Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

St. Lucie County Hit By 3 Tornadoes In Less Than 25 Minutes; Tampa City Council Member Guido Maniscalco Discusses Hurricane Milton; Lebanese Health Ministry; 11 People Killed After Israeli Attack in Beirut; Melissa Reichert, Punta Gorda Assistant City Manager, Discusses Storm Surge Leaving Boats Scattered Around City. Aired 2:30- 3p ET

Aired October 10, 2024 - 14:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:32:56]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Back now live on Florida's Gulf Coast in Treasure Island, we are still seeing the effects of Hurricane Milton in some areas for the first time from the ground.

I want to go straight to CNN's, Brian Todd, who is live for us in Port St. Lucie where tornados ripped through the area even before the hurricane made landfall.

And, Brian, we confirmed a short time ago that there were at least five people killed there. Give us an update on what you're seeing on the ground.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Boris. We pulled into town just a short time ago in St. Lucie County, just north of Fort Pierce. Scenes of real devastation.

I'm going to do a little disclaimer for our audience. If you see our shot pixelate or freeze a little bit, it's because cell phone service here is very sporadic, very weak, and our transmission with live view capability depends on cell phone service.

But, hey, just bear with us. We're going to show you these scenes as we can here.

Take a look at this. This is a tractor trailer truck that was just slammed off the road. Take a look at just the sheer force with which that truck must have hit that tree and toppled over.

You see it again over here. Another tractor trailer truck that was just run right off the road by the force of the tornadoes that came through here. A huge hunk of metal that you can see underneath there is up that side of the truck that was just completely torn off

As, again, as we move around here, we're going to try to keep the movement a little bit to a minimum to kind of preserve the quality of our transmission signal here. Over there is a neighborhood where you can see some significant damage. We also -- our team saw these concrete power poles that we're just snapped in half. These workers reinforced rebar in concrete. They were snapped completely an half, showing you the force of these tornadoes that came in here.

According to CNN's estimates of National Weather Service warnings, nine tornadoes ripped through this county yesterday, three of them in the span of only 25 minutes.

The neighborhood where the fatalities occurred, the Spanish Lakes Village, Spanish Lakes Country Club Village neighborhood of modular homes is back in that direction.

[14:35:03]

The media is not being allowed inside that neighborhood for obvious reasons. They're still assessing damage. They may still be conducting some search-and-rescue operations there and it's a very sensitive operation.

But we've got quotes from people like the commissioner of St. Lucie County, George Landry, saying this has been a tragic 24 hours. And the mayor of St. or Port St. Lucie, Shannon Martin, saying, we've never seen any things like this.

Just shear devastation here. We're just getting our first looks at it, Boris. We hope to show you more later.

But again, you can just see -- again, just -- you can't illustrate this enough just the sheer force and power of these tornadoes.

Again, take a look at this tractor trailer truck, and how much it must weigh and just what it did to that tree, what that tree did to it in the span of just a few seconds -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: Yes, Brian, it's always awe inspiring the power of Mother Nature and what it can do.

And notably, tornadoes were a huge factor in Hurricane Milton as it swept through Florida. It's now obviously a post-tropical storm as it moves in the Atlantic. There where something like 100 tornado warnings for the entire state of Florida yesterday. That is a single-day record.

It goes to show you, not only the power of this storm, but just how wide it was across the Sunshine State.

I actually want to talk to the chairman of the Tampa City Council now.

Guido Maniscalco joins us live.

Guido, thank you so much for joining us.

I want to get your thoughts on how the city fared when it comes to Hurricane Milton. And how did preparations go and how do you think the community did?

GUIDO MANISCALCO, TAMPA CITY COUNCIL MEMBER (via telephone): You know, we were -- we were expecting the worst and hoping for the best scenario. One of our biggest concerns was the storm surge. And that was based on the exact movement of Milton and where it made landfall.

Because if it was a little bit north, a little bit south, it would have determined how much storm surge we would have seen. We didn't see what we expected. We did have a storm surge situation a couple of weeks ago that was horrible, that affected so many houses that are still trying to recover.

But it was, I think, a better-than-expected situation considering the magnitude of the storm. And we're still doing damage assessment.

We have over a half a million people in the area without power, but there is crews from all over the place doing an assessment and trying to restore, you know, little by little.

SANCHEZ: I'm wondering, as your crews are going that assessment, what jumps out at you -- what jumps out at you as the greatest area of need? Is it getting folks the power back on?

MANISCALCO: You know, the power is the biggest thing. Because the longer you go without power, food is spoiling, you have the elderly -- people that are elderly, there's just so many things, children with special needs.

I mean, it affects a -- it puts everything at a standstill essentially, IO mean, even, you know, restaurants, food service, grocery stores. I mean, it just it -- it's the biggest thing that affects us.

SANCHEZ: Yes. And, sir, before we let you go, I just wonder if you have a message for folks in the community. Because, obviously, as we've heard from other officials, it's still a very tenuous time for folks to head out and try to survey damage and see the effects of Hurricane Milton.

There's still a lot of danger and hazards out there. What would you say to folks in your community now?

MANISCALCO: Be very careful. If you don't need to go out, do not go out. I, myself, saw the amount of trees that are down, blocking the roads. I mean, it's really all hands on deck.

We have our push crews that are literally pushing debris out of the way to make the roads passable again. There are many areas that are still flooded.

At this time -- you know, it's a beautiful day outside. Just because we have this calm after the storm, you know, stay inside.

The city is out there. Again, all hands on deck. Police, fire, our ATU, our city workers, our solid waste folks, they're out there trying to work as quickly as possible to make it safe before folks go out yes.

SANCHEZ: Yes, sadly, too often, we see preventable deaths after a hurricane has gone by.

Guido Maniscalco, chairman of the Tampa City Council, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon.

MANISCALCO: Thank you.

[14:39:45]

SANCHEZ: We still have so much to bring you from the Sunshine State, including damage in Punta Gorda, Florida. This is an avid boating community. And the storm surge there was so powerful, it lifted boats out of the marina and cast them into the street. A lot more in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We have some breaking news out of the Middle East. The Lebanese Health Ministry says at least 11 people have been killed and 48 injured after a strike in Beirut.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is joining us live right now from southern Lebanon.

Tell us where this is. This is a densely populated area, Ben. What are you learning?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is in the heart of Beirut and within the city limits of Beirut proper, not the southern suburbs of Beirut, which have been the target of so many strikes in recent weeks.

[14:44:57]

That death toll you mentioned is preliminary at this point. We understand there were two strikes. One of them basically flattened a residential building in a very densely populated part of the city.

We've spoken with eyewitnesses on the scene who tell us that the area is just full of ambulances and fire trucks and that neighbors can actually hear the screams of people still under the rubble.

Now, it's important to keep in mind, Brianna, that this is an area that many people thought was safe. They -- many of the people in that area, in that actual building had fled there from the southern suburbs thinking in that they would be spared from these Israeli airstrikes.

And we don't know what the potential target of -- from the Israelis was in this case.

But what we we're certain of is this was definitely a mass casualty event -- Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. Ben, we know that you'll keep an eye on that. Obviously, a significant development out of Beirut.

And then, can you just give us a sense there, Ben, this particular area, as you said, people thought they were safe. They had evacuated to this seeking that relative safety.

Have you seen any strikes previously in the vicinity of this area?

WEDEMAN: In that particular area, no. But I believe it was last week there was a strike on an area also very much in the heart of Beirut, not really far from CNN's bureau in Beirut.

In that instance, it was also a building, an area that was full of people who had fled other areas. So there have been a series of strikes outside the southern suburbs.

But these are the exception. The rule really is just daily, nightly strikes on the southern suburbs, but not outside of them -- Brianna?

KEILAR: And right now, do you see the IDF mission there in the south, not in Beirut proper, but as it has expanded there in southern Lebanon. What is the status of operations there?

WEDEMAN: Well, the Israelis say they're still conducting what they call localized, limited and targeted raids inside Lebanon.

But what we saw here, for instance, from where we are, we can see some of the areas where there's fighting going on.

For instance, right on the coast, at what's known as the Nasnakora (ph), apparently, the Israelis have been trying to sort of gain ground in that area.

But running into a resistance from Hezbollah fighters who, despite all the blows the Iranian-backed group has gotten from Israel in the last few weeks, here the south, what we're seeing is they're continuing to fire missiles -- missiles and rockets in the direction of Israel.

And they're still putting up a fairly stiff resistance against Israeli forces within Lebanese territory -- Brianna?

KEILAR: All right, Ben Wedeman, thank you so much as we're looking at pictures there in downtown Beirut of this area that has suffered this strike.

Eleven people killed, 48 hurt, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, after an Israeli attack. This has been called a mass casualty event.

We'll continue to monitor this. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:52:45]

SANCHEZ: Back out here live on Tresure Island, Florida, on the state's Gulf Coast, one of the things that stands out about the damage from Hurricane Milton is the diversity of the damage.

You see extensive flooding in some parts. You see severe wind damage in others. And of course, tornado damage on the southeastern coast of Florida in St. Lucie and nearby areas.

Another unique aspect of the storm is the storm surge and what that has done to local communities that live off of the water.

I want to bring in Melissa Reichert. She is the assistant city manager for Punta Gorda. It is a very avid voting community.

And, Melissa, from video that we've seen, it looks like several boats in a nearby marina were essentially picked up by the storm and tossed into the community. What is it like there from your vantage point?

MELISSA REICHERT, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER, PUNTA GORDA, FL (via telephone): Oh, it's absolutely surreal. We have a boat on our tennis courts. We have boats in our parking area with boats across the street. They're still actually tied to the pilings, some of the boats that are out in the harbor right now

SANCHEZ: Yes. And talk to me about how this compares to Hurricane Ian. Because that was another storm that, about two years ago, came through southwest Florida and caused widespread devastation. I wonder if you can offer some perspective to compare the two storms.

REICHERT: Certainly. Ian was really a wind event for. So we saw a lot of tree damage. We saw houses that had the roofs ripped off. We saw damage to (INAUDIBLE), those types of things.

This actual event was very similar to that we had a little over a week ago, which was a huge storm surge as well. So we had residents and business owners that we're just starting the recovery process and they barely scratched the surface, now to get hit again with another hurricane.

The community is just devastated.

SANCHEZ: Yes. It's heart wrenching.

And, Melissa, I'm wondering about loss of life. Because, obviously, property, while painful to lose, does not compare to the potential for there to be fatal damage caused by this hurricane.

And we've confirmed now that eight people across Florida were killed as a result of Hurricane Milton. Do you have any update for us on any potential casualties or serious injuries in your area?

[14:55:12]

REICHERT: We do not. We were very fortunate in this storm that we do not have any reported casualties at this time.

We were very careful with our messaging about the lithium batteries because we did have a fatality in the last hurricane because of a lithium battery. So our residents heeded their advice and thankfully, we didn't have any fatalities assistant.

SANCHEZ: Melissa Reichert, the assistant city manager of Punta Gorda, we're so grateful for you joining us this afternoon and to hear that news that you didn't have any casualties or serious injuries.

Thank you so much for joining us.

REICHERT: You're welcome.

SANCHEZ: Still news to get to from Florida. We're going to be speaking to local officials as well as residents as they try to pick up the pieces from Hurricane Milton. Obviously, a devastating storm for this area.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)