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Hurricane Idalia's Center Passes Through Dixie County, Florida; Idalia Now Cat 2 After Making Landfall as Cat 3; Storm Surge Breaking Records in Several Florida Spots; Hurricane Idalia Could Bring 16-Foot Storm Surge; Interview with Port Tampa Bay CEO Paul Anderson; Interview with Cedar Key, Florida Beach Front Motel Manager Shelly Boivin; Idalia Makes Landfall Near Keaton Beach; Idalia Now Cat 1 After Making Landfall as Cat 3; Interview with Sen. Marco Rubio (R- FL); Category 1 Hurricane Idalia Hits Georgia. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired August 30, 2023 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN NEW DAY WEEKEND ANCHOR: We're getting a new look of video out of Dixie County, Florida where the center of Hurricane Idalia rolled through this morning.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Reporter Vic Micolucci from our affiliate, WPLG has this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIC MICOLUCCI, WJXT REPORTER: The center of the storm came through here about an hour, hour and a half ago, that's when we saw things at the worst. We lost power. We saw some trees come down. A lot of wind, and some rain from time to time. But right now, my concern, our concern here in this area of Dixie County is going to be of Steinhatchee, Keaton Beach, Horseshoe Beach, Cedar Key, those are the coastal towns. Each of them only has a couple hundred people that live there. But there's homes are vulnerable, they're low lying, and they are just taking a beating.

And we were also talking to the mayor of Keaton Beach. That's actually where landfall was recorded, about 7:30, 7:45 this morning. He was looking at a live feed of the cameras there. Seven, eight feet of water at that time, and the tide was still coming in. He's been mayor there for a long time. He's lived there for a long time. He says, a lot of storms have come through this area of the Big Bend but he's never seen anything like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: All right. We want to go back to now to CNN Anchor John Berman. John, the last time we spoke with you, it seemed like the wind was picking up, the rain was still coming down. What are conditions like now in Tallahassee where you are?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: Yes, that -- whatever band was getting us before seems to have moved through a little bit. The winds have died down for the time being and the rain which was pounding is now just a steady extreme drizzle, I would say. This as the hurricane, Hurricane Idalia, which is still a category 2 storm is beginning to move into Georgia. The hurricane force winds have now crossed the border into Georgia as it moves through and affects tens of thousands of more people.

And even as it moves through, even as the eye has now passed or beginning to pass into Georgia, or what's left of the eye, is beginning to pass into Georgia, it's still -- there is still extreme risk for storm surge hundreds of miles away along the Gulf Coast. As the tides continue to rise, and as the winds are still blowing the water into shore, there are still areas that are seeing the storm surge get worse.

Let's go to Tampa now. Our Carlos Suarez and Derek Van Dam are in different locations in Tampa. Carlos, first to you, what are you seeing?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, so we are just to the west of where Derek Van Dam has been live the entire morning. We're in a neighborhood where we've seen some the worst flooding associated with this storm, as well as the storm surge. We were trying to get out to Pinellas County, which is home to Clearwater and the St. Pete area but we weren't able to do that because several of the bridges that connect the Tampa Bay area to Pinellas County are closed because of this storm.

You can see here behind me what a lot of these homeowners are facing at this hour. This one house here has about a dozen sandbags out in the front of this -- the front part of this house here, though, because this is Florida and we are so close to the bay here, all of this water, no doubt, pushed its way in.

If you go a little bit further out closer to the bay on that side, we just spoke to one homeowner who left a few minutes ago on a pickup truck, he told us that the backyard of his house is flooded. And then Jerry, if you can go to your right, there's a clearing here which you can see just how much water has been pushed out from the bay into this part of Tampa Bay.

Now, the flooding to the south of where I am, which is just that way, we're talking about two to three blocks from here, we cannot really get past that area because it just really wasn't safe. We saw a couple of search and rescue teams essentially staging around that part similar to what we saw last year with Hurricane Ian. Further south from this location is rescue teams. They start prepositioning in the event that some of these homeowners are unable to get out of their homes.

It doesn't seem that's the situation at this hour, though, we are being told, at least from what we've been able to see, that Tampa police, as well as some other search and rescue teams, they are on this side of West Shore Boulevard which, again, is just to the west of where Derek is right now. And they have teams in place in the event that someone does call 9-1-1. But right now, as we get this high tide and king tide moving in, you can see this water is -- continues to push out and it's causing this -- it's causing and leading to some serious flooding.

[10:35:00]

Which, of course, is the concern that emergency officials have had the entire time since the storm made its way north. Their concern was, the weather really isn't too bad because, obviously, the storm has passed this -- further north of here. But because we're still seeing all of that strong current, we're still seeing some of that rain and we're seeing all of that water just being pushed into the Tampa Bay. We're going to still see some more flooding throughout the day. John.

BERMAN: That's a great point you make there, Carlos. Even though the weather seems to be improving, the storm surge situation not yet at least. So, you need to stay vigilant there. Carlos Suarez, thank you very much.

Let's go to Derek Van Dam also in Tampa. Derek?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST AND AMS CERTIFIED METEOROLOGIST: Yes, John. You know, we've been on this Bay Shore Boulevard all morning watching the storm surge and the impacts here are around the immediate coastline of the Tampa area. And our viewers may not know this, but there is the Port of Tampa that's over my left shoulder directly about 10 miles behind me, and this is a critical supply chain for the entire State of Florida, including petroleum. About 45 percent of the state's fuel comes through that port behind me.

And we just so happened to find ourselves the CEO of the Port of Tampa, this is Paul Anderson. And appreciate you coming on with us today because a lot of people want to know how the storm is impacting the availability of fuel across the state.

Paul Anderson, CEO, Port Tampa Bay: Yes. Thanks, Derek. Yes, we are -- I've just returned from the port. It's actually less than a mile from here.

VAN DAM: Oh, OK.

ANDERSON: And our fuel terminals, we have six major terminals that serve about 17 counties for the State of Florida. As you mentioned, about 45 percent of the -- our state's fuel supply, that's for 22 million people. We had 140 million visitors last year. So, it's a very strategic asset for the State of Florida, not just our community.

And having just returned, we had hundreds of trucks staging at those terminals, literally waiting to receive fuel. They will then head back out. There is some flooding near the onramps, back onto the major arteries, I-4, the Crosstown Expressway. And as soon as those are down and there's a break in that water, I know we're going to have some higher tides in about five hours from now.

But they're going to start moving fuel. All of our terminals are open. The staff, our operations folks have been there since early this morning. And I just want to share the public here that we're going to be distributing fuel to meet their needs as soon as possible. Most stations received fuel before the storm. And our port is full of fuel.

VAN DAM: Are there currently any ships waiting to come in to port?

ANDERSON: Yes. So, during this level of storm, the coast guard made the decision that we would move all vessels out of the port so they don't do damage if they break loose. There will be a -- pretty much a small fleet of vessels, tankers, they come from Texas and Louisiana. They will come in behind the storm as soon as we clear with the coast guard, the operations of the channel ways, make sure they're clear. In the meantime, there are millions of barrels of fuel in the above ground storage tanks that can be distributed.

VAN DAM: But we know that the threats here aren't quite done yet. We understand that high tide is still yet to be realized. So, you've got this combination of, you know, the supermoon, we've been talking about that full moon and how that impacts the tides. But also, the surge of water that's still -- that's going to take a long time to drain away from Tampa Bay and the greater eastern Gulf of Mexico. So, are you worried that this could potentially impact any of your oil supply if there's damage per se to your distribution platforms.

ANDERSON: Well, you know, we prepare for the worst and hope for the best. That's out of your control. If there are tides that would -- we would have seen at the levels that were being called for yesterday that, unfortunately, have now hit on the Big Bend Coast, might have been a different story. We feel pretty good. The tanks have containment barriers and -- that are permanent around all of those assets. And we think we're going to be fine. Again, it's -- some of it is out of our control.

VAN DAM: All right. Paul Anderson, he's the CEO of the Port of Tampa. It's about to rain. I think another feeder band is going to come in. So, I appreciate your time. Thank you for joining us.

And I think it's important for you viewers to hear this and to be reassured that the supply to fuel for the state of Florida, which largely comes from the Port of Tampa here, 45 percent of it, has significantly not been impacted by the storm. But there's still several hours of storm surge potential where we're standing now.

So, John, you heard it from the man himself, Paul Anderson, that is good news.

[10:40:00]

BERMAN: It is good news because it's going to be needed in the recovery effort, not just in the Tampa area but, obviously, all up the coast into the Big Bend --

VAN DAM: Good point.

BERMAN: -- area where I am. Derek Van Dam, thank you so much.

All right. Joining us now, by phone, is Shelly Boivin who is the manager of a beach front motel on Cedar Key which has seen devastates storm surge. Shelly, if you can hear me, I understand, you evacuated. You are not on the Key anymore. But what are you hearing about your motel?

SHELLY BOIVIN, MANAGER, BEACH FRONT MOTEL, CEDAR KEY, FLORIDA: There is -- it's flooded. Everything is flooded. I -- I've seen pictures of the tide coming in. The water is just -- it's everywhere. We have a guy there that's reporting. He's telling the story about, and it's devastating. The pavilion of a different hotel is washed away. And you just -- it's just -- I've been watching the pictures and they're just -- it's just awful. We -- I was going to stay --

BERMAN: You did say you are --

BOIVIN: -- I was going to stay on -- at the motel.

BERMAN: You are at the motel?

BOIVIN: No, I was going to stay there and ride out the storm but then we had the mandatory evacuation. And it was just -- I just kept getting -- everybody was telling me, don't do it. I'm kind of glad I did now. But it's pretty bad, the pictures that I'm seeing, they're all -- they're just --

BERMAN: I can imagine.

BOIVIN: It's terrible.

BERMAN: I can imagine you're glad you're not there right now given the level of flooding. You did say you're speaking to someone who is there. Are the people you know who stayed behind, how are they?

BOIVIN: Everybody -- everybody's signing themselves safe. So, I've been checking on all of my people there. And so far, everybody is safe. They're just -- they were on the ground this morning when everything -- I guess, we're waiting for high tide now. But it's -- the -- from what the pictures that I've seen, all the -- the whole town is flooded. Down by the Napa at 24, it's just -- it looks devastating. The pictures look terrible.

BERMAN: Are you hearing that it is still getting worse?

BOIVIN: Yes. There -- right now, the water is still coming in, but I don't know what time high tide is but that's what they're talking about, that there's still a high tide to come in and the water is high and it's just -- it's flowing over. It's just -- it looks like a -- it looks like the Gulf is through the town.

BERMAN: Talk to me more about that. Because when people -- depending on where you live, when you hear flooding, you know, you think a couple of inches of water in your basement. That's not what we're talking about here. You were talking about water over doorways, over buildings --

BOIVIN: Yes.

BERMAN: -- in some cases here.

BOIVIN: Yes, I'm talking about a whole building just washed away, and it was a swing in the pavilion. It was a pavilion with a swing and it just washed away. Picnic tables, you just -- we just saw -- I just saw them floating down the street. And the water is rushing, it's still doing it. I think early this morning was when it -- low tide. And now high tide is just about to -- I guess it's -- I don't really know what time it is but it's supposed to hit again.

And everything is floating. The old -- somebody was saying that the old houses from (INAUDIBLE) with the bad storm of 1896, and now they're saying that the houses are -- they're wondering if the water is going to just pick up the foundation and send them down First Street. That was the last thing I saw. That was pretty devastating.

BERMAN: Everything is floating. Words I think that describe Hurricane Idalia and the impact it's having in some cases. Shelly, I'm so glad you were able to get to safety. Get off Cedar Key. I'm also glad that the people you're speaking to are still OK. I hope they'll hang in there over the next several hours. There are still several more hours of danger there. Thank you for being with us. And the best of luck and the days and weeks ahead.

BOIVIN: You're very welcome. You're very welcome. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.

BERMAN: All right. Bye-bye.

It just sounds devastating to hear the descriptions that she's delivering, everything is floating. Buildings floating by. Picnic benches floating by there. It seems like the gulf is now just over Cedar Key, is what she's describing. She's being told from the people who are still there, Boris, Rahel. It's just quite, quite a situation and it's not over yet.

SOLOMON: I was -- John, thank you. I was struck by those descriptions as well. The picnic tables, the rushing water as she described. And she said she had initially planned to stay at her motel and decided, ultimately, to heed the warnings and evacuate and she is so glad that she did. John, we'll check back with you soon. Thank you, John.

[10:45:00]

Meantime, we are getting new images of Hurricane Idalia taken from the International Space Station. And it really shows the sheer magnitude of the powerful storm from above.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Take a look at these pictures. This is how astronauts on the space station are seeing the storm as it churns across Florida, and soon into parts of Georgia and the Carolinas as well. Really an impressive picture of a large and powerful storm. One that rapidly intensified and slammed into Florida with very powerful winds and storm surge. Stay with "CNN News Central." We're back in moments.

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[10:50:00]

SOLOMON: Welcome back. And we want to take you now to some drone video from Keaton Beach. Hurricane Idalia making landfall near there almost exactly three hours ago, at about 7:45 eastern. Take a look at this stunning video, the roof ripped off of this home. You can see the bed inside of this home. As we said, Hurricane Idalia made landfall as a category 3 this morning, about three hours ago, and that is a pretty clear picture of some of the damage it caused.

SANCHEZ: Yes, winds somewhere around 125 miles an hour as it made landfall. You were looking there at the dissection of someone's home. And as we look at this, you see the powerful storm surge, waves hitting structures. We're looking at upwards of a 12 to 16-foot storm surge in some areas. And that means some structures will be lifted and they will wind up floating away.

We're just learning from the National Weather Service that Hurricane Idalia is now a category 1 storm. So, it went from being a category 4 as it was just offshore to then making landfall as a category 3, weakening to a 2, now it officially has become a 1.

SOLOMON: Yes. We want to now go to John Berman, our colleague who has been out there all morning long from Tallahassee. John, what are you seeing at this moment? How have conditions either improved or worsened?

BERMAN: The brightest skies we've seen in some time in Tallahassee which is saying something as it's still raining and relatively windy here. You mentioned that Hurricane Idalia is now a category 1 hurricane as it moves into Georgia. That's actually pretty impressive given that it's been inland now. It made landfall around 8:00 a.m. So, it's been over land for a long time, relatively speaking.

Still, a category 1 storm as it moves over areas, bringing wind into areas with trees and really, is devastating freshwater flooding. But the concern in Florida is still the storm surge along the west coast, the Gulf Coast of Florida, and especially the Big Bend. Let's talk about that.

Joining me now is the senior senator from the State of Florida, Marco Rubio, who I believe is in Miami. Senator Rubio, thank you so much for being with us. What are you hearing? What updates are you getting on the situation, especially along the coast where that storm surge is?

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): Yes. Well, first of all, I actually think the National Weather Service, the hurricane center deserves a lot of credit. You know, they've improved on their forecast every year. And I think so far, not just where it's going to hit, but the intensity of it, the ability to predict intensity, and -- I think has been excellent. They deserve that credit.

I talked to the sheriff of Taylor County, you know, that's where Keaton Beach is early this morning, about 7:40, shortly after a short landfall. So, I was glad to see I could get through cell phone coverage. And, you know, at that time, they were dealing with the winds.

I think the real concern that I have, obviously, and I think you're hearing from the meteorologists and the experts is not so much the eye of the storm but the sustained winds for some period of time and areas to the east of that storm and then up north where you are. I believe you're in Tallahassee where you got all of those live oaks, this huge tree canopy that's very vulnerable, that's never really been tested by a storm of this magnitude.

And then you've heard a lot about the storm surge. You know -- I mean, Cedar Key is, you know, it's a -- like a historic fishing village typesetting. Keaton Beach is actually one of the most unspoiled places of our state. Those places are going to be dramatically transformed, as are a bunch of areas on this path, both because of the tree cover that they have up there. It looks more like Georgia than, you know, tropical South Florida, for example.

So, we're -- this is -- we got a few more hours ahead here of wind. And the only good news, if there is any, is that, you know, we avoided sort of the worst-case scenario in Tampa Bay which is the one we're always afraid of is this -- they're still going to have storm surge there but it's not going to be the worst-case scenario.

BERMAN: Yes. It didn't seem to make landfall in a populated area, but a very vulnerable area, as you say. With the storm surge hitting Cedar Key and Steinhatchee. Taylor County -- I was in Taylor County just yesterday. It's encouraging that you were able to make contact with the sheriff. His deputies were going door to door last night, trying to get people to evacuate to higher ground.

You mentioned the National Weather Service and the warnings that were given. Is it your sense that people are heeding these warnings when they're warned of the devastating storm surge that people now understanding what that means?

RUBIO: Well, two things. The first is I think that just based on what state officials and local officials have told us, there are always going to be some people that stayed behind. I think that's true in Taylor County. The good news is they know who these people are and where they live. The bad news is that if they get in trouble out there, no one is going to be able to get to them for quite some time.

[10:55:00]

And there's been an innovation here over the last few years. It was -- still listed as an experimental model, but they're relying more and more on it, and that is the ability to predict storm surge. And it's increasingly building into the way we forecast these storms and the way we advertise them to the public.

For the first time in a hurricane, I've seen news outlets like CNN and the local outlets actually go to the storm surge projection, the storm surge cone before they go to the wind cone. And I think that's very encouraging because that really -- I mean, the wind, obviously, is a very dangerous thing. But if that storm surge that I don't think was really built into the way we analyze and thought about storms in the past. And I'm very happy to see that's working itself into the forecast and that it's proved, you know, quite accurate in, sort of, predicting the danger and the right places to evacuate.

BERMAN: You mentioned you were speaking to the sheriff in Taylor County. Have you heard of any people trapped, at this point, or loss of life?

RUBIO: I have not. And that doesn't mean there isn't. There, obviously, as the storm blows through, you're going to lose power and you're going to cell connectivity. I was just checked a moment ago, I think they were up to almost 300,000 people in the state without power, obviously in this area, primarily. But -- so, it's possible, those calls haven't gone through. And even they did, it's possible they can't get to them.

Now, I'm not getting real-time information on that. The emergency operation center would know more about that and others at the state level. But it's almost certain that there will be people out there that stayed behind that are going to get themselves into some trouble in the hours to come, unfortunately.

BERMAN: You know, Senator Rubio, it was Mexico Beach in 2018, I think it was. It was Fort Myers Beach and Punta Gorda last year that had these storm surge events. Now, it's the Big Bend area with these storm surge events, these low-lying coastal areas. You know -- and people do live there, but it's every year, every couple of years, where you're seeing this devastating destructive storm surge. How does that factor in to where people, do you think, choose to live or how they build along the Florida Gulf Coast?

RUBIO: Yes. Well, what happens, unfortunately, from an economic standpoint is when a storm comes through and not like -- I'll give you an example. Monroe County, right? It destroyed all the mobile home parks, everything that was down there back in -- the storm back in, I believe, 2018. And what's going to get rebuilt is not just going to be up to code, meaning up to modern code to withstand that kind of event. But it's going to be a lot more expensive just because the cost of building it at that level.

And think about it, if you're the owner of a land that has a mobile home park, and now you can sell it to someone who is going to develop it into a million-dollar townhome, you're going to go with the million-dollar townhome offer.

So, I think it changes the nature and character of these places. In fact, we talked about (INAUDIBLE), you could see the area overhead and you could literally identify which were the houses that were built up to the modern code and which ones were pre-existing and how they withstood the wind.

The water event, you know, obviously, is a very different dynamic. I mean, there's only so much we can do. You can elevate a little bit. But when you're talking about seven, eight feet of storm surge, I mean, it's very tough to build against that. And especially in the Gulf of Mexico, we have very low shelf on a geologist -- a marine geologist, but it's -- I know there's a low shelf there and so the water piles up much faster.

And then you've got the inland flooding, too, if you've got significant rain events. So, it's changing the character of these communities. You'll see that increasingly in Fort Myers Beach in Southwest Florida as a result of last year's storm.

BERMAN: Senator Marco Rubio, we do appreciate your time. Thanks very much.

RUBIO: All right. Be safe. Thank you.

BERMAN: All right. All right. That was Senator Marco Rubio down in Miami.

Miami, obviously, has seen its share of hurricanes. He was talking about building codes there. You know, Rahel, Boris, I know you lived in the area before. You can see in that area, the structures that were built pre-Hurricane Andrew and after Hurricane Andrew with the building codes when there were recreased (ph), there's just such a difference in terms of how things are built. That has to do mostly with wind. But the storm surge, it's hard to build anything that can withstand a storm surge of 10 to 15 feet, Rahel.

SANCHEZ: Absolutely.

SOLOMON: That's a great point, John. We were looking at video earlier in this block where you saw a home with the roof completely torn off.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

SOLOMON: I mean, you could see inside of the home. You could see their bedroom. And we had some other video that showed just, sort of, the rushing water. And you can see the wind and the trees just really blowing around quite violently. And this is the video that I was talking about. But it really gives you a sense of the destruction and the damage and the power behind the storm.

SANCHEZ: Yes. And to the point that John and Senator Rubio were making, the character of these communities, the composition, everything from building code, the materials that are used likely to change as a result of a storm like this. One that is uncommon for the Big Bend region of Florida.

Sara Sidner, John Berman, thanks so much. Please stand by. We're going to be coming back to them throughout the hour. And stay with CNN. We're going to continue monitoring Hurricane Idalia as it makes its way across Florida.

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