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Florida Resident Race to Evacuate as Cat. 5 Storm Closes In; Tampa Aquarium Moves Penguins to Avoid Storm Surge; 14 States Sue TikTok Over Alleged Harm to Kids' Mental Health. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired October 09, 2024 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: And when we come back, social media giant TikTok is being taken to court over allegations its features are designed to hook children.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, as Hurricane Milton churns towards Florida, even the penguins had to evacuate their home to higher ground.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Hi there, welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. Here are some of the top stories we're following today.

U.S. President Joe Biden has cancelled his overseas trips this week, saying he needs to be in the country when Hurricane Milton makes landfall. Mr. Biden had planned to make his first state visit to Berlin, where he was also due to meet with German, British and French leaders to discuss support for Ukraine.

Talks between Boeing and union members have broken down and no more negotiations are scheduled. In part, the union is seeking a pay rise and had been on strike for nearly a month.

And Brazil's Supreme Court says X can resume services in the country. X have been suspended since August after not complying with court orders related to hate speech and misinformation moderation. Elon Musk had initially called for the order's censorship but has since bowed to pressure by blocking accounts flagged by the court and paying pending fines.

FOSTER: Right now, Hurricane Milton is once again a rare Category 5 storm in the Gulf of Mexico, with landfall expected on Florida's heavily populated west coast sometime in the day ahead. It's forecast to weaken before then, likely to Category 3 strength, but forecasters warn the powerful winds and storm surge will still be life- threatening. The city of Tampa is bracing for the worst-case scenario.

Officials there say one thing that makes Milton so scary is what it would do with all the debris left behind by Hurricane Helene, which hit the region just two weeks ago.

[04:35:00] Another major concern, power outages, which authorities fear could be widespread and very long-lasting, affecting potentially millions of people. Let's head back to Atlanta to check in with Derek Van Dam, who's been looking at the Waffle Index, the House Index.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, so there's a restaurant chain in southwestern Florida and across much of the southeastern U.S. called the Waffle House. And it's often an indicator of how severe a storm could be. So they either stay open in a minor, maybe Category 1 hurricane, but they start closing up shop when we start expecting more major impacts and a loss of electricity, that type of thing.

So there's actually a map that they have issued where you can track the closures of that particular restaurant, and it's a good indicator to people. I've even seen it in past hurricanes, where people can get an indication of where power has been restored because the Waffle House has been open as well. So it's just kind of an interesting little index here that local people within the United States, particularly hurricane-prone areas, use to determine the severity of a hurricane. By no means is it an official forecast, right?

But I want to turn the page here to talk about what we are facing here in southwest Florida. And, you know, Tampa is on knife's edge right now because of the model data that's coming in minute by minute on whether or not this storm will move to the south or whether or not it will keep its initial trajectory towards Tampa Bay.

That still needs to be determined. There are so many details about a hurricane of this magnitude, this strength, and this size that can lead to downstream implications, meaning in 24 hours' time, where it exactly makes landfall.

One thing we know for sure is that the hurricane has maintained its intensity overnight. And, in fact, there's this bubble of convection or thunderstorm activity. Look at all the lightning in advance of the storm. And then here, this is important as well, a clear eye. You can see all the way down to the ocean. And that little lightning strike on the northern eyewall indicates to me that there's still a lot of maintaining of this Category 5 strength of 160 mph winds.

Look, we're 24 hours away from a direct strike from a major hurricane. This is not the place we want to be, but this is the reality that we are facing. So you have got to listen to authorities. If you have not evacuated, time is running out. And I plead with you to leave, especially if you're along the coastline. If you're located in southern Florida, you need to be listening up as well.

Southwest Florida, as we get that exact track nailed down here within the next coming hours, this will make all the difference on who receives the worst of the storm surge.

Remember, you can hide from the wind, but you cannot hide from the water. This is the concern here, because flooding and coastal storm surge will inundate homes, it will inundate businesses, and certainly many of the coastal barrier islands that are so heavily populated. Now, this forecast track has a Category 4 just before landfall. And

that's important. You can see how it weakens because it interacts with the land, the central peninsula of Florida. But we do anticipate this storm to be a major hurricane upon its arrival.

In fact, the sheer fact that it maintained its strength overnight means that this storm will have Category 3 or higher winds as it makes landfall along the coast.

This is some of the latest data. This is a European model, so we're looking at one set of models. And this is interesting because what we saw yesterday was a southerly shift in that eyewall, the strongest part of the storm, where the most intense surge will be located. Now we're noticing this windshield wiper effect. This is kind of going back and forth, north and south, game of miles, right?

Well, now we're starting to see a worst-case scenario again unfold with this particular model for Tampa Bay. So, all of these details need to be ironed out going forward, but one thing's for sure. Catastrophic winds possible from Hillsborough County, Pinellas County southward into Charlotte, Lee County, Sarasota as well, Punta Gorda, Siesta Key. These are the areas that need to be paying very close attention.

The eye of the storm now becoming visible on radar. This is the Key West radar. So, really, when you see that on radar, it really, really starts to highlight the amount of time that we have available to us because those radar beams can only stretch so far. Satellite, we're taking it from space. Radar, we're taking it from a beam from the ground.

So, what we're looking at now is a storm surge warning map. And I want you to take note that we know the obvious here, right? The western coastline, the Gulf Coast of Florida under storm surge warnings.

But also note what's on the east side. That is also a storm surge warning. This will cross over the peninsula and also bring up the seas and the coastal storm surge on the other side of Florida. So, devastating next 24 hours, really, truly.

FOSTER: OK.

MACFARLANE: A busy 24 hours ahead for you too. Meteorologists everywhere. Derek, thanks very much for now.

[04:40:02]

Now, CNN's Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir is in St. Petersburg, Florida, where residents are working against the clock to prepare in the final hours before landfall. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Both physically and emotionally, they were already picking up the pieces on Florida's Gulf Coast. BETH CALDWELL, LONG KEY, FLORIDA RESIDENT: It's like hysterical. You can't sleep, you can't eat for a minute and then you're playing the next. And then you're like, oh, my God, It is what it is. You got to keep living.

WEIR (voice-over): Now, Beth Caldwell must cut short her search for her mother's wedding ring to evacuate for the second time in as many weeks.

WEIR: You were saying you're really worried about folks who made it through this one but may not.

CALDWELL: Well, yes, because the amount of debris on the street and the winds, even if it slows down.

WEIR: Governor DeSantis said this morning that even with 24-7 debris removal, they wouldn't have all of Helene's damage cleaned up in time for Milton to make landfall. And this is why. There is one front loader over here waiting to fill up a line of empty dump trucks that's approximately 2 miles long.

WEIR: And this beach was covered in millions of dollars of fresh sand to try to protect this community, which just got washed away.

That's right.

WEIR: What does that tell you about how we prepare and how we have to adjust to this new earth?

SUSAN GLICKMAN, VICE PRESIDENT OF POLICY AND PARTNERSHIPS, THE CLEO INSTITUTE: The fact is, is you cannot adapt your way out of the climate crisis.

WEIR (voice-over): Susan Glickman grew up around this bungalow where her husband and a dear 90-year-old friend called Nanny survived Helene. But ironically, she's also a community climate organizer in Florida, desperately trying to convince officials and neighbors that this is what scientists have been warning about for generations.

GLICKMAN: It is beyond criminal if we do not dramatically address the root cause of the problem immediately. But if we keep putting climate pollution and burning fossil fuels, we're just going to make a lot of this planet in general just unlivable.

WEIR: Here in downtown St. Petersburg, we're about 24, 36 hours before landfall, and it's obvious that the evacuation orders are being taken seriously by folks. You do see some souls walking dogs, a few cars out, but mostly empty. Officials did voice some concern about, in addition to all the worries, the construction towers that are all over this growing city here in these Category 4 winds. Those could come down. And they admitted they don't have enough time to disassemble them before landfall.

But honestly, even if they were to come down in a worst-case scenario, so much of this area is evacuated. It may not cost a lot of life. What is really worrisome is that mound of water being pushed by Category 5 winds less than 500 miles away from this part of Tampa. Keep in mind, the last time a major storm hit this part of Florida 100 years ago, the population has gone up by about 3.5 million people, and sea level has gone up by a foot.

Bill Weir, CNN, St. Petersburg, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: An aquarium in Tampa, Florida, is taking steps to make sure their African penguins stay safe during the storm. On Tuesday, workers loaded penguins into crates and carts and transported the birds from their home on the first floor to a temporary shelter on the second floor to avoid possible storm surge.

MACFARLANE: Good to hear. The aquarium staff say other animals on the ground floor of the building have also been moved to temporary second- floor locations.

FOSTER: New data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control shows a link between social media use and mental health amongst teens. The CDC's new Youth Risk Behavior Report surveyed 155 schools across the country. The data reveals more than three in four high schoolers were frequently online using social media several times a day, with about 30 percent tapping in more than once an hour.

MACFARLANE: The report also found that 43 percent of students very active on social media say they feel persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, compared to 32 percent who use it less often.

FOSTER: Meanwhile, a multi-state effort is underway to hold TikTok accountable for its impact on kids. 14 U.S. states are suing TikTok for allegedly harming the mental health of children and introducing addictive features to keep them watching.

MACFARLANE: TikTok says it strongly disagrees with the claims. TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, is also battling a lawsuit that could ban the app in the U.S. The District of Columbia's Attorney General explains the need to hold the social media companies accountable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN SCHWALB, DC ATTORNEY GENERAL: TikTok platform is like digital nicotine. It's an addictive and dangerous platform that is intended to have young people, teenagers, spend as much possible time with their eyeballs glued to the screen. It's an exploitive model in the sense that we know that TikTok wants young people watching TikTok because it drives ad revenue.

[04:45:00]

With so many young people being put at risk every day, their mental health and well-being at risk, some of the brain science tells us that as the brain is developing, the damage being done to young people could be permanent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, the lawsuit is targeting various elements of the social media platform. CNN's Clare Duffy has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: These lawsuits take aim at a wide range of TikTok's business practices and features that these attorneys general say can harm young users' mental health and well-being. Things like the endlessly scrolling feed that they say can keep users scrolling to see what the next video is going to be. Late night notifications that can interrupt teens' sleep.

And they claim that TikTok has failed to do enough to address so- called TikTok challenges, these viral video trends where teens try to replicate videos created by other users and can sometimes be encouraged to engage in dangerous behavior, like riding on the outside of a subway train.

That's a stunt known as subway surfing, and the New York complaint points out that a New York teen was killed doing this earlier this year, and that his mom found videos on his TikTok feed promoting this kind of activity.

Now, TikTok has repeatedly said that its platform is safe for children. This is not the first time that it's faced claims like this. A spokesperson told me today that the company strongly disagrees with the claims, and they pointed to new features that the platform has rolled out in the past few years. Things like a default screen time limit for teens, default privacy protections for teens under the age of 16, and parental oversight tools. But these state attorneys general clearly think that those things are not enough.

Claire Duffy, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Still to come, people are preparing for the worst as Hurricane Milton closes in on the state of Florida. We'll have the latest on the massive storm after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Almost the entire population of Florida, about 20 million people, are under hurricane or tropical storm warnings as they brace for Hurricane Milton. Right now, the storm is Category 5.

[04:50:00]

MACFARLANE: Well, CNN's Carlos Suarez is in Fort Myers with the latest on the storm preparations there. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Storm preparations are well underway here in Lee County. Business owners began the process of boarding up their businesses on Tuesday. Workers at this one location here filled this inflatable dam with water, all in hopes of keeping the place from flooding.

Now, the current forecast is calling for a 6 to 10-foot storm surge. And downtown Fort Myers is in a low-lying part of the county. Just two years ago, it was flooded by Hurricane Ian.

Now, there are mandatory evacuation orders in place for the town of Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel. Those are two parts of the county that were badly damaged by Hurricane Ian.

Here now is one resident who told us she decided to evacuate to her parents' house because they live in higher ground.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After Ian, people literally losing their homes and seeing homes on Fort Myers Beach just get lifted up and just taken off, I think people are starting to realize, like, OK, hey, might as well protect ourselves a little better and, you know, do OK during the storm versus taking a chance.

So my parents have their home all boarded up. We all have generators. We always have a supply of water. Like, we're just more prepared now because it's just not worth it. So, you know, if you know you're going to be without power, it's just not worth it to, you know, take it lightly.

SUAREZ: Business owners here tell us that during Hurricane Ian, over four feet of storm surge flooded their businesses, and they're worried that the damage is going to be a lot worse with this storm.

Carlos Suarez, CNN, Fort Myers, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: So do stay with CNN throughout the day as Hurricane Milton nears landfall. We'll be right back.

[04:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MOVIE TRAILER, MOANA 2)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: I'm not sure you know what this is, Max --

FOSTER: It's going to be ringing around your house. That's what I predict.

MACFARLANE: I have a three-year-old and she is very excited for the new upcoming sequel, Moana 2. This is the trailer you're watching here. And Dwayne The Rock Johnson reprises his role as the voice of Maui for all fans.

FOSTER: Sometime watches this show. I understand.

MACFARLANE: Oh. Love you, Rock.

FOSTER: The original movie made over $680 million at the box office and was the most streamed movie in the U.S. in 2023. It was brilliant. Actually, for adults as much as kids. That one, I thought.

MACFARLANE: It is. The music. It was the music that got you. Love it.

FOSTER: It comes out on November the 29th.

MACFARLANE: And a final update for you this hour as we've been following it minute by minute on Hurricane Milton. It's set for a direct hit on Florida's western Gulf Coast as at least a category 3 storm either late tonight or very early Thursday.

FOSTER: It'll take about 10 hours for Milton's eye to cross Florida and go back out to sea off the east coast. Storm surge of up to 15 feet, would you believe, expected in some areas, which is what Derek is warning about. Not just the storm, right? It's the surge as well.

MACFARLANE: Yes.

FOSTER: Thanks for watching us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.

MACFARLANE: I'm Christina Macfarlane. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up next.

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