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DeSantis News Conference; Sandra Tapfumaneyi is Interviewed about Sarasota. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired October 10, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: That's notable, in part because this is one of the bases of emergency operations in response to Hurricane Milton. You had emergency personnel sheltering there. You had resources gathered there. And you can see how impactful this hurricane was.

Something you may also be able to see behind me is that there is a pretty decent amount of traffic for this hour, especially after a storm. We - we were able to look in the immediate neighborhood of Tropicana Park, and it seemed as though, at least in the immediate area, there wasn't much flooding, there wasn't much damage to structures. So, right now, it looks like the roof got the worst of it at Tropicana Park.

But, obviously, this is one area of St. Petersburg. It doesn't highlight what's happening across Pinellas County and neighboring Hillsborough County as well.

We tried to access an area of Pinellas County earlier today that's been shut off. Sheriff's deputies had closed the bridge leading into an area where we understand that there had been some downed power lines, extensive flooding as well. We know that in neighboring Hillsborough County -

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Governor Ron DeSantis - let's go - let's go - jump over now to Governor Ron DeSantis, giving his first live update of the day.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, Florida State Guard Director Mark Thieme, and Major General John Haas from the Florida National Guard.

Around 8:30 last night, Milton, Hurricane Milton, made landfall near Siesta Key in Sarasota County. It moved quickly across central Florida overnight, producing significant flooding and damaging winds near its path. The storm did bring much destruction and damage. Tornadoes ravaged parts of the east coast of the state. Flooding occurred on the west and east coast. And strong winds lashed the state, especially in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, and Sarasota Counties.

Over the last 24 hours, heavy rainfall totals upwards of ten to 15 inches has been observed across much of the Tampa Bay area, in Nature Coast, and spreading eastward along north of I-4 corridor towards Sanford.

Isolated pockets of up to 18 inches of rainfall were observed in Pinellas and coastal Hillsborough Counties. Five to ten inches of rainfall has been observed further northward towards Gainesville along eastern portions of the I-4 corridor and south of the western I-4 corridor towards Sarasota.

Several rivers reached major flood stage and major flooding continues along portions of the Hillsborough River, St. Johns River, and Little Wakulla River. Water levels are forecast to continue rising along northeast and west central Florida rivers and waterways, with many forecast to remain within or reach moderate to flood stage over the next day or so.

We had over 80,000 people that were into shelters overnight as the storm hit the state. We will better understand the extent of the damage as the day progresses. And you have people that are out there assessing damage right now. First responders have been working all through the night to help people who were in distress. And what we can say is this storm was significant, but thankfully this was not the worst-case scenario. The storm did weaken before landfall and the storm surge, as initially reported, has not been as significant overall as what was observed for Hurricane Helene.

Right now it looks like Sarasota County had the most significant storm surge. Likely somewhere between eight to ten feet. And remember, with Helene, we had 15 to 20 feet up in Taylor County.

Rescue missions have been underway throughout the night. State search and rescue teams report at least 48 individuals have been rescued as of 06:30. National Guard search and rescue teams have worked overnight and successfully executed rescues of families and pets on the west coast and from the destruction of the tornadoes in east - in the central and eastern parts of Florida. The Guard continues to work into the morning and have 31 rescue aircraft operational and hundreds of rescuers engaged in over 125 active missions in 26 different counties. Over 6,500 soldiers are deployed throughout the state.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission has made land and water rescues in Pinellas, Hillsborough, and Pasco County. The state guard has also been engaged in search and rescue, assisting with floodwater evacuations, as well as damage assessments.

There are currently 3.1 million accounts without power. There have been 635,000 restorations since Hurricane Milton hit Florida. The areas that have the most significant outages as of this morning or Hillsborough, 75 percent out, Hardee, 97 percent out, Manatee, 82 percent out, Pinellas, 68 percent out, and Sarasota, 75 percent out. Of course, there are 50,000 plus linemen that have been pre-staged. A lot of what they'll do this morning is likely assess the damage and then begin restoration operations very quickly.

[08:35:07]

And we appreciate everybody that's in that fight because that's very important for a lot of people. Cut and toss have begun at first light by the Florida Department of

Transportation. Three hundred and twenty-eight crews are active in the field, with over 350 pieces of heavy equipment and trucks. One hundred and 50 bridge inspectors were dispatched at first light and have begun performing inspections to open bridges across the impact areas. As I put in my executive order, residents, you know, have a right to be back into their homes as soon as the roadways are deemed safe.

In Tampa, the Gandy Bridge and Howard Frankland Bridge have been inspected, cleared, and are open. And Inspections of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge are underway. There is debris on the Sunshine Skyway, as well as the Courtney Campbell. But once that debris is clear, we anticipate those bridges opening later this morning. Other bridges are being opened as soon as the state inspections are completed.

The Tampa Airport is repairing minimal damage and should be open no later than tomorrow. Seaports are awaiting Coast Guard channel surveys to reopen waterside. But as of now, our initial assessments is they will likely be able to do - resume operations very quickly.

We still have a lot of school closures for today. I think Floridians should just keep in contact with their - their local officials about what that's going to be. I would imagine a lot of the schools that were not necessarily in the direct path of this storm will be open tomorrow. It may take a few more days for some of the places that were harder hit.

Now, as you survey damage and clean up, please be cautious of hazards. We have post-storm fatalities almost every storm, and a lot of these fatalities are avoidable. So, please be cautious of downed power lines. Don't touch them. Don't remove tree debris that may be entangled with downed power lines. Standing water can conceal downed power lines and other hazards. So, please be mindful and never walk through storm waters.

Standing storm waters can also carry a bacteria that can lead to fatal infections. This type of infection was responsible for a fatality following Hurricane Helene. So, please, avoid wading through standing water. Please use proper ladder safety. Please use proper generator safety. Do not operate the generator inside your home. It must be outside a safe distance from doors and windows.

Visit Florida's emergency accommodation modules on Expedia and Priceline will remain available for those who are returning to their homes, which were evacuated during the storm and sustained damage or - or are in need of other type of shelters. So, these models will continue to provide real-time hotel availability and lodging resources, making the experience easier for users.

If traffic lights are out in your area, please drive with caution and treat each light as you would a four-way stop. And also remember, if you're going to use a chainsaw, be very careful with that. We have mishaps on that after every storm.

We are extending the Hope Florida line for another two weeks at 24 hours, seven days a week. So, if you need assistance or resources post-storm, you can call 1-833-Get-HOPE, 1-833-GET HOPE. Hope Florida's disaster arm Activate Hope is a program designed to help people find help following a disaster, such as a hurricane. So, you can call the Hope line. You can also visit the Hope bus, which will be in some of these areas very soon. And there will be announcements about that.

Florida commerce and the state emergency response team activated the business damage assessment survey in response to Hurricane Milton. Business owners can self-report physical and economic damage caused by the storm. Businesses complete - can complete the survey online at floridadisaster.biz, floridadisaster.biz.

Florida Commerce has also activated the small business emergency bridge loan program. We have 50 million available to Florida small businesses. And it's a zero interest loan. Very flexible repayment options. You can apply for loans of up to $50,000 through the program. Loans of up to $100,000 are available for agriculture and aquaculture small businesses. And loans of $150,000 are available for citrus and cattle operations. Again, these are short-term, zero interest loan. You get the cash in your hand. The repayment terms are very flexible. You can apply at www.floridajobs.org/ebl. Floridajobs.org/ebl.

We've also activated the Florida Disaster Fund for those who want to make tax deductible charitable contributions that will be used to be able to help Floridians who are in need.

[08:40:09]

And you can go to floridadisasterfund.org, floridadisasterfund.org if you have any questions.

We are going to continue to support all remaining rescue missions that are - that are underway and that may need - be needed in the near future. We'll also continue to assess the damage that was done from the storm. We also anticipate that because of the amount of water, you know, you may see flooding happen, not just now, but - but in the subsequent days.

But I think everybody responded very quickly. I'm proud of everybody's hard work. We've got more work to do, but we will - we will absolutely get through this.

OK, Kevin Guthrie.

KEVIN GUTHRIE, DIRECTOR, FLORIDA DIVISION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Good morning, everyone.

Governor, thank you for your leadership time and time again. I know you and the state emergency response team will lead the charge as we respond to - and recover from this storm.

Hurricane Milton officially made landfall, as you heard the governor say. The impacts from the storm are still being felt across north and east central Florida, even right now, as that last banding train of rain starts to move off shore. Please, especially if you are in the areas, if you're in those areas of northeast Florida, the east race coast, space coast, please make sure you are sheltering in place until official determinant is safe for you to leave.

In the first 72 hours after the storm, there was a parallel effort to search, secure, and stabilize the area. As search and rescue missions continue in response to Milton, please do not go out and visit the impacted areas. You will be inhibiting first responders by doing so. Right now we need those roadways clear for electrical crews, fire crews, EMS crews, urban search and rescue crews. We have 20 something urban search and rescue teams that will move into the area and do a door-by-door search. Even though, as you heard the governor say, this was not the worst-case scenario, we still had damage. And we're going to need to get out there and go door-to-door and make sure that everyone is OK. So, please stay off the road.

Listen to your local authorities for updates on when it is safe to go outside and when it is safe for you to return to your homes. I know a lot of people evacuated, and we appreciate that. Do not be in a hurry. Check in with your local emergency management agency, your local sheriff's offices, to see if they are posting anything on if it's safe to return home. Please make sure you do that.

Again, as the governor said, we're going to open up roads and bridges so that you can do so, but there may be extenuating circumstances at the neighborhood level. So, please make sure you're checking before you come back home.

Major flooding continues along the Hillsborough, St. Johns, and Little Wekiva Rivers. I want to take just a moment and just talk about, there is going to be another phase to this particular incident, and that is very similar to Hurricane Ian. We have a lot of rain that has fallen over the central portion of Florida. The St. Johns River basin that comes down into Seminole County, Brevard -- portions of Brevard, portions of Volusia County, and on up the St. Johns River, those headwaters have experienced a lot of rainfall. That river takes about 45 days to completely flush itself out to the Atlantic Ocean. So, what we're going to be seeing first is impacts down in the Seminole County and surrounding county area. And then you'll see that move up into Palatka, Welaka, and then on up into St. Johns, Flagler, Clay, Duval Counties. So, that's going to be a long-term effort when it comes to making sure that people are monitoring the situation on the St. Johns River, as well as the ones that I mentioned, the Hillsborough and the Little Wekiva.

Some roadways are flooded, which is not a safe situation for anyone. Please do not attempt to walk or drive through floodwaters. Accidents due to floodwaters are 100 percent preventable. All you've got to do is turn around.

If you sheltered in place or when you return to your home and you're looking at the damages around your home right now, do one thing for us, take out your phone, take some pictures, inside and outside. All four sides of the house, every room inside the house.

What are things that you should be documenting? Make sure you're documenting just the physical damages, but then also, since this was a flooding event, we want to make sure that you capture those what we call high watermarks on your home. Do that inside and outside. For a point of reference, when you're on the outside of the home, make sure you get like the door knob of the outdoor house. That will give us a reference, a point of reference on how high that water got. If you're on the inside, make sure you have like an electrical socket or a light switch or, again, a door handle on the inside of your home in the picture so that we can get some type of reference as to how high that water is coming.

If you're beginning the cleanup process, please ensure you're wearing the appropriate safety gear.

[08:45:04]

Do not attempt to clean up hazardous debris or downed power lines, as the governor has said. Report all of that to your local authorities.

Do not cut any lines. Again, we do not need Florida man and Florida woman out there cutting random lines as they go. You don't know what is a cable line. You don't know what it an electrical line. And probably more importantly these days is you don't know what is a fiber optic line. Most of our 911 lines run across fiber optic. We do not want anybody cutting lines. Let the professionals come in there and identify what it is before it's cut.

Remember, again, some roads are still dangerous due to flooding, debris, and potential downed lines. Do not risk it. Let our crews get out there and get everything back up and running.

For assistance after the storm, call state assistance information line. Again, that's information only. 1-800-342-3557. Help is available in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole. Floridadisaster.org/updates for information on the web. And then, of course, follows us on at - I'm sorry follow us @flsert on X and Instagram and Facebook @fdem. That is the most trusted and fastest source that we have. We have several people helping us out on posting on social media. So, that is going to be the best place and the fastest place to get stuff from us.

Thank you, Governor DeSantis, again, as together we will overcome this storm.

DESANTIS: Thank you.

Roger (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you, Governor DeSantis -

BOLDUAN: All right, we've been listening in right now to the first update of the day kind of as the storm has moved out into the Atlantic, the first update from Governor Ron DeSantis.

And he - he - the - I think that the biggest headline, and we can tick through it because it's important, he did say thankfully the worst- case scenario did not occur.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: No. BOLDUAN: And that's important for everyone to know.

BERMAN: Which is - which is lucky. It did not go up into Tampa Bay. You did not see storm surge of 15 feet.

But there is still very much a risk today. And that was the other thrust of his news conference. Rivers will still flood and rise in some cases. Power lines are down all over the state. He is urging residents to listen to their local officials. In many cases, stay at home today so first responders can do their work.

We do know there have been at least four fatalities recorded from the tornadoes on the east coast, and that number may very well rise.

BOLDUAN: And power outages - power seems to be a real problem today and will continue. He had mentioned there's more than 3 million people still without power. Hillsborough County, Hardee County, Manatee County, Pinellas County, Sarasota County, that's where most of the outages are centered and focus right now, but that's going to be - that's - that's - that's part of the long-term recovery is they need to get out there and access the damage.

He also did say if the - getting a full read on the extent of the damage, they don't have it yet.

BERMAN: No.

BOLDUAN: And that's going to continue today.

BERMAN: No, we don't know just yet.

What we do know is there are water rescues happening in the western part of the state, in those flooded areas. In the eastern part of the state, we are seeing damage from tornadoes. Our cameras are just reaching some of these sites.

Stay with us.

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[08:52:53]

BOLDUAN: We've got new video in just a short time ago of - from Orange County, Florida. This is a central part of Florida near Orlando. Crews out checking homes, checking in with people affected by the flooding. As you can see, they're just working through the water, walking through the water. It's about waste deep, as you can see right there.

This is the west - the central part of the state. And we just also heard a live update from the governor, who was talking about Sarasota, saying that Sarasota County actually was the portion of the state, the part of the state that was hardest hit when it comes to storm surge. Sarasota County saw eight to ten feet of storm surge that they were dealing with. As he said, though, that was less than what was the worst-case scenario that was feared, which is very good news this morning. Still, they've got a lot to deal with today, especially power outages.

The governor saying that three quarters of Sarasota County is without power this morning.

Let's go there. Joining us right now is Sandra Tapfumaneyi, the Sarasota County emergency management chief.

Chief, thank you so much for coming in.

Give me the latest of what you're most focused on and concerned about in Sarasota County right now.

SANDRA TAPFUMANEYI, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT CHIEF OF SARASOTA COUNTY, FLORIDA (via telephone): Yes. Well, thanks so much for having us on.

So, right now, we have crews out assessing and first responders are clearing the calls that were on hold last night. We had roughly 300 calls, rescue calls, from various different municipalities of people, you know, that while the storm was passing that they couldn't get to. So, they're doing that.

So, our - one of our biggest concerns right now, we can't access Lido Key and Longboat Key because the little Ringling bridge that gets you over to there had some damage to it. So, we're working on that to be able to get out to check on some of the folks that we know had stayed. We had about a couple hundred at least that we knew for sure on Longboat Key. And so, yes, we are - I heard you talk about that storm surge. We are grateful that we didn't get that higher prediction, but we did still get somewhere between seven to eight feet, which is more than we got at Hurricane Helene just two weeks ago.

So, it's been a very active hurricane season here.

[08:55:02]

This is the third hurricane we've had since August.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean exhausted from the hurricane season is probably a vast understatement for you guys.

TAPFUMANEYI: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Chief, you mentioned the Keys out there. Have you been able to get - you've not been able to get there, but have you been able to get in contact - been in contact with them to check on how people are doing?

TAPFUMANEYI: No, we haven't. So, actually, really it's just residents that we know were over that way who just didn't want to evacuate.

BOLDUAN: Got it.

TAPFUMANEYI: So all of the municipalities and the Longboat Key team from the town evacuated to our EOC here, the county EOC. And, you know, we know we had a lot of evacuees too for Lido. So - so now it's just trying to reach the residents that - that stayed out there. We have been able to access Siesta Key. It experienced a great deal of flooding with that surge, but it is starting to subside.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

Real quick, would you say that Sarasota County is in the clear at this point?

TAPFUMANEYI: Well, we've been asking for residents to just stay put for right now. We know that we're clear in terms of experiencing any additional impacts from the hurricane, although we are going to monitor the Myakka River for additional flooding later this week as the rain starts to make its way, you know, down through the, you know, as water flow to get back to the gulf.

But, other than that, as far as storm surge and wind, we're clear. But now we've got a lot of trees down, power lines down. It's still dangerous out there. So, we're asking for residents just to stay put. You know, we know a lot of people evacuated, which we appreciate, but we just need some time to clear everything so that it's safe for them to return.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely.

Thank you so much for joining us. Good luck today.

Our live coverage continues of the aftermath of Hurricane Milton. At least four confirmed deaths out of St. Lucie - out of St. Lucie County after reports of multiple tornadoes tore through there.

Live water rescues also have been underway all throughout the morning. We're tracking all of this from the east coast of Florida to the west coast of Florida.

We'll be right back.

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