Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Milton Traverses Helene-ravaged Florida; Harris Appears on 60 Minutes Despite Trump Declining to Interview on the Program; Whitney Houston's Mother Dies; Two Scientists Honored in the Nobel Prize for Medicine 2024. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired October 08, 2024 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, Hurricane Milton barrels towards Florida, with the state still reeling from the devastation of Hurricane Helene.

Intense fighting in the Middle East after a day of mourning where Israel marked one year since the deadly October 7th attacks.

And U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris kicks off a media blitz. Will it be enough to quiet critics who say she hasn't done enough?

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. Well, Florida's Gulf Coast is bracing for yet another major hurricane, but it's not just any storm. It's the strongest storm the world has seen so far this year. Hurricane Milton has weakened slightly to a Category 4 strength, but the storm's explosion in size and intensity has been staggering, jumping from a category one all the way to category five in just 24 hours. By the time it makes landfall sometime Wednesday, it should weaken to a category three. But that's little comfort for a state still reeling from Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago.

Officials are warning Milton's impact will be catastrophic. They're urging everyone in the storm's path to leave as soon as they can. And many have taken that message to heart. Florida's highways have been packed since early Monday. The mayor of Tampa issued a stark warning to those daring to stay behind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JANE CASTOR (D), TAMPA, FLORIDA: Helene was a wakeup call. This is literally catastrophic. And I can say without any dramatization whatsoever. If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you're going to die. If this takes a jog to the south, that's going to save us from the storm surge, but it stays on the track that it's projected to be on right now. Or if it goes a bit north, would be even worse.

So this is something that I have never seen in my life. And I can tell you that anyone who was born and raised in the Tampa Bay area has never seen anything like this before. People need to get out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Sherrell Hubbard has more on the urgent preparations being made as the hurricane approaches.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERRELL HUBBARD, JOURNALIST (voice-over): In a routine that's become all too familiar, Florida residents are preparing. Some by filling sandbags, some evacuating, all doing the best they can to prepare for yet another life threatening storm. FEMA with a firm warning to those with evacuation orders.

UNKNOWN: They need to get out.

HUBBARD (voice-over): Some heeding the message. Florida highways were crammed Monday with what state officials expect could be the largest evacuation since 2017's hurricane Irma. Milton threatened storm surge, rain and flash flooding. But due to Hurricane Helene's devastation, there's another threat, the potential for flying debris.

MAYOR TYLER PAYNE, TREASURE ISLAND, FLORIDA: We still have significant amount of debris cleanup to do across the barrier islands to make sure that doesn't become projectiles in this coming hurricane.

HUBBARD (voice-over): Florida's governor has deployed the National Guard to help assist with debris removal that could cause more damage from Milton's forecasted winds, which got up to 180 mph Monday. The storm is projected to weaken and make landfall as a category three near the Tampa area on Wednesday, packing 120 mph winds. It's dangerous eye and eyewall could come ashore anywhere from Cedar Key and the north to Naples in the south.

KEVIN GUTHRIE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FLORIDA DIVISION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: If they have called for your evacuation order, I beg you, I implore you to evacuate. Drowning deaths due to storm surge or 100 percent preventable if you leave.

HUBBARD (voice-over): I'm Sherrell Hubbard reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Hurricane Milton's strength and magnitude have left veteran meteorologists in shock, including John Morales of Miami. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MORALES, WTVJ METEOROLOGIST: Just an incredible, incredible hurricane. It has dropped. It has dropped 50 millibars in 10 hours. I apologize. This is just horrific.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Morales has guided South Florida through some of the state's strongest ever hurricanes, including Andrew, Irma, Matthew and Maria.

[03:05:00]

He later posted on social media, quote, "extreme weather driven by global warming has changed me. Frankly, you should be shaken too and demand climate action now."

Extreme drought in Brazil is isolating communities in the Amazon. Dozens of municipalities in Amazon's state are under a state of emergency. And a key river port in the region is at its lowest level in more than a century. Local officials say more than half a million people are affected and warn the river level will likely keep falling for another week or two. Below average rainfall is impacting the Amazon and much of South America since last year and researchers say climate change is to blame.

Meanwhile, Nigeria is facing a surge in cholera while grappling with weeks of flooding that has killed hundreds of people. Authorities say floods have displaced nearly 2 million people. Flood waters destroyed a prison allowing inmates to escape. Officials also say flooding at a zoo killed most of the animals there and swept snakes and crocodiles into communities.

Elliot Jacobson is a climate analyst and retired professor of math and computer science. He joins me now from Santa Barbara in California. Appreciate you being with us.

ELLIOT JACOBSON, CLIMATE ANALYST AND RETIRED PROFESSOR OF MATH AND COMPUTER SCIENCE: Well, thanks for having me.

CHURCH: So Hurricane Milton is barreling toward the Florida coast right now. It's one of the top 10 strongest hurricanes ever recorded. The planet's strongest storm this year, now a category five. And Milton comes on the heels of the deadly force of Hurricane Helene.

Brazil's Amazon region is experiencing its worst drought in 122 years. And we're seeing extreme flooding in Western Central Africa. So how much of all this can be directly linked to climate change?

JACOBSON: So there are attribution studies that can try and link any given event to climate change, but we don't want to just go around pointing fingers at events and saying that's climate change, that's climate change. What we know is that climate change is going to make all of these events happen more often.

They'll be more intense when they happen and they'll last longer. And that's what we see over and over. We see more of these extreme events happening. And that is the fingerprint of climate change.

CHURCH: So how should we be responding to this new normal created for the most part by climate change? What do we need to be doing right now?

JACOBSON: So it's a good question especially your use of the phrase the new normal. So what we need to understand is we're just passing through this moment. We don't have any idea of what a new normal will be or where we're headed. It has a lot to do with the sorts of decisions that are made right now, both locally, globally, and in every sort of political environment.

So things will get a lot worse than they are now. They will continue to get worse for at least the next 30 to 50 years, pretty much no matter what we do. We have to be thinking of a future for our children and grandchildren right now with the decisions we make. So I just want to say that the new normal, unfortunately, is still a long way off.

CHURCH: So how should nations rebuild after these extreme weather disasters and also, how should they be building for the future to adjust to the new conditions created and being created by climate change?

JACOBSON: Well, one thing to understand is that scientists really do have a good idea of certain parts of the planet that are going to become sort of inhospitable to civilization, and these include certain coastal regions that are going to flood, certain regions that are simply going to get too hot to sustain human life, and certain places that are expected to have massive droughts or massive flooding.

So what we need to do is trust the scientists who are identifying these regions and understand that migration is going to be taking place on a global scale.

And we have to understand that climate migration will be part of our future and that allowing our fellow humans to find another home is part of our responsibility. So I think that's the number one thing we need to do is understand that the climate is being degraded globally and everybody deserves a home.

CHURCH: And we do see this, don't we? Because in flood zones, in areas that are not really habitable anymore, people do just keep rebuilding and trying to live there at what point? And what is the process of saying, this is no longer a habitable region? People need to find an alternative. What is that process?

JACOBSON: Well, I think unfortunately that humans are very stubborn about this. And we often hear the phrase, well, we're going to rebuild. And you just look at, for example, what's happening in Tampa. They just had a record breaking seven foot, a wealthy like two meter storm surge, right? That was the all-time records that just 10 days ago.

[03:10:01]

And now we're expecting with this new hurricane, double that to come into the same region. I mean, what's happening is that we're not going to be able to keep up with the ever-intensifying storms in these regions. So when you ask about what should we do to rebuild, it's not clear at all that we're going to be able to stay ahead of these storms, or the rising sea level or the heat or all of these places is simply not going to be possible to sort and I mean, if you even look at what happened in North Carolina, right?

One of the climate havens was Asheville. This was an area that was touted as a safe place to move if you had a climate consciousness. And now that was essentially decimated. So I think we need to understand just how fragile this planet is right now and that fragility is just going to be increasing.

CHURCH: And in the midst of the hurricane crisis in Florida, far-right Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene doubled down on her conspiracy theory over the weekend, following up a baseless claim that the government can control the weather with an assertion that such a scheme might involve lasers. So how do you combat the crazy out there when the world is already dealing with the reality of climate change, which is crazy in itself and what do you say to climate deniers?

JACOBSON: Well, I can just put out facts. I cannot fight delusions. I can't fight that sort of insanity. But I mean, just for example, to get a feeling for the scope of what that claim means, for example, Katrina, the power of Katrina, was about the same as three million Hiroshima atomic bombs worth of energy, right, and worth of destruction.

So when you think that we essentially can sort of pulled out of somewhere the equivalent of millions of Hiroshima bombs, you know, and direct that energy to create these events is so much beyond nonsense.

I don't know how to describe being the sort of a lack of just basic fundamental understanding of the planet that, sort of, demonstration of the (inaudible). I don't have a remedy for idiocy. I'm sorry, I just don't.

CHURCH: Well, appreciate you trying. Elliot Jacobson, thank you so much for talking with us. I appreciate having you with us.

JACOBSON: Well, thank you for having me so much. Thanks.

CHURCH: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing his country will continue to fight as long as its enemies threaten its peace and existence. And the latest evidence comes in Beirut where a large explosion lit up the night sky in the Lebanese capital late Monday. The Israeli Air Force reports it hit more than 120 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon within an hour aimed at degrading the militant group's capabilities.

The Israel Defense Forces says Hezbollah fired approximately 190 projectiles from Lebanon into Israel. Many were intercepted, but some fell on communities in northern Israel, setting cars on fire. And video from Israeli strikes on Gaza is especially disturbing. Palestinian officials report at least 10 people were killed in the Jabalia refugee camp, at least 34 more were killed in strikes elsewhere in northern and central Gaza.

And CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us now live from Abu Dhabi. So Paula, what more are you learning about the impact of these strikes from Hezbollah and Israel on Monday into Tuesday?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Rosemary, we have seen an intense 24 hours when it comes to this particular area of the war. As you say, there was, according to the Israeli military, about 190 projectiles fired by Hezbollah into Israel on Monday. We know that overnight as well there were a number of Israeli airstrikes targeting different areas in Lebanon.

The IDF says that they were targeting Hezbollah intelligence headquarters, which they say they were also targeting a day before, and they did carry out strikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Now, we know that there are significant numbers of evacuation orders that have been given to over 120 villages in southern Lebanon, and we know that many of those people have had to move north, further north, 1.2 million are believed to be displaced at this point, according to officials. And of course, many of them have come to the capital, believing that they would be safer there. But certainly in the southern suburbs, we have seen countless airstrikes.

[03:14:58]

We heard from NNA, the Lebanese state media, that a three-story residential building was targeted in the southern suburbs, also Tyre, the district in southern Lebanon. So this really does feel like it's not going to end anytime soon and that is something which was really laid out quite clearly by the Israeli Prime Minister.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): In every meeting between me and my wife, with our fighters, with our wounded, with the bereaved families, we hear the same message again and again. The campaign must not be stopped prematurely. As long as the enemy threatens our existence and the peace of our country, we will continue fighting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: And just really to back up that sentiment, we've heard from U.S. officials that the Biden administration is no longer actively trying to push a ceasefire deal when it comes to Hezbollah and Israel. There was a 21 day ceasefire plan that just a couple of weeks ago, the Biden administration believed it had the tacit approval of both sides for. But they're now just trying to limit the Israeli operations and trying to shape them in some way. Rosemary.

CHURCH: Alright. Our thanks to Paula Hancocks with that live report from Abu Dhabi.

Well, Monday marked an emotional day of remembrance in Israel as thousands attended vigils, memorials and ceremonies across the country to honor the 1,200 people killed in the Hamas attacks one year ago. Among those killed a group of female soldiers who had observed worrying signs ahead of October 7th. CNN's Jim Sciutto has more now from southern Israel. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN U.S. SECURITY ANALYST (voice-over): One year after October 7th, visiting the Nahalah's base in southern Israel brings Eyal Eshel both a chance to honor his daughter, Ronnie, and the most painful memories.

EYAL ESHEL, FATHER OF OCTOBER 7 ATTACK VICTIM: From here, they came in the October 7th.

SCIUTTO: This is where they entered the base here?

E. ESHEL: Yes, this is the way they came from Gaza.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): Roni was one of more than a dozen IDF soldiers in an all-female observer unit who raised the alarm as Hamas terrorists crossed into Israel that morning after warning for months of an impending attack.

RONI ESHEL, IDF OBSERVATION SOLDIER (translated): Four people are running towards the fence, confirm received. I see two people running towards the fence, confirm received.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): As Hamas fighters overran the base, even filming themselves as they did it, Roni and her fellow observers waited six hours for a rescue that never came. They were killed along with more than 30 other Israeli soldiers at the base, while several others were taken hostage.

For Eyal today, each location inside the base brings pain.

E. ESHEL: Here is the table that the girls were sitting and eating and smiling and laughing.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): Just what they were doing the very night before the October 7th attack, in this video recorded by Roni's fellow soldier.

This week in the destroyed operations room, Eyal lit a candle to mark the Jewish New Year at the very same spot where Roni issued those ominous warnings and close to where she died.

E. ESHEL: We don't have any holidays. We hate holidays. She's not here. She's not with us.

SCIUTTO: This is where the observer unit was based. This is where they were issuing those warnings prior to the attack that something was coming. And sadly on the morning of October 7th, this is where many of them were killed.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): The IDF's failure not just to heed the observer's warning, but also to come to their rescue, remain crucial questions a full year since October 7th. Part of a much broader security failure that day. It was on these now burned up computer screens that Roni and her colleagues told their parents they'd seen worrying signs from Hamas, including accounts of fighters testing the fence line.

The Israeli military ignored other warning signs as well, including these training videos Hamas posted openly online in the months before, and earlier intelligence since uncovered by Israeli media about Hamas' intent to attack Israeli communities and even take multiple hostages.

Retired Brigadier General Amir Avivi is former deputy commander of the IDF's Gaza Division.

AMIR AVIVI, FORMER DEPUTY COMMANDER, IDF GAZA DIVISION: They thought that Hamas is mostly worried about the stability inside Gaza and the economy.

SCIUTTO: So you're saying it was a misreading of Hamas rather than not listening to internal warnings?

[03:19:57]

AVIVI: Generally speaking, yes, but I think that also at a certain point where the observers said again and again and again that they're seeing things that are out of usual, at a certain point they were commanded and said, okay, that's it, we don't want to hear about this anymore.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): The IDF and Israeli government have insisted a full investigation into what went wrong that day cannot take place while the country is fighting a war on multiple fronts now.

E. ESHEL: We put the picture of the whole girls.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): Today, Eyal and the other families have built a memorial for their lost daughters overlooking Nahal Oz base.

E. ESHEL: Here is Roni.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): But they're still waiting for what he wants most now, accountability.

SCIUTTO: Has anyone from the army or the government ever said to you, I take responsibility?

E. ESHEL: No one. No one.

SCIUTTO: Has anyone ever said, I'm sorry?

E. ESHEL: No one. I need answers and I need the responsibility and I need the truth.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): A father's simple demand after the worst loss imaginable.

Jim Sciutto, CNN. Nahal Oz, Southern Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Still to come from border security to how she'd pay for her economic plans, presidential hopeful Kamala Harris fields tough questions from "60 Minutes". We'll hear some of her key answers, as well as a blast of disinformation from her opponent, some of Donald Trump's latest falsehoods coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Donald Trump has accused rival Kamala Harris of avoiding interviews because she's not good at them. But the Democratic nominee appeared Monday on the in-depth news program "60 Minutes" and Trump did not. She was questioned about a number of contentious topics including immigration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS (D), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's a long-standing problem and solutions are at hand and from day one literally We have been offering solutions.

BILL WHITAKER, CBS CORRESPONDENT: What I was asking was, was it a mistake to kind of allow that flood to happen in the first place?

HARRIS: I think the policies that we have been proposing are about fixing a problem, not promoting a problem. Okay?

WHITAKER: But the numbers did quadruple under your watch.

HARRIS: And the numbers today, because of what we have done, we have cut the flow of illegal immigration by half.

WHITAKER: Should you have done that. Should you have done that?

HARRIS: We have cut the flow of fentanyl by half, but we need Congress to be able to act to actually fix the problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Vice President Harris was also pressed about how she would get the funding for her economic plans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: So the other economists that have reviewed my plan versus my opponent and determined that my economic plan would strengthen America's economy, his would weaken it.

[03:25:06]

My plan, Bill if you don't mind, my plan is about saying that when you invest in small businesses you invest in the middle class and you strengthen America's economy. Small businesses are part of the backbone of America's economy.

WHITAKER: But pardon me, Madam Vice President, the question was, how are you going to pay for it?

HARRIS: Well, one of the things I'm going to make sure that the richest among us who can afford it pay their fair share in taxes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Before the interview, CBS News reminded viewers that it's been a decades-long tradition for major party nominees to sit down with 60 Minutes in October of election years. This year, Donald Trump accepted the invitation but changed his mind last week and canceled. His campaign had complained about the interview being fact-checked. Trump has also demanded an apology from the program from their pre-election interview in 2020 that he found unfavorable.

Well meanwhile, Trump has been releasing a torrent of disinformation lately on the campaign trail, spreading lies about hurricane relief and claiming Harris is allowing thousands of murderers into the country through an open border.

The Republican presidential nominee is expected to hold a campaign event in Aurora, Colorado later this week where he has claimed, without evidence that the city is being taken over by Venezuelan gangs. On Monday, Trump attended an October 7th memorial and insisted that the terror attacks against Israel would have never happened had he still been president.

Larry Sabato is the founder and director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and editor of "A Return to Normalcy? The 2020 Election That (Almost) Broke America." And he joins me now from Charlottesville. Always good to have you with us.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR AND FOUNDER, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA-CENTER FOR POLITICS: Thank you, Rosemary. Always good to be here.

CHURCH: So just 28 days to Election Day in America and the race is historically tighter than ever before. Where do you see the path to victory for each of the presidential candidates right now?

SABATO: Well, it's pretty clear that for Kamala Harris, winning the blue wall, as Joe Biden did in 2020 and as Hillary Clinton failed to do in 2016, is the key for her. I mean, there are other combinations of states that would put her over 270, which is the minimum needed in the electoral college for victory. But the easiest and the most logical is just to carry the blue wall and the other normally democratic states, and all the other ones seem to be in line already.

For Donald Trump, it's really to stop Kamala Harris from winning at least one of the big states in the blue wall, probably Pennsylvania, maybe Wisconsin, but probably Pennsylvania, and then picking up his southern tier, which you would expect him to have some edge in, despite Biden's winning Georgia and Arizona the last time around.

And that's credible, too. Right now it is a very close race. Doesn't mean it has to end up that way. And I doubt that all the swing states will move in one direction or that they'll be almost evenly split. So the election is yet to be won, Rosemary. I think that's the key conclusion that anybody would reach in going through all these polls every day and watching the headlines for the two candidates. CHURCH: And Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been

campaigning in battleground states, spreading falsehoods about America not having any more elections if he loses, also suggesting his opponents tried to kill him and that the federal government isn't doing enough to help those hit by Hurricane Helene. And now he's making disparaging comments about migrants having bad genes. What is the impact of falsehoods like this and are media outlets doing sufficient fact checking on all this?

SABATO: Some media outlets are and I salute them for making sure every time they mention one of Trump's ridiculous irresponsible claims they do point out that it's unsubstantiated. The problem is that so many people first of all swallow everything that Trump says and don't even have indigestion and the first part of whatever is said in the news report and not focus on the word unsubstantiated. So there's no way to do it precisely right. It's important to blame the person who's being irresponsible and his name is Donald Trump.

CHURCH: Meantime Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is on a media blitz.

[03:30:00]

She spoke to the high-rating "Call Her Daddy" podcast on Sunday, "60 Minutes" on Monday, and has upcoming appearances on "The View", "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert", "The Howard Stern Show", and Univision.

It is a packed schedule, and her V.P. pick Tim Walz is on a similar media blitz. What did you think of her "60 Minutes" interview and what impact does a flood of media appearances like this have in this sprint to the finish line and will it counter critics who suggest she hasn't done enough media?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR AND FOUNDER, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA-CENTER FOR POLITICS: It ought to count on the critics, but of course it won't. But I do think the "60 Minutes" interview was very revealing and also important because "60 Minutes" is still the gold standard for these interview programs that the networks have.

They've been doing this with presidential candidates since 1968. I remember very clearly watching the one in September 1968 with first a segment on Nixon and then a segment on Hubert Humphrey is Democratic opponent.

So there's a tradition here. I think older Americans who also vote more heavily than any other age group are used to watching these. I think Trump missed a big opportunity. He looks bad compared to Harris, who's been accused of not taking tough interviews.

Well, I think this kind of answers that criticism. And Trump was made to look kind of small by the setup to the piece which revealed his excuses to be pretty transparent. So this is one to watch. People should take a look at this that they didn't see it live. Harris was impressive, and she looked and acted presidential. CHURCH: And Larry, Kamala Harris has been trying to differentiate

herself from the Biden administration on some issues, including immigration in the Middle East. But that's a very difficult balancing act with President Biden going before the media in a surprise appearance Friday, saying Harris was a major part of everything achieved during his administration. So how does Harris walk this tightrope?

SABATO: Well she really can't. You can't have it both ways on something like that. And the Republicans know that and that's why they've practically dismissed Biden from the scene. They don't even refer to the Biden administration anymore. Some outright call it the Harris administration, which is ridiculous, or the Biden-Harris administration.

Here's the one thing that saves Kamala Harris. The vast majority of Americans know the vice president does not make the decisions, never has a vice president done that, except maybe when Woodrow Wilson was suffering from a stroke, and the vice president never will. So that gives her an out.

CHURCH: Larry Sabato, always good to talk with you. Many thanks for joining us.

SABATO: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: And still to come, Florida residents hit the road to escape Hurricane Milton as the state prepares for its inevitable damage. That story and more after a short break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back to the "CNN Newsroom." I'm Rosemary Church. Want to check today's top stories for you.

Israel claims it hit more than 120 Hezbollah targets in a one-hour barrage on Beirut and southern Lebanon. The militant group returned fire with nearly 200 projectiles fired into Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will continue to fight as long as its enemies threaten its existence.

We are four weeks from election day in the U.S. with both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris vying for every last vote. Later today, the Vice President will do interviews with "The View", "The Howard Stern Show" and "Late Night with Stephen Colbert". The former President will take part in a virtual Make America Healthy Again town hall.

Mass evacuations are underway along Florida's Gulf Coast with drivers packing the highways as they flee from Category 4 Hurricane Milton, which is due to make landfall late Wednesday. Tampa's mayor delivered a dire warning for those in the evacuation areas, quote, "if you choose to stay, you're going to die." And CNN's Brian Todd filed this report before Milton had weakened

slightly with more on the urgent preparations being made as the hurricane approaches.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Pinellas Park, Florida, just across the bay from Tampa, residents use large pails to fill as many sandbags as they can.

Hurricane Milton, which has already exploded into a Category 5 storm, could hit the Tampa Bay area directly. It would be the first major hurricane to strike within 50 miles of Tampa in more than 100 years.

Some residents in at least six counties told to evacuate. In Hillsborough County, the evacuation order is mandatory in some places. That means authorities cannot force people from their homes. But --

CHIEF JASON DOUGHERTY, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: If you remain there, you could die. My men and women could die trying to rescue you.

TODD (voice-over): What makes this especially dangerous in places like Tampa and Fort Myers is that those cities are still recovering from Hurricane Helene, which has killed more than 230 people in six states, with the death toll still rising. For those in the mandatory evacuation zones who decide to stay put, Florida officials have a dire warning.

ASHLEY MOODY, FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL: You probably need to write your name and permanent marker on your arm so that people know who you are when they get to you afterwards. And we are still seeing, as we're uncovering folks on the beach, who thought they could stay there, and the storm surge got them.

TODD (voice-over): With Milton forecast to make landfall late Wednesday, Governor Ron DeSantis warns the window for evacuation is closing fast.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): You have time to execute your plan, but you got to do it now. Time is going to start running out very, very soon.

TODD (voice-over): Helene made landfall as a category four hurricane that caused widespread damage, leaving tons of debris that still hasn't been cleared. Debris that residents worry could still harm people if it starts flying around when Milton hits.

KARMEN FORRESTER, FORT MYERS BEACH RESIDENT: The debris on the beach and whatever's going on is a little cause for concern because there is not enough time and not enough manpower to take everything and put it where it needs to be off the island.

TODD (voice-over): The international airports in Tampa and Orlando closing ahead of the storm. Tolls are being suspended on major highways throughout western and central Florida to help those evacuating. Governor DeSantis says the assets that Florida lent to North Carolina

for Hurricane Helene have had to be brought back to Florida. But North Carolina is still dealing with the horrific aftermath of Helene. More than 100,000 customers are still without power there, and around Asheville, dozens of people are still missing a week and a half after Helene tore through the area.

GOV. ROY COOPER (D-NC): We still working to reach communities. We still have search and rescue occurring as we speak.

TODD (voice-over): And even as Florida braces for Hurricane Milton, we're getting daunting numbers on the property damage from Hurricane Helene. According to the data analytics firm CoreLogic, Helene caused up to $47.5 billion in losses for property owners, much of that flood damage to residents who don't have flood insurance.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Turning now to Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue to fight in a speech marking one year since the Hamas attacks on October 7. The families of the victims gathered at ceremonies and memorials to honor the 1,200 killed, including more than 300 at the Nova Music Festival.

[03:40:07]

CNN's Nic Robertson spoke with those still grappling with the horrors of that day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Before dawn, a day of pain about to break.

A minute's silence, commemoration where 347 were brutally killed, 40 taken hostage.

A year ago, these fields filled with fear. Hamas overrunning the Nova Music Festival.

Raz Grofi survived, missing her friends, riven by guilt.

RAZ GROFI, SURVIVOR (through translator): Unequivocally crazy guilt feelings. I have friends who came here because of me and they are not with us. It's something you live with every day, probably forever.

ROEY DERY, SURVIVOR: Nothing will bring us back what we lost. We came back here with other friends that we were together. Some didn't come back.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Roey Deri trembles as he talks. Here for his friends who didn't make it.

DERY: Yeah, it's memories every time we remember another piece. ROBERTSON (voice-over): Nova today, a sea of sorrow. Sadness, tears

and suffering. A rawness that knows no easing.

RINAT LIOR, AUNT OF VICTIM AMIT LAHAV: It feels like yesterday. We still haven't accepted that she's gone.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Aunt of Amit, 23, when she was murdered.

LIOR: She was murdered with her best friend, Shira. It's very difficult to be here.

ROBERTSON: And still the war is going on in Gaza. What are your thoughts about that?

LIOR: We didn't anticipate that it's going to be one year. We thought it's going to be one week. We're going to bring all the hostages there. And that's it.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): That war, still close. Helicopters overhead, deterring attack.

Remembrance punctured by explosions suffering not limited to these families and these fields.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Re'im, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling is a CNN military analyst and former commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and 7th Army. He joins me now from Florida. Good to have you with us, General.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST AND FORMER COMMANDING GENERAL, U.S. ARMY EUROPE AND 7TH ARMY: Great to be with you again Rosemary.

CHURCH: So on the day Israel was marking a year since the horror of the October 7th Hamas attacks, the country was hit with nearly 200 missiles from Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen. And in the early hours of Tuesday, an IDF spokesperson told CNN its forces are ready to retaliate against Iran at any time, whenever they get the order. What do you think Israel will do?

HERTLING: It's going to be a tough couple of days or weeks, Rosemary. I actually think that Israel is probably already in the midst of some covert operations. They've already done some things within Iran. But they continue to fight against Hezbollah and Hamas, and in a much more reduced way against the Houthis, who are firing arbitrarily into their country.

But they're now staging a three-front, some might say a four-front or a five-front war. And that's going to be very challenging for the Israeli Defense Forces.

CHURCH: And General, what would be the likely repercussions if Israel decides to strike at Iran's nuclear sites or its oil, given Israel is saying that everything is still on the table?

HERTLING: Yeah, well, a lot of people are talking about this being deterrence, Rosemary, and I'm going to introduce another phrase called escalation dominance. And it's a fact of warfare when you're fighting within these kind of conflicts where you're trying to neck things down a little bit, but at the same time have a reaction to an action by your enemy that is sufficient to help them stop. That hasn't happened so far.

We've seen that against Hezbollah, against Hamas. They continue to fire weapons into the country of Israel, even though the Israeli Defense Forces has conducted multi-phased operations in both Gaza and southern Lebanon.

[03:45:03]

So it's going to be very difficult, but that escalation dominance is a concern right now, because it's just both sides ticking things up time after time to see how they can counter what their enemy's actions are and at the same time not go over the edge to start a regional or even a global war.

CHURCH: And while this goes on, of course, the families of the 101 hostages still being held in Gaza, they're angry with Prime Minister Netanyahu for not bringing their loved ones home. Do you think he's doing enough to get them released with his focus so firmly on the military mission here?

HERTLING: Yeah, it's been very difficult from that standpoint. And first of all, I wouldn't say that I agree with most of the things that Mr. Netanyahu has done. But in fact, it's very difficult to do ceasefires and even peace actions with an enemy that continues to fire in.

In each one of the attempts at a cessation of hostilities that's been brokered by not only Israel, but the United States and others, there have been an immediate, almost an immediate reaction by the terrorist organizations of Hamas and Hezbollah to continue to fire into Israel. And that's problematic, because when you have one side that won't back down, Mr. Netanyahu feels that he has to continue to defend his territorial sovereignty as well as the welfare of the Israeli people.

So he's not going to back down. And even though there's a lot of people and all of us hoping for the return of the hostages, it takes a second seat to continuing to try and tamp down the actions of these terrorist organizations against the Israeli population.

CHURCH: And as you mentioned, Israel is raging war on multiple fronts. How necessary is this or instead of eliminating terrorists, does it end up creating more when diplomatic efforts to resolve conflict and find solutions to Gaza's future governance are ignored in favor of relentless war?

HERTLING: Well, there have been multiple attempts to try and find some type of governance for the area, which is the Gaza Strip. There's also been an attempt to tamp down the kind of terrorist action that's coming from Hezbollah inside of Lebanon with a government that doesn't much care for what they're doing against the state of Israel.

But you've got to remember that both of those terrorist organizations, both Hamas and Hezbollah, have a charter that says their primary effort is to kill Jews and to destroy the state of Israel. So when you have that kind of an enemy within your territory and within range of firing rockets, as you stated earlier it's very difficult to find some kind of complex peace situation and live peacefully together.

There's no government inside of the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority has not stepped up. Hamas has only continued to live by their charter in attacking Israel. So it's very difficult to say, hey, we've got to make some kind of deal with these people to help them stop. You know, this is a millennia-long war that has been going on between the Palestinians and the Jews, and it's going to be very difficult to tamp down the hatred that exists between these two people.

And it's so very sad, because the people who are caught in the middle, as we've seen over the last year, have been the ones that have suffered the most by design of these terrorist organizations that are using this thing called a victim's doctrine. They really don't care what happens to the Palestinians or the citizens within their country.

CHURCH: Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your military analysis with us. We appreciate it.

HERTLING: Always a pleasure. Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: The U.S. Supreme Court is back in action and they are shooting down more abortion protections in the United States. That's just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Welcome back everyone. Georgia's Supreme Court has restored the state's six-week ban on abortions, at least for now. The decision comes a week after a Fulton County judge struck down the near total ban, saying it's unconstitutional and infringes on women's personal health care rights.

But the Supreme Court has blocked his ruling while it considers the state's appeal. Governor Brian Kemp issued a statement in response to the judges' decision saying, quote, "Once again, the will of Georgians and their representatives has been overruled by the personal beliefs of one judge. Georgia will continue to be a place where we fight for the lives of the unborn."

Well meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is back to work in the next few weeks. They will hear several highly charged contentious cases. The justices have already started rejecting a Biden administration effort to enhance federal protections for abortion care. Joan Biskupic has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN CHIEF SUPREME COURT ANALYST: The U.S. Supreme Court was back on the bench on Monday for the first time since July 1st when it issued its opinion giving former President Donald Trump substantial immunity against prosecution. The justices have seen their public approval ratings drop because of that decision and others dating at least to 2022 when they reversed abortion rights in America.

Now with the new session, the justices will hear disputes in upcoming weeks and months over the death penalty, gun control and transgender rights. On Monday, however, among its most eye-catching actions came in a Texas case that could have given the justices another abortion controversy.

The justices left in place a lower court order that prevents the Biden administration from stripping federal funding from Texas hospitals that do not provide emergency care for abortions. A federal law requires hospitals to offer treatment when necessary to stabilize a patient's emergency medical condition, including if that means an abortion in the case of pregnancy complications.

Some states that ban abortion have objected to the law saying the federal government should not be able to preempt their bans in emergency room situations, or as in the Texas case, Texas argued that the administration was going too far in its interpretation of the 1986 emergency treatment law.

Last session, in a case from Idaho, the court dismissed an Idaho challenge to the administration. The court said more lower court fact- finding and litigation was needed. In the Texas case, though, the Biden administration said the justices should not hear the case because of some factual and legal issues. But the administration wanted the justices to throw out the lower court order that had sided with Texas. The justices declined to take the case, but they left that lower court appellate decision favoring Texas in place. So it's a win for Texas.

The action, though, applies only to the Texas situation. The Biden administration's emergency room guidance would still allow abortions for pregnant women facing complications. The conflict between state bans and the Biden administration will continue to play out, but without a resolution by the Supreme Court in this election year.

Joan Biskupic, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And we'll be right back.

[03:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHURCH: Cissy Houston, award-winning singer and mother of Whitney Houston, has died. You can see her in this video on the left of your screen, singing alongside her daughter. A family representative says Houston was surrounded by family when she died Monday at a hospice care facility.

She was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. A two-time Grammy winner, Houston performed solo and sang backup for Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley, Beyonce and more. The daughter Whitney Houston died in 2012. Cissy Houston was 91 years old.

Two Americans have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work on the discovery of microRNA. Scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkin's research reveals how genes give rise to different cells in the human body, a process known as gene regulation. The Nobel Prize committee called their work a groundbreaking discovery.

Want to thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Enjoy the rest of your day. "CNN Newsroom" continues next with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)