Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Ian Takes Aim at South Carolina; Gov. Ron DeSantis Press Briefing; Rescue Workers Search for Survivors. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired September 30, 2022 - 09:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:00:38]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: A good and busy Friday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Poppy Harlow.

The breaking news that we are following all day today, Hurricane Ian regained strength, now once again a hurricane, barreling towards South Carolina as a category one storm with 85 mile an hour winds, expected to make its third landfall just a few hours from now. The governor of South Carolina, after seeing the catastrophic damage in Florida, imploring residents in his state not to underestimate this storm. Warning, quote, we know what is coming.

Officials in Florida say that Ian is likely the largest natural disaster in the history of that state, prompting the largest emergency response ever in Florida.

SCIUTTO: And the toll is coming in. At least 19 people killed so far. That number, sadly, likely to rise. More than 2 million people in the state -- it's a huge number -- remain without power.

In Fort Myers Beach, the damage described by officials there is total devastation. Look at those pictures. Goodness, it's like a tornado just swept through there. Ninety percent of that island destroyed. Most of the homes there, completely flattened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It just is destroyed and it's ruined and then you have to start all over again. And, honestly, where do you start? How do you start in this?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Have to start all over again.

The Coast Guard, they've been doing their best, working around the clock, trying to reach people in the hardest hit areas. You see a rescue there.

Sanibel Island, one of those hardest hit areas. The causeway ripped apart by Ian. That cuts the island off from the mainland.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many of there are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me and my wife.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we have three cats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Do you have a crate for them or a bag or something?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Harry (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Tyler (ph). I'm going to get you out of here, all right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you guys can make it out the window, you can come this way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll do that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever's easier for you all. But make sure you have a bag with a dry pair of clothes, with ID, cell phones, wallets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: All you can take with you, and your pet maybe.

We are covering all the angles of the dangerous storm. CNN's Miguel Marquez is where we start. He is on the ground in Charleston.

Miguel, high tide there only hours away. Of course, we saw what the storm surge did in Florida. What are you seeing there and what are officials worried about?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's exactly that. It's that high tide with that storm surge at the same time. And it just depends on where that storm makes landfall and where the tide happens to be at the moment.

I want to show you what's happening here now. We're in a bit of a lull, have been in a lull for about 45 minutes now. But just looking at maps, it looks like in the next half hour to hour or so we're really going to get slammed. And it's going to be full on for the next few hours.

And if - Ronny (ph), if you could just stay still, you can see the speed at which the clouds are going by. This is the bay here in Charleston. This is an area that often floods in Charleston. So they expect it will. A seven feet tide is where it normally floods here. They're expecting a 9 foot tide plus a storm surge, plus water coming down in the form of rain. So, all of that added together they are concerned about.

There have always been some street closures. They're at the highest level of awareness. And now they are just ready to see what (INAUDIBLE) --

HARLOW: Tallahassee, Florida.

Miguel, hold on for one second, I apologize. But let's get straight to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with an update from Tallahassee this morning.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Thank you very much and thank you for being here.

You had people immediately descend on to the scene, particularly in southwest Florida. There's life rescue, making sure people are - are OK, following up on any type of calls. And there's been really a herculean effort.

There's also the assessment, OK, of what's been damaged that's going to impact the entire community. And, of course, the power is a big issue. There are people that are working. I think, Lee and Charlotte have about 15 percent restored. There's going to be able to be some more restored likely in the relatively near future. There is going to be some that's going to require some rebuilds. And so the utilities, FP&L was down there, it was down there first thing. They understand that and they're prepared to do it.

The other issue with Lee County that they've asked support from is they had a water main break for their county water utility.

[09:05:02]

That means that the county does not have water at this point. And you need that to be able to function in society. They've requested support from FEMA and then we - FEMA was able to provide the Army Corps of Engineers. And they were on the ground after Kevin called them, I think, at like 3:00 in the morning yesterday, they were on the ground from Jacksonville all the way down to southwest Florida in the afternoon. They've been working to assessing that situation.

We also have Florida National Guard personnel standing by to help the Army Corps if they need it. But, at the end of the day, you know, that is something that will be very, very critical to be able to get that back and it may require more of a rebuild, maybe it will require some more short-term remediation. They're going through that. But that's clearly a top priority. And we're thankful that FEMA and the Army Corps are there helping out.

We have -- obviously there was a lot of folks in affected areas that evacuated. Some did shelter in place. As of last night, we've contacted over 20,000 Floridians that filled out a shelter in place survey on floridadisaster.org. Over 10,000 have responded and all 10,000 said they were safe. And the state sent the first alert late last night and are expecting more responses this morning.

Cellphone connectivity is sparse in some areas and sometimes easier -- it's easier to get out a text message. So, the process has been streamlined. There's now a stand-alone site to report your location. So, if you're having issues contacting your family via phone, and if you're sheltering and want them to know you're safe, there's a website, missing.fl.gov, missing.fl.gov. These forms are triaged by staff here in Tallahassee and dispatched to responders that are on the ground.

In addition to the rescues yesterday, rescue personnel have gone to more than 3,000 homes in the hardest hit areas, going door to door to check on the occupants of those residences. There are over 1,000 dedicated rescue personnel who are going up and down the coastline. They also are going to be doing more and more inland in some of our counties, inland portions of Charlotte and Lee, but also DeSoto and Hardee Counties. I think Hardee County is the most without power right now. I think they're 99 percent without or they're pretty --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

DESANTIS: Yes. So -- so, you see the - the - the really troubling images of just a washed out home on the Fort Myers Beach, and that really is ground zero and, obviously, very important. But this was such a big storm that there are affects far inland and these rescue personnel are sensitive to that and they are going to be helping.

We've opened two major points of distribution for food and water this morning. First, Charlotte Sports Park, the spring training facility for the Tampa Bay Rays in Charlotte County, and then the Lee County Sports Complex, the spring training facility for the Minnesota Twins. These are pods that are much bigger than normal pods.

There have been over 1.6 million gallons of fuel into southwest Florida that have been moved in to support the response. I think what we're finding with the fuel is the fuel supply is flowing, it's just a matter of the gas stations need to have power to be able to operate. And if they have a certain number of pumps, they're required to have a generator.

I was in Lee County yesterday. I actually saw, you know, some of the larger gas stations were operating. So that's a good sign.

As of 6:00 a.m., there are about 1.9 million people or customers without power. Right now the hardest hit areas are Hardee, 99 percent without power as of this morning, Charlotte and Lee both have 85 percent without, and DeSoto is at 80 percent without. Sarasota, Collier, Manatee, close to half of the customers there are without power. Hillsborough and Pinellas, 15 to 18 percent are without power. And these crews have been on the ground since it was safe to do so. And they are working 24/7 to be able to restore power all throughout the state of Florida. And that's over 42,000 linemen and associated personnel that are on the ground.

FDOT has had over 1,300 people on the ground. They've cleared more than 1,100 miles of roadway. I was happy to see the traffic flowing in southwest Florida. Obviously, there's some structural problems in some of the bridges leading out to Sanibel and Pine Island. But, by and large, there were toss and clear operations, the traffic is flowing in southwest Florida, probably better than would have been anticipated so soon after such a major hurricane. So, we appreciate that.

[09:10:00]

They've also inspected and reopened 800 bridges across the state. And this includes 67 high priority bridges inspected and reopened in Lee, Charlotte, Sarasota and Manatee Counties. Pine Island, Sanibel, those are going to be rebuild efforts. The Sanibel bridge had breaks in multiple parts of it. It was not where the water and the pylons were. Those hold up very well. It was where you had it on some of the sand bar, and that basically just got washed out from underneath.

In the meantime, I think Kevin can talk about this, you know, he's going to be -- they're going to be running barges to be able to bring more heavy equipment on to the island to be able to help with the response. The first responders that have been there by and large coming in via air, you know, they do have some equipment, but they're traveling lighter just to be able to go and get to people quick -- as quickly as possible.

There have been six health care facilities evacuated in southwest Florida. They were not -- they were having problems with water or problems with power for an extended period of time. We're also prioritizing getting power and running potable water to the rest of the area's health care facilities. There have been 117 facilities that had lost power that now have power restored.

The ports, Tampa Bay, Miami, Everglades, they are reopened for fueling. And I think between today and tomorrow all the ports in the state of Florida up and down the -- both coasts will be operational.

Food and water, massive amounts. And we're -- Kevin is sensitive to the water situation in Lee. So I'd say this is an extraordinary amount of water that has been staged and is continuing to be brought into the area.

So FEMA has activated their individual assistance program. So if you're in need of help of recovering in those affected counties, you can go to disasterassistance.gov or call 1-800-621-3362, 1-800-621- 3362. Thirty-four thousand people have already registered with FEMA. Make sure, if you are looking at claims on your property, you document that, take photos, make sure you have it. We want you to be able to be made whole as quickly as possible.

There will be, in conjunction with FEMA, the state of Florida and the local communities, what are called disaster recovery centers. You know, those will be set up very soon. And that will be a place if you need help with things like individual assistance you can go, although, you know, Gracia (ph) will point out, you don't need to go there, you can do all this online. There's also going to be insurance villages set up under the leadership of CFO Jimmy Petronus (ph). You're going to have a lot of flood insurance claims as a result of this. You know, you will have some wind claims as a result of this. And it's our view that, you know, these claims need to be paid very quickly so that people can get back on their feet.

I want to thank the first lady for spear heading our efforts for volunteer Florida and activate the Florida Disaster Fund where people can donate. If you want to contribute, you will be joining a lot of people who have done a lot of money and we now have over $12 million with, you know, 24 to 36 hours after the storm hits. Pretty incredible that that's happened. If you want to do, go to floridadisasterfund.org, floridadisasterfund.org. More than 12 million has come in and there's a lot of interest to do a lot more.

Why is that important? You know, FEMA has certain things they can do via statute regulation. But if it falls outside of that, they just can't do it. That's not the way it works. And so when you enlist private organizations, they can be a little bit more nimble, they can tailor their response to maybe some of the more unique needs that citizens may have. And, obviously, you have people that have been dislocated, you have people that no longer have homes and so there's going to be a wide variety of things that they're going to need in the coming days, weeks and months.

Volunteer Florida. If you want to volunteer your time, visit www.volunteerflorida.org to find volunteer opportunities. I think this is one way where you can really make an impact and I know people really appreciate all the outpouring of support.

I want to commend the folks that we were able to meet with down in southwest Florida. You know, this has been a major event, of course, and these people have been working around the clock to be able to serve their constituents and serve their communities. And we appreciate the dedication, we appreciate the perseverance. We know that there is a lot of difficult days ahead. But they've really done a great job standing up for the people of their community.

I'm going to let Kevin give a brief on the state response and then we'll have the FEMA administrator come up and provide some perspective from FEMA.

KEVIN GUTHRIE, DIRECTOR, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Thank you, Governor.

[09:15:01]

So, obviously, thank you to the governor. But I want to thank the agencies represented here to my left, especially Gracia (ph) FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, Captain Rooney (ph), and Admiral Brenden McPherson from the United States Coast Guard, others that are not here that are certainly on that floor behind me. Lieutenant Colonel Miller from the U.S. Army Corps district out of Jacksonville, Colonel Booth (ph) out of Jacksonville, and many, many other federal partners that have certainly helped us here.

Colonel - or, I'm sorry, Captain, if you can just grab that easel and just put it right back up here for just a second, I'd appreciate it.

I wanted to thank them before I covered them up with a sign here in just a second. So, all right, so let's talk about -- we're right in that 72-hour area

of search, secure, stabilize that I talked about yesterday. So, everything that I want to talk about right now is about that search, secure and stabilize.

So, we continue to have our fire rescue partners, search and rescue, going in there and conducting the -- what we call the hasty search and then are coming back and doing their primary search and then they'll do a secondary search. So, again, I think it's very important for everybody to know that as a part of the search and rescue element over a 72-hour period there's actually three searches that are conducted.

That hasty search is just very quick, see if they see any survivors that are alive or in a traumatic situation and they start to move those individuals to safety. That's been conducted. Now we're back in that primary search area, which is now we're doing a little more detailed search and then we'll do a second search behind that.

Stay safe. I want people to be -- make sure that they are safe. This comes down to personal preparedness, or, I shouldn't say, personal preparedness but the person individual response. Generator safety. We have been talking about it and talking about it and talking about it. But we still get reports of people operating their generators inside of a garage, operating their generators just outside of a cracked window with a cord running through the window, and we're having continuing issues with carbon monoxide. All right, I'm not saying we've had carbon monoxide deaths, I'm just saying that we are still having carbon monoxide issues. Please operate your generators in a safe mode. That also includes not having electrical cords actually run through puddles of water. Let's make sure that we've got them elevated and not running through puddles of water.

Next, as I mentioned last night --

HARLOW: We are continuing to monitor this press conference from emergency officials and Governor Ron DeSantis in Tallahassee, Florida.

But a few big headlines, Jim, from the governor saying you still have 20,000 plus Floridians in shelters, 1.9 million homes and businesses across the state of Florida without power.

He also said something I think is important for anyone who may have a loved one missing or they just can't reach. They should go to this website missing.fl.gov. Again, that's missing.fl.gov. And they can get some assistance there to try to track them down.

SCIUTTO: Notable, too, from the governor. He said that there are a lot of affects inland, right?

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: We've seen the pictures from the coastline. But inland was battered both by winds and by rising waters. And he did ask insurers to pay insurance claims quickly. As you and I were discussing before the show, Poppy, that's been an issue in the past for Florida. A lot of folks have trouble getting insurance or getting that insurance paid in a timely manner. So, something we'll follow closely.

HARLOW: We will.

So, up next, we will speak with the emergency management director in Charleston County as Ian is set to make landfall near there in South Carolina in just a few hours.

Also, CNN is on the ground this morning in Inglewood, Florida. Take a look at these images. This is one of the hardest hit communities in the state. The National Guard has arrived to search homes. We have a live look at the damage just ahead.

SCIUTTO: Later, I'll speak to Florida Power and Light about where things stand on getting power back to those 2 million people in Florida still without it. And you can see there why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:23:13]

SCIUTTO: Sanibel, Florida, residents cut off from the mainland during Hurricane Ian are getting some desperately needed help. This from the Coast Guard. Crews taking to the air, rescuing not only people who are stranded, at times their pets as well.

HARLOW: The commander of the Coast Guard's seventh district tells CNN that in total 95 people were rescued by their teams yesterday and responders are back on the job today.

Our senior climate correspondent Bill Weir is in Punta Gorda.

And, Bill, you spent time with another group of rescuers, volunteers who call themselves the Cajun Navy, right, they got that name because of their response at Katrina. And what you saw and did with them is just stunning.

BILL WEIR, CNN SENIOR CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Poppy, one of the best tips I ever got for covering stories like this comes from Mister Rogers, who taught my kids that when you see these horrible, scary images in these events, look for the helpers. The Cajun Navy has been part of that descriptor. They have been amazing helpers. There's other groups now that have started since then. Yesterday, they joined forces and I went along for the ride.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WEIR (voice over): After Ian's violent visit, this is what's left of the causeway bridge from mainland Florida to Sanibel Island. And this is the now unpassable bridge to Pine Island. So, for residents of both, boats and helicopters are the only exit options. And while Coast Guard Blackhawks and chinooks buzzed over the barrier islands on the grim day after, two of the only boats in this part of the Gulf carry civilian volunteers from the Cajun Navy, those good old boys with bass boats and big hearts.

[09:25:02] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give us the name of an individual or tell us somebody to go pick up, we'll try to go get them.

WEIR: And a newer outfit known as Project Dynamo, led by a former military intelligence officer, more accustomed to saving Americans from Russians in Ukraine or the Taliban in Afghanistan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But when Americans are in trouble, in bad spots, usually we do war zones and conflict zones, but Hurricane Ian qualifies.

WEIR (on camera): And you're named after Churchill's operation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct.

WEIR: To get the British soldiers off the beach at Dunkirk (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Troops off of Dunkirk.

WEIR: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now here we are, we're going to rescue some people off of Sanibel, which is cut off from the world right now.

WEIR: Yes. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. So, it's very apropos.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trying to help people out if they need help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you need help?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you need help?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want to get out of here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm in the bedroom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give us a minute, we'll come up. We'll come - we'll come there.

WEIR (voice over): We follow the cry for help ashore on Sanibel to find a gentleman eager to accept a boat lift, but unable to convince his better half.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You tell her, we're going.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To where?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fort Myers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fort Myers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bridge is out. The bridge is knocked out. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not -- I'm not ready to go.

WEIR: A cursory stroll around this part of Sanibel reveals plenty of hazards, like the hiss of natural gas spewing from a broken tank.

But in one of the most coveted zip codes in Florida, the construction mostly held up, which is in stark contrast to Pine Island.

WEIR (on camera): Look at this one, absolutely flattened.

WEIR (voice over): Especially the mobile homes of the working class and retirees living in St. James City.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, ma'am, are you OK? Because your daughter called us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can imagine.

WEIR: When their phone cut out early in the storm, the grandchildren of Nancy and Robert Sharon (ph) were so scared they called the Cajun Navy and Project Dynamo and begged them to go check for proof of life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard that they weren't going to do anything after the bridge closed down, but my granddaughters are in Ohio, and she was crying historical when I talked to her on the phone. She was like, we were thinking that you had gotten hurt. And I said, no, there's no service. There's no service to, you know.

WEIR (on camera): Yes, that's the thing, the uncertainty brings so much fear and stress, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I knew it. And that's -- that made me more worried than what was going on at the time because I knew my family was worried.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's terrible what we're going through. There's a terrible set of circumstances. The destruction is unbelievable. The suffering is going to be bad. Hundreds of people are dead right now, we just haven't found them yet. So the, you know, this is true carnage. It's a war zone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, two, three.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, gentlemen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But, at the same time, I'm really happy that we could be here to help.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEIR: What was also inspiring is that Brian and those guys had so much empathy for the woman who did not want to leave. She wasn't ready. She might still be in a shock, doesn't realize how untenable the situation is on Sanibel for more than a few days. So, give her space, maybe check on her the next day. It speaks to the human element of this story, the psychology of it all. And also in these divided times, it's so refreshing that, you know, they have the ethos of sort of a fire department, he says. You know, you call 911, your house is on fire, they don't ask you who you voted for or how the fire started, they just come and get you. And so, so many folks who either couldn't evacuate or chose not to, right now is not the time to scold them. They're dealing with it as best they can as well.

But, Jim, Poppy, I'm telling you, these moments bring out the best of human nature sometimes. It's so great to see.

Of course, the worst we have to be wary of in coming days, but these guys, if you're interested, projectdynamo.org or cajunrescue.org. Even a few bucks will help them gas up those boats.

SCIUTTO: Yes, Cajun Rescue is one of the constants of all these storms going way back to Katrina. So, it's nice to see them out there again and you with them, Bill. Thanks so much.

HARLOW: Thanks, Bill.

WEIR: You bet.

SCIUTTO: Well, right now we are watching the radar as Hurricane Ian -- it's a hurricane again, heads for the Carolina coast. It is set to make landfall near Charleston as a category one storm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)