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Ian's Devastation: At Least 45 Dead After Ian Ravages Florida; Hurricane Ian Could Be Most Expensive Storm In Florida's History; Kremlin: Attack On Annexed Territories Is Attack On Russia; NFL Review Underway After Dolphins QB Suffers Head Injury. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired October 01, 2022 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:16]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. My colleague Boris Sanchez is in hard-hit Fort Myers, Florida. This is a special CNN live coverage.

And we begin this hour with a potential levee breach threatening homes in a private community near Sarasota, Florida. Sheriff's deputies are going door-to-door warning residents about the potential for 15 feet of water inundating their neighborhood.

Sarasota is just one of many of the Gulf Coast communities facing severe flooding after Ian hit southwest Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, making it the most powerful storm to ever hit that area of the state.

The death toll now standing at 45, but that number could rise as crews reach areas cut off by flooding. People who chose to ride out the storm describe their harrowing experiences.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The water was up to my balcony here. It was just like you could dive right off the balcony. Just water everywhere, and stuff floating on it. I'll never stay again. They say evacuate, go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Right now the remnants of Ian are moving along the country's northeast after the storm hit Georgetown County, South Carolina, as a Category 1 hurricane.

Let's send it down to Boris Sanchez anchoring our coverage from Fort Myers, Florida -- Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Fred, as the sun rises on another day here in Fort Myers and southwest Florida, the scope of the damage from Hurricane Ian is becoming more clear.

Communities are reeling as many folks are getting back to their properties and seeing what was left behind by this near Category 5 storm. And we're learning that search and rescue efforts are still underway in certain parts of southwest Florida that have been inaccessible to rescue crews because of damage caused by the storm.

We are also learning, as you noted, about a possible levee breach in Sarasota.

We want to take you now to CNN's Nadia Romero who's live for us in arcadia, Florida not far from where this devastating storm first made landfall.

Nadia, update us on that potential levee breach. What have you heard about that?

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So we know that the residents there in that portion of Sarasota county got a knock on the door this morning telling them that they could have that levee breach.

You're going to hear behind me though, it's going to get pretty loud. There is an air boat making its way through here in arcadia. This is what we're seeing in different parts of this part of Florida as people are being transported; supplies, medical supplies, water, generators and the like because this is the only way you can get through this area, is by boat.

And so this is what this community is dealing with. You talked about the levee issue that we're seeing in Sarasota County that could be a potential flooding issue for people who live there.

We're days after the storm and when you deal with the aftermath of a hurricane, this is what it looks like. So if you come around this way, you can see that people are gathering water bottles here. This was dropped off to them by the Desoto County sheriff's office. We have also seen other counties come out.

I am standing on what should be Highway 70, right? But if you look this way, it looks like it's just a normal lake. This is Highway 70 covered by the Peace River. And the locals tell me the Peace River is usually only about 6 to 7 feet. Now they are estimating it's about 24 feet high.

Further back in the distance on the right of your screen you'll see what is a gas station. There is a convenience store back there. And the water has made its way all the way up to the roof.

Now, if you look over to the left of your screen you'll see a white truck. And I asked one of the locals here, Mac Martin, about that particular truck and the people who were inside when it was stuck. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAC MARTIN, ARCADIA, FLORIDA RESIDENT: People were driving through, you know, to get, you know, it was passable. But that guy is the last guy that tried. And he did not make it.

ROMERO: Did he get out of the truck safely? MARTIN: They swam over here to the edge and I think they swam back out

there to get some of their belongings out of the truck, too. But they were safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: And we also saw some different cars and trucks on the road that had made their way into the ditch because they were trying to travel overnight. And it's pitch black out here. There is just no electricity. You can't see anything. So people were unaware that this road was washed out.

[11:04:56]

ROMERO: So we saw the local agencies come out this morning, put up more barricades to try to help people realize that this highway really isn't a highway anymore.

This is what we're seeing all across Florida right now because this is such a low-lying area and there are so many creeks and rivers that have flooded over because of Hurricane Ian, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes Nadia, it's become more of a river than a highway. And it is so easy for folks to get snared in those waters, especially at night. You can't tell how deep it is. And when you start trying to drive through it, you can find yourself in a really precarious situation.

Nadia Romero from Arcadia, Florida, thank you so much.

As Nadia noted, the damage is spread out all across Florida. So let's take you now to Naples where we find CNN's Brian Todd.

He has been tracking the devastating effects of Hurricane Ian essentially since the storm made landfall. And Brian, it looks like behind you there is quite a bit of damage. What are you seeing?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Boris. I mean you talk about people trying to recover their lives, trying to recover their possessions and assess their damage. This is what they are up against here in Naples and throughout this region. Check this out.

This SUV got washed all the way over from the street, which is about 100 yards away and is now dangling on the edge of this canal here.

There is another one right behind us where it's the same. And I'm going to talk to the (AUDIO GAP) this vehicle in just a second. You could see look, that wheel is just about hanging by a thread over the canal.

But first, I'm going to take you over here. Our photojournalist, Orlando Ruiz and I are going to show you some -- what this did to some boats over here in the canal.

If you see that one across the way there, Orly -- you can see that one. That one's tipped over just to the front and there is one tipped to the side. We had larger boats picked up at the height of the storm and carried blocks away. That just gives you a sense of the rush of the storm surge.

I am here with Rob Moran. He is a resident of this apartment building right here. Rob, this is your vehicle right here, as we show pictures of that and go back and forth here.

You say you don't think you can recover it? Why?

ROB MORAN, FLORIDA RESIDNT: I do not think it's recoverable. It's been about three hours almost to the top of the windshield covered in water when the storm surge came across. It won't start. All the electronics -- so.

TODD: I'm sorry to hear that. Give us a sense of kind of what this whole thing did just to the disruption of your lives and trying to recover your possessions.

MORAN: Well, this is our first one. We are new from Alaska. You know, just seeing the devastation of the water at 9:30 Wednesday, that dock right there was about six inches from being underwater and at 9:34 that dock was underwater. About 11:00 this was just a river.

TODD: Give us a sense of how scary that was. You are from Alaska. You've never seen anything like this before.

MORAN: No. It was nerve-racking. I mean fortunately, we were on the third floor. We were pretty much safe. We had all of our provisions ready to go.

Our primary concern was our neighbors here. You know, make sure they're ok. You know, once the power goes out and you know, we see vehicles floating down the parking lot into the bay, there is nothing that you can do at that point. You know, we can't get out. We just have to hunker down and we're ready.

TODD: Right. I often ask this to people who go through this. Since you are new to Florida, I got to ask you, does it make you rethink wanting to live here? Does it make you rethink your decision to move here?

MORAN: No. If somebody could turn down the heat a little bit, it would be nice. But anywhere you go, you're going to have some type of weather disaster. So you just have to pick and choose your battles. At least I can fish here all the time.

TODD: Hopefully, you can get back to that soon.

Rob --

MORAN: Thanks, man.

TODD: -- pleasure talking to you. Great to meet you. And thank you for sharing your experience with us.

Here is one thing I can relate to you, Boris. The building (AUDIO GAP). there is an issue here with contractors and others. Most contractors are, of course, doing a great job and trying to get to people and doing an honest job.

But, you're running into some opportunists here. The building manager just told me one of the big issues now is to try to get mud taken out of these ground floor apartments like this one there where that window got blown out there and just trying to remove some of the debris and stuff.

But he said one contractor came to him and said flat out, how many units do you have? If you have don't have enough units for me I'm going to (AUDIO GAP). the local officials warning local contractors don't be gougers, you know, don't be like that. But you do have opportunists here still, Boris.

SANCHEZ: That's one of the most infuriating things about these kinds of storms, Brian, the fact that people come out and try to take advantage of folks. It really takes away from the community coming together and those heroic rescue efforts that often are so inspiring after tragedies like this.

Our thanks to Brian Todd and Rob from Alaska. We'll work on trying to get the temperature down here in Florida.

[11:09:51]

SANCHEZ: We want to pivot now to north Myrtle Beach, South Carolina because after the storm swept through Florida, it went into the Atlantic and then hit that region in the Carolinas.

That's where we find CNN's Nick Valencia. He is not far from where Ian made landfall.

And Nick, just looking at the picture behind you, the damage there was severe as well. An enormous chunk of the pier behind you was completely washed away?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And there is dozens of residents here on the beach curious to see that damage. In fact, some of that pier is right -- laying right next to our camera here.

The force of the winds and the rain was just so significant that it really basically cut this cherry grove pier in half.

And I want to bring in some local residents here.

Leslie come on in here. Bring in your family. I want to talk to you about what you are seeing here. What do you think of, you know, this damage behind you?

LESLIE, MYRTLE BEACH, SOUTH CAROLINA RESIDENT: I mean, honestly, we saw it coming. We were down here early yesterday morning. The winds were really picking up. The rain was pretty intense. But I did not expect that to happen at all.

We have only been down here three years. This is our first real hurricane. They have all been tropical storms. So the damage was exceptional this time. We're just happy to be safe and everyone got a day off of school from it.

VALENCIA: What was it like. I mean you have two small kids here. A third that probably can help out a little bit, right. But what was it like. You guys lost power. Tell me about the experience of going through the storm.

LESLIE: So we were out of power from about 3:00 until about 5:00 a.m.

VALENCIA: Oh wow.

LESLIE: Yes. We did a lot of fun stuff at home, candlelit, story time, all that good stuff.

VALENCIA: Yes I want to talk about it. This is your young son, Ronan. Ron, how old are you?

RONAN, MYRTLE BEACH, SOUTH CAROLINA RESIDENT: 6.

VALENCIA: You're 6. Is this your first hurricane?

RONAN: Yes.

VALENCIA: Yes. What did you think of it?

RONAN: It was scary.

VALENCIA: It was scary?

RONAN: Yes.

VALENCIA: What got you through. What helped you out to not be so scared during the storm?

RONAN: A lightsaber.

VALENCIA: Lightsaber, you're a big "Star Wars" fan I'm guessing?

RONAN: Yes.

VALENCIA: Judging by your shoes, you've got the "Star Wars" Sliders on. So tell me, you were in the dark telling stories about "Star Wars" during the storm?

RONAN: Yes.

VALENCIA: Oh wow. So tell me what did it -- what did it sound like, what did it feel like outside when the storm was coming down on you?

RONAN: It was like I do not know.

VALENCIA: Something like you've never experienced before?

RONAN: Yes.

VALENCIA: Was it kind of fun or kind of -- you said kind of scary?

RONAN: Kind of scary.

VALENCIA: Yes. Well, you are so brave though. Do you feel like a brave guy?

RONAN: Yes.

VALENCIA: We are hoping this brave guy gets his pier back. Thank you guys so much for taking the time, Gage and Alana, is that right? Yes, thank you guys so much for taking the time.

The focus here is on debris removal, cleanup and like I said, you know, this community was really, despite the significant damage here, was really spared from widespread damage. There is a lower lying area, Garden City, where there is most of the debris cleanup.

But we wanted to show you this because this is really what a lot of the residents here are focused on. They have never seen it look like this, Boris.

SANCHEZ: I'm glad to hear that those folks didn't bear the brunt of the storm and heeded the warnings too based on what they saw here in Florida.

Nick Valencia, thanks so much for bringing us color from north Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Our thanks to Brian Todd and Nadia Romero as well.

We want to get you an update on that potential levee that was compromised in Sarasota County. So let's bring in Scott Titus, who joins us live. He's the North Port fire chief.

Scott, thank you so much for sharing part of your day with us. We know it's a busy time for you. What is going on right now with this levee and what kind of threat does it present?

SCOTT TITUS, NORTH PORT FIRE CHIEF: Thank you, Boris.

The levee that went last night was in Sarasota county. So I'm the Northport fire chief and they had an issue. They evacuated that. The levee that had an issue, actually, that water went into a bowl.

So unfortunately it affected a number of homes in that area, but it doesn't go any further on than that. What they need to do, when that began to happen, they needed to get those residents out quickly. They coordinated those efforts and they did that in the nighttime hours last night.

SANCHEZ: It sounds like it was a smooth operation. Folks were able to get out without much physical damage, without anybody getting hurt?

TITUS: Yes. Our understanding is that everything went well. I was up here at Sarasota EOC. I am actually the liaison for the city of Northport. We have operations going on. Northport is at the south end of Sarasota County. It's actually the largest city in the county.

We've got a resident population of 80,000. And we've got some pretty significant infrastructure issues down there. Thousands of homes with water intrusion. We evacuated approximately 150 people just in the overnight hours last night, which got them to shelters and got them to safety.

It appears that we have just kind of reached the crest today and water will begin going down. But we have got 7, 8 feet on some street levels down there of water up into the homes.

So we are accessing houses with boats, with high-water vehicles, and trying to get people out of those affected areas that don't have water, don't have food.

[11:14:48]

TITUS: We have been balancing that with the emergency calls, trying to get into them. It's been quite an operation. Some of our thoroughfares have become impassable even as the water recedes, there is washouts. And so we've got a long, long recovery.

SANCHEZ: Yes. I experienced some of that myself yesterday coming across Alligator Alley on I-75 where some of it was closed. Officers closed it just as we were getting through a certain point because water had started to rise. I imagine it's going to be several days of that kind of juggling.

Can you give us an idea of the biggest challenges that you are facing now in trying to bring help to people because it sounds like a heavy operation just days after this storm. 150 folks that you rescued overnight.

TITUS: Yes, this is going to be -- for us this is going to be an ongoing operation. Typically, once we reach peak waters in Northport it's about seven to ten days until they get back down to normal levels. And that's considering we have no rain.

Thankfully, in the forecast, the five-day forecast, we don't have any rain coming to us. But we need to get people out of these affected areas. It's very significant. We've got assets, regional assets, local assets, state assets, and national assets. So we are getting all the help that we need. It's just a matter of getting into these areas, get into triage and figure things out.

We know that there has been significant damage throughout the city and we are assessing that at this time. The responders, local responders, you know, some of these are their homes and their families. So it's deeply impactful. We're very thankful for all of the efforts that they are making and our prayers are with them and their families as they are with the community and their families. So it's something that's very difficult as it is, it's going to bring us all together and we'll get through it.

SANCHEZ: Yes. And it's so inspiring, especially at times like these when so many people are dealing with losing everything to see folks coming together to see the community bond, especially when it's happening in their backyard and affecting their families. Scott Titus, we have to leave the conversation there. The North Port

fire chief. We appreciate everything that you're doing. Please let us know how we might be able to help in the recovery. Keep us posted.

TITUS: (INAUDIBLE) Appreciate it.

SANCHEZ: Thank you so much.

So there are states that are still in the path of Ian as it moves towards the northeast as a post-tropical cyclone.

Let's go to meteorologist Britley Ritz. She has been tracking Ian in the CNN Weather Center. We're still expecting heavy wind and a lot of rain as this thing moves towards the northeast, right?

BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely, Boris. That's exactly what we are dealing with this morning.

Although the winds are starting to die down, we are still dealing with gusts of around 35 miles per hour. Right now sustained winds of roughly 25 as what's left of Ian, its very weak area of low pressure, moves north-northeast at 10 miles per hour.

Flood warnings and flood watches in effect. Coastal flood warnings, over a million people within those warnings, are dealing with 1 to 2 feet of inundation. It's not rain coming down. It's the wind pushing the water on to shore.

So don't drive through flooded roadways, folks. I don't want to hear about it. It's one of my biggest fears of being driven into standing water. All it takes is 12 inches of water to lift you off the ground.

Flood watches for parts of the Virginias an additional 2 to 3, possibly 4 inches of rain. Steady rain coming down through the Virginias. You see the darker greens that's kind of training over the same areas.

You'll have most of the heaviest rain now off the shoreline but New York up into Boston, Long Island already tapping into that heavy rain and Newport. Yes, you can expect this rain to continue through the rest of today, additional one to two inches for places like you as well. And again, heavier rain will really start to die down over the upcoming 24 hours which is huge. But we are still dealing with flooding concerns especially along the coastline where you're seeing areas highlighted in yellow, that's where we're most vulnerable for that flooding threat.

As for rainfall totals to come over the next 24, 48 hours, all the heaviest along the coast and then pushing through D.C. and on up into southern and western Pennsylvania. These areas can pick up another 1 to 2 inches of rain.

And of course, the winds are still strong. Gale watches and gale warnings along the coastline where winds are blowing over 35 miles per hour. Gusts will be stronger at times.

So hold on to the hats and hunker down for the next 24 hours. Things will get a little bit better, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, the headaches from Hurricane Ian and now post-tropical cyclone Ian not over any time soon.

Britley Ritz from the CNN Weather Center, thank you so much.

And Fred, as we are monitoring developments, it's clear that this is going to be a long recovery as officials get to areas that were previously inaccessible. And it's sad to think that that death toll at 45 fatalities because of Hurricane Ian may continue rise into the coming days. Just a painful admission from officials there are folks that they just could not get to, Fred.

[11:19:51]

WHITFIELD: Yes. It's going to be a slow recovery and methodical in their continued search. As you mentioned, the death toll still may climb and of course, it is still -- the conditions still remain rather dangerous.

All right. Thank you so much, Boris. We will check back with you. Appreciate it.

So much more to come this hour.

$47 billion -- that's the early damage estimate from Ian in the state of Florida. We'll talk about the complicated process homeowners now face.

And right now looking at I-75 near Venice, and that's kind of sandwiched right in between Fort Myers and Sarasota on the West Coast. You see it's nearly gridlock as everyone still trying to either return home or still seek some other refuge. Traffic is crawling.

And later fresh sanctions from the U.S. aimed at Russia after Putin illegally annexes four Russian-occupied territories within Ukraine. Live to the front lines straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:24:57]

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.

Hurricane Ian could be the most expensive storm in Florida's history causing as much as $47 billion in damage. And compensating victims for those losses can be pretty tricky.

As CNN's Marc Stewart explains, Florida homeowners were already facing an insurance crisis, but Ian could make things much worse.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is happening at a time when homeowners in Florida, long before the storm, had had to deal with an expensive marketplace for coverage. As one analyst told us, the national insurance companies may be reluctant to compete in Florida because of the risk that comes from hurricanes and tropical storms.

So how are people getting insurance in Florida? Homeowners are looking towards small in-state companies at a time when six of those companies were declared insolvent even before Hurricane Ian.

But it's not that simple. The cost is enormous. Just look at the numbers. If you look at data from the Insurance Information Institute, Florida homeowners already pay nearly triple the national average for insurance.

In Florida, the average price for a policy is more than $4,200 a year compared to the U.S. average of more than $1,500. There is a lot of finger pointing taking place. We heard from people within the insurance industry who blame Florida's tort laws for a flurry of lawsuits that are driving up costs.

Yet the group representing the state's trial lawyers have a different take, pointing to a lack of regulation. Lawyers feel the state is allowing the insurers to take the lead on rates and coverage.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much, Marc Stewart.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says the state plans to help people with insurance claims if their homes were damaged or destroyed by Ian.

All right. Still ahead, why Russia's annexations in the Ukraine could lay the groundwork for a dangerous new phase in the war.

[11:26:58]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Following its sham referendum, Moscow is declaring it formally annexed four Russian-occupied territories within Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, the United States is never going to recognize this. And quite frankly, the world is not going to recognize it either. He can't seize his neighbor's territory and get away with it. It's as simple as that.

America's fully prepared with our NATO allies to defend every single inch of NATO territory -- every single inch. So Mr. Putin, don't misunderstand what I'm saying -- every inch.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The Biden administration announcing new sanctions against Russia, including targeting the head of Russia's central bank. And today just a day after the annexation announcement, the Russian ministry of defense says Russian troops have withdrawn from Lyman, a key town in eastern Ukraine.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in Kramatorsk, Ukraine. So Nick, what is behind this withdrawal? What does it mean?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is a startling acceptance from Moscow that on the day after they had claimed where I'm standing and the strategic (INAUDIBLE) of Lyman vital to their presence and so much of eastern Ukraine, that they have now effectively found themselves surrounded and admitted they had to withdraw their troops.

We don't actually know how successful that move has been because there are suggestions that possibly hundreds maybe even thousands of troops were indeed left behind in Lyman and encircled by Ukrainian forces.

So this is part of this split screen universe where in frankly. When we listen to the Kremlin, they talk about annexing territory, how they are legalizing their presence in occupied areas through sham referenda, the big bombast of those ceremonies and the protests, the rallies in Moscow, and then on the ground here remarkable changes in Russian fortune.

I should point out, what has been startling is since the news of the Russian withdrawal form Lyman, although admission that they have at least tried to withdraw from Lyman, has emerged, there is been significant in-fighting within the Moscow elite on social media.

A leader of Chechnya, one the republics of Russia, Ramzan Kadyrov has publicly named and shamed the commander behind the withdrawal from Lyman. Said how he is unsure how much Russian President Vladimir Putin is hearing of this disaster, and chillingly, suggested that they should declare martial law in Russia's border areas and use low-yield nuclear weapons.

He doesn't decide Kremlin policy but the fact that this sort of public display of discontent about how the war is happening is occurring just 24 hours after the at times ridiculous bombast of the ceremonies in Moscow is deeply chilling.

But it forms part of what Ukraine is still prosecuting here on its front lines in the east. And there is a slow methodical advance. And the fall of Lyman, which appears to be something that's definitely happened now, may have a knock-on effect in territory across the Luhansk area, that Russia has now claimed is part of its territory.

And we saw ourselves driving south towards Lyman, stopping short of it a number of days ago exactly what the level of ferocity this Ukrainian advance looks like.

[11:34:47]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALSH: Hidden but unstoppable. Ukraine's not bragged much about its march south from Kharkiv towards the prize of Donetsk. But every rooftop or tree line suggests they have just been too busy advancing.

Day by day reducing how much of occupied Ukraine Moscow has this day falsely declared Russian territory with the ultimate goal encircling the vital railway town of Lyman at hand. No quarter given. All the way through the forests to the monastery town of Sviatohirsk (ph).

The drive to this point probably the most depressing two hours we spent on the road for the whole six months of this war, just laying bare the utter ferocity of the fighting and also too, the speed of Ukraine's advance to this town which itself is shocking.

Eight years ago at the start of the conflict, I lived on-off here for six months and just learned to appreciate its normality, its peace amid all the pines here. And that's just gone.

It is the most fragile who remained when Russia moved in. Anna is one of nine people left in her block. She almost didn't make it.

ANNA: The scariest was when the Russians one night were in a firefight in my courtyard. I was in the doorway and tried to hold the steel door shut but a soldier pulled at the door. So I jumped down and fell in the basement. He tore open the door, shot his gun into the darkness and missed me.

WALSH: Some seek survival in their gods. This monastery looks down on the mess. Luba asked me if they will come back, the Russians. They made such a mess of their new post office, she says.

On her shirt a lock of hair from her local beloved priest, killed by shelling in June.

"I attached it as a protective amulet," she says. "Tell me, can I leave here now?"

Even the carcasses here still rocked by shelling. But the church bells finally rang again two days ago. They brought Ludmilla to tears.

"It rang and I heard it," she says, "And I listened and it got louder."

They are now out of the church basement where they hid from the bombs and still tried to live.

She is saying it's cold down here. And you can feel that. Seven months underground. Anxious to not show their faces, their plight down here is their private tragedy, one says.

Ludmilla's disabled son was injured in shelling and taken to hospital, she tells me. She last saw him alive but that is all she knows down here.

There is little salvation here. Only ruin turning to rust. There is no letup in Ukraine's advances.

All of Moscow's imminent annexation, the absurd claim this land is now actually Russian territory. The land here testimony to how the collision between this right and that wrong shreds the very thing both covet.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WALSH: So we're into an exceptionally odd time in this conflict, where we've have seen the scenes in Moscow of Russia claiming to legally in their mind own or have as their territory places in Ukraine their military don't even control, the military even accepting they have to withdraw with.

Moscow's elite bickering amongst themselves on social media has to -- that is just not something you normally see. Putin's world is always very homogenous and quite disciplined. And now that bickering involves the loose suggestion of the use of low yield nuclear weapons.

What we are definitely seeing though is Ukrainian advances which are now doing the things they said they would do, and that's having a knock-on effect for the Russian positions, further undermining the absurd claim that Russia has just annexed parts of Ukraine.

There is even dramatic images of an explosion at an airfield in Crimea, which Russia also annexed where its local officials appointed by Russia suggest maybe a plane skidding off the runway. We will have to see what really happened there.

But these are dramatic scenes that are going completely against what Putin tried to do by resetting what he thinks is his narrative during those rallies in the Kremlin yesterday.

And it is utterly startling frankly to be in this moment where the reality on the ground is so distant from the messages the Kremlin are throwing around. It's clear Russia's conventional army is really struggling to make a difference or even hold ground here, even retreat orderly on the ground in Ukraine and chillingly the use of nuclear force is being bandied around by Russian officials as though it's something quite casual.

Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dramatic indeed, powerful reporting. Our Nick Paton Walsh in Ukraine. Thank you so much.

And we are continuing to track Ian, which is now a post-tropical cyclone. But its effects are still being felt.

Officials warning today that despite the downgrade, the threat of heavy rain, wind and floods is still very much there.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:00]

SANCHEZ: Back here live in Fort Myers. We are standing now in front of a marina where there is extensive damage from Hurricane Ian, which hit southwest Florida with massive wind and an enormous storm surge and you can see the extent of the damage.

I'm going to step out of the way so you can get a clearer picture of just how badly this area was affected. You see these enormous ships behind me all washed on land. Almost making it on to that bridge and that highway behind them.

And there are some folks right now walking around surveying the damage, getting a clearer look at how their vessels fared during the storm -- clearly not well.

[11:44:49]

SANCHEZ: And you can see that there was a man just standing by there a few moments ago, you can see kind of the scale of just how large these vessels are, how high that storm surge went that essentially overtook them, picked them up and put them on land.

And we actually just heard from a gentleman who spent the night on his vessel during the storm. Captain Sid, just a few boats down. There were actually neighbors that captured video of him that were working to gather right now, of fleeing from his boat during the storm because things got so out of hand, so out of control.

I can tell you as a native Floridian, I have been through a lot of storms. This is undoubtedly the most impactful that I have personally seen and experienced with my own eyes, the damage of it since Hurricane Andrew back in 1992 and that was a Category 5 that essentially wiped cities off the map in south Miami-Dade County.

This obviously a different part of the state in southwest Florida, an area that prizes its marine industry and the fishing industry and the tourism industry here. It's an area that is at or near sea level.

So boat life here, salt life is a part of the fabric of this community. I have never seen a storm do this kind of damage, literally taking vessels and throwing them out into neighborhoods and wiping out entire communities from the map as we saw in Sanibel Island and Pine Island and other parts of this region in southwest Florida.

And it's not just southwest Florida that was impacted. There was flooding as far north as Orlando, with people having to be rescued there. A short time ago we spoke to a sheriff in Sarasota County who was telling us that overnight his teams rescued some 150 residents that were stranded.

We also heard from the president of the Cajun Navy who told us that they were out rescuing folks overnight who had been stranded on their roofs in inundated areas that were inaccessible because they were so far removed from the mainland and there was debris and bridges that were torn up that didn't allow officers and rescue crews to get to them.

Right now the death toll standing at 45 fatalities. That number expect today go up as more search and rescues and recoveries are complete.

We're going to send it to a quick break from live here in Fort Myers. So please stay with CNN.

We're going to keep you updated on the very latest from southwest Florida.

[11:47:18]

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WHITFIELD: Welcome back.

A promising update for the Miami Dolphins quarterback after he was taken off the field earlier this week on a stretcher with a head injury and possible concussion. The team now under scrutiny for allowing him to play Thursday following injuries in Sunday's game.

CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has the latest.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Fred, there's no question when you watch that video from Thursday night, it's concerning. I mean anyone can see that, Tua sort of thrown to the ground, concern about his head, his neck.

But then afterward, this is important, you see his forearms sort of flex and his fingers sort of extended like this. That can sometimes be an indication that there was an injury to the brain and specifically to some of the fibers here between the brain and the spinal cord.

When those fibers get interrupted or injured, sometimes you can have that sort of posturing-like position. We know that he seemed to have recovered. He was able to fly home with his team that night, but that seems like it could be a significant injury.

Take a look here at this -- what is called the fencing response. This is the sort of thing that can sometimes happen when someone has a traumatic brain injury where they actually will develop that sort of posture, flexing their arms, extending their fingers, whatever it may be. That's something the neurosurgeons and neurologist would certainly pay attention to.

And again, Fred, as you pointed out, this came after another injury four days earlier on Sunday where he seemed to be -- Tua seemed to be thrown to the ground again and then a little bit later has trouble sort of getting up and walking. Now it's not clear was that due to the injury that, you know, he may

have suffered at the time when he was thrown to the ground or was it from something else. But clearly he's having difficulty walking there.

There are a few things, Fred, that are what they call no-go when it comes to returning a player to the field. You take a look at the list there -- loss of consciousness obviously, confusion, amnesia. But the second one on the list there, gross motor instability. He may have had that, just the difficulty walking after he had this injury.

I had a chance to talk to Dr. Allen Sills, about this, chief medical officer for the NFL -- a rare interview. And listen to how he sort of described this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. ALLEN SILLS, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, NFL: I'm concerned about that injury and also all of these injuries that we have. And Sanjay, make no mistake about it. We will get this right.

We will get this right in the sense of going back and reviewing very carefully all of the steps that led to the sequence of events that you described.

We'll also take a critical look at our own protocols and these definitions and the points that you mentioned. And we'll be very transparent about the outcome of that.

I think that you've seen us do that over the past several years. We're very intentional about the fact that we want to have the best in class care for our athletes. We want to always make the best diagnosis, to get it right, to give the best care for patients and to keep them safe. And that will be no different in this situation moving forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:54:58]

DR. GUPTA: So Fred, there is an investigation going on into what exactly happened with Tua both on Sunday and then again on Thursday. And when we get the results of that investigation, we'll certainly bring it to you.

One of the things that's likely to come up is a question of second impact syndrome. You have one hit to the head, one hit to the brain, and then a few days later another one, that can be exponentially worse for a player -- something a lot of players are concerned about.

So we'll certainly follow this investigation along, Fred, and bring it to you when we get it.

WHITFIELD: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much. Of course we're all praying for the best possible outcome for Tua and other NFL athletes who have been going through same thing.

All right. Straight ahead, we'll return live to Florida, where Ian's devastation continues to grow.

Stay with us.

[11:55:45]

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