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Hurricane Ian Weakens To Cat 1 But Remains Dangerous; More Than 2 Million Customers Without Power In Florida; Ian Batters Florida After Making Landfall As Cat 4 Storm. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired September 29, 2022 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: -- forty-five kilometers per hour. But Ian remains a violent, dangerous life-threatening hurricane, one of the strongest to ever hit Florida's west coast. And with it came a record-breaking storm surge and urgent calls for water rescues. Earlier in Naples, crews were able to smash a window and save a driver whose car was caught up in the floodwaters.

And in another part of the city.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you guys OK?

STOUT (voice over): Rescue crews helped guide residents through a submerged intersection that's since been turned into a lake.

And then there's this. The electricity crisis. The storm knocked out power lines, and more than two million homes and businesses have been plunged into darkness across the state.

Our meteorologists Pedram Javaheri is tracking Ian. He joins us now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: Pedram, Ian may have weakened but it is unleashing some very dangerous conditions. Where does it stand now?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR: Yes, Kristie. We just got the latest update here from the National Hurricane Center. 11 hours overland since it made landfall and you'll notice still a category one. A dropped from 90 miles per hour down to 75 miles per hour which leaves us as a low-end category one hurricane. And notice on the backside of the storm system, the cloud field here finally beginning to break as far as clearing skies developing around Bradenton or on portions of Marco Island or on areas of Venice down towards Tampa.

All of these areas finally seen drier weather persists while just east of it. Winds are still gusting up to 115 miles per hour. The system sits at about say 35 to 40 miles south of Orlando as it skirts eastward and we do expect it to reemerge over the Atlantic Ocean in the coming hours here impossibly try to restrain and again before it makes a third and final landfall across the borders of South Carolina and Georgia on Friday morning.

But notice these observed wind gusts incredible wind speeds to tell you about with as high as 140 miles per hour and a few observations. In fact, some of these wind gusts actually brought the anemometers or the wind measuring devices down. So we have essentially a holes on the map as far as the wind speeds in a lot of areas because these observation sites were completely knocked offline from the ferocity of the storm system.

But there it goes again, notice the radar imagery in the last few frames. You're still bringing in some strong thunderstorms in and around areas of Orlando, Melbourne, you'll get in on some of the heavier rainfall. Wind gusts just east of this region still pushing well over 100 miles per hour. And the concern moving forward is that it's really far from over for a lot of people on the eastern side of this.

We have some 30-plus million people including the Carolinas underneath tropical storm warnings, hurricane storm warnings, hurricane warnings and also tropical storm watches as well. So this is a significant coverage of come to these coastal areas that are still underneath these alerts and the system again will move over here and we do expect the next landfall Friday morning possibly very close to Savannah, maybe around Charleston as well.

Comes ashore with 65 mile per hour sustained winds and we expect this to move over the inland area of South Carolina produce flooding rains there. Now we know significant outages have been left in place across the state of Florida, some two million customers in the dark. I wouldn't be surprised to see significant outages around the coastal Carolinas going into Friday and Saturday.

So the weekend really shaping up to be a rocky one across that region as a Hurricane Ian moves across the area. And notice again kind of the color contours indicative of what sort of wind speeds we're expecting in Jacksonville, in Savannah, in Charleston, in Wilmington, 50, 60, 70 miles per hour across these areas will bring power lines down, will bring trees down. Rainfall across this region could also exceed six to eight inches.

So the storm is certainly far from over and notice these forecasts wind gusts here. Orlando, the reason why Disney is -- Disney World shut down. Hurricane force gusts across that region right now and working their way farther towards the east. And notice with the sun coming up, those impacts going to be felt, Kristie, across areas of Charleston and Savannah over the next couple of days.

STOUT: Ian posing so many dangers and the worst could be yet to come. Pedram Javaheri, we thank you for your forecast. Let's bring in CNN Gloria Pazmino who is live in Tampa, Florida for us. And Gloria, thank you for joining us at this hour. We know that Ian has unleashed these terrible conditions overnight. What kind of damage have you been seeing there?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NEWSOURCE NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly the rain and the wind has slowed down significantly. I would say in the past hour or so Hurricane Ian is now a category two storm but it has dropped a record levels of rain throughout the state of Florida. You talked about the damage towards the south of here about 90 miles away where Ian at first made landfall.

The damage is just catastrophic, an incredible amount of flooding and water going into those communities as Ian continues its path across the stage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAZMINO (voice over): Hurricane in slamming Florida's Gulf Coast with near category five strength causing life-threatening flooding.

[02:05:05]

DESANTIS: Overwhelmingly it's been that surge that has been the biggest issue and the flooding.

PAZMINO: The monster storm making landfall with winds of 150 miles per hour.

KEVIN ANDERSON, MAYOR OF FORT MYERS, FLORIDA: I've been here since the mid 70s. This is actually by far the worst storm I have ever seen. I can tell you, I'm looking at the businesses downtown and they're all flooded, windows blown out,

PAZMINO: Even before the worst of the storm hit people in Fort Myers already seeing mass flooding.

FRANK LONI, OWNER, LONI ARCHITECTS: Storm surge is very significant. We're actually seeing cars and boats float down the street.

PAZMINO: Hurricane force winds bringing down power lines. Ahead of the storm long lines on interstates as residents scramble to evacuate. Some choosing to stay behind and write it out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we're 10-1/2 feet above sea level right now. And the water is coming into our house right now.

PAZMINO: Governor Ron DeSantis submitting a request for a major disaster declaration for all 67 counties, which allows the federal government to send funds for cleanup.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAZMINO: And cleanup is likely not to begin here anytime soon, Kristie. I have been watching the Hillsborough River, it's right behind me. I know you can't probably see because it's very dark. But we are now concerned about the potential for flash flooding here in the area. That river has been losing water for the last a day or so. But we are now watching it fill back up. Thankfully it's doing it very slowly.

But this is one of the things we've been worried about over the last couple of hours. These rivers and canals alongside Tampa have lost a lot of water. The hurricane just sucking up that water as it moved across the state. So that water has to rush back into here at some point. Hopefully it does it gradually so that it's sort of a controlled, rushing back of the water, if you will. But Tampa is an area that is already very prone to flooding.

It gets flooded just during the regular rainy season here. So, the potential for that flash flooding over the next couple of hours is very real. Kristie.

STOUT: And that's why as you just said it's too early for cleanup. It's too early for search and rescue even because the conditions are still so dire in touch and go first responders. They're still locked down at this moment. How are authorities bracing themselves for what they could find out there?

PAZMINO: Yes. You know, Kristie, I was watching pictures out of Naples just a short while ago, there was a video of a firehouse in Naples where you could see firefighters with water up to their waist, their fire engines nearly entirely covered by floodwaters. So those are the people that are going to be having to go out to rescue people. They are very much in the thick of it. So that is why it's so important for people who are able to stay inside in a safe place to do so.

But as a night goes on here and dawn arrives in the next couple of hours, it's going to be a very different picture because there are certainly going to be people across the state who are going to be in need of rescue. And some of those crews may have a very hard time reaching them not just because of the dangerous conditions but because they've also been affected by the floodwaters.

STOUT: Yes. Right now we're waiting for daybreak to get that full damage assessment. Gloria Pazmino, we thank you very much indeed for your reporting. Take care and stay well.

Now let's head back to CNN world weather center to our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. And Pedram, Hurricane Ian, so destructive. It is superlative storm and size and strength. Why is it so intense?

JAVAHERI: You know, the intensity here really ramped up in a span of 12 hours, Kristie, when we saw these ocean temperatures among the highest oceanic heat content in all the Atlantic Ocean, in advance of this storm system, the Florida shelf very shallow area where of course you're allowing the storm system to flourish and create these monstrous storm surges that were forecast and that were observed across the area as well.

It came ashore with 150-mile per hour winds to give you kind of a sense of scale out of the dozens and dozens of hurricanes that have been observed across the state of Florida over the last five or six decades. This comes in the top four, four among the strongest at that wind speed when it made landfall. And really the importance of that is because of the exponential growth in damage potential from one category to the next.

It's not that you go from category three to four and you essentially just kind of minimize that threat by only one level of scale. The exponential increase increases the damage potential from 50 to 250 times. And once you get to category five, which we're about two miles per hour shy of a 500 times greater damage potential exists from cat five of town to cat four. Again this storm system was much closer to category five than category four when it made landfall there.

[02:10:06]

But you notice when it comes to storm surge potential and that of course goes hand in hand with what Ian produced across the Fort Myers area. The single highest storm surge ever observed over seven feet. Some areas, the storm surge exceeded up to 17 to 18 feet in this region. And I wanted to show you this because often we wouldn't try to show you a map with kind of data sets that are missing.

But the reason that data sets are missing for these wind gusts. These observation sites, these anemometers. The wind measuring device has been knocked offline kind of speaks to where the storm system was as it was migrating farther towards the east. And yes, the weather stations not reporting as a result of wind gusts that were exceeding 150 miles per hour. Now look at this. Lightning strikes in the past 24 hours across the state of Florida 8000 of them observed.

And we know they're still impacting this region as the storm migrates farther towards the east but over two million customers and keep in mind with two million customers generally three to four people per customer. You're talking about possibly eight million people still in the dark across a large area of the state of Florida right now. And of course, you know, flights were impacted as well, Kristie.

Looking to upwards of 7000 flights either delayed or canceled across the United States. From the domino effect that what was happening in the state of Florida and what is currently happening with a category one that has maintained hurricane strength overland for 11 hours and still pushing farther towards the east. So, few more hours this could reemerge if it maintains that category one over water.

There's potential it could try to re intensify and it really could be problematic for friends across the coast of Georgia and the Carolinas and notice additional rainfall threatened even exceeds 10 inches in those areas that have yet to see significant rain. So, this is a evolving story here over the coming hours, Kristie.

STOUT: Evolving story. And Pedram you are across every data set underscoring this supersize storm. Pedram Javaheri, thank you so much. We'll talk again very soon. Hurricane Ian is wreaking havoc as it moves through Lee County in southwestern Florida. I want you to take a look at this video from the town of Fort Myers Beach. This building was ripped from its foundation and swept away in the storm surge.

It was being used as a temporary outreach center. And in the nearby city of Fort Myers. The water rushed into a street turning it into a river of water levels in Fort Myers are still running high at this hour. And the strong winds are continuing to push the storm surge on shore flooding the area. About 96 percent of the city is still without electricity. And one man trapped in this two-storey house told CNN that water is flowing through the first floor of his home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have multiple residents, including elderly residents trapped in one storey houses that probably have 10-foot ceilings in seven foot floodwaters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: Well, Chief Tracy McMillion of the Fort Myers Fire Department joins us now on the phone. Sir, thank you very much indeed for joining us here at CNN. You know, the reports of rising floodwaters of the catastrophic storm surge are very chilling. What is your damage assessment at this hour?

TRACY MCMILLION, FIRE DEPARTMENT CHIEF, FORT MYERS, FLORIDA (via telephone): Yes. Everything that you're hearing is real. We have storm surge that's coming in and impacted our beautiful city. I heard one, the descriptions of, you know, roads have turned into rivers. And that is a great assessment. We actually have an opportunity right now with winds that have died down. We allow our crews to get out there with some of our high-water vehicles and make those rescues of those individuals who are in those homes that are trapped.

STOUT: That's good to hear. So, even with conditions so dangerous right now, you and other first responders are able to get out there to provide some help. How do you make that decision about who to help first?

MCMILLION: We use, you know, our triage. We look at where we can -- one, do the most good. We actually had our folks go out and do what we call reconnaissance and see what rows were open. And then once we forgot roads were open, not blocked, we're able to go in there and make (INAUDIBLE) those grabs. And then we start clearing other rows to be able to make it more palatable to actually get in there and help others.

So love is just based upon who has the worst need. And we can get to those folks first.

STOUT: Yes. Including the reports of people trapped in their homes by the rising water. Are they your first priority?

MCMILLION: Oh, absolutely. You know, one of the things that we do through our dispatch system is get a callback number. So we will reach out to those individuals and check to see how they're doing as we're coming and give them information and be able to actually get to them as quickly as possible. But absolutely. Those are the folks that we want to get to first.

STOUT: Yes. The power grid has been affected. You're doing search and rescue work in the middle of the night with water reaching -- my goodness, waist level, perhaps even higher. On top of that, there were downed power lines and standing water. How is all that affecting your work?

MCMILLION: Yes. So, you know, it's one of those things where we have to work at -- look at the risk versus benefit and we have people who actually need our help. We have to get in there and be the heroes that we claim to be.

[02:15:08]

So, one of the things that is working in our favor is with a power being out. That actually means a lot of those down power lines aren't charged. So it actually does help us to some degree, but there's still a level of safety that we have to be mindful of. But we have to get out there and help our folks when they need us.

STOUT: This storm will be a tragic event. Homes will be lost and heaven forbid more. What's your thinking right now about how the community will come together to manage and to cope with the loss and the devastation? And what will come next?

MCMILLION: I'm hopeful and optimistic that to things like this tragedy, things like this, that actually impacts such a large swath of community that we can put our, you know, schisms aside and actually come together and help each other out. So, the recovery will be long, it will be tiring. It'll be a tough process. But I'm optimistic that we'll come out better on the other side of it.

STOUT: Yes. Tracy McMillion, we thank you for joining us. And we also send strengths to you and your team. As you push on with the search and rescue and rebuilding of your community. Sir, take care. Stay well.

MCMILLION: Thank you. Bye now.

STOUT: Now Wednesday, a truly dangerous day for many people in Florida. And up next what it looked and sounded like, as Ian roared ashore in Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The rain is actually painful as it hits you. I'm glad nobody else is out on the street here. Whoa, here -- oh, boy. Huge gust.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:20:36]

STOUT: The storm surge in Naples, Florida came in so fast and got so deep. Even some first responders had to be rescued when their fire station flooded. The department posted this video on its Facebook page showing firefighters being ferried to higher ground by jet skis. Hurricane Ian made landfall near Fort Myers as a category four storm. It is now a category one nearly 12 hours later.

And this slow moving storm is dumping enormous amounts of rain as it heads to the northeast with flash flooding now a primary concern. Our CNN's correspondents have been fanned out across Florida and captured these incredible moments as Hurricane Ian made landfall on Wednesday. Have a listen. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: The rain is actually painful as it hits you. I'm glad nobody else is out on the street here. Whoa, here -- oh, boy. Huge gust

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: I was in Katrina, I was in Michael and Maria in Puerto Rico. And this is a different level of scary considering the storm surge they're warning us about considering we didn't think wind speed would be as important as that storm surge. Oh, Jesus. But both of them are now -- something just flew in front of the window and scared me.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR: It was like this storm was a spinning top on its final approach to the Florida peninsula. It spun up. It really started to strengthen near the center. It rapidly intensified and then it pushed its way inland and brought the most intense winds at its peak point. And that was the worst case scenario that we had all feared. The National Hurricane Center fearing the same thing using the words like catastrophic in the lead up to the storm. And now we're starting to realize those words are coming true.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUT: Despite mandatory evacuation orders from the governor of Florida, many have chosen to stay in their homes to ride out the storm, including at Fort Myers where Frank Loni washed as cars were swept away outside his home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK LONI, FOR MYERS RESIDENT: I've never seen something of this nature before. The storm surge is very significant. We're actually seeing cars and boats float down the street. We're seeing trees nearly bent in half.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: Don and Belinda Collins also living in Fort Myers spoke was seen as Anderson Cooper on Wednesday as the floodwaters started to fill their home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BELINDA COLLINS, FORT MYERS, FLORIDA RESIDENT: My husband was sitting -- he was sitting with his phone just doing nothing in the dark and I came out and he says there's dripping or something dripping on me. He got up at the ceiling, the family room ceiling caved in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: And besides a high storm surge Port Charlotte not far from Fort Myers was hit by torrential rain and strong winds that at one point blew off the roof of the local hospital's ICU unit. Internal medicine specialist Dr. Birgit Bordine spoke with CNN earlier after the incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. BIRGIT BORDINE, ICU DOCTOR IN PORT CHARLOTTE, FLORIDA: Oh, it's actually pretty terrible. I'm actually still in the hospital, we still have not been able to leave and we typically don't. We were -- we knew, you know, being in Florida Of course, we know that the storms can be pretty bad. However, we weren't quite expecting it to be this bad. Well, typically planned and have, a bunch of us doctors and nurses and other staff members sleep in the hospital.

So here unfortunately today we had about 160 patients in house and our roof blew off part of the roof on the ICU, above the ICU. So, of course we have torrential rains coming in which then went down the stairwell, which then went on to other floors. And luckily we have a super, super good staff and everybody pitched in and try to try to get the patience to, you know, a safe place as quickly as possible, but we can't even evacuate them quite yet.

We're hoping we can evacuate them in the morning because right now the winds were still too strong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: Heroine testimony there. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. And just ahead, we'll go live to Florida and speak with a military expert about how National Guard troops will be helping out with response operations in hurricane-stricken regions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STOUT: Welcome back. Hurricane Ian has now weakened to a category one storm but it is still bringing plenty of danger as it moves slowly across Florida with gusty powerful winds, heavy rain and catastrophic flooding. The major concerns here. Now the governor of Florida says that the storm surge of Ian hit 12 feet in some places. Forecasters now say the surge levels have likely peaked in western Florida, but residents are being urged to stay cautious until the floodwaters recede. Police have been responding to calls from those trapped in their homes by the rising water.

[02:30:00]

More than two million homes and businesses across Florida are without power. And governors elsewhere in the southeastern U.S. have declared states of emergency, ahead of the arrival of Ian.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR TERESA HEITMANN, NAPLES COUNTY, FLORIDA: We still have water on the streets. We have downed power lines and it's a dangerous situation. We've already had several citizens that have -- just had to be retrieved. And right now, we just need people to stay inside we'll let them know when it's safe to go back out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: All Thursday flights through Jacksonville's airport are now canceled due to Hurricane Ian. Let's go back to our meteorologist, Pedram Javaheri. And Pedram, since landfall Ian has weakened but it is already producing record water surge levels.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

STOUT: What's the latest?

JAVAHERI: Yes, you know, we were watching a storm that is now about 50 miles southeast of Orlando, about 50 miles also southeast of Titusville. And you'll notice, on the backside of it, for the first time in 24 hours, if you're tuned in in places such as St. Petersburg, Bradenton, Sarasota, Venice, Port Charlotte, finally seen the rain move out of your picture and off towards the east. While in well in Kissimmee, Orlando, Titusville and Rockledge, this where the intensity of the storm is really picking up here in the coming hours.

And I want to show you what we're looking at, a system that has been sitting overland for 12 and a half hours -- now sitting there for 11 and a half hours, I should say. Sitting with 75 mile per hour winds, still a category one. Wind gusts succeeding 110 or so miles an hour, 115 miles an hour. And it is expected to reemerge over the Atlantic Ocean right around sunrise here. And then potentially try to strengthen before it makes its third and final landfall.

But notice the map, especially east and especially north, still really dotted with hurricane warnings, hurricane watches, and even storm surge threat that is going to extensive across the coast. I just measured this, that's 300 miles of coastline underneath the storm surge warnings for an additional round of possibly four, maybe to six- foot storm surge across portions of the Carolinas and coastal Georgia as well.

So, certainly the story is far from over even though across the western area of Florida. Finally, we're beginning to see calmer conditions, and the weather is going to begin to improve as the sun rises. And of course, we see the damage is left behind.

And you'll notice the storm system again, there it is, will push right through Orlando into the early morning hours. And certainly, seeing disruptions as far as, not only transportation, but also school closures widespread across this region. Expecting much the same for Friday across areas of the Carolinas and coastal Georgia as a strong tropical storm's forecast to move in your direction, producing likely extensive outages across that region as well.

So, here's what we're looking at, storms, we do expect it to weaken to around 65 miles per hour. You'll notice it kind of maintains that intensity before trying to make landfall there around the coast of Georgia and South Carolina. And the wind speed in that region could gust up to 70 plus miles per hour.

So, even though we've seen some two million customers in the dark in Florida, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a few hundred thousand more scattered about Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina from Friday into Sunday as the system moves in that direction. And there goes the center the storm. You kind of try to see it form again and then make that final landfall across this region on Friday morning.

As far as rainfall is concerned, upwards of 10 to 15 inches have already come down. A few pockets, radar estimates total of 20 inches observed across this region. And we do expect another round of maybe six to 10 inches on the eastern side of Florida before it's all said and done.

So, as a result, the weather service has issued this high alert for flooding concerns across an extensive area of Florida, where some of these areas are getting two to three months-worth of rainfall in an area that is well accustomed to heavy rains. But they're getting two to three months-worth of it here over the coming hours.

Now, when it comes to this landfall, of course, the system moves ashore as a major hurricane, the fourth strongest system to ever make landfall across the state of Florida with those wind speeds at 150 miles per hour. At one point, just before landfall, it'll reach up to 155 miles per hour. So, an incredible storm system to say the least here.

And, Kristie, when you look at just the damage potential, when you kind of moved from one category to the next and get very close to a category five, much like when you're talking about earthquakes, the scale of going from a magnitude six to a seven is pretty significant. It's not just one scale. Going from category three to four has a damage potential going from 50 times to 250 times more than the previous category.

So, this is why we think the amount of damage left behind is certainly could be one of those billion dollar disasters we see every single summer when it comes to the hurricane season. And this particular one looks like it might be the one for 2022 unfortunately, Kristie.

STOUT: Yes, especially when you have much more rain to come for Florida, and the storm warning in effect for a number of U.S. states as you laid out. Pedram Javaheri, thank you so much. We'll talk again very, very soon.

Thousands of national guard troops are being deployed to help with response operations. And for more on that, I'm joined by CNN's Military Analyst, retired lieutenant general Mark Hertling, he joins us on the line. He is Flagler Beach, Florida for us.

[02:35:00]

And sir, thank you for joining us here on the program. First, because you are there, you're -- they're on the ground, tell us what you've been seeing and experiencing.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, we haven't borne the brunt of this year yet in Flagler Beach, Kristie. We actually arrived home yesterday to prepare our house for the hurricane. We were traveling with some engagements talking about Ukraine. And when we arrived, the storm started gaining in potential. The entire day today has been massive amounts of rainfall, extremely strong and gusty winds. In fact, my wife and I, it's 2:00 -- it's a little over 2:30 in the morning here right now, and it's difficult to sleep. The winds are so just harsh and pounding, it shakes the house, as well as the rainfall. We've had probably had close to three inches of rain in the last 24- hour period. We're expected to get somewhere between six and 10 more inches of rain, which as the meteorologists just said is a year's worth of rain in just a two-day period.

But it has been a rough day. We are literally across a road from the Atlantic Ocean. The beach has been pounding all day today. It's just -- it's an indicator of how dramatic and unbelievably indescribable mother nature is and it's just, kind of, a weather event.

STOUT: Yes, you have been feeling the full force of the rain and the wind. And when daybreak's on Thursday, what will be the plan for the national guard and other first responders for the search and rescue?

HERTLING: Well, the national guard and first responders have been out through the entire storm. But what we'll see tomorrow, as the hurricane heads further towards the east, and in fact we'll probably hit us with -- certainly, with reduced winds and what is hit in places on the West Coast of Florida. You're going to see the national guard and first responders continue to work with the local populous.

Now, one of the things I've done since I've retired from the army, Kristie, is work with healthcare organizations. And because we've experienced several hurricanes since we've moved here to Florida, I've seen how those kinds of professional, they don't hunker down. They continue to serve the population just like the guard, and the police, and the firefighters do.

So, healthcare workers, in many cases, move into their hospitals to ensure services continue to be rendered. And across the board, these kinds of selfless professionals just keep the cities going and continuing to serve the population and it's a full-time job.

The guard will come out, and certainly will come to rescue anyone that needs rescue. They have the equipment and the capability, and certainly the courage to do that. So, you'll see the guard repairing, helping first responders repair facilities. They'll also get downed trees out of the roads, perhaps contribute to getting people out of their houses that are trapped, making way for some of the power companies that are going to be rejuvenating the power in different areas that have been struck. And that's certainly a big issue right now. But primarily, the guard will be used to served people who are in need or find themselves in danger because of flooding or power situations.

STOUT: And to serve people, there's triage. There's triage for search and rescue, not just for the healthcare professionals, as you mentioned. It's what -- the firefighters, the national guard, the police as well. So, what goes into that decision-making? Who will get the first priority?

HERTLING: Well, you know, it's interesting, governors of every State will tell people when to leave different locations. Governor DeSantis certainly has done that today, based on the path of the storm, and what kind of damage it will do. He's -- he told people to get out of certain areas. If they haven't done those things and they're trapped in areas, certainly the guard and the first responders will try and get to them, but they will, unfortunately, be some of the last that are rescued. Because they've been told to leave.

What the requirements of the first responders is to open the roads, get people who are really in critical condition out of dangerous areas. But those who have -- determined to stay in certain areas and didn't heed the warning of the government officials, unfortunately, they'll be some of the last that will be triaged because they took it upon themselves to stay as opposed to getting out and seeking safety.

STOUT: Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, thank you so much for joining us, especially at this hour to you and your wife. Stay safe and take care.

HERTLING: Thank you, Kristie.

STOUT: Our special coverage of Hurricane Ian continues, after a short break.

[02:40:00]

And when day light returns in just a few hours, we expect to see widespread flooding and damage across much of Florida.

Plus, new information about a possible Russian role in the Baltic Sea pipeline leaks. Now, we're hearing Russian navy ships were in the area around the time when the leaks began.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STOUT: Western leaders are increasingly suspecting foul play after multiple leaks were discovered in undersea pipelines built to bring Russian natural gas to Germany. Three sources are telling CNN that European officials observed Russian navy ships in the areas where pipelines are now leaking. And the timing would coincide with underwater explosions that happened before the leaks began. Nada Bashir is following that story. She joins us live from London with more.

[02:45:00]

Nada, the investigation into these leaks is ongoing. Suspicion has been falling on Russia. How is Europe planning to confront this critical disruption?

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, look, Kristie, the fallout of these leaks, unexplainedly, and certainly growing. We have been hearing that concerted response from western leaders, particularly here and across the European continent. We've heard now from the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, and of course European Union's Chief Diplomat, Josep Borrell, both suggesting that this was an act of sabotage. And of course, western leaders have been very careful not to overtly point the finger of blame towards Russia, because of course the focus for now is very much on that investigation.

The process (INAUDIBLE), we are now learning a few more details around what investigators may well be focusing on over the coming days and weeks. We've heard now from two western intelligence officials, and another source familiar with the matter saying that European security officials observed Russian navy support ships in the vicinity of that affected area on Monday and Tuesday.

Now, it's not presently clear whether or not these ships would've had anything to do with this incident in question. And it is important to note that we've heard from Danish officials highlighting that it is routine to see Russian vessels in the areas. So, there isn't really a direct link being drawn at this state, but this will certainly be a key line of inquiry for investigators over the coming days and weeks.

And of course, the European Union will be supporting that investigation efforts. We're seeing Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Norway all playing a part in that investigation as well as stepping up security measures in the region, as we understand it from another European source.

A five nautical mile exclusion zone is being established as well as a one kilometer no fly zone in the area. Because, of course, we have heard from Danish officials that it could take at least a week, if not two weeks, before the area in the vicinity of that pipeline, on the affected areas of the pipeline is stable enough for that investigation to take place.

But what is important to note, Kristie, is that we have also had response from the Russian side, from the Kremlin, they too are now instigating their own preliminary investigation. Pointing the finger, really, at what they've described as international terrorism.

STOUT: Nada Bashir in London, we thank you for keeping us across this story. Take care. We'll talk again soon.

I wanted to show you some live pictures now, at Daytona Beach on the eastern coast of Florida, as Hurricane Ian continues to unleash its wrath. The very latest on this storm, when we come back. You're watching CNN.

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STOUT: Floodwaters up to their knees and as far as the eye can see. The coastal city of Naples is just one of the areas hit hard by Hurricane Ian as it moves across Florida. It is now a category one storm, but still hammering the State with destructive winds, torrential rain, and record-breaking storm surge. Now, storm warnings are now extended up the east coast, covering Georgia and the Carolinas.

And for some perspective, here's a look at some of the strongest hurricanes to hit Florida over the years. Hurricane Michael in 2018 was the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in the Florida Panhandle, that's according to the National Hurricane Center. 16 people died in the U.S. from that storm, and it caused $25 billion in damage. Irma was a category four hurricane when it struck the Florida Keys, the year before, a total of 10 people in the U.S. were directly killed by that storm. And it caused an estimated $50 billion in property damage.

In 2004, Hurricane Charley made landfall in almost hit the exact same spot as Ian. And Charley was responsible for 10 deaths in the U.S. And it estimated $14 billion in damage. And many, many people Florida still remember Hurricane Andrew back in 1992, that powerful category five storm was directly responsible for the deaths of 23 people in the U.S. It was the third, most-intense hurricane on record to hit the country.

Now, let's check in again with Pedram Javaheri. And, Pedram, Ian is one of the strongest hurricanes to make landfall on the west coast of the Florida Peninsula, but how does it compare? How does it stack up against the other major recent storms?

JAVAHERI: Yes, you know, Kristie, when you look at how quiet it was leading up to the last couple of days here with the activity flourish in the month of August, we had not a single named storm. We had to go back decades to find a month of August that was as quiet as one we just had. And, of course, the images that you just shared and the systems we've had in recent years.

And one in particular, being Ian here, that is kind of open the record books yet again. But I want to take you out over towards areas of -- I believe, it is -- is this Fort Myers? Is this Tampa area -- where are we looking at? This is Daytona Beach. This is a live look here in Daytona Beach, kind of, showing as the system approached in the next few minutes.

We do expect the system to cross very close to Daytona Beach. Wind there right now, sustained at about 45 to 50 miles per hour, gusting to 70 plus miles per hour. So, although it is now beginning to really quiet down on the western side of the State, the eastern side of the State beginning to ramp up when it comes to the conditions in the worst-case activity of this particular storm system as it surges across this region.

But here we go at the forecast guidance again. The winds will really begin to intensify in the coming hours. The system then reemerges, depending on how much of it is left intact here once it reemerges over the Atlantic is kind of when we see if it has the potential to strengthen back up to a hurricane before before it's third and final landfall across the Carolina-Georgia border.

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But, Kristie, you talked about these notable hurricanes. The four that you noted here, category fours or category fives, a lot of them kind of showing you really varying areas of impacts. With Charley coming in short of very close to where we saw Ian make landfall earlier today. And I really want to compare that because when you look at these two storms and you kind of look at the records in their entirety. Ian comes in as the fourth strongest storm on record as far as the sustained wind speeds kind of right behind Michael, Andrew, and then the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935.

All of these storms being billion-dollar disasters. Charley, as you noted a few moments ago, over $10 billion dollars in losses, 10 fatalities in the United States. The population along this region since 2004 has increased dramatically. Of course, systems come in short very similar wind speeds but when you look at the cloud field, you look at the scope, the size of what Charley was with those strong winds to where Ian is essentially doubling the size, shows you the potential here as far as what sort of damage we could expect here in the coming days with this system moving across this area.

STOUT: And Pedram, when we have Ian hitting so hard, so far, especially in comparison to other recent storms, it raises the question about climate change and what degree that is feeling it's power. We're going to have to save that conversation for another time. Pedram Javaheri, thank you so much indeed for joining us.

And thank you for joining us. I'm Kristie Lu Stout. My colleague Paula Newton is picking up our coverage of Hurricane Ian after the break. You're watching CNN.

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