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Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) Gives a Storm Update; Helene Slams North Carolina; Atlanta Under Flood Emergency; An Update on the Movement of Helene; John Dailey is Interviewed about Tallahassee. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired September 27, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

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[09:01:52]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, I'm John Berman in Tallahassee, Florida. This is our special live coverage of now Tropical Storm Helene. It passed not far from me in Tallahassee overnight as a hurricane. But look at what it is doing now in Atlanta.

A flash flood emergency in place for Atlanta. Eight inches of rain there so far. Several inches more expected. The mayor, Andre Dickens, told us moments ago, stay inside. Do not go out on the roads in Atlanta right now because those pictures right there, that is what you will face, rising, dangerous waters.

You know what, we're going to check in with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to get an update on what the storm did in this state.

Listen.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Idalia, which took a similar track. It was similar strength. Maybe a little bit weaker. But you are seeing significantly more storm surge in places like Tampa Bay. We also saw major storm surge, of course, in the big bend region.

We did report that there was a traffic fatality last night. We also, this morning, can report that there's been another fatality reported in Dixie County due to a tree falling on the home during the storm.

Overnight, as soon as the storm, as soon as it was safe to do, and even, in many cases, probably wasn't perfectly safe to do, search and rescue operations were conducted to help people that were in distress and transport them to safety. These missions continue, but we've had thousands of mission successfully completed in the overnight hours throughout the state. This is our local first responders, this is local in conjunction with state assets, and state assets directly going in and effectuating rescues. And that's the National Guard, that's Florida Fish and Wildlife, that's all the assets we had available to help support these rescue efforts. And all the calls that any state officials responded to last night, we

were able to find the person or people or - and pets and bring them to safety. And so that's a contrast from some of the things that we saw, for example, at Hurricane Ian.

Now it's still early. They're going to have those folks who were responding to those calls. They're going to be doing broader search and rescue in those areas that did get hit with significant storm surge and see if there's any - any other problems or if there's any folks that are still left behind.

But as of now, we don't have reports of that. And so those missions were successful and those missions saved a lot of lives. So, I want to thank all the first responders, our folks working for the sheriff's departments, fire rescue, of course, all our state assets. Everyone was ready to go, and it made a big difference for what was really historic storm surge in different parts of the state.

We have currently, as of 6:00 a.m., 1.24 million accounts without power throughout the state of Florida.

[09:05:04]

Since the storm has begun, there have been 1.16 million accounts that have already been restored. As of 6:00 a.m., we have 382,000 accounts for Duke, 284,000 for the co-ops, 253,000 for the Muniz (ph), 233,000 for FPL, 77,000 for Teco (ph) and 11,000 for FPU. So, those restoration efforts are underway. They've been - really been gone - going on the entire time as - as people have lost power. And so I think you're going to see some - some progress on that throughout today.

As of now, we have a number of severely impacted counties with over 30 percent of the power out. Alachua, 55 percent out. Baker, 86 percent. Bradford, 65 percent out. Citrus, 34 percent out. Clay, 33 percent out. Columbia, 99 percent out. Dixie, 92 percent. Gilchrist, 87 percent. Hamilton, 99 percent. Jefferson, 83 percent. Lafayette, 81 percent. Leon, 44 percent. Levy, 83 percent. Liberty, 33 percent. Madison, 99 percent. Nassau, 57 percent. Pinellas, 41 percent. Polk, 33 percent. Sawani, 99 percent. Taylor, 99 percent. Union, 86 percent.

BERMAN: You're listening to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis give an update on the impacts from what hit Florida as Hurricane Helene as a category four storm in the big bend area of Florida, 140 mile an hour winds at impact.

Governor DeSantis reports now two deaths in Florida from this storm. We understand five deaths overall as you move up north into Georgia and North Carolina. The governor reporting more than a million customers currently without power in Florida, although power has been restored to another million who had lost power at one point.

The storm surge along the coast, Tampa, Clearwater, south, record- setting, worst maybe in some cases than they were expecting. Still assessing some of the damage there. Hundreds and hundreds of water rescues overnight. Now the storm has moved up into Georgia and North Carolina.

Let's get right to Isabel Rosales, who is in Asheville, North Carolina, witnessing really just serious, treacherous rising water there.

Isabel, good morning to you.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John, good morning to you.

I just spoke to you like a couple of minutes ago. I don't know if you remember the manhole then, but look at this now, completely overwhelmed. All of these drainage systems overwhelmed by all of this storm surge.

This is actually on higher ground. So you can see the water just continuing to come over here and pooling into low lying areas. Look at that drainage venting system over here.

This is just going to get worse. And there's a few conditions at play here. Asheville has two major rivers here, the Swannanoa River and then also the French Broad River. Levels for the river, even before Helene impacts were felt here, were at ten feet tall. Through Helene experts here are forecasting it to reach another ten feet.

Then you had all of this rainfall that came in around Wednesday. Again, a different storm system. That poured over eight inches. We're expecting with that, and then Helene, for over 20 inches of rainfall to fall. We are looking at a one in 1,000 year rain event here.

The National Weather Service has warned people that this is going to be a significant weather event here unlike what we've seen in modern times for this region. So, the conditions are just getting worse and worse. I can see the water starting to come up higher. I can see trash cans back there - I don't know if the camera can capture that - just starting to roll really with the winds too. These like that, heavy, powerful gusts of wind coming through.

Officials are also worried about something else here with this mountainous area. And that is landslides. I spoke with the Asheville fire chief, Michael Cayse, yesterday. He told me that that's really his biggest fear. He's worried that the sediment underneath these businesses, these homes, that are carved into the mountain sides, that that's in a precarious situation. He's worried that with all of this rain, storm surge, that's going to get into the sediment, and it could lead to landslides and collapse - and collapse of these structures.

He's told me that they've got a FEMA team here with them embedded with them at the ready. They are experts in search and rescue, if it comes to that.

[09:10:03]

There is a press conference happening here in the 10:00 hour. We're hoping to get more details as to the extent of the impacts here in the Asheville area. John.

BERMAN: Just extraordinary images from Asheville, North Carolina. You can see the drainage system. They are simply overwhelmed. And this will get worse as more rain falls there.

Isabel Rosales, stay safe and continue to keep us posted and maybe continued to move to higher ground over the next several minutes.

Let's go to Atlanta now. CNN's senior national correspondent Ryan Young is in Atlanta, where there is a flood emergency as well.

Ryan, what are you seeing?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, John. Look, the water has been just immense. And people were surprised when they came out this morning and saw what we've been showing you, these images of cars that have been flooded. And this water has really threatened some of the homes here.

In fact, I have two gentlemen who just waded through the water to get up to this location.

I was asking you guys earlier, obviously you got an email about your cars, but you said you live back there. Show me the line and tell me how high the water is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, so I'm about five foot ten. We're talking about three-and-a-half, maybe four feet of water at its high point. We're talking sedans almost completely submerged. Hatchbacks coming open. It's insane.

YOUNG: Were you guys surprised this morning when you opened your doors and you saw all of this? What was your first thoughts when you opened the door?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was like, this is insane. This is like something you would see on the news. And then I saw some cars under water. And I checked my car and I was very fortunate. I park at a high point, so my car was not submerged.

YOUNG: Yes, there is a creek that runs behind this. And we're in the bucket area. Tell me about the creek. You saw it last night. It was starting to go up a little bit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, so, actually, last afternoon I went out there. It was pretty high. And then I went again last night. It was even higher. And then I woke up this morning and the creek's all the way up to this level and flooded the whole parking lot. It's crazy.

YOUNG: You guys both tell me you've never seen it like this before. You slept through it. Were you surprised to see how dangerous this could have been, especially for the neighbors who live on the first floor?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, absolutely. It's - you know, some of these apartments aren't elevated, like ours are, and they're, you know - you'd probably see maybe a foot of water in there, which is super unfortunate. We're fortunate to be on the second floor. But, yes, (INAUDIBLE).

YOUNG: All right, thank you, guys. Appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

YOUNG: Thank you so much. Nice to meet you guys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, thank you.

YOUNG: So, John, obviously you're talking to folks who had to wade through the water just to get to a dry location.

On the other side of this we've seen dozens of cars that can't move because they are still within the floodwater. We know this scene has been repeated throughout the city of Atlanta. We know more within 25 rescues happened with the Atlanta fire department being able to jump in this morning and actually had to use boats to get some people out of their homes.

And then we have that video that I think is going to be - a lot of people are going to remember of that baby, that infant, being rescued from a car that happened early this morning as well. So, you see that process in terms of them having to rescue people. Water of more than eight inches coming into the Atlanta area. So, very quickly. And, of course, we're still expecting more rain.

The good news is, we have had heavy wind gusts so far, but they haven't been substantial in terms of sustaining themselves for several hours. So, that has been the good part. As with trees falling all across the area and power being out.

As you look back this direction, those men are getting to take that long walk back toward their apartment as they surveyed everything. But they're going to have to go back in that waist deep water as I deal with this flooding situations here in Atlanta.

John.

BERMAN: Yes, more of a long wade back to their apartment rather than a long walk at this point given all the water there.

Ryan Young, in Atlanta, keep us posted.

And again, the ground is so saturated there it will be some time before it's really safe to move about.

And the same is here true in Tallahassee. I have to say, we just heard some cracking up in the trees there, making us wonder if maybe a branch or one of these limbs that was waterlogged last night was beginning to fall. But it doesn't look like anything new is coming down there.

Let's get to CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar at the Weather Center. Allison, where is the storm now? How much more rain will it bring, particularly, we were looking at Asheville, North Carolina. Our Isabel Rosales just standing in gushing water there.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, so it's still going to be quite a while before they see an end to that rain. Now, Atlanta might be a different story. Maybe start to see things begin to dry out here in about an hour or so from now. Now, granted, there's so much water, it's going to take time for that water to go away.

It's going to be a different story for western North Carolina. You've got some of these areas that are going to see rain for at least another two to three hours before it ends. And then states like Tennessee and Kentucky, where the bulk of the rain is just now starting to enter there, it's going to be quiet quite some time.

You still have tornado warnings also in effect for portions of South and North Carolina. That's going to continue throughout the rest of the day today. But the flooding is really going to be the biggest widespread concern. All of these areas where you see green, that is a flood watch, meaning the potential is there for flooding throughout the day today.

The red color that's where flooding is ongoing. It is already happening. We're seeing the water continue to rise over the streets. And then these white shaded areas, those are flash flood emergencies. That is the highest possible level you can get in a flood alert.

[09:15:05]

You still have these two in effect for in and around the Atlanta metro area and some of the suburbs that go around it. Then you have several, most of them in western North Carolina, it appears to be under some type of flash flood emergency. That does include the city of Asheville, where Isabel Rosales is located.

More of that rain is going to continue to funnel into those areas. But even after it ends, remember, these things take time to go back down. The winds are also still gusting, almost 50 miles an hour in Colombia, 52 in Charlotte. A lot of these areas still going to be looking at the wind. The rain will end first. The wind will take at least another two to four hours before the wind starts to calm down, even after the rain has ended.

BERMAN: All right, Allison Chinchar, thank you very much for that update. Obviously, something that's going to be affecting people for some time.

With us now is the mayor of Tallahassee, where I am, John Dailey.

Mayor, thank you so much for being with us.

This may be the last time we talk because I get the sense Tallahassee doing OK this morning.

MAYOR JOHN DAILEY (D) TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA: well, the sun is shining, that is for sure, and it's a beautiful day outside.

Yes, look, when the storm took a jog to the east, it made landfall 57 miles away from Tallahassee. So, we did not have the brunt of the storm. You know, my thoughts and prayers are with my neighbors down on the coast over in Taylor County, the good people over there.

Nonetheless, we did - we did have some damage. We've got about 50,000 customers without power, representing about 40 percent. That's down from 50 percent earlier this morning.

But look, hats off to the great men and women of the city of Tallahassee out there on the frontlines. Our first responders and the utility workers. They got out there, you know, at 2:00, 3:00 in the morning, as soon as the storm passed, did the initial assessment, started working on the utility lines. Our wastewater system worked. Our water system worked. Our storm water system worked. We had no flooding, no reported deaths. But we do need to get out there and we're putting the electricity back up so we can get everybody turned back on.

We had about 50 roads that were blocked. So, you know, we've got a lot of work we need to do in this community. By no stretch of the imagination are we done. We have just begun. But it could have been much worse. That is correct.

BERMAN: Mayor John Dailey, I have to say, it really was remarkable. We were out looking, starting at about 4:00 a.m. to see some of the damage. And already at that point the trees were being removed from the roads, opened up again. Just incredible work, incredible preparation to make sure the city can get back on its feet.

Mayor John Dailey, thank you for hosting us. Thank you for being with us this morning.

Again, the storm is having such an impact on places right now, like Georgia and North Carolina. Warned that the flooding in North Carolina in particular could be some of the worst in a century. We'll have the very latest right after this.

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[09:22:39]

BERMAN: All right, happening now, the situation in North Carolina is treacherous. The western part of that state is seeing life threatening flooding. Some of the worst in perhaps more than a century. Our affiliate reported near Asheville says emergency officials are urging people to stay home and off the roads.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're on the main road, Highway 1923 into Canton. Behind me you can see the road is closed there. Haywood County officials are asking me to tell you it's a do not drive situation here in Haywood County. They're basically saying all roads, right now anyway, in Haywood County are closed. Consider them closed. Don't leave your house. If you're in a safe place, stay there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Yes, and, look, our Isabel Rosales was standing in feet of water in Asheville, North Carolina, just moments ago. Hopefully she is moving to higher ground there.

And just up the road, Coleen and Henry Rathbone took this video from Canton, North Carolina. Let's take a look at that. You can see behind them is normally farmland and roads there. Just a dangerous situation. And Henry and Coleen join us now.

Thank you so much for being with us. I am glad you're safe. Tell us what you are seeing near your home

HENRY RATHBONE, NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENT: Well, it's - the river is really getting us bad. And them videos was a couple of hours ago. It's worse now. I'm sure a lot worse. The river is still coming up. So, it's - it's going to be a pretty big event.

BERMAN: The river is still coming up. Have you ever seen anything like this?

H. RATHBONE: Well, we've been here through (INAUDIBLE) and (INAUDIBLE) and Fred (ph). And this is a lot -

COLEEN RATHBONE, NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENT: This one might be worse.

H. RATHBONE: Just as bad, if not worse. It's really - I mean the rain's coming down in buckets, and the river just keeps coming up. So, I don't know when it's supposed to crest today, but it's -

C. RATHBONE: Trees are down on roads everywhere.

H. RATHBONE: Yes.

C. RATHBONE: Don't get out if you don't have to. Like that.

[09:25:02]

BERMAN: Never - the river keeps coming up, as you say.

C. RATHBONE: (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: How's your home?

H. RATHBONE: Well, we're OK. We've got a lot - about six inches of water in the basement, but we can get that out once it quits. I don't need to mess with it until it's over.

C. RATHBONE: And if our tree doesn't fall into our neighbor's house, then we'll be OK. But it's - we're about to lose our tree.

BERMAN: Well, let's hope - let's hope that doesn't happen. Bu you say that is a risk there.

If the river does keep rising, what dangers does that pose?

H. RATHBONE: Well, I mean, there's a lot of folks. The biggest thing is, you know, we pray for these homes destroyed and hopefully everybody is evacuated out of the way. Nobody will die or nothing. But the property damage will be astronomical I'm sure before it's all over. But that stuff can be replaced, people can't.

BERMAN: Listen, Henry, Coleen, please stay safe. It's going to be some time, I think, before this completely passes over. Thank you for sharing your story and sharing these pictures so people have a sense of just how dangerous it is in your part of the state. I don't think anyone has seen a storm quite like this, as you said, and you've seen a lot there. So, thank you so much for being with us.

Look at that.

All right, Sara, the storm still causing so much damage, nowhere near out of danger in western North Carolina, Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, that's a really good point. Wow, what a picture. Thank you so much, John Berman.

Moments from now, Israel's prime minister will address the U.N. General Assembly amid the escalating conflict with Hezbollah. We have the very latest on U.S.-led efforts to try and reach a ceasefire. That's ahead.

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