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Hurricane Ian Recovery Efforts; Interview With Fort Myers, Florida, Mayor Kevin Anderson; President Biden Speaks After FEMA Briefing on Ian. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired September 29, 2022 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But we're hearing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life.

And, parenthetically, I should note I have spoken with the governors and the mayors and the commissioners. I have been on the phone with the governor this morning. I spoke with the commissioners and mayors.

And they are worried, but they are -- every one of them are telling me what an incredible job is being done to save their cities, their towns, their counties, their ports, their bridges, et cetera.

And in the face of serious danger, search-and-rescue operations got under way before dawn this morning for people stranded and who are in desperate shape. Water rescue is critical. Coast Guard deployed 16 rescue helicopters, six fixed-wing aircraft and 18 rescue boats and crews.

That's just one element of the many federal search-and-rescue teams that -- pre-staged in Florida. And the governor talked about how impressed he was with what the Coast Guard is going this morning. These are dangerous missions. And I'm grateful for the brave women and men, federal, state and local governments, working as one team, risking their lives to save others.

And we're going to learn a lot more in the coming hours. But we know many families are hurting, many. Many are hurting today, and our entire country hurts with them, because it's been all over the country we have seen so many crises, but in Florida today is the center -- is the epicenter.

We're continuing to see deadly rainfall, catastrophic storm surges, roads and homes flooded. We're seeing millions of people without power and thousands hunkered down in schools and community centers. They're wondering what's going to be left, what's going to be left when they get to go home -- quote, unquote -- "home," or even if they have to home to go to.

Some of the folks have been through this before, but that doesn't make it any easier. Actually, it makes the anxiety even higher, in my view. My message to the people in Florida and the country is, at times like this, America comes together. We're going to pull together as one team, as one America. First thing this morning, as I talked to Governor DeSantis and again

offered the fullest federal support, earlier this week, I approved his request for the pre-landfall emergency declaration to provide direct federal assistance to the state, for emergency protective measures to save lives, including search-and-rescue and shelter and food.

Earlier this morning, I approved the governor's most recent request for an expedited major disaster declaration. That means the federal government will cover 100 percent of the cost to clear debris and for all the costs the state has to do -- has to engage in and expend to save lives.

The federal government will also cover the majority of the cost of rebuilding public buildings like schools and fire stations. And folks in Florida, who have destroyed or damaged homes, if you don't have enough insurance, it means the federal government will provide individual assistance of $37,900 for home repairs and another $37,900 for lost property, everything from an automobile to a lost wedding ring.

That's what we mean by lost property. I have also spoken with mayors across the state, both Republican and Democrat, and I have to do them the same thing. We are here. Whether you need -- and whatever you need, I indicated, to call me directly at the White House. They know how to do that. We're going to do everything we can to provide whatever they need.

We have dispatched over 1,000 FEMA personnel and pre-positioned major federal capacities and supplies. That includes millions of liters of water, millions of meals, and hundreds of generators. We have deployed dozens of search-and-rescue teams, along with high-water vehicles and rescue helicopters, to help get survivors to safety.

Thousands, thousands of National Guard members have been activated. And, at my direction, the Department of Defense is providing surge capacity on multiple fronts in support of FEMA's efforts.

I also want to say again to everyone in Ian's path, the danger is real, to state the obvious. Please obey all warnings and directions from emergency officials. And while the water is receding, don't go outside unless you absolutely have to. It's risky for you. And it impedes first responders from doing their job.

I also want to say again to the oil and gas executives, do not, do not, do not use this storm as an excuse to raise gasoline prices or gouge the American public. The price of oil has dropped in recent weeks. The price of gas should be going down as rapidly. It's not.

[13:05:00]

My experts inform me the production of only about 160,000 barrels a day has been impacted by this storm. That's less than 2 percent of our country's daily production. It's a small and temporary impact on oil production and provides no excuse, no excuse for price increases at the pump, period. If the gas station companies try to use this storm to raise prices,

I'm going to ask, I'm going to ask officials to look into whether or not price gouging is going on. America is watching. And the industry should do the right thing. I expect them to do the right thing.

And while we're seeing the devastating images in Florida, I want to be clear, to the people of Puerto Rico, we have not gone away. I am committed to you and the recovery of the island. We will stand by you for however long it takes to get it done. I know the folks here at FEMA and across the federal government are working nonstop around the clock.

That's why, that's why, finally, I want to thank the first responders, the National Guard, the Coast Guard, service members, and the search- and-rescue personnel who are working to get people to safety and to restore power, water and phone lines. And I want to thank everyone here at FEMA and other federal personnel.

I have seen you in action, all across the country, from the West Coast to the Northwest, to the Northeast, to down in Louisiana, all across this country. And just in the last two weeks, you have been working 24/7. No matter what and when emergencies happen, FEMA is always there. You deserve the nation's gratitude and full support.

And right now, if you're in the National Guard and you get called up, you can still keep your job. But if you're in the FEMA reserve, that's not the case. That's why, earlier this morning, I signed into law the bipartisan CREW Act, championed by the -- in the Senate by Gary Peters and Rob Portman, in the House by Dina Titus and John Ketuk -- excuse me -- Katko.

And we signed it. And that law will ensure that FEMA reservists have job protection, just like military reservists, just like military reservists. Sol, when you're called up to help with a disaster, you can now focus on that mission, without worrying you might lose your job, your day job, or receive some other penalty at work because of this national service.

That's what the CREW Act guarantees. And it's going to help people become more civilian -- gain more civilian reservists out there and it's going to make FEMA stronger. It's going to make America stronger. That's who we are. Every time disaster strikes, emergency crews from all over the country, all over the country, from across the federal government, show up to help, like they're doing right now in Florida.

That's America, a country of women and men willing to serve, willing to leave their own families to help a stranger's family. Everyone hard at work in Florida right now deserves our thanks. And when the conditions allow it, I'm going to be going to Florida to thank them personally, so we don't get in the way.

I will do our best -- we're going to do our best to build Florida back as quickly as possible, but we're not going to be leaving. We're going to build it back with the state and local government. However long it takes, we're going to be there. That's my commitment to you.

I want to now turn it over to Secretary Mayorkas.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) when you're down there?

BIDEN: I will meet with anybody who is around. The answer is yes, if he wants to meet.

QUESTION: Do you plan to go to Puerto Rico as well?

BIDEN: That's my intention.

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, U.S. SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Thank you very much, Mr. President.

Our hearts go out to the people in the affected...

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: We will continue to monitor this event.

We just heard from President Biden speaking after his briefing with FEMA. The key message, Ian is not done yet, and it could be the deadliest storm in Florida history.

As the storm still tears across the state, we're seeing more of the catastrophic damage the hurricane left behind, on the Gulf Coast, entire neighborhoods still underwater. This is new drone video taken from our team in Cape Coral near Fort Myers. You can see the roads there are just inundated now, as the receding water is beginning to reveal the magnitude of destruction.

Nearby, massive sections of this bridge washed away. This is the Sanibel Causeway, the only way to get on and off Sanibel Island by vehicle. The damage where Ian struck as a Category 4 hurricane is overwhelming, some homes just blown apart, the surge so powerful a boat now rests in this building's backyard.

Rescues also happening inland, as flooding traps families, this crew in the Orlando area needing a high-water vehicle to carry people and dogs to safety. Ian's rainfall has become a one-in-1,000-year event in parts of Central Florida, an airboat to the only way to save this group with kids.

[13:10:03]

And we're waiting to learn more about where the death toll stands. You can see this line of ambulances just waiting to get into one hard-hit town. Right now, Ian is a tropical storm. It is expected, though, to become a hurricane again, with hurricane warnings in Georgia and South Carolina now.

Let's start with our teams out assessing the damage.

Let's get right to Randi Kaye in Fort Myers. That's a really hard-hit area.

Randi, what are you seeing?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Ana. We came here to downtown Fort Myers. We were seeing all those pictures yesterday of flooded streets here in downtown. It was quite shocking. So we came here. We wanted to see what was going on. Let me just show you, to show you, to really illustrate how forceful this storm was.

This is a piece of the dock, all of this. This is a piece of the dock which is several blocks away in that direction. We drove by that, the water and along the dock area and along the marina. That's how we know how far these huge pieces of dock traveled.

We also saw a whole bunch of sailboats stacked up on top of each other, and all kinds of other boats. Here's another piece of it right here. So it's no surprise that these traveled, given how much water there was and how much force there was in the streets here and with that storm, of course.

We made our way here from north Fort Myers, where we were earlier. And we talked to a whole bunch of residents there in a community that had been completely flooded out. Many of them rode out the storm, including a family of five, and then an 85-year-old woman whose furniture was floating around in her home and hurt her so much. She was so badly cut up from her own furniture, which forced her against the wall.

Many of them were just -- they rode it out because they thought it was going to go towards Tampa, and then ended up hitting them, including this one young woman who we spoke with who had just moved there one year ago, and listen to what she told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very flooded. It's ruined, completely ruined. The fridge is on the floor. The couches are turned upside down. The toilets are on the floor.

There is water seeking in our Cabinets. Everything's flooded. Everything is ruined. We grabbed what we could, most of, but we didn't think it would be this bad. We watched WINK News. And they kind of explained to us that it was going left. And then it just smacked us really hard.

And we fled to my mom's. And that's all we could have did, but now we're homeless.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And we were there just as the sun was coming up, Ana, and there were finally some search-and-rescue teams that were showing up. But it was really just about neighbors. That's really what it's about.

They were going door to door, trying to make sure that their neighbors were OK and that people were alive inside. Their power was still out. There were power lines down there, of course, in the water, very, very dangerous. But when you see something like this, a piece of the dock that traveled so far, you know what a lot of folks here went through overnight -- Ana.

CABRERA: OK, Randi Kaye, thank you for showing us and sharing all of that with us, just incredible debris and destruction behind you. Thank you for your hard work and your whole team there.

Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson is joining us by phone now.

Mayor, I know you have a lot going on. Thank you for taking the time.

Can you give us a sense of the breadth of destruction in your city?

KEVIN ANDERSON, MAYOR OF FORT MYERS, FLORIDA: Well, Ana, last -- yesterday afternoon, I stood on the second floor and looked down toward the river and watched the water slowly creep up, until it started flooding the downtown businesses.

So we have got extensive flooding in the downtown area, a lot of trees, damage to roofs. It looks like a war zone.

CABRERA: It looks like a war zone.

Have you been able to confirm the extent of injuries or even deaths?

ANDERSON: The only thing I can tell you is I have been told that within the city limits of Fort Myers, there have been no reported deaths. I'm not sure about injuries. I can't really speak for outside the city limits.

CABRERA: You talked about flooding still being an ongoing problem. Are rescues still continuing right now?

ANDERSON: The water has subsided.

And so, right now, it's a matter of just cleaning up the streets so people can get -- move about.

CABRERA: What are the biggest challenges and dangers right now?

ANDERSON: The biggest thing is people who want to go out and move about. The traffic lights are not working. There are downed power lines. There are trees leaning on power lines that could take the line down at any moment.

There's traffic lights hanging. It's not safe to be out moving about. But people are out there all wanting to take videos and record the damage.

[13:15:03]

CABRERA: The images that we have been seeing coming out of Fort Myers are unbelievable. It's unthinkable.

Have you ever been through anything like this before?

ANDERSON: Yes, I have been in Southwest Florida for 40 years. I was 25 years with the police department, worked through a lot of different storms.

I have never seen a storm that's caused so much damage in this area before.

CABRERA: I know you spoke with President Biden last night. What was that conversation like?

ANDERSON: The president assured me that there would be relief efforts and assistance available to help us in recovery.

CABRERA: What does Fort Myers need right now?

ANDERSON: We need electricity. We need water. And we need -- we need the wherewithal to start rebuilding.

CABRERA: How much of your city's without power right now? Do you have an estimate?

ANDERSON: My guess is about 80 percent.

CABRERA: And I guess you're still assessing and the full extent is still being revealed in terms of the damages and destruction there.

Any idea how long the recovery might take?

ANDERSON: We're talking a recovery that's going to go on for a long time. We will get the power up quickly. We will get the water restored. We will get the streets cleaned. We will get the horticultural picked up.

But the rebuilding of the businesses and the homes that have been lost, that's going to take time.

CABRERA: Mayor Kevin Anderson, we wish you and the rest of Fort Myers the very best in these difficult days ahead. Thank you again for taking the time.

ANDERSON: Thank you.

And just so you know, we are resilient, we're strong, and we will come back stronger.

CABRERA: Yes, it's an important message. I hope all of your residents are hearing that. I know so many of them don't have power, but they need that encouragement. And, again, we are sending our best and all of the good vibes your way.

Let's stay in Fort Myers right now.

Our next guest came face to face with Hurricane Ian yesterday. And you may remember this footage he shared with us capturing the storm surge just inundating the beachside community beneath him.

Let's check back in right now with Frank Loni. He's an architect from California who's working in Fort Myers, and took shelter on higher ground. Frank, first, how are you doing today? What's your situation right

now?

FRANK LONI, ARCHITECT: Well, we're doing great, in that we still have our lives. We were able to take shelter in a steel-reinforced concrete condominium building.

I personally, as an architect, I did a thorough inspection of the building prior to the storm's arrival just to ensure that there wasn't any preexisting damage that would exacerbate into a bigger problem. And our building performs excellently in the storm. However, it's just total devastation.

I'm actually quite emotional when I look around. This is a community that I have been a part of since I was a child. And we're seeing homes that are completely detached from their foundations, cars. There's about five to six cars on our property from other properties, boats and large debris just everywhere.

We're inundated with debris and fallen trees. It's very -- it's devastating. It's hard to put into words...

CABRERA: Yes.

LONI: ... the appearance of -- we're on Fort Myers Beach, which is -- for those of you who don't know, it's a very narrow island. It looks like a different place. It looks like a war zone.

CABRERA: That's how the mayor we just spoke to of Fort Myers described it as well. It's breathtaking to see the kind of destruction there. I'm glad to hear you are safe, and that your building is still sound.

Are you -- as you're surveying and getting a look around, are you coming across people who are in need of rescues or are injured, in need of help?

LONI: Well, as we walked around this morning, we didn't initially see anyone that was injured.

I have -- we have done what we can to help ensure that people in this building has survived and didn't sustain any injuries. And we did what we could walking around the street. We went down to the north end of the island, where the Times Square area is. And there were quite a few residents outside, but we didn't see anyone who was injured.

Obviously, we would have been ready to help.

CABRERA: OK.

LONI: And then, soon after that, the...

CABRERA: Frank...

LONI: I'm sorry.

CABRERA: Forgive me, Frank.

I got to jump in here, because we are going live right now to Orlando. So, we're going inland.

And you see Don Lemon there.

Are rescues happening, Don? What's going on there?

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Hi. We're live with -- this gentleman has been rescued right now.

[13:20:00]

Sir, how you doing? You OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm all right. Thank you.

LEMON: You OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

LEMON: How long were you -- what happened?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The pumps that regulate the water, they burnt out. So that's why we're flooded.

LEMON: Yes.

When did the pumps go out?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About 6:00 this morning, I think.

LEMON: Yes. And how much -- do you have water in your home?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Luckily, I don't. But some of the homes have at least a foot of water in it, the ones that are along the canal over here.

LEMON: Yes. And so they're rescuing you and your neighbors. Do you know how many other people are in here? Because I know there are at least 150 that they got on the other side of this neighborhood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no clue as to how many people are left in this -- in our park.

LEMON: Your neighbor, David. Do you know David? David Phillips (ph) came out. He said he was here for Irma. He's been here. He said he's never seen anything like this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me neither. The last time I was here for the last one, and the water only came up a little ways into my driveway.

It flooded my car this time.

LEMON: Yes.

People are watching around the world. What do you want them to know about this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wish they had given us a heads-up when they realized they were having problems with the pumps, and not being able to keep up with the flow, so we could have got out.

LEMON: And the pumps went out before the electricity went out?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

LEMON: Yes. And they usually work.

What's your name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael.

LEMON: Michael.

How long have you lived here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifteen years.

LEMON: Fifteen years.

Michael, we're glad you're -- and this is all you have, this is -- with you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

LEMON: This, three bags.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's it.

LEMON: Where are you going to?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My girlfriend's house. She lives in Winter Park, and they're dry there and have electricity.

LEMON: Yes.

Thank you, Michael. We appreciate it.

So, Ana, this is a live rescue. Sorry to interrupt you with coming in. But you're seeing people. They are wading in the water here. They have put a number of boats here. This is one side of the Orlovista neighborhood.

They have done at least 150, we are told, rescues on the other side -- 150 people, I should say, and countless pets. But this is more dangerous than you realize, because there are gators out here. We were told to be careful on the edge of the water. But you got the divers who you can see.

The divers are going, if you pan over there, into the water. They're wading into this very dangerous water in this neighborhood, getting people out. There's one boat that's going back in. There's several boats that are that there now. But you can see how high the water is, up to the stop signs, and

covering some of the stop signs. And we're told, like, at least one of the homes, the mobile homes, here underwater at this point. So this is just one side of an operation that they're doing here.

Again, dozens, hundreds of people, they said, that they're having to evacuate from these areas. And if you wait long enough, I think I hear -- there's a boat going out. But there are other boats coming in. But that's the very dangerous situation. This is what happened. This is what Ian -- the havoc that Ian has wreaked on this entire state.

CABRERA: Don, do you know if they had warning? Was that area part of an evacuation order? Or did this just catch everybody off guard there?

LEMON: Here's my understanding, is that there were fire and rescue people going around when we got here yesterday on fire trucks and emergency vehicles on bullhorns asking people to leave voluntarily, and checking on them and telling them, if they stayed there on their own, and telling them the possibility of what could happen, the danger of what could happen.

Some people heeded the warnings. Others did not. We're even told at this point, Ana, that some of the folks in there, they have water in their homes, and they're still refusing to leave. And having grown up on the Gulf Coast in Louisiana, I know it's hard for people to leave their homes. They don't want to leave their homes. They're concerned about what's going to happen when they get back.

They want to save their property. They think that they can always go to a higher part of the home. And it's just tough to get people to leave. We spoke to one gentleman earlier who said that he needed -- he's on a CPAP machine, and his mother is disabled. And so he needed electricity.

And so he wanted to go to a hotel to make sure that she was -- he was able to take care of her and himself in the proper manner, did not want to go to one of the shelters. And so that's the tough part. We went to one of the shelters this morning where they were bringing people over from a nursing home. And it was tough to get some of those folks out.

But they had to leave that nursing home, because they were -- they said there was water up to their waist. So there were folks going in, Ana, into the neighborhoods trying to get people to leave. But you can't always get them to leave.

And then so what happens is that you end up having to be rescued.

CABRERA: OK, we will continue to check back with you, Don Lemon. Stay safe. Thank you for that reporting.

And we are seeing these images of these rescues under way right now. Again, that's in the Orlando area, so inland, further across the state, as, again, Ian continues to wreak havoc, and it's moving, it's strengthening, and already hurricane warnings. It could become a hurricane once again as it continues its way north up into South Carolina.

We're going to stay on top of all of this. A quick break. We're back with more of our special hurricane coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:29:20]

CABRERA: We are expecting an update any moment now from Governor Ron DeSantis on Ian's destruction.

I want to bring in CNN's John Berman.

And, John, you have moved to North Port, about an hour north of Fort Myers. You spoke to a woman who really experienced the wrath of Ian. Tell us about this.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Yes, I am in North Port, which is about 10 miles or so from the ocean.

And you can still see the flooding here, the extreme flooding on the streets behind me. And this is the fresh water, the 20 inches or so of rain that fell. The Myakka River, which flows into the harbor here, just overflew its banks.

And now you have this water sitting here in these streets, people trying to get by. You can see not every vehicle was successful in this.

I hope that car, that white car, makes it. It's a pretty small car. It is treacherous.