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Questions over Lee County Evacuation Orders; Parts of Highway 70 Still Flooded; Bill Truex is Interviewed about Charlotte County, Florida; Biden Heads to Puerto Rico; Mark Kimmitt is Interviewed about Russia. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 03, 2022 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:23]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: It is the top of the hour, Monday morning. We're glad you're with us. I'm Poppy Harlow.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Sciutto.

Right now, urgent search and rescue operations underway in several parts of Florida as the death toll from Hurricane Ian, sadly, climbs. Officials now say at least 76 people have been killed, several others injured, after the monster storm pummeled the state leaving dangerous flooding and destruction in its wake. Governor Ron DeSantis says more than 1,600 rescues have been made so far after the storm turned roads into rivers, destroyed or damaged thousands of buildings and homes, leaving some coastal communities just unrecognizable.

HARLOW: That's right.

And right now, nearly 600,000 homes and businesses are still this morning without power in Florida. Some Floridians still have no clean water. Officials say they are only now beginning to really assess the full scope of the damage.

In Lee County, where more than 42 people died as a result of the hurricane, that is more than half of the deaths from Hurricane Ian, officials in that county are defending their actions after facing quite a bit of criticism over the evacuation timeline there. Critics are asking why mandatory evacuations were not issued in Lee County until one day before Ian's landfall while surrounding counties had already been told to evacuate prior.

Our reporters, correspondents, guests, are all standing by to bring us the latest this hour.

Let's begin with our colleague Boris Sanchez, who is in Fort Myers, where, obviously, Lee County - which is in Lee County.

And, Boris, officials say Hurricane Ian has killed at least 76 people across ten counties. You were pressing the commissioner of Lee County for answers about why evacuations orders did not come sooner.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Poppy. Good morning.

I was able to ask Lee County Commissioner Kevin Ruane about that evacuation order yesterday. I also asked the sheriff of Lee County about the decision to issue those evacuation orders some 36 hours after the emergency management plan here in Lee County stipulates that that order should have been issued. Keep this in mind, the plan states that if there's a 10 percent chance of a 6 foot storm surge in the most vulnerable areas, the county is supposed to evacuate and help evacuate people out of those parts of Lee County. They didn't. It wasn't until Tuesday morning when officials ordered the evacuations, even though on Sunday night, before the storm hit, there was an indication that there would be up to a 7 foot storm surge here.

They have responded, pushing back on our questions, saying that they did everything that they could to help people in this area, that even with the forecast changing and the storm shifting eastward at a relatively late period, folks still didn't want to leave their homes. Keep in mind, more than 40, the bulk of the fatalities here in the state of Florida, more than 40 of them came in Lee County.

For those that survived, today is a difficult day. They're faced with a harsh recovery effort. So much of this area destroyed. Especially here in this marina. We've talked to several folks in this area that made their livelihoods because of fishing and tourism. And as we arrived at this marina yesterday morning, we noticed there were dozens of boats, large fishing charter vessels, picked up and thrown around the landscape.

I walked through hundreds of feet of mangroves with one boat captain yesterday. His name is Captain Lewis McDonald. He had been operating out of this marina since 1986. His boat got thrown across into the swamp, flicked like a toy. He was explaining to me that it was something sentimental to him because it was a boat that he had built with his father who passed away a few years ago.

Here's what he shared with CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEWIS MCDONALD, RESIDENT OF FORT MYERS, FLORIDA: I know a lot of people lost their boats. I'm not trying to make my boat any like better than theirs. But for me personally, it's not just a boat and a business, it's part of my family. And I was close to my dad. Real close.

SANCHEZ: So, this was a miracle.

MCDONALD: Yes. Flat out miracle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Our thanks to Captain Lewis and his wife Loretta for sharing their story with us. One of many that we've heard across this region of folks who are now having to pick up the pieces. Captain Lewis told me that he obviously feels thankful, not only because his boat is intact, but because he's alive when so many others in this region lost their lives.

Jim. Poppy.

SCIUTTO: Yes, it's a reminder the bulk of the attention is in the early days of this.

[09:05:02]

And those folks are going to have to be picking their way out for weeks, months, years possibly.

Boris Sanchez, good to have you there.

All right, another area hard hit, Arcadia, Florida, 50 miles inland. Parts of Highway 70, which serves as a throughfare across the state of Florida, that remains submerged.

CNN national correspondent Nadia Romero is there.

You're, I understand, Nadia, near a food and water distribution site. What are residents there telling you about what the wake of this looks inland?

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, the big issue now is how much longer can we sustain ourselves because we are on Highway 70 right now. This road is where you would normally take to get through to the rest of town. So, you would just continue on. You'd pass over two bridges. You'd make your way to a Walmart, a Publix, and then you could go to Palm Beach or even make your way to Fort Myers. That's not going to happen because you can see this highway is now a river. Peace River is overflowing in every direction. Those are RVs you're looking at in the background that are just floating there from the camp site. And further to the left of your screen you'll see a truck here. The locals here tell me that was the last car that tried to make it out but the people inside had to jump out of the car and swim to shore because they just couldn't make it.

Now, positive sign of what we're seeing is the water is starting to recede, about 2 or 3 feet. So, that's good news. But a lot more work needs to be done because at its height this Peace River was four times the size it normally is.

So, what are residents doing here? Well, they're trying to get boat rides to get to the other side. You can see a boat just arrived. An air boat. That's what was happening right behind me, Jim, when we were first talking. These folks here have been waiting for a ride for a couple of minutes now. And people will wait here by this stack of waters and they will either get a free ride or they'll have to pay for a ride through from one of those boat drivers to help with gas.

And then you can come to this distribute site to get supplies. Supplies are coming from the other side of the river. You're talking water bottles, Pampers, bottles, things that you need just to keep going. And you can see a stack of water bottles right here, of cases, and those white boxes, those are full of MREs. Now, the National Guard, county emergency management, Salvation Army,

all of these groups have been working together on the other side of the river, big semitrailer full of resources. And people will come here to pick them up. We've also seen just neighbors helping neighbors. People who own restaurants have been coming, dropping off hot meals. But the neighbors tell me they're fed up with how long all of this is taking. They still don't have electricity. All the food they did have is now spoiled.

Jim.

HARLOW: Nadia Romero, thank you for being there very much and for your reporting on the ground all weekend on this.

Let's bring in Bill Truex, he's a commissioner for Charlotte County in Florida, that neighbors Lee County.

Thank you very much, Bill, for being with us this morning.

Look, the sheriff of your county said on Friday that residents are, in their words, quote, facing a tragedy. Talked about lack of homes, you know, remaining. For those that got knocked out, electricity, water supplies. And he said we need everything.

I know a number of people in Charlotte County are elderly. They're over 65. So, I wonder how much more difficult that is making this recovery effort.

BILL TRUEX, COMMISSIONER FOR CHARLOTTE COUNTY, FLORIDA: Well, it does add to the complexity of the - of the process. It's been hard to get things here with I-75 shut down. That's been an issue. And the 62 percent of our population that's over 65 is a problem. And that problem means they need a lot more care and assistance. And trying to get that assistance here has not been easy. But I know that -- I've been in contact with some folks on the east coast who were sending volunteers over this week to try to assist these folks that may not have insurance or at the least they can help them get their property secured and hopefully get them back on track.

We do have three pods set up as far as distribution of water and ice, tarps are yet to come from FEMA. We're waiting on tarps. But we also have some food distribution locations. Mission Barbecue is in Port Charlotte at the Beacon's (ph) Furniture, and we have another one at the (INAUDIBLE) Beaver (ph) Park on San Casa (ph) in Englewood. So, we're trying to get food -- hot food to people. We're trying to get MREs to people. And we're trying to make certain that the power is coming back on. FP&L has been working very diligently with that. We had 24,500 roughly out of power. We have 57,400 restored at this point in time.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you about that because Florida Power and Light says it could be weeks before all power is fully restored. Looking ahead, do you believe the power company needs to make changes to prepare for the next storm? There are areas on the east coast, for instance, that they bury power lines. Now I know that has a separate risk with flooding, right, I mean, because lines underground can also be at risk with high waters.

[09:10:07]

But do you need to make changes, right, that are more lasting, I suppose, this time is the question.

TRUEX: And that's a great question because after Hurricane Charlie they did the transmission lines all got hardened. And we didn't have issues with transmission lines. But the distribution lines did go down. And they are in a process in Charlotte County of switching to underground areas. Certain areas they're attacking first and hopefully they can get this moving forward quickly because I know that we dodged a bullet again here with storm surge that Lee County did not, but I will tell you that we have more wind damage from hurricanes than we've ever had water damage as far as storm surge is concerned.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: Commissioner, the director of FEMA over the weekend, Deanne Criswell, said just yesterday on CNN that anyone that lives near water should certainly purchase flood insurance. Talking about it as the number one tool to protect your family after a storm like this.

The issue is -- the reason, you know, largely you've got 18 percent of folks only in the state with flood insurance is it costs three times as much across the state of Florida to get flood insurance. And the max for protecting a home is $250,000. And the average cost of a home there is over $400,000. So you can see why for folks it doesn't make a lot of sense.

And, by the way, almost all the big insurers have pulled out of the state of Florida in terms of flood insurance.

So, I just wonder what your message is to folks on how they would even do that and if you share her recommendation.

TRUEX: Well, yes, I do share that recommendation. I've been talking about flood insurance for years here. And what I will say is this, my home is coming out of a flood zone. I will maintain that minimum policy because it is still a little bit expensive but, at the end of the day, it's an insurance policy that will help us if we have storm surge.

The lake in the back of my house rose between 5 and 6 feet. If it had risen 3 to 4 feet more it would have been at my back door. So, everybody needs to be aware that they should have a minimum policy. And what does that mean? It means it's a minimal cost for the same coverage because you're at minimum risk.

I have talked - I have spoken to a congressman out of Missouri years ago, his chief of staff, and he didn't understand why I wanted to talk to him about flood insurance. Well, Missouri has more flood claims than Florida at that time, and that was back in 2013. I don't have current data on that.

But I think it's important that this is a nationwide discussion because we do need flood insurance. And if we have the rising tides that we have around the state of Florida in other areas, obviously we need to adjust to that.

SCIUTTO: It's a good point because there is evidence of that, the rising tides, as you described.

Commissioner Bill Truex, thanks so much.

TRUEX: Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.

SCIUTTO: Next hour, President Biden and the first lady, they're going to head to Puerto Rico to meet with residents, see how they are recovering from the destructive Hurricane Fiona.

HARLOW: The storm, of course, you'll remember, ravaged the island two weeks ago. It left much of the island without power or running water. Puerto Rico's health department says at least 25 deaths may be linked to that hurricane.

Our Arlette Saenz is at the White House.

So, Arlette, good to have you this morning.

We're hearing Biden will announce also new infrastructure aid as part of this, is that right?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Poppy and Jim.

President Biden is set to announce $60 million in infrastructure funding for Puerto Rico, all part of his pledge that the federal government will be there every step of the way as the recovery efforts continue. This money will be coming from that bipartisan infrastructure law that was signed earlier this year, and it will include funding to help shore up levees, also strengthen flood walls and create a new flood warning system to help Puerto Rico prepare for future storms.

Now, this will be President Biden's first trip to Puerto Rico as president. And he and the first lady will touchdown in Ponce, Puerto Rico, around 2:00. The president, right away, will receive a briefing on Hurricane Fiona as so much of the island is still focused on recovery efforts with 86 percent of the island now having power restored.

The president will then deliver remarks and he and the first lady will also meet with families who have been impacted with community leaders on the ground there and participate in a community service project where they will be packing bags of food and other essential items.

Now, while the president's focus today is on Puerto Rico, he and the first lady will also be traveling to Florida on Wednesday to focus and see the devastation wrought by Hurricane Ian there.

SCIUTTO: Arlette, good to have you there. So much to pay attention to this morning. Coming up next, how to respond if Russia follows through on its

increasingly public nuclear threats. I have new reporting this morning from intelligence sources about what Putin may be capable of and just how seriously the U.S. is taking it, including making contingency plans.

HARLOW: Also ahead for us, former President Trump, in his own words, nearly a year before the FBI took hundreds of documents from Mar-a- Lago.

[09:15:05]

You will hear the former president falsely claim that the National Archives already had all his letters from Kim Jong-un.

And Kim Kardashian paying more than a million dollars to the SEC this morning. This over an Instagram post and the question about disclosure of funds taken in. What the SEC says she did that broke the law.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: New reporting this morning, CNN has learned that the U.S. is developing contingency plans for possible Russian escalation in its war in Ukraine, including the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons. Also, the possibility of what one source described as a nuclear display. That would be something short of a nuclear strike, including the possibility of a military strike on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Joining me now to discuss, retired Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt.

[09:20:02]

He's former assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, also former deputy director for plans and strategy at U.S. CENTCOM.

General, good to have you on this morning.

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT (RET.), FORMER ASST. SECY. OF STATE FOR POLITICAL-MILITARY AFFAIRS: Hi, Jim, how are you?

SCIUTTO: So this shows how seriously the U.S. is taking these Russian nuclear threats. They've been developing contingency plans for some time. I wonder, can you describe what such contingency plans might involve?

KIMMITT: Well, I think, first of all, there's the public face of all of this, which is how we communicate to Russia what we're prepared to do, what we're not prepared to do. My personal view is I think we ought to be deliberately vague on what we are prepared to do. Anytime you draw a red line, that commits you to a certain course of action.

Look, I think it's fairly simple to lay down the options. It could be the soft side of it, which is doubling down on sanctions, doubling down on export controls, ranging all the way to a nuclear response of our own and everything in between.

SCIUTTO: Wow.

KIMMITT: Would be likely that this president is not looking at the far end of that, sort of looking at a response in kind, but not with nuclear weapons.

SCIUTTO: Understood.

KIMMITT: Hard strikes on Russian facilities inside of Ukraine most likely.

SCIUTTO: That's exactly how General Petraeus described it. He said hypothetically and, again, he's not basing this on any public, you know, revelation of intelligence, we would respond by leading a NATO collective effort that would take out every Russian conventional force that we could see and identify on the battlefield in Ukraine, also in Crimea. Does that sound like the response you would be thinking of?

KIMMITT: Well, I certainly don't have a vote in the matter, but I think that's certainly one of the options that would be considered. And I'm glad to see I'm in good company as Dave Petraeus.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this then because a concern from the start of this war, which has, you know, qualified really every U.S./NATO step in response to the Russian invasion, the quality of weapons, the range of weapons, the degree of military support for Ukraine has been concerns about sparking a broader war with Russia. For instance, that's why the idea of a no fly zone was eliminated, because that would be putting NATO war planes in direct conflict with Russian forces.

Would a response like this, I mean and this has to be part of the calculation, right? I mean there's a risk of sparking a broader war, is there not?

KIMMITT: Oh, there certainly is. But I heard a description of Putin yesterday that I thought was particularly apt. He started off as an autocrat, became a dictator and now he's a madman.

SCIUTTO: Wow.

KIMMITT: He may be a madman, but I don't think he's suicidal. I don't believe that he wants to be the leader of Russia that ends the Russian Federation. So, I think we ought to take his threats seriously, but I don't think we should be cowed or coerced into any particular action as a result.

SCIUTTO: And I should note, and this is in our story this morning, that the U.S., to date, has not detected any movements of Russian nuclear forces or weapons that would indicate the such an attack is imminent.

I do want to talk about the battlefield right now and Ukrainian progress because we saw that rapid advance in the northeast at the start of this counteroffensive. Now we're seeing, if not quite rapid advance, but still substantial advance in the south around Kherson.

How bad is the situation for Russia and it's forces? Is this -- have we seen the beginning of a broader retreat here?

KIMMITT: That's hard to say, Jim, because if you look at it from classic military analysis, the Russians should be doing far, far better. A quantitative assessment says that the Russians have the advantage. But it's the intangibles that we're seeing on the battlefield. The morale of the Ukrainians, the equipment they have, the leadership that they have, versus the exact opposite on the side of the Russians. I don't think you can take a conventional military ruler and measure this as well as may have been in the past. I don't particularly think there's going to be a breakout anytime soon but there will be continued pressures on the Russians both in the north and the south.

SCIUTTO: Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, good to have you on this morning. Thanks so much.

KIMMITT: Yes, thanks, Jim.

HARLOW: Well, still ahead, there's new audio and it reveals what former President Trump says that he was doing during the insurrection on January 6th. You'll hear him in his own words. That's next.

Also, Kim Kardashian charge by the Securities and Exchange Commission. We'll explain what she was charged with and the settlement details, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:29:38]

SCIUTTO: All right, this headline, Kim Kardashian charged now by the Securities and Exchange Commission for her role in promoting a crypto asset.

HARLOW: So, she's agreed to pay $1.3 million as a fine to the SEC. This is about failure to disclose that she was paid to promote that company on Instagram. She also agreed to cooperate with the ongoing investigation.

Our chief business correspondent Christine Romans is here with more.

[09:30:02]

Christine, I thought the - the statement after this was announced this morning from Commissioner Gensler was interesting and notable.