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Hurricane Ian Weakens to Cat 1 But Remains Dangerous; More Than 2 Million Customers Without Power in Florida; Punta Gorda Takes Direct Hit From Hurricane Ian; Flooding Hampers Hurricane Search and Rescue Efforts; How Ian Compares to Other Monster Storms. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired September 29, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: All right, I want to welcome our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Paula Newton live from CNN headquarters in Atlanta. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): There's going to be damages throughout the whole state and people in other parts of the state, be prepared for some impacts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm concerned for people who either chose to ride this storm out or didn't know any better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did you leave your homes? This is the reason why, because these conditions are grueling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have multiple residents including elderly residents trapped.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We still have water on the streets. We have down power lines and it's a dangerous situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Thursday September 29th, 4 a.m. on the U.S. East Coast where much of Florida is still being hammered by heavy rains, hurricane- force winds and devastating flooding. Now Hurricane Ian has now been downgraded to category one storm and is now moving northeast. Now it's knocked out power to about 20 percent of the state, that's more than 2 million homes and businesses.

These terrifying images are from Fort Myers Beach which has injured some of the worst flooding in the state, water levels there remain high this hour although the National Hurricane Center says the record storm surge along Florida's west coast has likely peaked and thankfully it will start to recede in the coming hours.

Now this time lapse videos from Sanibel, Florida shows just how quickly the water moved in. Incredible, isn't it. A traffic camera captured all the flooding in just 30 minutes. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON DESANTIS (R) FLORIDA GOVERNOR: I would say overwhelmingly it's been that surge that has been the biggest issue in the flooding that has resulted -- as a result from that. We know that this has been a big storm and it's done a lot of damage as it is. And it's going to continue to move through the state of Florida. You're going to see hurricane-force winds in places in central Florida perhaps. But the fact is there's going to be damage throughout the whole state and people in other parts of the state, be prepared for some impacts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: So, we will have an update from the governor -- the Florida governor in just about five hours from now. The storm meantime though is expected to move across northern Florida into Georgia and then the Carolinas. CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri still tracking hurricane Ian's path. It's not done with a Florida and it's not done with the United States unfortunately. OK, try and give us an update on what the conditions are now on the ground. Because it's 4 a.m. -- I know from having spoken to city officials, especially in the southwest, they want to get to some of those rescues at daybreak.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, here on the western side of the storm where it initially made landfall, Paula, where we're finally seeing conditions quite down. Now the storm surge is still pretty significant. I kind of want to show you what we're looking at. Because right there across the southwest, Bonita Springs, Englewood, Sarasota three to five, five to eight foot storm surge still in place. Of course, this was close to 12 feet in some of these areas. The water is gradually receding, so you got to keep that in mind when you're going out as far as search and recovery efforts.

But the system itself, the strongest winds near the eyewall still pushing well to the east, just east of Orlando right now. A we think it'll reemerging over the Atlantic Ocean here in the coming hours. But 13 plus hours overland still mandating category one intensity, 75 miles per hour.

Interesting to see what happens next hour when the hurricane center gives us an update here. I wouldn't be surprised if this comes right down to a strong tropical storm. But of course, at that point it reemerges over warm waters and we could see this try to strengthen in the coming hours. But of course, it is far from over when it comes to the impacts there on the eastern seaboard of Florida and then into parts of the Carolinas and Georgia as well.

The system it made landfall at 150 miles per hour out of 280 hurricanes on record across the state of Florida, this comes in top four strongest for wind speed across the state. Incredible to think of the number of storms we've seen over the years and this comes in in the top four scale. Now the storm surge threat was pretty significant as well. How about doubling the record, the previous record in Fort Myers with a storm surge over seven feet that was observed there.

[04:05:00] And just to show you how intense the system has been, all these missing data sets are wind gusts that are happening and reported in these observation sites because we've lost data at these points from the intensity of the storm. And you kind of follow exactly where the system is going. Because in line where the storm is headed is where we're losing data from these particular locations.

2 1/2 million, almost 2 1/2 million customers in the dark across the state of Florida. Concern is of course the system moves over water, possibly tries to restrengthen a little bit. We think it'll run out of time, should make it up to hurricane but wouldn't be shocking if it gets very close to it.

But somewhere around Savannah and Charleston, early Friday morning, possibility of its third and final landfall across that region. And then of course, you notice just the expansive wind field here of tropical storm force winds in yellow. This is where we think the next round of power outages could be possible going into Friday morning, possibly into this weekend as well with what is left of Ian at that point moving across this region. So yes, the story is not quite done with yet, and again, incredible to think how long this system has been overland since 3:05 p.m. yesterday. And it's 4:05 a.m. now on Thursday morning, and we're still tracking a hurricane.

NEWTON: Yes, it's not done yet. And you are, those who warned us it would be slow. Pedram, thanks so much we'll continue to get those updates throughout the hour here.

Now, despite mandatory evacuation orders from Florida's governor, not everybody chose to leave. Many at this hour, still riding out that storm at home. And that includes Kathryn Jeffrey -- Kathryn Giuffrida who is with us now on the line from Lake Alfred, Florida. Thanks for joining us. I am sure it has been a long night. You're inland, right, you're not in coastal Florida. And yet, what has it been like?

KATHRYN GIUFFRIDA, LAKE ALFRED, FLORIDA RESIDENT (via phone): Well, you know, for the last --gosh, I would say for the last 12 hours you know it's just been incredibly windy, rainy. Now when we woke up earlier yesterday, we weren't really expecting too much, you know. Being Floridians, we are kind of used to this weather. But then throughout the day the wind just gradually picked up and then, you know, it's just been kind of on and off again. Lost the power over the night, so you know, we've just been taking turns staying up and keeping a monitor on the weather.

NEWTON: Yes, and that's the whole, right, it must be hard to sleep you're worried about what's going to happen. The winds must still be howling. I mean to be clear, were you under an evacuation order or did you decide just to stay?

GIUFFRIDA: We just decided it was better to stay and hunker down together.

NEWTON: And what has happened in terms of -- what have you learned about what has been going on in your community? Have you been able to see anything before it got dark? GIUFFRIDA: You know, it's a safe place -- you know, we had I think

most people decided to stay, but there certainly were a few residents that decided, you know, to move up a couple of states. You know everybody just seems in our neighborhood at least to just have hunker down and getting -- you know, stay on the outside of their houses and close up windows. Then we've just been calling our neighbors every couple of hours just to monitor on how they're doing.

NEWTON: We've heard this from so many Floridians are used to storms and you're a hearty bunch. And yet, what's been different about this storm?

GIUFFRIDA: Honestly, just the winds have been a lot more than prior ones and quite windy.

NEWTON: And they've been sustained, right, they just keep going and going.

GIUFFRIDA: Yes, they have.

NEWTON: And what concerns you now? I mean, are you concerned about damage to your home? Do you feel that there is a lot of water, that you're surrounded by water at this point? Give me a sense of what you're seeing.

GIUFFRIDA: Sure, the water damage were not as concerned as last time. However, with the winds we are certainly are concerned with treason power lines. We've had a couple of trees come down in our neighborhood so far.

NEWTON: Have you seen flying debris? Sometimes in these storms the scariest thing is when, you know, when you see that debris coming for your property.

GIUFFRIDA: Yes, absolutely.

NEWTON: So, you have seen some of that?

GIUFFRIDA: Yes.

NEWTON: OK, scary night, right, Kathryn? Hang in there. It's 4 a.m. day break will come soon and I know that many of those fire rescue workers, first responders believe that they will go out soon as those winds diminish. Kathryn Giuffrida for us. Thanks so much.

GIUFFRIDA: Thank you.

NEWTON: Now the center of hurricane Ian has already passed over Fort Myers but it's left behind -- as we were talking about -- a trail of discretion. Rescue crews with the Fort Myers fire department are already out surveying the damage and they're asking people to stay home and follow the curfew that's currently in place.

Now earlier water rushed into the streets sending them into rivers, the strong winds push the strong surge on shore flooding the area. But the Fort Myers fire chief had some words of comfort. Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF TRACY MCMILLION, FORT MYERS FIRE DEPARTMENT: We want to make sure that you do not venture out. It's not safe to go out, but we will come to them as soon as possible.

[04:10:00]

But be encouraged, if they're still here, if they're able to, you know, be able to think for a little bit and thank their lucky stars that they are still here, their families still here. Just wait for us, we are coming for you. Be encouraged, do not go out.

NEWTON: Yes, it's got to be a relieved to hear that. Many people in Fort Myers are trapped in their homes, after those floodwaters rushed in. CNN spoke to some of them. Take a listen to their terrifying experience. Which is likely still ongoing at this hour.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THOMAS PODGORNY, TRAPPED IN HOUSE IN FORT MYERS (via phone): The Caloosahatchee River has flowed through the bottom floor of this house and we're safe on the second floor.

My concern is here on East North Shore Avenue in North Fort Myers, we have multiple residents, including elderly residents trapped in one- story houses that probably had 10-foot ceilings in seven foot floodwaters.

DON COLLINS, TRAPPED IN FORT MYERS HOME (via phone): We've been here 23 years now, and you know the only one we weren't really here for, we were up in Disney, but you know, we were worried about -- we couldn't get back. Everything was closed down coming south, but this is the first time we've decided that we're really going to ride it out. The first one we went through, we went over some neighbor's houses and you know, all got together. But this is totally different from anything I've ever seen before.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Because Charley in 2004, I mean, I was down in Tampa Bay at that point. The storm didn't hit Tampa Bay, which would -- it was expected to, but it's taken a similar track this one, although obviously this one is much bigger than Charley was. Is there anywhere else you would go right now? Or are you just planning to, you know, you're there and going to stay through.

BELINDA COLLINS, TRAPPED IN HOME IN FORT MYERS (via phone): Well, they told us not to leave.

D. COLLINS: I mean, at this point, the streets are flooded. We've called the 9-1-1 number, they're going to call us back when, you know, when we can get out of here. I mean, at this point, I don't know whether we're going to have to go to, you know, a center. We can get a hotel or something, probably a hotel is going to be out of the question. From that point on, I'm not really sure what we are going to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: And we certainly hope help gets to them soon and it should in the coming hours. Meantime in Punta Gorda, Florida it was directly in the path of the hurricane Ian as it made landfall as a strong category four. Now, the pull of the storm was so powerful that it drew all the water out of a local river exposing the bottom. Authorities fear the water would come rushing back with the massive surge, but thankfully, that did not have been. CNN's Randi Kaye was in Punta Gorda at the height of the hurricane. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's still pretty bad out here. This has been going on now for hours. We had little break. We had the beginning of this storm and then we had a little break while we were in the eye and then had that clearing. As I mentioned, the birds had come out. But now we have been in it for hours in more than 124 mile an hour

winds here. In the main thing really to point out for you is just the darkness here in addition to the storm. \So, we do not know what's really coming at us. But we did light up a little bit across the way for you. But of course, the power is out here in downtown Punta Gorda where we are, and the winds are quite strong. So, we're sort of keeping one eye on some flying debris that will be coming our way while also trying to show you what's going on here. But we're just on the edge of this parking garage where we have some

safety where we're can run to just in case. But if you take a look, you could see the rain probably in some of that light as it's coming down still very, very heavy. The streets are not flooding, that is the good news, that we're expecting a pretty massive storm surge here. Anything up to about 18 feet because we're pretty close to Charlotte Harbor. And that is where the storm would've pushed the ocean water into the harbor and it would've overflowed into downtown Punta Gorda. But so far that hasn't happen. Although they haven't ruled it out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Our Randi Kaye there now.

Meanwhile authorities have been fielding rescue calls from right across the state and emergency call centers are inundated. In Collier County the sheriff says water is everywhere. And crews have completed dozens of rescue missions so far. Many more though are expected. But crews could only do so much during the height of the storm. In Naples, in fact, people were spotted walking through streets that now look like lakes. Take a look at that. And they were carrying anything that they can.

Now in other parts of the city rescues used jet skis to reach people in need. I bet they'll continue to do that today. Here we see crews that were able to smash open thankfully a backseat window and save a driver whose car was caught up in the floodwaters.

Now the Naples fire rescue department wrote on Facebook. Please let this be a lesson to stay off the roads when flooding is possible.

And sometimes even the rescuers get held up. This believe it or not is a fire station where as you can see there these fire trucks won't be going anywhere until the waters recede.

[04:15:00]

The Naples mayor issued this warning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERESA HEITMANN, MAYOR OF NAPLES, FLORIDA: We still water on the streets. We have down powerlines and it's a dangerous situation. We've already had several citizens that 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)

NEWTON: All right coming up for us, hurricane Ian leaving a trail of damage in its wake but it's not just high water in the wind destroying homes will have the details next.

And Florida has been rocked by powerful storms in the past. Pedram Javaheri will explain to you just how Ian compares to those others. We'll be back after --

JAVAHERI: Yes, you know, it's an incredible perspective when you look at the storm systems the intensity of Ian how it compares to hundreds of storms on records across the state of Florida. We'll break that down momentarily. And also, the latest track on where the system is forecast to end up. And is there a possibility that this strengthens upon the landfall again. We'll break this down in a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:20:00]

NEWTON: Incredible, that's the sound of car alarms blaring in Fort Myers Beach, Florida as flood waters swallow the area. This video was shot by Chip Lawrence who lives on the second floor of his condo building. Now his son Luke has since lost contact with him. Last hearing, he was in a stairwell on the third floor waiting out the storm. And we certainly hope that he will get through to rescue workers soon.

Now more incredible video, of course, out of Bonita Springs where the floods looks like a choppy ocean sweeping over cars in the area. CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir is covering the storm in Florida. And he says hurricane Ian is one of the worst storms he's ever encountered.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: In the middle of the worst hurricane, one of the worst I've ever seen. I was in Katrina , I was in Michael and Maria in Puerto Rico and then this is a different level of scary. Considering the storm surge, they're wanting us about. Considering we didn't think wind speed would be as important as that storm surge but -- oh, Jesus! Both of them are now -- something just flew in front of the window and scared me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Well, Ian has brought massive storm surges, setting records for the highest water levels ever observed in Fort Myers and Naples. But we really want to take a look at how this hurricane stacks up against others that are devastated Florida. And for that we go back to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri who has doing at the dive on the data. What's it telling us?

JAVAHERI: You know, it's telling us this is among the strongest we've ever seen on record out of 200 plus hurricanes going back to the 1800s in the hurricane center's database. Now you take a look at what has played out here. It's kind of laying out just some of the more recent impressive storms. We had Michael, Irma Charlie and Andrew. All of these being category fours, category fives impacting the state of Florida at that magnitude. And all of them at least ten billion dollars in losses multiple fatalities.

And notice when it comes to Charlie, it's tracked crossing very close to where Ian crossed in the past few hours. And I want to show you kind of the perspective here. Because when you look at those numbers in particular, Ian comes in at 150 miles an hour tied there with Charlie for its intensity as far as location of landfall, very similar track. There is one difference between what happened here with Ian and Charlie. Is that the size of the storm -- even though the intensity of the wind here, the cores are very similar, the track of Ian very similar. The size of the storm, the magnitude of it as far as the wide reaching impacts of it from these tropical storm force winds were significantly larger than what Charlie produced. Charlie behind about $15 billion in losses, about 35 fatalities. Ten of which were across the United States in the state of Florida there.

While Ian of course, the numbers will be tabulated. It'll be very interesting to see how things play out here. Because suddenly this is one for the record books. And you kind of look at the numbers since 1950 the state of Florida has seen seven tropical systems that have been category four or category five at landfall. But three of them have happened in the last five. The other four happening from 1950 to 2017. So, it kind of gives you a sense of how things have played out in recent years.

Here we go with the 75 mile per hour wind speed right now with the storm. 13 plus hours overland still maintaining that intensity. We do expect it to reemerge over the Atlantic Ocean in the coming hours. But really far from over from the eastern side of the perspective. Because still some gusty winds possible back around the west. But generally speaking, the conditions there are beginning to improve. The waters beginning to recede. It's now the coastal areas of Carolinas and coastal Georgia that'll be in line for the next round of strong activity with this \ system. And that'll be from Friday into Saturday. So, a lot to be had before we're done with the storm system that will certainly go down in the books as one of the strongest, we've ever observed.

NEWTON: Yes, it has been stunning really to see as you said just the size of the storm. Even beyond its veracity. Such a large storm. Pedram, thanks so much, appreciate it.

Now flooding and wind damage arch the only concern for some home owners. This house caught fire during the storm. CNN's Brian Todd went to the home near St. Petersburg to take a look at the damage.

(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 exception 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. We see the pool back there but just in the foreground here just look at the extent of the devastation.

We can kind of bring you over this way. Our photo journalist Wayne Cross and I take you through this room here through this window. Look at that, just complete devastation from this fire. One of the neighbors who sent does video of the fire while it was burning -- very dramatic video -- said that the fire started when a power line snapped off of a transformer across the street and it was a devastating fire at the height of the storm.

[04:25:00]

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 happened. 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 travel around to other areas around St. Petersburg. And here in the town of Largo we went to a neighborhood of manufactured homes, saw 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 assessment.

Brian Todd, CNN Largo, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Just ahead for us, we'll go to one city in Florida showing you the raw power of hurricane Ian as wind and rain knock out the power supply for millions of people.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm not a very heavy guy. So, these winds are knocking me around pretty heavily. But this violent, violent wind and it stings when it picks up the water from these sheets of rain that continue to blast through the city streets of downtown Bradenton. We're in the historic district of Bradenton. We've moved into almost a sheltered area just so my team can stay somewhat stable during our live shot. That's not the most important thing here. The idea is to pass along to people why we are doing this. We are showing people what they evacuated from. Why did you leave your homes in Manatee County. In further south towards Fort Myers and Punta Gorda -- this is the reason why. Because these conditions are grueling.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: And welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Newton and we have an update on our top stories this hour. Hurricane Ian now a category one storm. It's hammered much of south and central Florida.

[04:30:00]