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Debris Litters Communities After Flood Waters Recede; Search and Rescue Continues in Collier County, Florida; Flooded Roadways in Orlando Keep Residents Sheltering in Place. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired September 29, 2022 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:32:40]
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The floodwaters are receding in some parts of southwest Florida, but debris is everywhere. That includes Englewood, Florida, which is where we find CNN's Carlos Suarez.
So, Carlos, what are you seeing at this hour?
CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, the folks that live in this mobile home community knew this was going to happen. It's why every single one of them told us they made the decision to seek safer ground. Many of them have come back today, and this is what they're finding. Just damage all over the property here. You could see what was left of this carport. The gentleman here that showed up this morning said he was checking on this property for his mother-in-law.
The property itself goes all the way back to where we are right now. We haven't even made it there just because there's so much damage in the front part here. You could see this home right there, what's left of it at least, has been pushed all up to the front side of this mobile home community. We have been to -- we drove by at least two other communities similar to this one, and the damage there has been exactly the same.
We have tried to make our way further west to get to the barrier island out near in Englewood, but the sheriff's office right now has that portion of the road closed because the flooding has been so bad. In fact, the further you get closer to the beach side of things, the chances are you're going to find people pulled over on the side of the road because they're waiting. They're actually literally waiting for the water levels to go down.
All of this is just so that they can get a chance to go back home and see exactly how bad things are. The gentleman that was at this property this morning, he hadn't even seen his home just yet. He came out here this morning again to check on the property that belongs to his mother-in-law. We gave him some tape because they were putting up a trash bag on some broken windows. From here he was going to head to his place not too far to see exactly how bad the situation is there -- Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: OK. Carlos, please keep us posted. Thank you very much for that reporting. Emergency officials in Naples say their goal is to have search and
rescue completed by dark tonight. That's despite major flooding inside of the fire station that rendered some of their emergency vehicles unusable.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a storm surge that we talked about but we weren't sure about.
[15:35:04]
When we asked you guys to stay off the road we're not kidding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Joining us on the phone is Penny Taylor, she's commissioner of Collier County.
Commissioner, thank you very much for being here. So yesterday the sheriff had said that all of you there had so many rescues that you still had to do that you were in what he called triage mode. So what's the situation at this hour?
PENNY TAYLOR, COMMISSIONER, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA: At this hour, it's calmer that I see. If there were rescues, it probably was when the water (INAUDIBLE) when they go through the eye of the storm (INAUDIBLE).
CAMEROTA: Yes, Commissioner, I'm sorry, we're having trouble -- Commissioner, it's no surprise, we're having trouble hearing you, I know because there are so many cell issues in Naples right now. I had heard from a friend that it's even hard for them to get information because they're having so many cell issues. I don't know if you can hear me clearly, but do you have a sense of how many rescue -- search and rescues you guys have done in the past 36 hours?
TAYLOR: No, I don't. And I don't think it's within the city of Naples. I think if it's anywhere it's in the south part of our county. That would be Everglades City and Marco Island. I know they were moving people out of Marco Island, and I think that might be what is being referred to because I don't think anyone dreamed that the storm, that the water would be so powerful.
CAMEROTA: Yes. We also had heard from officials there in your neck of the woods that they said this was a totally different hurricane than they had experienced. Do you feel that way?
TAYLOR: Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. This was a wet one. This was -- we didn't -- you know, we got the eye in Irma, right? Wow. That was, you know, 100 to 110 mile an hour, 140 sustained winds. This one wasn't wind -- it was windy. This one was the water. And it was really something that no one really was prepared for. It was about four feet that came in from the beach. Maybe even five. Took away the front of the pier. The first maybe 50, 75 feet of the pier. An old timer just told me that's exactly what Donna did. We've got maybe at city hall it was about five-foot storm surge that
came in, and when that water decides it's going to go, you don't argue with it. There's no way of stopping it. So it was relentless, it was steady, and it came up suddenly.
CAMEROTA: And I know projections were saying that this was going to make landfall in Tampa. Obviously you're so many miles south of there. And so how much warning did you have? I mean, do you think -- what effect did that have that it made that sharp right pivot?
TAYLOR: Well, I think -- of course it brought it closer to us. When it brought it closer to us then it becomes a stronger storm. You know, we kept saying please go east, go east, you know. And it didn't. It wobbled toward us. And when it comes toward us, that means the water is stronger, the winds are stronger, and that's what -- that's what happened.
CAMEROTA: Yes. And so do you feel confident that all of the search and rescue operations will be completed by dark tonight?
TAYLOR: Oh, yes. Yes. I believe so. Collier, it was hit, it was hit hard. I'm not minimizing it. But north of us, there's some problems. I just -- it was reported to me that there were a house on fire and people can't get to it because it's surrounded by water. You know, stuff like that. That's pretty frightening things. And that's not necessarily search and rescue, that just shows the devastation of this very, very wet hurricane.
CAMEROTA: Yes. We just spoke to one of the commissioners in Fort Myers Beach who basically admitted that there are many, many houses that will not be able to be repaired, they are gone for good. Is that the situation in Collier, too?
TAYLOR: Worst damage. We have people putting their belongings on the street because it's soaked and we do have damage on the first floor along the Gulf of Mexico in the city of Naples. I looked at that today. It's extraordinary. Here you are, you go and you look, and it's the first floor and these are original buildings, they're, you know, maybe 67 so we don't have anything elevated. And the first floor, I mean, the water took the stucco off the wall. It wiped out the inside of the -- of the apartment or condominium.
It bared the walls down to the studs. It did all of that. And the second floor, it's perfect. And the man that showed this to me today told me that the downstairs had -- he was sure that they had fortified with hurricane-proof windows. That was the power of this storm.
[15:40:10]
CAMEROTA: Yes. It's just incredible. Story after story of the devastation of this.
Well, Commissioner Penny Taylor of Collier County, we really appreciate you taking the time and giving us a status report on what's happening there particularly with search and rescue. Thank you.
TAYLOR: Thank you very much. I'm happy to do it. Bye-bye.
CAMEROTA: So Florida is still in the throes of Ian. Right now the storm is moving out of Jacksonville and St. Augustine. But look at this on your screen. We'll tell you where it's headed next.
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[15:45:14]
CAMEROTA: OK, let's check out Orlando. There are multiple reports of flooded roadways. These are the northbound lanes of the Florida turnpike. That's an incredible scene right there. And then this is a submerged parking garage in Kissimmee. This is just south of Orlando. City officials are urging residents to stay home and continue sheltering in place. Now is no time to be on the roads.
CNN's Ryan Young is in Orlando. So, Ryan, tell us what you're seeing at this hour.
RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alisyn, what a difference 24 hours make. And I can tell you when we first got here yesterday, there were so many people saying, oh, well, we think this storm is coming, but we don't think it's going to be that powerful. And then you have a flooding event like the one the city has never seen before, and there is pictures like this where you see cars stuck in the middle of the road. We've been seeing that over and over throughout the city.
We've even seen rescues in terms of people having to be pulled out of these cars because they didn't realize the water was so high. And that's the thing that city officials were saying early on, please don't get in your car and drive in water because obviously it doesn't take a lot of water to make your car float.
And we want to show you some of this video because there's been water rescues throughout the central Florida area. We watched Don earlier as he was in that boat. But there have been high water rescues in terms of people going out and these first responders trying to make sure people are safe. There's also been senior citizens that have been moved from home to home because obviously they were in a predicament where they could not get out of the places they were because the water went up so high.
They're calling this more than a 200 year flood event so you understand why they needed the help they did. Listen to the city commissioner talk about how she helped get involved when people needed help.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right here across the street, the school that's right here, that shelter is full. We managed to get as many people as possible out, like literally we were carrying -- my husband and children, we were carrying other people's kids above our heads. The water reached like to our chests. People were trapped inside, elderly, wheelchair.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: Yes, Alisyn, we're hearing these stories about people trying to get out of the way of the water. The water here was going for more than 10 hours at one point, more than 20 inches. This is one of the locations in central Florida that people know. This lake here, its banks already spilled across the street. Police had to block it on both ends to stop people from driving from the water. You can see it sort of receding at this point, but so many people are questioning exactly what they're going to do next, making that call to their insurance company because obviously this is something they've never experienced before.
CAMEROTA: Yes, but just stay put. Make those calls from wherever you are safe and don't get in your car.
Ryan Young, thank you for showing us all the danger on the roadways there.
So Sanibel and Captiva Islands are completely cut off from the Florida mainland after the hurricane washed away the main causeway that connects the two.
CNN's breaking news coverage of the impact of Hurricane Ian continues after this very short break.
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[15:52:33]
CAMEROTA: The impact of Ian now reaching Florida's east coast. You can see strong surf here crashing into the Jacksonville pier. Just south of there in St. Augustine parts of downtown are completely under water. And police have partially shut down a bridge in and out of that city because of all of the flooding there. And like clockwork, some kayakers take to the streets to explore the flood zone.
All right, let's get to the CNN Weather Center where Jennifer Gray is standing by.
So, Jennifer, is this storm going to become a hurricane again?
JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I think so. We're very close, Alisyn. It's 70-mile-per-hour storm right now. So if we increase to 74 then that makes it a hurricane mostly likely will happen. It looks like it's trying to become a little bit more organized across the open water. You can see the center of the storm right there in those last few frames. We couldn't really -- it was very hard to see the center before, but we're already feeling tropical-storm-force winds all along the coast, across South Carolina, even Georgia.
So already feeling the impacts even though the storm is offshore. It's moving pretty slowly, less than 10 miles per hour, but still expected to become a hurricane within the next couple of hours most likely. And then making landfall as a hurricane along the South Carolina coast. Now this is also an area that's very vulnerable to storm surge, very vulnerable to flooding, and those are two key components with this storm as we've seen across southwest Florida.
Could see four to seven feet of storm surge near Charleston. This is an area that already floods easily. Add on that some storm surge and you've got downtown Charleston under water. So that's a scenario that we're looking at in the hours and even next day or so as this storm makes it on shore. So a vulnerable low-lying part of the coast, Alisyn, another area that just does not need a hurricane.
CAMEROTA: Absolutely. OK, Jennifer Gray. Thanks for keeping an eye on that for us.
So Hurricane Ian knocked out power to millions of Floridians. Ahead, what Florida officials say about when the lights will get back on.
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[15:59:12]
CAMEROTA: We have an update on the death toll from Hurricane Ian. Officials say at least 15 people have died in Florida. And of course that number could change.
Also this is just in to our newsroom. New footage shot by CNN shows the collapsed Sanibel causeway bridge which connects Sanibel Island with Florida's mainland. Lee County officials say Ian caused at least five structural failures on this causeway, as you can see.
All right, more than 2.6 million customers are without power in Florida. Florida Power and Light says some of their infrastructure will have to be rebuilt.
Look at these side-by-side images from NOAA. On your left, that's Monday night before Ian hit. On your right that's last night. More than 20 percent of customers are now without electricity.
All right, now to an animal rescue. Florida man Mike Ross was riding out the storm inside his mom's house in Bonita Springs when he spotted a stray cut clinging to an air-conditioning unit.
