those people that stayed behind and I'm worried about them.

Real quick, the people of Perry, what -- if you were to describe it to someone, how would you describe the town of Perry, the people here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is horrible. It's horrible. We've never seen this before. A category one, that scared us, man. I mean we've -- usually a category one or a tropical storm, we come to Perry and ride it out. This right here is bad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: I mean it doesn't get more clearer than that.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

SOLOMON: I mean it is horrible is what he says. If there was any good news in what he said is, at least from his perspective, most people in Keaton Beach had evacuated and had left. That is, of course, where Idalia made landfall. Conditions changing by the minute in Florida's big bend as Idalia moves through the state.

Just ahead, we're going to speak to a storm chaser who's watching this storm unfold.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:00]