Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

At Least 65 Killed As Death Toll Rises In Hurricane-Ravaged Florida; Interview With Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson About Hurricane Ian's Impact; Interview With Bill Nye About Hurricane Ian And Climate Change; Biden Announces Return Of Seven American Detainees From Venezuela; At Least 65 Killed As Death Toll Jumps In Hurricane- Ravaged Florida; Russia's War Entering A New Dangerous Phase As Vladimir Putin Illegally Annexes Four Parts Of Ukraine. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired October 01, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:25]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Fort Myers, Florida.

The death toll from Hurricane Ian continues to climb. We now know that at least 65 people here in Florida did not survive. Search and rescue efforts in some areas are still under way. And right now nearly two million people in multiple states are without power.

This state of Florida is facing a crisis with no ordinary solution because this was no ordinary storm. Just look at the staggering scale of destruction. The storm wiped away street signs and recognizable landmarks, complicating hundreds of rescue efforts. It laid waste to entire towns, including Fort Myers Beach, robbing people of their homes and their livelihoods. Some residents are now beginning to pick up the pieces. Others have no pieces left to pick up.

I just returned from a boat ride with the Cajun Navy and some other rescuers who were out there on the waters where I saw some of the destruction for myself. This is what Ian did to Matlacha, an area in Lee County where most of the deaths have occurred so far. A resident there telling me some of his neighbors were not spared. They died in the storm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITNEY HALL, MATLACHA RESIDENT: We just know about Miss Debbie. But --

ACOSTA: They found one of your neighbors?

HALL: Yes. Yes. There's -- they found, like, I think three bodies so far in the water. At least. I know there's more but, I mean, who knows. I mean look.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: CNN's Nadia Romero is in Arcadia, Florida, for us right now but let's begin with CNN's Brian Todd in Naples. Brian, Naples officials have said it could take months to recover. We

have seen evidence of that all day long today from our boat ride to I'm sure where you're at right now. Where do things stand today where you are?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, we're going to show you more evidence of why it's going to take so long to recover. We've been showing you houses and apartments where people have just put out all their worldly possessions onto the curbs, from beds, to fridges, to chairs and tables. But there is also a security issue here. Some places remain exposed. Look at these two apartment buildings here, ground floor apartments.

This was all done by water, by the way. The flood surge came in here, tore out the facade of this apartment building, pushed everything out. And we're going to sweep over to your right. Our photojournalist Orlando Ruiz and I are going to show other apartments here to your right. They put a police tape here.

What I can tell you is we have heard from neighbors of some of these people who have said that they have heard and seen actually people just kind of walking aimlessly into these apartments, milling in there and rummaging through just kind of loosely. Now this lady who told us this said that she and her neighbors have started kind of a de facto neighborhood watch patrol, shining flashlights on people who've come through here and done things like that.

But it's tough. And we have seen police patrolling around here. But again, there is just so much to look after regarding what the police have to do here that it's tough to like safeguard everything. But you've got homes here that are really exposed not only to the elements but to opportunists coming through here and maybe looting or rummaging through.

The water level, by the way, I can show you was right to that bottom part of that street sign right there. That rectangular part of the street sign. That's where the water level was according to people in this neighborhood who we talked to.

Now that's a security issue. There's also more rescuing and safety issues that people have to contend with here. You've got some of these apartment buildings over here. You see that's about a six-story building. That's obviously not a high rise. But I just spoke to someone from the Naples fire department who said that they've had to conduct 20 rescues of elderly people from high-rise apartments, people who could not use their elevators.

So what are we, four days, three days out now from the hurricane and people are still stranded in places like this. And the fire department still has a lot of work ahead. Another safety issue, structural fires. There are a lot of structural fires starting because of power lines that are loose in houses, sparking fires. Also when they try to restore the power, sometimes the surge causes a short, and that sparks fires.

That's also what the fire department has been dealing with. They were telling us last night they've have had a lot of structural fires just through last night.

So, Jim, I mean, it seems like it's a beautiful sunny day out here and what could be an issue but you've got safety and security problems that are still very acute here in Naples.

ACOSTA: Yes, Brian. I mean, the weather is beautiful out here in Fort Myers and down there in Naples as well. But that sunshine is just revealing what seems like endless destruction all around us. It's just unbelievable to take a look at and take it all in.

Brian Todd, thank you very much.

Nadia Romero, you're in an area where some of the homes are still under water. What are you seeing where you are?

[15:05:07]

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, the biggest issue for people here is that, yes, they're dealing with the destruction of their homes, their properties. But now they can't leave their neighborhoods. This is Highway 70 and you see, it's turned into this humanitarian relief effort coordinated by the U.S. Army, the Salvation Army, by the National Guard, and by the local county emergency management crews.

So there are just cases of water here for people to come and pick up. And then in these white boxes, inside is where you'll find different MREs for people to have food for their families. This is day three now. So if you think about somebody who survived that storm, perhaps the roof has been blown off, their homes damaged, they don't have electricity, and they are trying to just survive now.

But people are in good spirits because help is on the way. Help comes in the form of these airboats because that's the only way you're able to get across what should be a highway. This is the Peace River. And the locals here tell me that it's four times as high as it should be. So the only way to get around is by boat or by plane. And that's what's happening here as people try to get themselves across.

You're trying to get water across. You're trying to get fuel. And you're trying to get medical supplies because on the other side of all this water is a hospital that's up and running. We spoke with locals here who say that they saw people who were injured in the storm get loaded up on those airboats to get to the hospital to get some help. But people are in really good spirits. Despite all this that's going on,

I want you to listen to one resident who says she believes they're lucky.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOAN GODWIN, ARCADIA, FLORIDA RESIDENT: We got hope and we've got each other. We've all survived, everyone, on our road. All the animals made it. All the people made it. Heck, they even had a chicken or a rooster he couldn't trap that even made it. So we all made it. I mean, five miles from here, there's cows that drowned. We're lucky. We're very lucky.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: Yes, she says they're lucky because they survived the storm. Joan told me that the storm to her sounded like it was alive. She said Hurricane Ian was growling and howling as it just laid on top of them for what felt like forever.

I spoke with another woman here who came to pick up some of the water and some of the food supplies here. She says she's running out of blood pressure medicine, Jim. And that's why you worry about the aftermath of all of these storms when people start running out of their life-saving materials like food, like water, like medicine. That's where the concern come in after a hurricane -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Nadia Romero, thank you very much. And you're absolutely right. There are lines for everything around this area. We saw lines for gas, we saw lines for groceries and so on.

But I want to call your attention to something that's happening on the scene right now right behind me here in Fort Myers. You can see this pile of boats behind me. Just in the last several minutes, we've had some rescuers show up on the scene. They are going through some of these boats just to make sure there isn't anybody stuck inside, anybody who's injured inside any of these boats.

This has been happening over the last several minutes just as we've come on the air for this program. So it just goes to show you all of this is changing, all of this is developing minute by minute, hour by hour here in Fort Myers, Florida, as this area tries to unpack and get its arms around what has just been just a devastating destruction here in southwest Florida.

Again, if you're just joining us, the death toll in Florida has now jumped to at least 65 people. And we expect that number to continue to go higher. From talking to officials, talking to residents, they tell us they think these numbers could go higher. We'll give you the latest on that as it comes in. But we've seen some incredible images before and after Hurricane Ian. This is Fort Myers Beach. Just look at that. There are literally empty lots where buildings once stood.

And here's a look at Sanibel Island, hard hit. The Sanibel Island which has just been totally devastated. It's still cut off from the mainland. Only accessible by boat or helicopter. So many homes and businesses destroyed all across the region. And early estimate at this point for losses is some $47 billion, that's with a B, billion dollars which would make this the most expensive storm in Florida's history. And our thanks to all of our photographers out the in the field, bringing us those pictures.

Joining us now by phone is the mayor of Fort Myers, Kevin Anderson.

Mayor Anderson, thanks so much for joining us. I know you're busy. Thanks for hopping on the phone just to give us an update as to what's going on. It just looks like a weather warzone here in your community. The death toll has been raised up to 65. Is there anything that you're receiving, an indication at this point that that number could go higher?

MAYOR KEVIN ANDERSON, FORT MYERS, FLORIDA: Well, actually, Jim, the city of Fort Myers is very compact compared to the rest of the county. So we didn't bear the brunt of the storm like the beach and the islands did. We had a lot of flooding as of right now in the city of Fort Myers. We have not experienced any loss of life.

[15:10:11]

ACOSTA: OK. That's good news. And let me just ask you this, because I've been talking to residents and people who survived this storm, survivors all morning long. And one of the anecdotes that we're hearing time and again is that many people who were in this area were caught off guard to some extent by Hurricane Ian. Yes, they knew that a hurricane was coming to this part of the Gulf Coast but they thought because the weather forecast initially said that it might head towards Tampa, that might not come down to this area, and that, you know, not everybody here got the evacuation orders when they thought they might get them.

Are you getting a sense of that as well when you talk to your constituents, and what are you hearing?

ANDERSON: No. Some people were caught off guard because, obviously, initially it was supposed to be slated to hit Tampa. But it was a slow, gradual move to the east. So we knew with each passing hour, each update, that we were going to be affected more and more. And of course we didn't know it was going to be to this extend.

ACOSTA: And we're showing some pictures of mobile homes that were destroyed, boats that were tossed around in your community. Where do the cleanup efforts in Fort Myers stand at the moment? Are you getting power back in some of these areas?

ANDERSON: We are slowly getting power back. We have probably 90-some percent of our roads have been cleared. They're picking up the debris. They will do so within seven days a week until it's done. The power companies are out here working a minimum of 12 hours a day. They will work seven days a week as well. Our biggest challenge is going to be our water.

ACOSTA: And, Mayor Anderson, we've noticed lots of gas lines, too. What is being done to make sure that there is gas coming into this community? I've covered a lot of hurricanes over the years. It's been a long time. But I know that every time one of these major storms strike, people are lining up for gas, people are lining for critical supplies. What's being done about that?

ANDERSON: We're working with all the gas companies, the various stations that exist in the city, doing our best to help them keep a full supply on hand. We're monitoring the roads to make sure that the lines are not creating a separate problem. I think as the power comes on you'll see those lines will drop because a lot of them are getting the lines -- they're in line to get gas for their generator. So as soon as we get more homes on -- with the power restored, that should slow down the gas lines a little bit. ACOSTA: Yes. That would certainly help. And I'm also hearing from

people that just getting on a cell phone and making a phone call is difficult right now. I suppose you're aware of efforts being made to repair that and get that going as well.

Have you ever seen anything close to this level of destruction before? You have been in this area a long time. What's your sense? I remember Hurricane Charlie. I covered Hurricane Charlie in this area back in 2004. This seems even worse than that. What's your sense of it? .

ANDERSON: Well, I've been in this community since the mid-70s. I was on the police department for 25 years, worked a lot of storms. This is by far the worst one I've ever seen. I just drove through the historic Dean Park neighborhood. And unfortunately it's not far from the river. It's low lying. Every house there was flooded and their yards are filled with their furniture and the carpeting and whatnot.

But, I'll tell you, they're resilient. They jumped right out there. They're getting to work restoring their homes. We already have businesses that are opening. As tough as this storm is, people are -- they're in good spirits and they're determined not to be defeated.

ACOSTA: Well, you can say that again, Mayor Anderson. And we've been out this morning all morning long with people in this area. And they're tough as nails and they're working their butts off to go get life back to normal. But this is an unbelievable, just an unspeakable amount of devastation. Best of luck to you, Mayor Anderson. Thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.

ANDERSON: Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right. And you're looking at some pictures now of the scene here in Fort Myers. These boats that were thrown around behind me. But as you know, Hurricane Ian has also caused lots of problems in the Carolinas. In North Carolina, we're hearing now that at least four deaths are being attributed to the storm. The governor's office there announced three people were killed in separate vehicle incidents Friday.

And today, a 65-year-old man died from carbon monoxide poisoning after running a generator in a closed garage. His wife is hospitalized.

[15:15:02]

That's a reminder to folks out there to be extremely careful. If they're in these hard-hit areas, be extremely careful with those generators, running your vehicles, making sure that your garage door is open if you're doing that sort of thing because you just don't want to mess around with carbon monoxide poisoning. That happens almost every time one of these major storms happens.

And for more information about how you can help the victims of Hurricane Ian, go to CNN.com/impact.

Coming up, how climate change fueled Hurricane Ian's furry and what steps we could take for the future? Everyone's favorite science guy Bill Nye is here with us. He's got lots of expertise. He'll share that with us in just a few moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Staggering images from Fort Myers Beach, Florida where officials say 90 percent of the buildings, 90 percent of the buildings have been destroyed. In some parts you can't even get through traveling on a bicycle.

[15:20:02]

CNN has also obtained a harrowing audio of one woman there who is trapped for several hours. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE LABRIOLA, FLORIDA RESIDENT: I am up to my neck in water.

LISBETH WHELAN, FLORIDA RESIDENT: OK. All right.

LABRIOLA: I am so cold.

WHELAN: Hopie, I'm losing you. I can't hear you.

LABRIOLA: I love you.

WHELAN: I love you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now that woman is fortunately safe tonight. But she tells CNN she is still in shock and picking up the pieces after losing everything that she had. In some of the hardest hit areas Ian produced an amount of rain that's only seen on average once every 1,000 years. And what you're looking at here is timelapse video of the category 4 storm hitting Sanibel Island, which just has been devastated. We now know at least 65 people have been killed statewide.

And joining me now is the man known to sciences or to audiences worldwide as Bill Nye the Science Guy. He's also the host of the Peacock Original Series "The End is Nye."

Bill, so great to have you with us. We appreciate it. If you can, you know, obviously, hurricanes come, hurricanes go. There are a lot of folks out there who will say, you know, why are we even getting into the climate change aspect of all of this. But it's important because as I'm sure you'll explain, Bill, these hurricanes are getting more powerful, they're getting more deadly, they're getting more costly because of climate change. What have you picked up on?

BILL NYE, HOST, "THE END IS NYE": Well, this is -- we've been fighting this fight for 40 years. Pick a number. And these hurricanes, this hurricane is exactly the kind of thing that's predicted by every climate model. That hurricanes would not only get more forceful, that the winds would be stronger, because the wind, the speed of the wind is what knocks over buildings. But the big thing is how big it's getting, how big they're getting, rather. Ian was this enormous storm. Wider than the entire peninsula of

Florida. And of course there are more people living there than ever. And we will all pitch in to help people recover. But wow, the economic data is staggering. And we are all ultimately going to get involved in paying for it. So the sooner we acknowledge that we have a problem, the sooner we can get to work on it, everybody. So this kind of hurricane is exactly as predicted by climate models. The world is getting warmer because there are so many people breathing and burning the atmosphere.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, Bill, one of the things that we noticed with Hurricane Ian is that it actually intensified before it made landfall and became an even more powerful hurricane. There were some forecasts earlier on in the week before this thing made landfall that it was going to weaken and instead it accelerated. And I know that climate scientists have been warning about this time and again that when these powerful hurricanes get into the Gulf of Mexico, they become super charged by those warm waters. Can you explain that?

NYE: So, the energy that drives a hurricane is heat. As the atmosphere gets warmer, the heat ends up in the ocean. Then cool air, and we're talking about just slightly cooler air, squeezes warm air up and you get this rising column of air. And it does this when it hits the stratosphere and because the earth is spinning, and there is gravity, these two accelerations combine to make these an enormous swirling storms.

And we saw in this case where -- and with Ian, where if you were to the south and east, you got this enormous storm surge for a little while in Clearwater, to the north and west of the enormous diameter of the storm. The whole Clearwater Bay was drained briefly. Now as you alluded to, and you know, I've read your book, Jim. You said we have to face the problem before we're going to do anything about it.

And I just -- when people ask me what can we do about climate change, there's all sorts of things we can do. We can address this. We can have better building codes. We can bury power lines, we can have better infrastructure, more resilient escape routes, we can trains in place. But we can have these things ready. But if we don't acknowledge there's a problem, we're not going to get it done. And so I just want to ask conservative lawmakers to cut it out.

I understand that you want to get re-elected. I understand that you have this primary system which motivates you to get these hard-core conservative voters engaged. But, look, you've -- just cut it out. And so last night on competitive network, conservative network, an infamous, notorious host showed this graph and cherry -- this graph is cherry-picking the hurricane data, saying it had to make landfall in the Atlantic seaboard.

[15:25:19]

It had to have to have -- had to come ashore, and it had to have a certain -- these data -- it's not an out-and-out lie, but it is absolutely misleading. And I'm just asking everybody on the other side to cut it out. We've got hundreds of thousands of people suffering tremendously. Now come on. Let's get to work. This is the United States. Come on, let's be world leaders for crying out loud.

Back to you, Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes. Now, and Bill, I mean, when we talk to people out here on the ground, you know, I talked to several folks this morning who were saying this. That, you know, we just need to come together as a country. And it's in moments like this when a very deeply divided nation can come together particularly when it comes to helping an area like southwest Florida get back on its feet, which is what they're desperately trying to do right now.

But, Bill, thank you for highlighting some of the issues that are at play with all of this. Obviously climate change is making these hurricanes more ferocious, more deadly, more costly. And, Bill, thanks very much for your time. We appreciate it.

Again, Bill Nye, he's the host of "The End is Nye" on Peacock. And always great having Bill on. Thank you so much. We appreciate it.

Quick break and just a few moments we'll be right back with more live coverage of Hurricane Ian's aftermath. It's coming up in a few moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:31:06]

ACOSTA: And back to our coverage of Hurricane Ian's aftermath in just a moment.

But this just into CNN. Seven Americans detained in Venezuela have now been freed. President Biden making the announcement moments ago.

Let's get to CNN's Arlette Saenz at the White house.

Arlette, some of these detainees were arrested more than four years ago. What more is the president saying? What can you tell us?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, President Biden in a statement this afternoon announced the release of seven Americans who had been detained in Venezuela, including five of the so-called CITGO 6.

The other member of the CITGO 6 had actually been released in March. But the remaining five, who had been in Venezuela after being held in that country for years, were released today.

There's also another individual named Matthew Heath, who has been detained in Venezuela since September of 2020. He is a Marine veteran. And also another individual named Osman Khan, who had been detained for a few months.

All seven of those Americans are now returning to their families. The president announcing this in a statement where he said they will be reunited with their families soon. Now senior administration officials said that these seven Americans

were swapped in a swap for Venezuela that included two nephews of the first lady of Venezuela.

Two of her nephews were convicted on drug smuggling charges here in the United States back in 2016. They had been sentenced to 18 years in prison. President Biden granted them clemency in exchange for these seven Americans.

Now the president spoke with the families of these Americans earlier today to notify them of their loved ones' release.

A senior administration officials says these Americans are healthy but they will continue to get further medical evaluations.

But certainly, this is good news for those seven families who have been waiting for their loved ones to come home.

ACOSTA: OK. Arlette Saenz, thank you very much for that update.

Coming up, Russia's war entering a new dangerous phase as Vladimir Putin illegally annexes four parts of Ukraine. What could he be planning next?

And also, we'll have the latest here on the ground in Fort Myers, Florida, in southwest Florida still recovering from Hurricane Ian. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:37:29]

ACOSTA: I'm Jim Acosta, in Fort Myers, Florida. We're back on the scene in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.

And I'm joined now by Andy Boyle, who is a local resident of this area.

You actually have a home on Sanibel Island.

ANDY BOYLE, SANIBEL ISLAND, FL, RESIDENT: Yes.

ACOSTA: And that home is not with us anymore, is that correct? How are things going?

BOYLE: The home -- the home is there.

ACOSTA: Yes.

BOYLE: It was pretty nerve wracking. I foolishly stayed on the island because I run a condominium complex on the island and I wanted to make sure that was OK.

We've never had the storm surge before. It appeared that the storm was going to stay north of us. It didn't.

Part of the dining room roof collapsed right into the dining room. That's when we started to get concerned.

ACOSTA: I bet.

BOYLE: And we stayed there. We had to spend the night there, which was nerve wracking.

The next day -- and also, what also was nerve wracking was, our land is fairly high compared to Sanibel, about 10 feet high. Well, the storm surge was approximately five feet high. Other areas of the island, it was between seven and 10 feet high.

I actually had quite a few people that are in the service industry that did stay on the island.

So the next --

ACOSTA: I was going to ask you. You had to be rescued, is that correct?

BOYLE: The next day, the helicopters were going overhead, and I was standing out there waving. And finally, the National Guard out of Jacksonville, Florida, came by in a Chinook and they landed in front of the house.

They stayed there for about an hour and a half. They had an ATV. They explored the whole neighborhood up and down the West gulf. They had probably almost 30 of my neighbors that lived right on the water that stayed on the island as well.

ACOSTA: And there are a lot of fears that people on Sanibel, their lives were lost because people stayed on the island, they didn't get out soon enough.

BOYLE: I have friends on the island right now. I know of one person that died at the Dunes. There might be another one that I have heard has passed away. But I have only heard of actually two fatalities.

I have friends now that are on the island riding around on bicycles checking on everyone.

ACOSTA: What's the level of destruction like on the island? We hear --

BOYLE: Massive.

ACOSTA: Yes.

[15:40:01]

BOYLE: Massive. When you go to the east end of the island, there's just a lot of destruction. The houses surrounding the lighthouse are all gone.

When you go to the West end of the island, the old restaurants up there, they're all gone. The street going to Captiva is now a beach.

ACOSTA: Was there enough time to evacuate? (CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: Is it just battle-hardened Floridians, who are used to storms, said, you know what, we'll be all OK, we'll ride it out?

BOYLE: Well, a lot of people have very expensive, well-built homes on Sanibel. And they thought, with their multimillion-dollar homes built like fortresses, they would be fine.

We've never had a storm surge before. We've had hurricanes before. So people that have their own generators and whatnot, they're used to staying on the island.

But the storm surge between five, seven, 10 feet, that's what really did us in. That was a much higher wind than we anticipated

ACOSTA: Do you feel lucky to be alive?

BOYLE: I do. Yes, I do. I feel very fortunate. We lost a home. I lost two cars. But I do have a place in Fort Myers that I'm now staying at with electricity.

I have a fantastic family. My daughter and son are reaching out to help me. My niece, two nieces are driving down here. I have another niece that's already arrived with food. And it's just --

ACOSTA: It's about family right now.

BOYLE: It's all about family, love, and friends. I can't tell you how many people have actually reached out to myself and my family.

You know, I live on the island with my niece. My sister happened to be here as well, my niece's husband.

(CROSSTALK)

BOYLE: And the dog. I can't forget the dog.

ACOSTA: Don't forget the dog.

BOYLE: Billy.

ACOSTA: And I'm glad you're with us right now to tell this tale because people need to take it to heart when the authorities issue those evacuation orders, urge people to get out. It is important to heed the warnings.

BOYLE: Yes.

ACOSTA: I understand Floridians are tough.

(CROSSTALK)

BOYLE: And when you haven't been through something like this before, it's tempting to stay behind.

BOYLE: Yes. I will never -- I will never stay on the island again.

ACOSTA: I'm sure you won't. I'm sure you won't.

BOYLE: That is for sure.

ACOSTA: Yes. Well, Andy Boyle, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it. Thank you.

BOYLE: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Please stay safe.

BOYLE: And I just want to wish the best for everyone. There are so many people who are homeless now.

ACOSTA: Yes.

BOYLE: It's just very sad and heartbreaking.

ACOSTA: It truly is.

BOYLE: My heart goes out to everybody.

ACOSTA: Ours as well.

Thank you, Andy.

BOYLE: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Stand by, real quick. We'll stay on top of the storm's recovery efforts here in Florida.

But we want to check on another big story out of Ukraine. A Putin ally now urging the Russian leader to use low-yield nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

This comes after Putin illegally annexed four territories in Ukraine, about one-fifth of the country. Putin's actions followed so-called referendums in the region that the West and Ukraine dismissed as shams.

President Biden says President Putin's actions have no legitimacy.

Joining me now to talk about this is the great granddaughter of former Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev. Nina Khrushcheva is also a professor of international affairs at The New School. She has been with us on this program before.

Nina, thanks so much for joining us once again. We appreciate it.

Making a hard turn to the situation in Ukraine from the devastation here in Florida. But this is a critically important topic.

Putin has concocted this elaborate political fantasy whereby holding this ceremony and declaring the regions as part of Russia, he's now going to talk about this war as being a matter of self-defense, I suppose.

He's already warned he will use whatever weapons he has at his disposal to defend the Russian state.

What are your thoughts on all of this? Do you think this about setting the stage to escalate things potentially to the point of using nuclear weapons?

NINA KHRUSHCHEVA, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, THE NEW SCHOOL: Well, thank you, Jim.

I don't want to speculate about the nuclear weapons. I mean, I think if Putin has tools, if he needs to use them, he will use them. That's all I'm going to say.

I'm actually slightly heartened that Ramzan Kadyrov, the one you mentioned, the ally, the Chechen fighter, said that Putin needs to use these small nuke tactical weapons.

Because normally, what we experienced in the last seven months, if Kadyrov says something, it is actually not going to be true. So that gives me a little bit of hope.

But, yes, it was a tremendous, tremendous propaganda setup yesterday in the Kremlin. And it was just pomp and circumstance and all this kind of crazy rhetoric against the West and for the Russian future.

Which suggests that if you're a man and woman, that's how you need to fight the West because you don't have binary genders, there's no economies being taken into consideration, no future of connectivity.

[15:45:08]

And I mean, it was just absolutely -- I teach propaganda, so I know my propaganda. That was an incredibly insane speech in this regard.

But also I looked at the audience, I looked at his elite supporters, at the government, and the government looked from bored to annoyed to devastated to barely just wanting to be there. There were no smiles. There were very few claps.

I grew up in a political family, as you mentioned. So I know my political meetings. And that really was not a supportive meeting in any way.

And I do find this disconnect also quite interesting and something that we want to contemplate for the future.

ACOSTA: And this illegal land grab comes after sham referendums were held in these four Russian-occupied areas where some Ukrainians citizens were forced to vote at gunpoint, which is just unbelievable when you contemplate that. I mean, how is that even voting?

What have you been hearing?

KHRUSHCHEVA: Well, same thing. I mean, it's even worse than when the Crimea referendum was happening in 2014. In fact, Crimeans at the time, it was sort of a peaceful referendum, more peaceful. And Crimeans, many of them, did want to be part of Russia.

But I don't see -- I mean, I think there are some Russians or some Ukrainians with Russian origins that may want to be part of it. But after what we have seen, I can't imagine people really wanting it voluntarily.

But once again, the country is in the grasp of Putin. And so, after 22 years, it's very difficult to protest.

But it is -- I mean, that yesterday was just another step for escalation.

And today, I've been talking -- yesterday, we all talked. I am in Moscow talking to people. And it is just absolute hopelessness for what the future is.

And you have seen pictures of people fleeing this partial mobilization he announced. He said we need to unite and defend the country because now it is going to be an argument.

And yet the Russians don't want to defend this because this is clearly Putin's war. And they, very few of them really want to do it, to have anything to do with it.

ACOSTA: Yes. I was going to ask you, we saw these incredible images of thousands and thousands of Russians waiting in long lines to cross the border, many of them fighting age, men who fear the possibility of being drafted to fight in Putin's war, something many don't want to do.

I know you are working to get a young man out of the country. Can you tell us about that.

KHRUSHCHEVA: I did, I did. I don't want to go into details. But I was very lucky. I did get him out of the country. He's fine.

But what is just a remarkable -- especially yesterday, with that pomp and circumstance, the announcement that those republics are now home with Russia and Russians are happy and excited, and they have this sham celebration on the Red Square.

And actually, another relative of mine was driving around Moscow to see what kind of celebration is elsewhere, not in the Red Square. And she was telling me that it's just police and police and police. And really very few people.

So it really is just turning into this remarkable dystopian novel that we are living in. Because there's one rhetoric, and then completely absolute divorce from reality.

But, yes, thank you. My nephew is fine. He is not sleeping on the floor.

As many of those who fled, they chose to run away and be homeless, many of them, in those countries that let them in rather than fight in this war that Putin says every Russian supports.

ACOSTA: That is a remarkable statement all by itself.

Nina Khrushcheva, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Thanks for your time.

All right. Coming up, more live coverage in store for you in just a few moments from Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. That is next.

And 65 people -- that is the latest estimate from authorities here in Florida, 65 people killed in the state. That number could go higher as the hours go on.

[15:49:27]

We'll have the latest in just a few moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta, in Fort Myers, Florida. We'll have more on the storm in just a few moments.

But it's a big day for former President Jimmy Carter. He turns 98 years old and is now the oldest living former U.S. president ever. He's celebrating quietly at home, with his wife, Rosalynn, and family.

Carter, who served from 1977-1981, as the 39th president, is a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and has spoken extensively around the world about democracy, human rights and health.

Before getting into politics, he was a peanut farmer and Navy lieutenant.

So happy birthday to former President Jimmy Carter, now celebrating his 98th birthday. Just remarkable.

And for many aging seniors, caring for their dog and worrying about what will happen when they pass becomes a real challenge.

That's where this "CNN Hero" comes in. Carie Broecker is on a mission to help seniors of all kinds, the two-legged and the four-legged.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[15:55:05]

CARIE BROECKER, CNN HERO: Peace of Mind Dog Rescue has a dual mission, helping senior dogs and senior people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're my dog now.

BROECKER: We take in dogs from senior citizens who can no longer care for them or who have passed away. And we also take in senior dogs from animal shelters.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, definitely a keeping dog.

BROECKER: We have found homes for almost 3,000 dogs. And we have helped close to 2,000 senior citizens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She looks happy.

BROECKER: In our society, sometimes the elderly, whether that is senior people or senior dogs, get ignored. So, we really want to cherish all of life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: For information, go to CNNheroes.com.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)