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Hurricane Ian Now Just a Category One Storm; Two Million Floridians Without Power; Trapped People Rescued in Naples, Florida; Russian Navy Ships Spotted Near Baltic Sea; V.P. Kamala Harris Visited DMZ; Hospital Not Spared by Flooding. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired September 29, 2022 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Paula Newton, live in Atlanta.

It is 3 a.m. in Florida, and we continue to follow the path of Hurricane Ian. Now weaker but, of course, still a major worry. That hurricane has now finally been downgraded to a category one storm, but it's still moving menacingly right across the state of Florida and heading northeast.

Now, its winds of approximately 75 miles or 120 kilometers per hour are still lashing large sections of the state just 12 hours after it crashed into southwest Florida as an almost category five hurricane. Now since then, of course, as you can imagine, power outages have left more than two million homes and businesses in the dark still at this hour. That's about 20 percent of customers throughout the state.

Now the mayor of Fort Myers meantime, says some 96 percent of his entire city has lost electricity. And the emergency management director meantime of Charlotte County, Florida told CNN that rescuers can only do so much during the height of the storm. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK FULLER, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR, CHARLOTTE COUNTY, FLORIDA: Unfortunately, our dispatch continues to receive calls, our 911 center, and just like every other county, our emergency response agencies cannot safely operate. It's not safe for them or anyone else to be outside of hard structures. So, they cannot give calls to service right now. So, yes, we're receiving calls, of water at homes, other situations, but until the hazardous conditions end, they won't be able to answer those calls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Now, to be sure emergency crews are getting ready to ramp up a rescue and recovery efforts, and that is once the worst of the danger has passed. And importantly here, they want those winds to calm down before they can go out.

Now we are expecting an update from the Florida governor in about six hours from now.

We go to CNN's Gloria Pazmino at this point in time. She is live for us in Tampa, Florida. And you know, Tampa was spared the worst, but you can't say Tampa was spared. What kind of (AUDIO GAP).

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Paula. We certainly missed the eye of the storm. The worst of the storm was expected to hit this area of Tampa where we are right now. But the reality is that over the last a few hours the situation here has been, it's been very rainy, it's been very windy. Things are slowing up a bit right now.

The worst of Hurricane Ian happened about 90 miles to the south. You were describing the conditions there, Fort Myers, Cape -- Cape, near 90 miles away from here, Fort Myers. I say the area of Naples, really seeing historic flooding, massive destruction as Hurricane Ian rolled into its path.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAZMINO (voice-over): Hurricane Ian slamming Florida's Gulf Coast with New York Category five strength causing life-threatening flooding.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): 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.

MAYOR KEVIN ANDERSON, 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 that are all flooded, windows blown out.

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

FRANK LONI, ARCHITECT: The 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 ride it out.

DON COLLINS, TRAPPED IN HOME IN FORT MYERS: Well, we're 10 and a half 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 VIDEO CLIP)

[03:04:54] PAZMINO (on camera): Now the cleanup is certain not to begin here for several days as dawn breaks. And we get some sunlight over the next couple of hours where we're really going to start to get a much clearer picture of the damage that this hurricane has done.

It has already dropped more than 12 inches of rain all across a Florida. And you mentioned the number of people that are currently without power, and we've just been watching those images, houses that have water all the way up to their roofs. The destruction here is massive.

And people here in Florida and the Tampa area, 90 miles to the south, as I said, sure to be having to climb out of this over the next several days and weeks, as we begin to get a clearer picture of the damage that Hurricane Ian has done to the state.

NEWTON: Yes. Gloria, in your report we saw of course, people really evacuating in order to stay safe. They are likely going to try and head back to their homes throughout the day today. What will they find in terms of damage? Because at Tampa, they still, as you said, get -- got a lot of rain and heavy winds.

PAZMINO: Yes, and that is the concern. You know, it -- people have a hard time leaving their property behind knowing that a storm is coming, but that's what people were told to do for their safety. Here in Hillsborough County, which is where I'm standing, we know several thousand people, about 7,500 of them evacuated to local shelter. But that, of course is only a fraction of the population that has been affected by Hurricane Ian.

And we have heard over the last several hours reports of people being trapped in their homes. Crews not being able to get out to them because conditions are so treacherous right now. And so, as I said, when day breaks, that's when we're going to start to get a clear picture of those images, and I think we are going to see a lot of people who may be trapped awaiting help in their homes because they were simply in areas where they thought the storm was not going to impact them as heavily.

Some areas on the west side of Florida where we are right now are not typically hard hit by hurricanes like this one. So, there may be some folks who thought that they could ride this out, who unfortunately are experiencing a very different reality. As I said, homes that have flooded all the way up to the roof. That means people are certainly trapped. The loss of life, the loss of property will likely be in the billions after the storm.

NEWTON: Yes, a rough night for many people and it isn't over yet. Gloria Pazmino for us in Tampa. Thanks so much.

CNN's Pedram Javaheri is closely tracking the storm. I mean, Pedram, look, it was heartbreaking to hear those rescue officials say that, look, we are in lockdown. Those winds must come below 45 miles an hour for us to begin to answer the call to some of those rescues. So how about it? So how much has this storm weakened? And it's not done with Florida yet. We know that, but what's the latest about the track? PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, I was just looking at

the, the clock right now, 3.05 Eastern Time in the afternoon on Wednesdays when it made landfall. It is 3.07 a.m. So, we're exactly 12 hours removed from when it made land across areas, not too far away from Sanibel Island down here. It's traversed about 120 miles, about to clear back over the Atlantic Ocean, and it is still with 12 hours over land, still maintaining that category one intensity hurricane force wind.

So, speaks to just the ferocity of the storm system as it moved over land to be able to maintain this intensity. And again, with landfall speeds of 140 or so miles per hour the incredible nature of this particular storm system really kind of speaks to how strong of a feature it was among the top five strongest storms ever to make landfall across the state of Florida.

And again, there it goes as it pushes in across areas of eastern Florida in the coming hour or so. But there's the 150-mile-per hour wind speed at landfall. We had significant storm surge as a result of it. Notice the storm surge there the highest ever observed in Fort Myers for Hurricane Ian.

And really, one element I want to show you, because I was looking into the data sets around this region, trying to find what the current wind speeds were as the system shifted towards the east. And look at all the gauges here, all the anemometer, the weather instruments that have been left in the dark from the power outages from the incredible intensity of the storm system, couldn't find too many in the way of current wind gusts.

Even Orlando's executive airport wasn't giving me a wind gust because the system just a few miles south of Orlando, as it pushes to the east. The latest numbers, 2.3 million customers still in the dark across a large area of Florida, and the system, again is now beginning to make its push towards the eastern shoreline near the space coast. And we expect it to make a sharp right turn.

If it maintains this intensity in the coming hours, doesn't drop back down to a tropical force system, I wouldn't be surprised if this keeps hurricane force strengthens into a category one, possibly getting a little bit stronger than that as it approaches the coast of South Carolina and Georgia near Savannah on Friday morning for its third and final landfall there on Friday morning.

[03:09:55]

But just look at the scope of this system. Areas in yellow, those are tropical storm force winds up to 39 miles per hour. Areas in orange, up to about 58 miles per hour. Hurricane winds right near the eye wall there. The hurricane winds gradually begin to diminish. While you look at the wind speed here 50, 60 miles per hour winds could be expected.

So that's why I think power outages out of Florida into the Carolinas and Georgia are going to be widespread as the system makes this last landfall there on Friday morning, and then eventually pushes inland across the central portion of the Carolinas as well. NEWTON: Yes, you've been covering this for so many days and it is clear the storm is not, as I said, done with Florida yet.

I wanted to ask you, we've been talking about the fact that, you know, rescuers want to get to that go time, right? Three-ten in the morning right now in Florida, they told me they wanted to be in their vehicles by 5 a.m. Is that a possibility from what you're seeing with the winds, and I of course, I'm only talking about the southwest right now.

JAVAHERI: Yes, the southwest. It does look like as far as the winds and rain, yes. We're -- we're done with the strongest winds, the rain. The question is how much water is on the ground? You know, we've got to keep in mind, we've picked up about 15 to 20 inches in some of these areas. The surge is gradually receding, the water levels are gradually dropping.

And really, what's important is when you get into these areas, especially in the dark, you got to keep in mind, not only are people displaced, but wildlife is displaced. And in Florida we're talking about critters, we're talking about snakes, alligators by large numbers across this region that have been pushed out of their usual habitats into essentially people's properties if this water has moved its way inland, as far as we have, we believe it has.

So, if people are trying to make their way back into their properties to check on conditions there, keep in mind that there's going to be aggressive, critters as well in these properties that you can encounter, and it makes it that much more dangerous of a scenario.

NEWTON: Yes, challenge all around for everyone as we await, as we said, some of those rescues, some people still waiting to be rescued, and of course, as you say, trying to assess the damage.

Pedram, we'll continue to check in with you throughout this hour. I appreciate it.

Now hurricanes typically have a calm area, right? It's called the eye of the storm, but the two walls of the eye as the storm arrives and as it leaves. In fact, can be extremely turbulent.

CNN's Anderson Cooper spoke with a storm chaser caught inside a parking deck in the coastal city of Venice, and when it struck, it quite literally, you will see them talk about being caught in the middle of the storm. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: This is what it looked like is Hurricane Ian came ashore with 150-mile-an-hour winds in Venice, Florida.

UNKNOWN: You're still on the break, right? Yes. Holy. How is this possible stairwell.

UNKNOWN: Please?

UNKNOWN: For, For what? Gosh, Yes, let's -- let's go down.

UNKNOWN: OK.

UNKNOWN: If we can, but please be careful. It's going to be so sketchy. You want to wait till it dies down.

UNKNOWN: Dies down a little bit, yes.

UNKNOWN: Maybe. My gosh.

COOPER: Storm chaser Logan Parham took the video. He joins us now by phone. I understand you. You experienced the second eye wall and we're in a kind of dire situation. Describe what it was like.

LOGAN PARHAM, STORM CHASER: Yes. you know, the first eye wall was bad enough, and then we got those, mesovortices after the first eye wall was, you know, clearing to the eye. But that second eye wall, it really hit and, you know, we expected it too, but when it hit, it hit very, very, very strong.

Honestly, a lot stronger sustained wind speed than the first eye wall, and then, it got very scary because the parking garage that we're in still in right now with no power is, it was -- it was buckling, it was shaking. The -- all the cars, including our vehicle was bouncing up and down like it was going to just straight lift off.

So, it was a scary moment, you know, everyone was rushed into the stairwells into secure vehicles, so seemed very strong winds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Incredible. He actually said the car was shaking as they were going through the middle of that storm. Now, as we just said, Ian has been downgraded to a category one, but make no mistake, this storm is still very dangerous as it moves slowly through the state and dumps a huge amount of rain.

It also overwhelmed electrical grids right across the state. You'll want to see this.

CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam in Bradenton, Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We're going close to 10 hours of tropical storm force winds. Hurricane Ian has rewritten the history books here across the southwestern Florida Peninsula as one of the strongest storms to reach this shoreline. I'm in Bradenton and we are part of the nearly two million customers that have been plunged into darkness.

That is one of my greatest concerns for people as this storm slowly marches across the states with -- the state with its powerful winds and extremely heavy rain and dangerous conditions, is that people will have to endure this weather, this onslaught in the darkness of night. Very scary moments for people here to say the least. As a meteorologist, I witnessed something I've never seen before in my entire career. It is called reverse storm surge. The wind was so intense here earlier this morning that it actually pushed out the water from the river in the Manatee River that's behind me here.

[03:15:05]

Some of the sailboats were actually sitting on their keels in the Bradenton Harbor. Absolutely incredible. We actually had a moment as well, where our communications and our electricity was disrupted because transformers were blowing behind us in the distance, sending sparks well into the sky.

We also drove down some of the city streets here and saw debris getting lofted into the air under some of these heavy, violent gusts that continue to move through. We've got another few hours of some of this intense wind. But then the made -- major threat going forward, of course, is the inland flooding, with some locations already receiving 19 inches of rain.

That's two to three months' worth of rainfall for these locations, and it's not done yet as the storm emerges off the east coast of the Florida Peninsula.

I'm CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam from Bradenton, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: And our thanks to Derek and his team there. And even veteran hurricane watchers like Derek continue to tell us that they have never seen a storm like Hurricane Ian.

Coming up, we'll take you to the town of Punta Gorda as the storm slammed into western Florida. Stay with us.

[03:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: All right, 3.20 in the morning, Daytona Beach. Look at those winds. That is the eastern coast of Florida as hurricane Ian continues to unleash its wrath. Yes, the winds still look quite bracing there. This storm not done with Florida yet.

The Mayor of Naples, Florida meantime is urging everyone to stay indoors after several people had to be rescued from rising floodwaters. Now the local sheriff says, at least 30 rescue missions were completed Wednesday.

I want you to see this video. You can see a woman stuck in her car after it stalled in the floodwaters. A firefighter waited in waist- high water before smashing a window to get her out of the car.

Folks, I have to tell you, this is what rescue workers always tell you not to do. Do not go in these waters with your car. I want you to listen now to a Collier County commissioner and what he said to CNN. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK LOCASTRO, COMMISSIONER, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA: Folks around here know that when we issue a mandatory evacuation, they take it seriously. But also, you have a lot of seasonal people. You have people here. I mean, I'm sure you saw some of the -- some of the video footage where, you know, people are partying down on Key West as the -- as the waves are crashing over the top and they think it's sort of funny.

You know, we get a lot of those seasonal folks here that have never lived through a hurricane, and maybe initially it doesn't seem that bad. So, they think they're going to ride it out with hurricane party or whatnot. I will say, John, that's the exception and not the rule, but those exceptions are what our first responders have to respond to when those folks realize that they're in over their heads. And we had a lot of heroic actions today in Collier County by our first responders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Yes, that's the expression right, in over your head. That's exactly what it means. The water rising just so quickly there. It really caught so many off guard. And in Punta Gorda on Florida's west coast, it was directly in the path of Hurricane Ian when it made landfall Wednesday. Now the massive storm blasted ashore just shy of category five with driving wind and rain that threatened to sweep away everything in its path. Sustained winds, think about this, were as high as 140 miles an hour with gust that were much stronger than that.

Our CNN's Randi Kaye was in Punta Gorda and filed this report as the ferocious second eyewall roared through that city.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: We did have the eye pass over and it was very calm. There was no rain. But right now, we are -- we are getting the worse that we've seen. If you look down this street, if you can over here, Jerry, look down here, you can see there's a little bit of, the metal is wrapped around the power line there.

There's a tree down. They're very concerned about flooding here in downtown Punta Gorda, certainly. And from what we're seeing right now, this, this is a very, very difficult situation, a very bad situation. We're not far from Charlotte Harbor, which is where the water would've pushed in from.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Our thanks to Randi Kaye there and her photojournalist, Jerry Simonson for that look at the weather. It was quite a day out there for them.

Now meantime, Hurricane Ian has left a path of destruction in Lee County in southwest Florida. Here's more video from the town of Fort Myers Beach. This is incredible. This building was ripped from its foundation and swept away in the storm surge. Yes, it's a building floating basically what was a street.

Now in the nearby city of Fort Myers meantime, the water rushed into a street, turning it into a river. Water levels in Fort Myers are still running high at this hour. That's time lap video of this. I just couldn't believe this when I saw it, and the strong winds are continuing to push the storm surge onshore flooding the area.

Meantime, about 96 percent of the city still without electricity at this hour. One man trapped in this two-story house told CNN that water was flowing through the first floor of his home. They were on the second. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS PODGORNY, TRAPPED IN HOUSE IN FORT MYERS: We have multiple residents, including elderly residents trapped in one-story houses that probably have 10-foot ceilings in seven-foot flood waters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Yes, and the other tragic part about this has been people having to leave behind their pets. Some of them don't know what's become of them in the meantime. Now, we did get the information though from the botanical gardens in St. Petersburg, Florida that they weren't taking any chances with this storm.

[03:25:03]

And they tweeted out, our animals are safe with staff on site to see them through this storm. The flamingos. Caps 25 Petersburg, Florida that they weren't taking any chances with this storm and they tweeted out. Our animals are safe with staff on site to see them through this storm. The flamingos, you see them there are having a hurricane party in the bathroom, eating, drinking, and dancing.

Stay with us. We've got much more ahead on Hurricane Ian and we'll let you know its latest path right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:29:57]

NEWTON: And welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Paula Newton.

Hurricane Ian is now a category one storm as it continues to move ever so slowly across Florida with gusty powerful winds and heavy rain. Now, even though it's weakened, the giant storm is still downing trees, flooding homes, and businesses, as well as tearing the roofs off homes.

Florida's governor says the storm surge hit 12 feet in some places, though forecasters say the surge levels have likely peaked in western Florida. Now more than two million homes at this hour and businesses in fact

are without power, and the governors of Georgia, North and South Carolina and Virginia have all declared states of emergency well ahead of Ian's arrival.

Now we are keeping of course, a close eye on Ian's track. We want to check in with our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri again. And Pedram, in terms of this storm, look, and day break was just a few hours from now when people start to survey the damage, it's clear, right? This is going to be one of the costly storms in U.S. history.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is, yes. You know, when you look at storms that were similar in scale, Paula, to Ian as it made landfall, they left behind 10 to $17 billion in losses and took with dozens of lives. And unfortunately, this, certainly -- certainly rivals that storm, those storms.

And you'll notice it is beginning to push farther towards the east, near Melbourne, near Daytona Beach. I want to show you a live look here across Daytona Beach as the system, closes in on this region because the current observations put wind gusts at about maybe 50 to 55 miles per hour across this region. The gusty winds continue, and of course the storm beginning to really intensify as it moves its way closer and closer to Daytona Beach.

And it is right there on these eastern shores of the state of Florida. An area that really, we haven't touched on up until this point, because all eyes were on the southwest as a major hurricane approach. But now, across this eastern shore. This is the area of concern because we do expect power outages to expand to this area, and we do expect the flooding and storm surge threat also to be observed on this eastern area as well.

But these notable storms, when you look at, kind of the data sets available as far as the most recent notable storms you have Hurricane Michael, Charlie, Irma, and Andrew, all in the category four to category five scale. And while we had Charlie in 2004, that particular storm really eerily similar to what we saw with Ian as it made landfall.

In fact, coming in with what Ian produced winds at about 150 miles per hour, that is precisely where Charlie ended up as well with those wind speeds at landfall, making it top, tie for top four strongest storms on record at landfall.

Now, notice where they crossed land, also very similar spots. And this is a storm that left more than 10 billion in losses when it made landfalls. So that's kind of the data sets we have available to us. And you look at the comparison of the size of when Charlie made landfall to where when Ian made landfall, essentially doubling in satellite imagery's perspective there.

So, the cloud field, the expansion of tropical storm force winds just as impressive. And of course, we know once daybreak comes through here, we're going to really begin to see it and get a scope of what's been happening on the ground in the past 24. Here's the storm surge, perspective from Sanibel Island as the storm

works its way across this region. And you see the water levels essentially rise all the way up to 10, 12 feet across these coastal communities. So, yes, this will go down on the books as one of the strongest storms we've ever seen in the state of Florida.

And, you know, we were just looking at a meteorologist, Rob Shackelford, our weather producer here and behind the scenes, the data sets from the National Hurricane Center going back to the 1840s, Paula, 283 hurricanes that made landfall across the state of Florida.

Ian tied for fourth place out of 283 hurricanes for the strongest. Top four there. So, a pretty incredible site to see the storm coming through.

NEWTON: Yes. And I couldn't help but notice that, you know, the -- there were three major storms in the last five years that you put up there.

JAVAHERI: Yes.

NEWTON: I mean, it's incredible, right? And that's the other thing that I'm sure when you guys pour over the data as you guys are doing there for hours and hours at the CNN weather center that we'll continue to see exactly how extraordinary Ian was. OK, Pedram, we'll continue to check in with you every few minutes.

JAVAHERI: Thank you.

NEWTON: Now we're going to go to CNN's Brian Todd who was near St. Petersburg where flooding and wind damage weren't the only concerns for some homeowners. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Largo, Florida, just north of St. Petersburg, we got a tip that there was a house that suffered significant damage in a fire. We pulled up to this house in the front. We observed that most of the structure it looked actually kind of intact in the front with the -- the exception of a -- of a blown-out window.

But then I walked around to the side and to the back, and this is what we found. This house damaged in a fire Wednesday morning or afternoon. Just devastation throughout the house. You see the pool back there, but just in the foreground here, just look at the extent of this devastation. We can kind of bring you over this way.

Our photojournalist, Wayne Cross and I will take you through the -- these rooms here through this window. Look at that. Just complete devastation from this fire. One of the neighbors who sent us video of the fire while it was burning, very dramatic video, said that the fire started when power line snapped off of a transformer across the street and it was just a devastating fire at the height of this storm,

[03:35:01] We did talk to the owner. This house has been in the family for about 50 years. The owner just inherited it. He came back here to try to renovate the house and then this happens. He says it's fully insured. But again, how much of this is recoverable? You know, that's anyone's guess at this point.

We also traveled around to other areas, around St. Petersburg and here in the town of Largo, we went to a neighborhood of manufactured homes. We saw the roofs ripped off of two houses in that neighborhood. So, just fanning out and getting a sense of the devastation here in the St. Petersburg area. I mean, this is just the beginning of that kind of an assessment.

Brian Todd, CNN, Largo, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Yes. Once again, homeowners will be returning to a lot of damage over the next few hours and days.

OK. Moving on to other news. We're following. We have new information about a possible Russian role in the Baltic Sea pipeline leaks. We're hearing Russian navy ships were in the area around the time when the leaks began. That's ahead.

Plus, the U.S. vice president tour South Korea making a stop at the DMZ. We'll have the latest on those important meetings she's had along the way. That and the latest of course on Hurricane Ian when we return.

[03:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: Three-forty a.m. in Florida at this hour, and it's been nearly 13 hours since Hurricane Ian made landfall on Florida's west coast with devastating impact. Since then, that slow moving storm has weekend from category four to category one, but remains extremely dangerous as it hits Florida's east coast now.

Now in Titusville, the Atlantic Ocean is very choppy, and at this hour it's tossing large boats around like toys. About one fifth of the state meantime is currently without power as down power lines knocked out electricity to more than two million homes in businesses.

And this powerful storm is far from over. It is in fact expected to exit Florida in the coming hours and then make a second land -- landfall along the coast of Georgia and South Carolina that will take about a day or two.

Now, western leaders meantime continue to suspect 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 those pipelines are currently leaking. And the timing would coincide with underwater explosions that happened before the leaks began. And we're also learning from Germany this time that a new fourth leak in the pipeline has also been discovered.

Nada Bashir is following all of this for us from London. Nada, never a dull moment with this story. CNN has, in fact learned that European security officials observed, as we were just saying, these navy ships in the area. What do they say this means? Because of course, it will take a lot more investigation to definitively say anything about what caused the leaks.

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely. And the focus now really is on that investigation process. But as you outline there, we are learning a bit more about what investigators will be focusing on over the coming days and weeks. We are learning, according to two western intelligence officials and one other European source familiar with the matter that Russian and navy support ships were seen in the vicinity of these affected areas of the pipeline on Monday.

And Tuesday, in just a week before that, Russian submarines were also observed. So, this has certainly raised some questions because of course we have heard repeatedly from western officials across the board that this is believed to be an act of sabotage.

That was the message from the NATO secretary generally, Jens Stoltenberg and from the E.U.'s own chief diplomat, Josep Borrell. Although it has to be noted that western officials across the board have been careful not to overtly point the finger of blame on the Russian Federation.

But this has certainly raised some questions once again, and there are real questions now about how this will impact the investigation because of course that is yet to get underway. At this stage, no direct links are being drawn. This will be a key line of inquiry.

And it is important to note that we have heard from Danish officials and authorities who have highlighted that Russian navy activity in the Baltic Sea is quite routine, that this is perhaps not out of the ordinary, but this will certainly be a key focus in this investigation.

Of course, there have been some concerns around how quickly this investigation can get underway. It's understood that an initial inspection hasn't yet taken place, and as you laid out there, a fourth leak has now been discovered.

We do know that Denmark and Sweden, along with other European partners will be taking the charge of that investigation to ascertain really what caused these unexplained leaks. But it has to also be noted that the Russian Federation has also outlined that it will be leading its own preliminary investigation into these unexplained leaks.

For its part, it's pointing the finger out what it has described as international terrorism. But of course, as we've heard from numerous western leaders, from NATO officials, this is looking to be seen as an act of sabotage. And this has raised questions as to the Russian Federation's role and responsibility in this incident. Paula?

NEWTON: Yes. And European officials of course seeing it possibly is an attack on energy security. Nada Bashir for us in London, thanks for that update.

Now, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is visiting the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. Today, she's in the region after traveling to Japan to attend the state funeral of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

[03:45:02]

Now the visit comes one day after Pyongyang fired two ballistic missiles off its coast again, raising tensions on the peninsula. Harris's trip is meant to reinforce the strength of America's relationship with South Korea. Harris met earlier with South Korea's president, as well as a group of female industry leaders.

Meantime, a source tells CNN that a Myanmar military court has sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to three years in prison in prison. Now she's accused of violating the country's official State Secrets Act. One of her former advisors also received the same sentence. This new punishment means Nobel laureate Suu Kyi now faces a total of 23 years in prison mostly related to corruption charges. She denies all accusations against her.

The U.S. House -- House January 6th committee plans to meet this week with Ginni Thomas, a conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The panel has long been interested in speaking with her about her communications on overturning the 2020 election.

Here's more now from the panel's chair.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS), CHAIR, JANUARY 6 COMMITTEE: Our expectation at this point is that we'll talk to Ms. Thomas, and we have no indication to the contrary.

UNKNOWN: And that's on tomorrow or Friday?

THOMPSON It's sometime this week. And again, to my knowledge, it's set and we look forward to whenever that occurs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Now, Ms. Thomas has said she attended the rally before the attack on the U.S. Capitol, but left before protestors turned violent.

Federal emergency workers are on standby this hour. They're ready to go in after this hurricane passes. Next, you'll hear what their priorities will be when res -- search and rescue recovery operations begin in the coming hours.

[03:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: So, picture this, doctors and nurses scrambling to save patients as hurricane force winds ripped through a hospital in Florida, and that's what played out in Port Charlotte yesterday. A doctor described the ordeal to CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BIRGIT BODINE, INTERNAL MEDICINE SPECIALIST: Here unfortunately today we had about 160 patients in house and our roof blew off part of the roof on the ICU.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: My God.

BODINE: Above the ICU. So, it, of course we had torrential rains coming in which then went down the stairwell, which then went onto other floors. And luckily, we have a super, super good staff and everybody pitched in and tried to -- trying to get the patients 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, even though the ICU wasn't -- was not usable really anymore it doesn't all of a sudden make this patient not an ICU patient, but you can still take that patient on the ventilator, on the drips, move them to a different room that has to --

COOPER: Right.

BODINE: -- we've done, of course, in a hurry, and then kind of stabilize them there and let them continue the --

COOPER: My gosh.

BODINE: -- treatment there. So that, of course, that's always our most important thing as medical people to make sure that everybody stays safe and at the same time --

COOPER: Right.

BODINE: -- you're walking through puddles and trying to just puddle the logistics of where do we put them? Which room is available, which room can we plug the oxygen?

COOPER: But I got to tell you, we are just now putting up some video we got. It looks like, I don't know if it's a patient or a hospital personnel or a doctor. Move -- it looks like a doctor slowly walking through a hallway that is just flooded with water.

BODINE: Right. Right. And that was unfortunately on the first floor. Now we were kind of expecting from our CMO, we were expecting that that would flood, which is why of course down there we didn't have any patients. We had already moved the emergency room up one floor into the recovery room.

COOPER: Wow.

BODINE: But then we weren't expecting that it would flood on the fourth floor.

COOPER: Right.

BODINE: And that of course, made it difficult because now we had water on the first floor, but we also had water coming down from the fourth floor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Extraordinary composure there from that doctor. Right? Exactly what you want from them. Now, as Florida takes a pounding from Ian, the White House is preparing to step in and help.

Later today, President Joe Biden will head to the headquarters of FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a briefing on the hurricane's impact. Earlier, Mr. Biden spoke with the mayor of Fort Myers, which is near the area where the storm made landfall to pledge his support.

Phil Mattingly has our look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, White House officials are keenly aware the scale of the disaster that they were confronting in Florida required a significant amount of federal government support. It's something they've dealt with over the course of President Biden's 19 months in office, and this situation would be no different, no matter how catastrophic it appeared it was going to be.

The president signing an emergency disaster declaration on Saturday, unlocking tens of thousands of gallons of fuel, of propane, of water, pre-staging millions of meals throughout Florida and even in Alabama waiting for what was coming. The president in the morning before the storm even arrived on the shores saying this.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: My message has been absolutely clear is that, we are on the alert and in action. We've approved every request Florida has made for temporary assistance, emergency assistance, long term assistance that I've received.

[03:54:56]

MATTINGLY: Not just resources, it's also personnel. One of the top FEMA officials already embedded with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis team, the president has been on the phone with the governor, with mayors, throughout the state that were targeted by this hurricane that looked like they were going to get hit by the hurricane that did eventually get hit by the hurricane.

More than 1,300 federal emergency personnel were already on the ground. Hundreds more could arrive. There are certain rescue teams waiting. The long way of saying this to some degree is the federal government is probably the best position to handle storms and crises of this scale. The Biden administration, at least in the lead up to the hurricane, knowing full well what was developing, did their best to try and get in front of that.

How they respond in the next couple of days though will be critical. Something White House officials are very clear. They understand and know quite well.

Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: All right. I want to thank you for watching CNN Newsroom. Don't go anywhere. We will have an update on Hurricane Ian when we return with our continuing coverage of that storm now reduced to a category one. Don't go anywhere.

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