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Hurricane Ian Strengthens to 155 MPH, Just Shy of Category 5; FEMA Holds Briefing as Hurricane Ian Makes Landfall; Governor Speaks as Near-Cat 5 Hurricane Ian Closes in on Florida. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired September 28, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: It is the top of the hour. We're glad you're with us. I'm Poppy Harlow.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Sciutto.

The breaking news this morning, Hurricane Ian now an extremely dangerous category 4 storm, taking aim at the western coast of Florida with sustained winds of 155 miles an hour, that is just shy of a category 5. Ian could be one of the most powerful storms to ever hit the U.S. when it makes landfall this afternoon, bringing with it what's been described as catastrophic flooding, also life-threatening storm surge.

HARLOW: We just learned the updated storm surge projections for those areas is now staggering. It is now 12 to 18 feet. That is the warning. Already more than 16,000 customers are without power across the state of Florida and more than 2.5 million people are under some form of evacuation order or warning. But Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis just said this morning that residents in the crosshairs of this storm need to shelter in place because it is too late for residents between Collier to Sarasota to leave.

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GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): If you are in any of those counties, it's no longer possible to safely evacuate. It's time to hunker down and prepare for this storm. This is a powerful storm that should be treated like you would treat if a tornado was approaching your home.

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HARLOW: We are covering all angles up and down the western coast of Florida. Let's begin with our colleague, John Berman. He's in Tampa. John, good morning to you. What can you tell us?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Poppy. Good morning, Jim. Look, this storm is bringing three interrelated threats. First, the wind speed, 155 miles per hour, a historic storm, one of the most powerful storms ever to make landfall, projected to hit some time in the next few hours. And the storm surge, as you said, up to 18 feet in some areas, particularly about 100 miles south of here in the Bonita Bay-Punta Gorda area. And then the rain, 12 to 24 inches, that could just sit over Florida for a full day. We are just at the front edge of what could be a day of serious pain here in Florida.

I want to go right to Brian Todd, who is nearby is St. Petersburg, across the bay. And, Brian, you've been -- okay. Okay. I'm just hearing we're going to go to the FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell giving a briefing. Let's listen?

DEANNE CRISWELL, ADMINISTRATOR, FEMA: -- down the coast are already feeling the storm's painful impacts, and we have yet to experience landfall.

However, I spoke with my leadership team this morning, and I can confidently say that we have the right teams and we have the right resources in place and ready to meet the changes or the needs of those that we are charged to serve.

But, as with any storm, the most important work starts at home. That means we need everyone to heed the warnings of their local officials before, during and after the storm. There are life-saving -- these are life-saving messages that simply cannot be ignored.

And when it comes to hurricanes, water, water is dangerous, period. From coastal storage surge to inland flooding, the majority of the state of Florida is in Ian's crosshairs.

Therefore, I would like to just share a few key safety messages that will help you and your family safe. First, never drive through standing or moving water, as it takes only a few inches of water to carry away a vehicle. Second, if you are taking shelter in an area with rising water levels, quickly find higher ground. And, third, never operate a generator in your home. Too many lives are lost each year due to carbon monoxide poisoning, and it's incredibly important that you only run generators outdoors --

So, now, I will give a brief operational update --

HARLOW: Speaking live right now -- Governor DeSantis speaking live right now.

I can't hear DeSantis. Can we hear DeSantis? Okay. All right, we apologize. We're trying to fix the audio on Governor DeSantis. As soon as we do that, we'll bring you him live. But let's get back to FEMA headquarters in Washington, FEMA Director Deanne Criswell speaking.

CRISWELL: We have 128,000 gallons of fuel remain ready for rapid deployment. We have moved in a variety of generators of all sizes and types to restore power to critical infrastructure and medical facilities as needed.

[10:05:03]

The Army Corps of Engineers is pre-staging 350 personnel to conduct power and fuel assessments as soon as the storm passes. And just yesterday, I spoke with the president and CEO of the American Public Power Association to discuss some of their emergency preparedness actions and the mutual aid agreements that they have in place.

We have 3.7 million meals and 3.5 million liters of water staged in Alabama, and there are multiple volunteer agencies that are staged and prepared to perform feeding operations as soon as it is safe to do so.

DESANTIS: -- it's very, very important. We are going to have significant rescue operations that are going to have to be done, because you have some people -- not most, but you do have some people who have chosen to hunker down in some very vulnerable areas. And so that is going to be something that I know that they're keeping a very close eye on. They're going to monitor the impacts of the storm and then monitor how those folks have been able to weather it. But we anticipate, whether it's ground, water, air, all different types of ways to go in and help people, that's going to commence immediately upon this storm hitting.

Pray for people. This is a major, major storm. You never want to see any storms hit, because it creates a lot of problems. But I'll tell you, the state has done a lot of storms over the past. There's some you deal with. It's never fun. It's never fun to have damage. It's never fun to see flooding. It's never fun to see power interrupted, but you kind of deal with it and then you move forward.

There are some storms that really leave an indelible impact. And we've been working with the folks up in Northwest Florida on Hurricane Michael. That was a major storm. There are obviously people that were directly impacted. We had fatalities as a result of that storm. But then you had so many other things that have happened, all the way to this day that recovery goes on. This is going to be one of those historic storms. And it's going to really shape the communities in Southwest Florida and have a profound impact on our state.

So, we just ask people for their thoughts and their prayers. We know there's a lot of people that want to be helpful in a variety of ways as this goes. We'll be calling on more and more people to pitch in in a variety of different capacities. Not everyone is a skilled lineman who can go in and do that. Not everyone can operate special operations to go and rescue people. But some people can volunteer. Some people can help with folks who have been displaced. And there's going to be a need for all of that as this storm goes through, and as we assess the damage that has been done.

I'm thankful for what they're doing here with Florida Power & Light. This is something when you're a major Florida-based company, you know this is just part of what you do with your business. And I'm happy that they have leaned in on this and really marshaled a tremendous amount of resources to be able offer the quickest and most effective response possible that they can do as a company. And I know there's going to be a lot of Floridians who will be really happy about that.

This is not an easy thing. These power problems are not going to be easy, but I think they're committed to putting the manpower in place, spending the resources necessary to have as most a successful conclusion as we can. So, we're going to hear from some folks from FPL. We're also going to hear from and also from Dane Eagle and Jimmy Patronis. So, Jim Bush, senior director for external affairs FPL, you want to say a few things?

JIM BUSH, DIRECTOR OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, FPL: Thank you, Governor. Good morning. My name Jim Bush, I'm a director of external affairs for Florida Power & Light. On behalf of FPL, we want to thank Governor DeSantis for coming out to greet the men and women who have come to respond to Hurricane Ian.

We have assembled a restoration workforce of more than 19,000. That includes FPL employees, contractors and men and women from partner utilities from around the country. There are more than 30 states represented here today. We have line workers who traveled in at this site from as far as Texas and Oklahoma, Minnesota and North Dakota, all to help Florida respond to this challenge. There have been many times that FPL employees have traveled to other states to help them when they were in need, and now they're here to return the favor, and we're very grateful to them for that.

Here at the Lake City processing site, these men and women will be briefed on the restoration challenges ahead. We will share or work and processes for storm procedures, so that everybody is on-boarded and ready to go. They will fan out across the state and be positioned at 37 work bases that are currently close to the areas that will be most highly impacted.

[10:10:06]

And they will work around the clock until power is restored for everybody as quickly and as safely as possible.

It won't be easy. We anticipate that there will be many downed trees and debris, perhaps tornado damage, and in many areas, flooding conditions throughout our service territory. But these men and women will work extended hours, 16-hour days in some pretty difficult conditions, and as I mentioned, they will work around the clock until power is restored to the last FPL customer.

Thank you, Governor DeSantis, and the state for being here and supporting us and for the emergency declaration, and for all of the men and women who have traveled in to help us respond to the storm. Thank you.

DESANTIS: All right. David?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Governor DeSantis. I just want to assure all of our customers that we are executing our plan. We have already deployed, as the governor mentioned, resources across the entire state, who are ready to respond. I also want to take an opportunity to --

SCIUTTO: You've been listening there to an update from Florida officials, Florida Power & Light already looking forward to the effects of the storm, including loss of power, talking about how they'll restore that, but the governor there speaking as well about the more immediate threat, that is that coming store. That's a live picture from Naples, Florida, as it approaches.

CNN's Brian Todd, he is live in St. Petersburg. Brian, I wonder what you're seeing there. I mean, these are really the early bands of the storm, not the strongest winds yet.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not quite, Jim, but I can show you. If people out there want to know what a hurricane looks like when it's picking some serious energy, this is what it looks like. You're right, the winds are not as intense as they're going to be, but they are picking up. You can see the storm surge there on the jetty, the waves slapping over that jetty over there, really intense storm surge here, picking up on the bay, on Tampa Bay, as it moves in here.

You know, not long ago that airport was pretty much not visibility to us from this vantage point. Also, what we can tell you is that a concern is storm surge and flooding right in the downtown St. Petersburg. I was just on the phone with the mayor St. Petersburg, Ken Welch. He told me that the Shore Acres neighborhood and the waterfront area, which is basically right over there, they're worried about it. They think that that might get some flooding pretty soon this afternoon. They are also worried about people who live on canals. When the high tide coincides with storm surge, those people are going to be vulnerable to flooding. They've already got some power outages, the mayor told me, due to some uprooted trees.

And here is also what people are telling us, what officials us are telling all over the place. Essentially, don't do what these folks are doing. Do come out. Don't be a tourist. It is fascinating to watch a storm come in, but at this point, you're getting into some dangerous ground, when it's not that far away when you're going to see the most intense part of the storm here in the Tampa and St. Petersburg area. They're telling people to get inside, do not risk it and come out and be a tourist.

Another big concern here in Tampa, guys, is -- excuse me, in St. Petersburg is the sewage system here. It was under some real stress six years ago, when nearly 200 million gallons of sewage water poured into the aquifers and other public water areas because of storms. They have just started to revamp it starting in December, but this is going to be the first major test of whether the sewage system here in St. Petersburg can hold up. And it's going to be a huge test once this storm hits in earnest.

In the meantime, they're telling people who have stayed back, conserve water, do not run your dish washers, don't run your washing machines, limit your flushing, limit your showering, as the city braces for the impact here. Again, from officials from Pinellas County, the emergency management, from the mayor who we talked to, they're telling people, hunker down. Of course, that's a common phrase, but you really do have to try to get yourself and your family in a safe area.

They had 442,000 people just in Pinellas County under an emergency management order, but, again, they cannot physically uproot you and pull you out of your home. You're not allowed to do that. That's your call. But if you stay in, you've got to get yourself and your family to a safe place. That's the refrain here. You just heard from the governor and others, don't come out in this stuff. It's about to get very dangerous here, guys.

HARLOW: Brian Todd, we appreciate you, your whole team there, for us live in St. Petersburg, in the middle of this. We'll get right back to you.

Let's bring in now Timothy Dudley, he's the emergency management director in Hillsborough County, which includes most of Tampa, Florida. Director, thanks very much for joining us.

We just heard Brian Todd warning folks because your county and a number of counties up and down the west coast of Florida are in a zone where the governor has now said it's too late to evacuate. So, if you didn't heed our warning or order before to evacuate, you have got to stay. For people who chose to stay, what is the safest part of their home or apartment where they can be, where they can take their kids?

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TIMOTHY DUDLEY, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA: Well, for those who chose to stay, hopefully, they are out of the impact areas. We could be experiencing some tornado activity. We ask you to go to the interior of your homes, ensure that you have all of your family in those interior places and make sure that you can safely protect yourself from any debris that may compromise that building.

SCIUTTO: The storm surge is one of those things you really can't protect yourself against, right, except going to higher ground because water has a force. And we have an image here, I believe, which shows the bay in Tampa, in effect, draining as the storm, as it approaches, kind of sucks that water out, and as it approaches closer, I think we can put it up perhaps, as you're answering the question, as the storm surge approaches, all that water comes with it, right? And there you go. It empties out first. And then behind it kind of a rising wall of water.

What do folks do in that situation of they're experiencing it and that water is rising so quickly? It looks sort of like the preface to a tsunami there.

DUDLEY: Well, in this particular scenario you described, we have called for evacuations for zone A and zone B. For the folks that's in those impact areas, they should be gone right now. So, we shouldn't have anybody in those zones. So, the thing to do is to heed our warning and they should have moved out of those impact areas by now.

HARLOW: We just heard the FEMA administrator speaking live at headquarters in Washington, reminding everyone, in her words, water is dangerous, warning people especially that a few inches of water can just carry a car away, for example. So, if you're near a vehicle, that could run right into you. I wonder what your message is for people, especially new residents to your region who haven't gone through this before. DUDLEY: Well, all of the communities here in Florida, we are urging our residents to stay safe and avoid driving flooded roads and venturing out in the major flood areas. Also, after the storm, residents should wait for local authorities to give the all clear before venturing outside and going back into any of those impacted areas.

SCIUTTO: Do you have a measure of how many people heeded the evacuation orders, how many left? Because, anecdotally, we're hearing, and, by the way, the governor seemed to reference them, some stayed, many stayed.

DUDLEY: We wouldn't have that number at this time but we know the zones that we called for affected a couple hundred thousand folks. So, it's quite a few people that we hope and expect that they have moved to a safe zone.

HARLOW: We know that this hurricane is moving -- actually, it has intensified in just its power but it's moving slowly, which is very problematic in terms of the sustained winds, the sustained rains. You've talked about expecting 30 hours of tropical storm force winds. Are there structures in Hillsborough County that cannot sustain that?

DUDLEY: Absolutely. All communities are susceptible to Mother Nature. It's the power things, storm force winds, they're a dangerous thing. We have projectiles that could be flying. That's why we urge everyone to prepare their homes, prepare their businesses, put those types of things away and try to reduce those impacts, but wind is a dangerous thing as well.

SCIUTTO: No question, so many dangers. Timothy Dudley, thanks so much.

DUDLEY: Thank you so much. Stay safe.

SCIUTTO: Indeed, you stay safe, too.

Let's bring in CNN's Chad Myers. He is tracking this, as he has from the beginning, from the Severe Weather Center. Chad, you've been updating us. You got it right yesterday, so it's turning south. What's the latest and where it's headed?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is going to push all of that surge into Charlotte Harbor, mainly south of Tampa. And I know you showed pictures earlier how Tampa is almost -- the bay is almost going away, and it is. In fact, it's two feet below where it should be on the tide chart right now because the wind is blowing so hard from the east, in fact, blowing right toward Brian Todd, that's why he had such a rough live shot. But the water is getting pushed out of Tampa Bay.

And then behind it, you talked about how the water is going to come back, because it has to, as soon as the wind dies down, but as the storm, let's say, approaches the middle of the storm, approaches Orlando, your winds aren't going to be in this direction anymore. The winds are going to be in this direction. And it's going to try to push that water back in a little quicker than it should. Now, it's called kind of a reverse surge, and surges are as big on the backside as they are on the front side, because, right now, all of this water is just piling on shore. In fact, Naples, you are almost five feet above where your tide should be right now where you're nowhere near high tide.

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And you might even go through two high tide cycles before we even get out of there. Five feet, I mean, we've talked about somewhere between 12 and 18. Only you're 1/3 of the way there.

Here is the storm zooming in, still seeing the eye rather well. The hurricane hunter aircraft flew through it earlier, thank you for your service. They found 155-mile-per-hour winds at the surface, 185 where they were flying, but it's always a little bit more higher, right?

But this cone will change in about 40 minutes, and that's good, because, right now, we're all the way still possible to Tampa, not likely, but all the way down here to the south. That's still where the cone is. As we get closer, that cone is going to get smaller and we'll be able to rule a bunch of people out.

18-foot surge on top of land where our Randi Kaye is right now, where she'll come in a bit, and so is Bill Weir, he's right there. That land is only three feet above sea level with an 18-foot surge. That's going to be 15 feet. That's going to be above the top of some of these homes that on these canals, a lot of this area, a lot of Port Charlotte, all the way through Cape Coral. You are going to have all of those canal homes with water in them, so many big cities.

I was looking at Naples last night even before we bumped this to a cat 4.9. And there's not going to be one dry, not filled with saltwater part of Naples, Florida. Everybody, every single spot will likely have some part of a saltwater surge.

Something else that's kind of taking backburner to this surge, but look at the area, guys. That is 110 or more, 110 miles per hour or more in this entire area, as the storm comes onshore, moves up toward Orlando.

Now, luckily, Orlando, you're only in a hurricane category, now in this cat 2 category. That is a large zone with trees down. We already have 175,000 people without power. And then we're going to see some of these areas, this white up north of Orlando, maybe even up toward the villages, 20 inches of rain, so many hazards here. And another hazard coming onshore in the east coast, tornadoes, tornado watch, in effect, too.

HARLOW: The last thing they need. Chad Myers, we'll get back to you very soon. Thank you.

We'll also speak next with the sheriff of Pinellas County completely closing access to those barriers islands off the coast of Tampa, and his message to anyone who stayed behind, that's next. SCIUTTO: Later, in nearby Fort Myers, and these are live pictures from Fort Myers, our guest made the decision to stay in what is a mandatory evacuation area. That's not what officials are recommending. We're going to bring you there what she's seeing as Hurricane Ian approaches.

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[10:25:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. As we continue our breaking news coverage as Hurricane Ian approaches Florida's coast as a category 4, boy, it's not far below category 5, though.

HARLOW: Our Randi Kaye is live in the center of all this, Punta Gorda. Randi, good morning, thank you for being out there. What are you feeling? We can certainly see what -- we don't know what it feels like and it looks rough.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's getting pretty rough, Poppy and Jim. It was a little bit better earlier, but the winds are certainly gusting a lot more and we're seeing a lot more of the heavier rains coming, and also the water is starting to move.

If you take a look here, we're just at this boat launch just outside downtown Punta Gorda. And the water is certainly moving here. And the pilings, the water is actually -- the level of the water has gone down, which it is -- we are approaching low tide as well, but this is also what happens in one of these storms, the water goes out and then comes rushing in, of course, with the storm surge.

We're expecting, as you know, a storm surge anywhere from 12 to 18 feet here. That would be something that this area has never seen. They live through hurricane Charley here. That was more of a wind event. It was a fast-moving storm, unlike Hurricane Ian --

SCIUTTO: Stand by, Randi Kaye. This is the president commenting on storm preparations live from here in Washington. Let's listen in.

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: -- in this historic conference on hunger and nutrition and health.

Before I begin, though, speaking of health, you all have been reading and hearing about the hurricane, and -- Hurricane Ian, and its impact it's going to have on our fellow Americans down in Florida. Yesterday, I spoke with Governor DeSantis for some time. My team has been in constant contact with him from the very beginning, and the mayors of Tampa, St. Pete's, and Clearwater. And my message has been absolutely clear, is that we are on alert and in action. We have approved every request Florida has made for temporary assistance, emergency assistance, long-term assistance that I have received.

We discussed what we've done to prepare for the hurricane. That includes dispatching hundreds of FEMA personnel and activating thousands of National Guard members. I've also developed a search and rescue team and deploy them (INAUDIBLE) federal agencies, and they are already on the ground and ready to help, as we speak.

FEMA pre-positioned millions of -- literally, millions of liters of waters, millions of meals and hundreds of generators. We have scheduled everything we can possibly do and think and so are the mayors and governor, and we've put up shelters, they're ready. We're not sure exactly where it's going to hit but it's getting pretty clear exactly where it's going to hit.

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