Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Hurricane Update from Punta Gorda; U.S. Embassy Warns Americans to Leave Russia Now; Tampa Prepares for Hurricane Ian: Patrick Fuller is Interviewed about Charlotte County's Storm Preparation. Aired 9:30- 10a ET

Aired September 28, 2022 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Elected to stay, you've got to get your family into a safe place. And where that is in a given home, of course it varies. But you've got to start to hunker down right now.

You can see just the intensity of (INAUDIBLE) -

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, I think we just lost Brian Todd. We lost Brian Todd in St. Petersburg.

And one thing to point out about where Brian is right now, it's just the beginning. And it could last there for a day. For nearly a full day as the storm moves up the peninsula because it's going to make landfall well south of here.

I want to go now where they do expect the worst of this, and pretty soon. Our Bill Weir is live in Punta Gorda, Florida.

Bill, give us a sense of what you're seeing.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Waking up in this town today for so many people was just an ice bath of dread. When they see those predictions now, 15 to 17 foot storm surges, that's, if you look at these canal houses, that's well up into the eaves, into the attic spaces of these places.

You know, in Louisiana, they keep an ax up in the attic around New Orleans in case you have to shop your way out. They don't think about that sort of thing. Although Punta Gorda, after being hammered by Charlie back in (INAUDIBLE) is the first city in Florida to come up with a climate resiliency -- coastal climate resiliency plan. So, this will be the test. After half of the town was destroyed and they rebuilt -- tried to rebuild back stronger and more resilient, this will be the test.

But you can see now, it's not just the storm surge we're worried about, it's the fresh water flooding that's happening. You can see the pipe down there. Some of it's -- not Punta Gorda, but some of the older sewer systems in St. Petersburg have been overwhelmed. So that's another concern for folks right now. But, John, we've been just trying to see, you know, sort of proof of evacuation or proof of life. I (INAUDIBLE) see that most of the people have bugged out. We've seen a few cars. Are we -- I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm hearing voices in my ear. I thought I heard John talking again.

We just see (INAUDIBLE) Florida Department of Natural Resources truck go by. So, we're not seeing a lot of folks who have decided to ride it out, thankfully.

A lot of new residents to Florida. You know, folks, I think the population goes up like 900 or 1,000 people a day. That was before the pandemic when a lot more folks came down. So this is a (INAUDIBLE) for a lot of folks who don't really understand that, you know, when the eyewall and the eye comes over you and it gets very calm and things seem like the worst is over, it's just a matter of time before the wind comes in the opposite direction and adds more flying debris to your life there.

So, there's all these stacked concerns right now. But here, at least in Punta Gorda, we know they had the foresight. We know that they've been working, preparing for days like this. Now, unfortunately, for better or worse, we're going to see if it meets Hurricane Ian.

BERMAN: Bill Weir for us in Punta Gorda, Florida.

Bill, that was not my voice, but were it to be my voice, what I would have been saying to you and your team is, please stay safe. Stay safe down there over the next day because as we've been saying, this is an historic storm about to make landfall there. The wind speeds, 155 miles per hour. And the storm surge where Bill is, 12 to 16 feet. As he said, that's just well up into the eaves. Yes, they've been preparing for something like this. This is a test, they say, of the systems, but what a test it will be.

Jim, Poppy, back to you guys.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, not -- no sandbags are going to hold that kind of water back.

John Berman, you keep your team safe as well.

We do have much more ahead on Hurricane Ian, now just shy, a couple miles an hour short, of a category five storm. We have team coverage across the state of Florida.

Just ahead, another major story we're following this morning, the U.S. embassy is now warning all Americans in Russia to leave the country immediately. Why? What's prompting this? We're going to take you to the State Department, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:38:46]

SCIUTTO: New this morning, a chilling warning from the U.S. embassy in Moscow that, Poppy, shows just how far things have deteriorated inside that country.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: For sure. The embassy telling Americans not to travel to Russia. And for those already there, leave immediately while they still can.

Let's go to our colleague Kylie Atwood. She's at the State Department.

I mean they had been saying this, Kylie, right, for a while. That had been the message. But, obviously, they felt a reason to reiterate it and issue a new very clear warning. Why is that?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And it's based on the fact that just last week Russia announced this new mobilization of additional Russian citizens to the war in Ukraine. Those are reservists. And what the State Department is saying is that they are fearful that dual American Russian citizens could be involved if they stayed into the country. That Russia may essentially ignore the fact that they are also Americans citizens and try to send them to the war.

I do want to read you a line from the State Department security alert today saying, quote, Russia may refuse to acknowledge dual nationals U.S. citizenship, deny their access to U.S. consular assistance, prevent their departure from Russia and conscript dual nationals for military service.

So, this is a very alarming warning to those Americans who are still in Russia, telling them to get out of the country essentially as soon as possible while there is still commercial options to get out of the country right now.

[09:40:10]

And, of course, you'll note that we have been watching Russians who have been trying to get out of the country and it's not easy right now. There are those long lines. And so the State Department is telling Americans to get in those lines, to get on those flights out of the country now.

We should also note that this security alert is warning Americans to avoid the protests that are happening in Russia. And they're saying that because they're - they're reminding folks that the right to protest in Russia is something that is not respected. And so if they go into those protests, there have been instances, according to this alert, where Americans have been arrested.

Guys.

SCIUTTO: Part of this is familiar, right, because countries such as Russia, China, Iran as well, they don't recognize dual nationality. You may have a U.S. passport, but they will treat you, will they not, like a Russian national and, therefore, potentially order you, say, to serve in the military. And then is it true then that the U.S. consulate or embassies there -- embassy or consulates there not have any power to stop that? ATWOOD: That's right. I mean, once they have been conscripted and the

Russian government says you are on our side now, there's very little that the U.S. embassy folks can do. And we should also note that the number of U.S. diplomats at the U.S. embassy is incredibly low right now. So, while they're working around the clock on a number of issues, this is just another one that could be on the front burner. So, they're trying to get ahead of it.

HARLOW: Kylie, thank you for that. And seeing those images of those parents walking with their children, just walking and walking to get out of the country says so, so much. Thank you for the update from the State Department.

Well, Florida's governor is now telling people on the west coast in the path of Hurricane Ian, it's too late, it's too late to evacuate safely. That means stay put and try to stay safe. That includes residents in Port Charlotte, Florida. We will speak with the county's emergency management director next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:46:33]

SCIUTTO: Breaking news, Hurricane Ian is now an extremely dangerous category four storm, slowly churning toward Florida's west coast, the Gulf Coast, with sustained winds of 155 miles per hour. That is the slimmest of margins below a category five storm. It is expected to make landfall, the eye, just hours from now.

HARLOW: Let's get straight to our colleague, John Berman. He joins us again from Tampa.

John, good morning. What can you tell us?

BERMAN: Yes, good morning to both of you.

Yes, we just had one of those rain bands pass through a moment ago where it pours and pours, and then it stops and it's like this where you almost get dry conditions, and then it will pour some again - pour some again.

Not long from now, once this storm moves closer, it's just going to be a drenching rain here in Tampa for hours and hours and hours. They're expecting 12 to 24 inches of rain over a large part of this state, which will create freshwater flooding. The rivers, the streams and the lakes will flood. And that's as along the coast they experienced this historic storm surge. And we just got word that that storm surge is expected to be even worse than expected, up to 18 feet near Bonita Beach, which is about 100 miles south of here.

Let's go now to Carlos Suarez.

Carlos, tell us what you're seeing.

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, emergency officials this morning are telling folks that live in the Tampa area to expect some flooding. That is still associated with tropical -- tropical storm, excuse me -- Hurricane Ian, which is now a category four, closing in on a category five.

Where we are right now, we are getting a bit of a break. It's been raining for the most part of the morning. The wind has been strong enough just to the west that officials have decided to close a four- mile bridge that connects a part of Tampa Bay.

This is how the Hillsborough Bay right now looks, at least where we are right now. It is pretty shallow right now. And this is an indication of what may come this way.

You've got all of this water coming out from the river. You've got the water coming in from the Gulf of Mexico. And at some point today, as all of that rain makes its way here, it's going to fill up here. Just how high all of this river will ultimately rise will depend on the kind of flooding that we're going to see.

For the most part, the evacuation orders, folks have been following them. We're told nearly 390,000 people in two evacuation zones were told to go ahead and pack up their things and go. The 43 hurricane storm shelters that were open in Hillsborough County, those are still accepting folks at this hour. We have reached out to the county to see exactly how many folks are there. On my way in from Pinellas County yesterday, I stopped by one shelter. There were a decent amount of folks out there.

And so, John, it does seem like folks did heed the warnings of making sure that if they live in these evacuation zones, they really needed to go ahead and make their way inland. Having interviewed a bunch of folks the last two days, several of them that said they were going to make their way to Orlando, well, now they're going to have to deal with the fact that this storm is also going to make its way across that part of Florida.

BERMAN: Yes, Carlos, when the storm passes over Orlando, it could very well be at hurricane strength. But it's got a long way to go before that, including making landfall sometime in the next couple of hours south of here in the Fort Myers/Punta Gorda/Port Charlotte area with wind speeds now of 155 miles per hour.

[09:50:03]

Jim, Poppy, that will be one of the most powerful storms ever to make landfall in the United States.

HARLOW: And these surges just stunning to imagine the damage they could do.

John, we'll get back to you very soon. Thanks a lot.

And this last-minute turn means the Hurricane Ian is now expected to make landfall in Charlotte County, Florida. That is a little more than 100 miles south of where John is, in Tampa, Jim.

SCIUTTO: The red and oranges zones, shown on this map here, they are under mandatory evacuation order, but Florida's governor said this morning, for these areas, if you haven't left already, it's no longer possible to evacuate safely. People in those areas, he said, need to hunker down and prepare.

Patrick Fuller joins us now. He is director of emergency management for Florida's Charlotte County.

Good to have you on, sir. We know you've got a lot on your plate in these coming hours here.

I do want to ask you, given that the storm took something of a turn to the south, with no longer Tampa being a direct hit, did the evacuation orders get out early enough to folks in the areas now most likely to feel the brunt of this?

PATRICK FULLER, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR FOR CHARLOTTE COUNTY, FLORIDA: We've had those evacuation orders in place now for almost two days. That provided time for our residents to take heed and to leave the area that are most likely to be impacted by a storm surge. So, our hope is that our residents listened and took the lesson of Hurricane Charlie from 2004, where early on that was anticipated to make landfall, Tampa Bay as well. But we all saw that that took a turn into Charlotte County. Sure enough, we're seeing the same in Hurricane Ian. And we hope that our residents did evacuate. We have shelters available. But now is not the time to be on the roadways. We're beginning to experience those tropical storm force winds and it's - it's only going to get stronger going forward.

HARLOW: You know, you mentioned Hurricane Charlie in 2004 and the subsequent hurricanes since then. One thing our colleague Bill Weir said just a few moments ago in the show is, there are a lot of new residents in Florida. There are a lot of new residents in your county, people who have not gone through a hurricane, certainly one of this magnitude before. And I wonder if you're concerned that, you know, they don't know what is coming and how to prepare for something like this?

FULLER: Certainly. That's always a concern. We've seen an influx, you know, more than unusual. You know, Florida tends to get a regular - a new influx of new residents always. But over the last couple of years, that's only increased even more.

We targeted our outreach prior to hurricane season and during hurricane season to those new residents, really trying to hammer home that if you've never been through a hurricane season, here's what you should expect. We tried to explain what storm surge means and how venerable we are here in southwest Florida. And our hope is that our new residents and longtime residents alike took heed of that, have left the area - those areas that are evacuated and have sought shelter.

Now is the time to hunker down. We're beginning to experience the impacts. And being out on the roadways, not in a hardened facility, that's not the place to be.

SCIUTTO: All right, so for folks listening now who are in these areas, what does husker down mean? We had an official on earlier this hour who said, listen, you know, with winds above 40, 50 miles an hour -- we're well above that, right, as this storm approaches -- rescue crews cannot go out. It's not safe for them to go out. So, you can make an emergency call. They may give you some advice, but you're not going to get rescued.

So, well us what hunkering down looks like. What do people need to know and do?

FULLER: Hunkering down means get inside a structure, the firmest structure you can, move to the interior of the building, away from windows. Hopefully, if you are in your home that's outside of an evacuation area, those shutters are put up, if you have them. But away from windows. Await the passage of the storm.

When this thing finally clears our area, it's not the time to get out immediately onto the roadways. We are going to have severe debris all over roadways, downed power lines. But, in the meantime, before that storm passes, getting within the interior of a building, away from windows, and just ride it out at this point.

HARLOW: What will happen if people call 911 in the middle of the hardest impact of this hurricane? You know, are you at the point where your emergency response teams can't come for folks if they didn't evacuate?

FULLER: Most emergency response agencies have gone ahead and stopped emergency service at this point due to the high winds. If you call 911, unfortunately, during the height of the storm, we cannot come out and provide assistance. They will talk you through your situation, but you're not going to have help immediately coming. Now is the time to go ahead and hunker down. And, unfortunately, with hazardous conditions, it's not safe for anyone, emergency responder or not, to be on the roadways.

SCIUTTO: Do you have any estimates of how many structures, homes would be under water with storm surge of up to 18 feet?

[09:55:03]

FULLER: The estimated total number of homes, I don't have off the top of my head, but we're looking at roughly 120,000 residents that live within those first two storm surge evacuation zones. So, a number of businesses, a number of homes. Much of our population is concentrated close to the coastline. That's just the nature of a coastal community in Florida.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

Well, listen, to your point, repeating that warning, don't get on the roads. We've covered so many stories here where people get on the roads, they think they can navigate the water, and things don't turn out so good.

Patrick Fuller, we wish you the best of luck.

FULLER: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

SCIUTTO: Well, just minutes from now, FEMA is expected to hold a briefing as it and the whole state prepares to respond to this massive hurricane, now expected to bring up, as we mentioned, that 18-foot storm surge.

This is a live picture from Fort Myers. And that's just the outer edges of this, right. It's going to get worse as it gets closer. We're going to bring you that briefing live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:00]