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Hurricane Ian Devastates Fort Myers, Search and Rescue Efforts Ongoing; Charleston, South Carolina Braces for Impact from Storm; More than 700 Rescues Carried Out Since Storm Slammed Ashore in Florida; Kabul Blast Hits Students Preparing for Entrance Exams. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired September 30, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:32]

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber joining you live from Atlanta. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SYDNEY VAN HORN, SURVIVED HURRICANE IAN: 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?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is no way I'm walking in that filthy water. There are snakes, there's fire ants, and alligators, and alligators and alligators.

TOM PODGORNY, RESCUED NEIGHBOR DURING HURRICANE: There's a lot of great people on every street like this in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: It is Friday, September 30th. 4:00 a.m. here on the U.S. East Coast where rescue crews are scrambling to reach Florida residents stranded by Hurricane Ian as it moves menacingly towards South Carolina. The National Hurricane Center says the category 1 storm has regained some strength and is expected to make landfall in the coming hours. The U.S. president has approved an emergency declaration for South Carolina and ordered federal assistance.

Now in Florida Ian has killed at least 19 people, and that number is expected to increase. Florida's fire marshal says the hurricane is shaping up to be the largest natural disaster in state history. Some 700 rescues have already been carried out. More than two million homes and businesses are still without power.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL LITTON, EMERGENCY DIRECTOR, OSCEOLA COUNTY: It's been historical, it's been a worst case scenario here for us here in Osceola County. We are projecting, you know, the last several days 10 to 15 inches of rain. We're closely approaching that 14-inch mark today. But we've had areas of Kissimmee, parts of our unincorporated area, flood that we've never seen before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The situation in flood-ravaged parts of the state remain so dicey that some areas have imposed mandatory curfews to help keep people safe. Collier County's curfew will be lifted in less than an hour and so will the curfew in North Port.

All right. Now let's go to hard-hit Fort Myers, Florida. A community devastated by high winds and heavy flooding. CNN's Randi Kaye talks to survivors and here is what they've endured.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Hurricane Ian hit this woman was alone in her home.

GAIL SIMS, SURVIVED HURRICANE IAN: When the surge took out my sliding glass doors, I mean, within 10 seconds the water was up to my armpits. And at that point, you know, I was just struggling to try and get out of the house.

KAYE: Gail Sims is 85 years old. She didn't evacuate her home in the River's Edge Mobile Home Community in North Fort Myers because she thought the hurricane was heading more toward Tampa. But when it didn't --

SIMS: Got clobbered with all the furniture and stuff that was floating and stuff. That's how I got this. I got shoved into the wall and anyway, when I got the front door open and there was a surge, it took me to the middle of the yard. And I fought back to get back on the porch.

KAYE: Gail suffered some bumps and bruises but luckily her neighbor Tom Podgorny was just a few doors down riding out the storm with his family. When he saw Gail's car, he knew she may need his help.

(On-camera): What did you find when you went to Gail's house?

PODGORNY: I couldn't go at first because the river was coming across at 40 miles an hour. I found her on the front porch, kind of in water, in a chair, shaking really bad. Kind of hypothermic. Calmed her down. And then we made a long, slow walk in four feet of water to my house.

KAYE: You're 85, how grateful are you that somebody came and rescued you?

SIMS: Yes. Tom is a blessing.

KAYE: A blessing.

SIMS: A blessing. Yes. KAYE: She told me you're a blessing.

PODGORNY: She's a blessing. I don't know about me. She's a blessing.

KAYE: What made you go over and check on her?

PODGORNY: I love her, I mean, you know, there's a lot of great people on every street like this in America.

KAYE (voice-over): Meanwhile Tom and his family have their own story to tell.

PODGORNY: It was fine until some water started coming in the back from the river. And we were bailing until water start coming in the front. By then we got five, six feet of water in the house.

[04:05:07]

KAYE (on-camera): Was it scary?

MADELINE PODGORNY, SURVIVED HURRICANE IAN: Yes, it was a little scary. It was scary when it kind of crashed through the windows and the doors.

KAYE: The water?

M. PODGORNY: Yes. It was like a big wave came through the windows and the doors.

KAYE: That sounds terrifying.

M. PODGORNY: Yes. It was really terrifying.

KAYE (voice-over): Another neighbor, Marvin Johnson, told me the water came up two feet in his house. He rode out the storm with his three dogs.

(On-camera): How come you didn't evacuate?

MARVIN JOHNSON, SURVIVED HURRICANE IAN: Safer in the house.

KAYE (voice-over): Throughout the day a steady stream of neighbors checking on neighbors and homeowners returning to assess the damage, and take whatever they could save no matter how small.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had to pick up our gecko. My wife's leopard gecko. She's had it for 22 years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That thing used to be way over here.

KAYE: This couple had evacuated but took us inside their home to survey the damage.

VAN HORN: It's very flooded. It's ruined. Completely ruined. The furniture are on the floor. The couches are turned upside down. The toilets are on the floor. There is water seeking in our cabinets. Everything is flooded. Everything is ruined.

KAYE: They'd only have been living here a year before the hurricane hit.

VAN HORN: 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?

KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN, Fort Myers, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: All right. Let's go to meteorologist Karen Maginnis who's been closely following Ian's path and wind speed.

So, Karen, where are the models suggesting it's heading now?

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, and they're in fairly good agreement, and what we have seen most dramatically in the past hour is that the rain has become heavier primarily along the South Carolina coast but also the Georgia coast, and the wind and the wind gusts are definitively higher as well.

Here is kind of a look along that southern edge off the coast of Georgia and much of the southern coast of South Carolina. All very vulnerable because it's low lying area. If you get afternoon thunderstorms, these areas are very prone to flooding. Charleston, especially. But it is really built up. It isn't just the threat to people but also environmentally. We've got some big threats taking place here as well.

All right. I talked about the wind gusts. Take a look at this. Savannah, 30 mile an hour gust reported there. Hilton Head, the wind gusts have really increased here over the last hour or two. The gust there, at last report, 52 miles per hour. Even in Charleston now we've had our wind gusts close to that 30 miles per hour, and all the way up towards Myrtle Beach.

Speaking of, Kim just asked me, where is it going to make landfall? Well, the computer models are sort of suggesting in this vicinity. Yes, somewhere along that central and northern coast of South Carolina. Charleston apparently was in kind of the line of sight in that cone. We were looking at earlier in the day. But now it shifted a little bit. Shifted a little bit further north along the South Carolina coast.

But it isn't just South Carolina. It isn't just South Carolina and North Carolina. It's also Virginia and Maryland and West Virginia, where that rain chill is going to advance northward as the system gust as just kind of ring out. But we're looking at fairly substantial rainfall totals across South Carolina.

But as we take a look at this, all the way from Charleston and into the North Carolina coast, we could see substantial rainfall. Four to eight will be some of the common amounts but there could be some other amounts of 10 possibly 20 inches. And as the storm system approaches the coast, if it were Charleston, about midday. That's around the time of high tide. So that will produce a storm surge of four to seven feet possible.

But as I mentioned, not just Charleston but Sullivan's Island, Beaufort, Colleton, McClellanville, Garden City, Surf Side, Myrtle Beach. I know this area so well and it is very vulnerable. Lots of people here. I hope you have a plan that you've kept very your important personnel documents, that you have food in case it isn't available. Also if you are stranded that you have a plan for that as well.

And hopefully, Kim, people have thought about this in advance, way before this 85 mile per hour category 1 Hurricane Ian begins to trek closer and closer to the coast. Back to you.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Excellent advice. Karen Maginnis, thanks so much.

Well, those living in Ian's path are taking no chances after the damage inflicted on Florida. Coastal communities like Folly Beach, South Carolina, are bracing for the storm's arrival filling up sandbags and preparing for the worst.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON ALEXANDER, FOLLY BEACH RESIDENT: It's going to be a little bit hairy.

[04:10:01]

Six-foot surge, you know, six-foot tide. We're going to be at 12 feet. That's about the maximum a lot of houses out here can take on the first floor. So we'll see. Might be a little wet. We're going to pray for dry. And that'll be what we have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: CNN's Miguel Marquez is nearby in Charleston where storm surge and flooding from Ian are expected in the coming hours.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The city is handing out sandbags by the thousand to many residents across the city but some people, this is an area of Charleston that floods a lot. Charleston does get floods quite a bit. These guys are prepped for this thing. These things are filled with water and they're protecting one home here. There's a couple of other pretty substantial barriers in this neighborhood as well that you can see.

But this thing is really impressive but it will protect this home from what the biggest concern is, is water. Water coming from the sky and coming from the ocean. And between sort of 9:00, 10:00 a.m. is when they expect the worst of the storm as well. So you're going to have that storm surge, you're going to have tons of rain coming down. They have everything from trucks with very high lift trucks so that they can affect water rescues by truck, if need be. Inflatable rafts and boats if it comes to that as well and they have

utility vehicles at the ready to try to help keep the trees if they start coming down and electrical wires. They are as prepared as they can be. Now they just have to see what this storm will throw at them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Well, as you can imagine, it's been a busy last few days for the United States Coast Guard out in full force rescuing those impacted by Hurricane Ian and their pets, too. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eric.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Tyler. We're going to get you out of here, all right? Hey, how about your neighbors? Nobody injured or anything?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, they're old people. We're going to the shelter, they won't go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: They were also in Sanibel, Florida, where two people and three cats who were stranded were airlifted as you can see into a chopper. And then this man who was airlifted out of the flooded street with his dog by his side.

Florida's governor is calling the storm surge in Sanibel Island biblical. Hurricane Ian destroyed at least five sections of the Sanibel causeway, the island's only access to the mainland. Rescue teams are being transported by helicopter to the island where they're going door to door to check on residents. The mayor says the residents' safety is her first priority in the recovery efforts. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOLLY SMITH, SANIBEL, FLORIDA MAYOR: It's such a coordinated effort of what we have to do before we can even allow the residents to get back on the islands because we need to make sure that it's safe for them to get on, get to the areas, debris clean up everything we saw on the way. Wildlife is all over the island as you can imagine. So we just want to make it safe even if people can get on to look at their homes to see what is there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The governor says the causeway will be rebuilt, but it will take time.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, emergency crews in Florida are now focused on rescuing stranded residents from the catastrophic flooding. We'll have those details just ahead. And Moscow is hours away from starting the process of annexing occupied parts of Ukraine. Still ahead, a ceremony in Moscow in the heels of referendums widely slammed as bogus. Also students run for their lives after an explosion in Afghanistan but many of those close to the blast didn't not make it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:17:24]

BRUNHUBER: First responders in Florida began pulling vulnerable residents to safety as soon as they were able. More than 700 rescues have been carried out so far. Some involving about 200 elderly residents at flooded care facilities. But not all of the rescues involved rising water. Stranded people with mobility problems are often unable to navigate through the dangerous debris by themselves and are in need of help from emergency workers to reach safer places.

CNN's Don Lemon went with emergency personnel on their nonstop race to get to as many stranded people and pets as quickly as possible. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): This is what we are seeing now in Orlando. Rescues from people who have been stuck in their homes. One of the boats that they're using, if you go around here, you can see all the folks who are on the scene and the people who have been rescued here.

How are you doing? What do you think about all this?

DAVID PHILLIPS, RESCUED FROM HOME: It's kind of crazy. I'm actually been trained community emergency response team, and we have did the training here in the park for this type of thing, but it's like no one can plan for this type of thing.

LEMON: There are people who are waiting in the water, this very dangerous water to try to get these people out. The water really in some places neck-deep for some of these folks who are going in. And it's dangerous because we're being told by the rescue people here to be careful because there are gators in this water.

We're out with Lieutenant Fernando and lieutenant, say your name --

JAMES ROTONDI, LIEUTENANT, ORANGE COUNTY FIRE RESCUE: Rotondi.

LEMON: Rotondi. And they have been going in, we're told it's been at least 150 rescues from this area.

FERNANDO ASTACIO, LIEUTENANT, ORANGE COUNTY FIRE RESCUE: Yes.

LEMON: For folks.

ASTACIO: Yes. At least 200 starting in about 4.30, 5:00 this morning.

LEMON: So you launched here and you don't know what's under this water, how deep it is or what you're going to hit. ASTACIO: Absolutely not. At the start of this morning, part of the big

issues that we had is navigating these waters, even though we know we're in a neighborhood and, you know, the streets, you know, dictate where we go. We've got, you know, hidden mailboxes, culverts.

LEMON: The street signs, right here you can see how --

ASTACIO Yes.

LEMON: Where they are. I mean, some of them are covered and others are just peeking out of the top here. So explain what, how this area is prone to flooding.

ASTACIO: Yes.

LEMON: But it's gotten more water this time. I think the highest --

ASTACIO: Right.

LEMON: -- water level so far.

ASTACIO: This is the highest it's ever been. It happened some five years ago and these three lakes that -- these small lakes they joined together by small canals, it crested sometime early this morning. And this whole area here is a super low-lying area. This one and the neighborhood we were at this morning, which was all single-family dwellings, completely devastated, completely underwater.

[04:20:02]

LEMON: I mean, if you look right here, this is a basketball goal, you know, eight, 10 feet tall, and just poking out of the water here and you see the jungle gyms and swings or whatever. That just gives you an indication of how high the water is. When you -- what are folks saying? Is it that they -- I understand, Lieutenant, that the pumps went out and they said they had electricity, but the pumps even went out before the electricity?

ROTONDI: I think, I believe that's what it was, that they failed. Yes.

ASTACIO: The pumps may have failed this time, yes.

LEMON: The pumps failed.

ASTACIO: I believe so.

LEMON: And how much, how much water do you think they've gotten in here so far?

ASTACIO: No. We're looking from, just from looking right now, we're looking eight feet of water, six, eight feet of water at minimum. The neighborhood that we were at this morning, single family dwellings --

LEMON: Look at this back here.

ASTACIO: -- were halfway underwater. LEMON: Yes. I mean, and look at this. This is usually a street. This,

I mean, this looks like a river, you know, that you're usually our tributary that you're usually navigating through on a boat. That's not meant to be, you know, a waterway. But we we're also told that many people decided to stay. What are they saying when they get on the boat?

ROTONDI: Well, a lot of them are, you know, they want to stay because it's their home. It means a lot to them, you know, and a lot of these people they've lost a lot. So, you know, those that do come into the boat, they're very thankful that we were there to aid to them.

LEMON: I mean, look, if there's the folks right here, Lieutenant, the mailbox and then the car,

ASTACIO: Yes.

LEMON: Still in the driveway and the --

ASTACIO: Right.

LEMON: Imagine a malfunction with the battery or whatever and the lights are still on.

ASTACIO: Yes. We've run into that all day. We started -- when we started this morning, it was in the, you know, pitch dark, and all the cars were just, all of them, alarms going off, lights going on. No control at all.

LEMON: Yes.

ROTONDI: Some of them you can just barely see the top of the roof.

LEMON: I mean, it's unbelievable. If you turn around here, look at these cars and the mailboxes, I mean, and there are people who are still inside of some of these homes.

Alex, why did you decide to stay?

ALEX WHITE, STAYED AT HOME IN ORLANDO: A lot of it had to do with, there weren't many places, like I know the shelters were open and they're relatively close by, but there wasn't many places we could go with our stuff. I've got my dog in here, too, and the flooding is more than we thought it would be. But I still, I don't feel terribly, terribly, like my house is about to float away. It's pretty sturdy, been through things before.

LEMON: Yes.

WHITE: But.

LEMON: This much water, though, ever?

WHITE: This much water, no. And like I said, the level that it's at right now was very surprising and it came in very fast. I was awake last night and it was still in the road around 6:00, and by 7:00, it was up to the first stair down here. So it did rise very fast, but it's been decently stagnant for the past few hours.

LEMON: Is it -- has it reached your floor?

WHITE: No, it's not inside yet. All of our, and again, there's other people around, we've all been waving and checking in on each other. We're all mainly concerned about our cars because our cars are shot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: The Taliban are now condemning today's deadly explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan. And we want to warn, the video we're about to show may be disturbing. A doctor from a local hospital says 23 people have been killed and 36 others wounded. A witness tell CNN that many of the casualties are girls.

For more Salma Abdelaziz joins us live from London. And Salma, I've spent a bit of time reporting specifically in that neighborhood precisely because it has historically been the target for extremists. Take us through what we know so far.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Really a shocking morning attack in Kabul on an education center, Kim. This is an education center where young men, young women can take mock university exams. They gather in this huge hall and take those tests. That's what was happening early this morning when a suicide attacker hit the building, of course as you mentioned killing more than 20 people and wounding dozens of others.

But as you said there's a couple of hallmarks in this attack that are highly concerning. We don't know who's behind it yet. We do not know who this perpetrator is or what his motives were. But as you pointed out the area where this took place is an area predominantly where members of the Hazara minority, this is a minority group, a persecuted minority group in Afghanistan that lives in this area.

There have been reports from human rights groups just this month about how the Hazara minority has not been protected under the Taliban. So a question there as to whether or not that was a target.

The second thing I want to point out is something an eyewitness told us, Kim. An eyewitness that CNN spoke to said a majority of those victims appeared to be young women. And of course when it comes to female education in Afghanistan that's been a highly controversial issue. Many schools across the country for girls have been shut down since the Taliban took power. So again unclear if that was part of the motive.

[04:25:03]

This education center is for both young men and young women. So again unclear if that was the motive. The Taliban has issued of course a condemnation of this attack. But serious fears, serious concerns and just a reminder of how terrifying it is to try to educate yourself as a young woman in Afghanistan.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Absolutely so. All right, Salma Abdelaziz, appreciate that.

Hurricane Ian is taking aim at South Carolina's low country. Just ahead CNN meteorologist Karen Maginnis will have more on where the storm may come ashore for a second time. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I am Kim Brunhuber. If you're just joining us, here are some of today's top stories.

FlightAware reports more than 1600 flights have been cancelled in the U.S. so far today but operations at Orlando National Airport are expected to resume today at noon. Tampa and Jacksonville's airports are expected to reopen this morning.

Well, right now more than two million customers are without power across Florida. Downed trees and flooding are making it difficult to restore service to the affected areas. And while Disney World will reopen later this morning starting with the Magic Kingdom at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, Universal Studios will also reopen today.

All right, now to meteorologist Karen Maginnis who's been tracking the trajectory of Hurricane Ian.

So, Karen, when it comes to the search and rescue and the recovery, things like getting the power back on, the weather has a huge role to play. What are things looking like on that front?

MAGINNIS: Well, already we're starting to see the wind really increase along the Georgia coastline and the South Carolina coastline. And just because you're on the coast it isn't exclusive that you'll be affected by Ian even inland. The chances for flooding is certainly there.