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FEMA Administrator: Lee County Area Hit Hardest; Sarasota Mayor Reports On Damage In His County; Charlotte County Emergency Management Director Discusses Damage In His Community. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired September 29, 2022 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

DEANNE CRISWELL, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: An officer earlier this morning who is on the ground and has been working through the night with the state.

And the area that has been hit the hardest, certainly from what we're hearing right now, is Lee County. We know that there was significant storm surge there. We know that their water system has been impacted. And we're focused right now on getting some search and rescue teams who have been out since 4:00 this morning to get into the area and identify who might need assistance -- who might need to get rescued.

And that's just one area. We know where you're at and along that western coast, we've had significant impacts.

And so, again, we put together a very comprehensive and robust search and rescue capability that has been out again since early this morning to get into these areas and understand where the needs are, and start rescuing. Our focus is on saving lives.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: What reports do you have on fatalities?

CRISWELL: I don't have any confirmed reports yet. I understand that some of the sheriffs are saying that they expect a large number of fatalities, but that's why we want to get our search and rescue teams out there. That's why they're out there. We want to save as many lives as possible.

My heart is just breaking for the people in these communities right now because they have experienced absolutely catastrophic impacts from this. And there's parts of this community -- these communities that have just been devastated.

BERMAN: Any reports or estimates of how many people need to be rescued this morning?

CRISWELL: I know that we've -- the locals were receiving 911 calls throughout the evening asking for rescue. They worked through the night to prioritize where they were going to send the search and rescue teams this morning. I don't have numbers for you right now. But they have -- they're going to use a grid system to make sure that they're getting around all of the different areas -- that they cover every inch of the areas that have been impacted to make sure that we account for everybody.

BERMAN: I did hear a helicopter here in Tampa earlier this morning. What resources are being put into play? Are there air rescues already from the water, from the ground?

CRISWELL: We put together a team of federal resources to complement the state that can do air, land, and sea rescue. We have Coast Guard capabilities. We have our urban search and rescue teams. We have resources from the Department of Defense as well as the Department of the Interior all coordinating to make sure that we're covering, again, air, land, and sea rescues as needed.

One of the things that we also did before the storm is we flew imagery to capture conditions before the storm hit. As soon as it's safe for our aircraft, we're going to go back up and capture imagery after the storm so we can identify those areas of greatest impact.

BERMAN: Any way to quantify the amount of damage that's been done?

CRISWELL: Oh, I don't think that we can quantify it yet but I can tell you that it is going to be catastrophic. The amount of impact to these communities is going to be significant and we have already started our recovery planning efforts to make sure that we're bringing in the right resources to help these communities get back on their feet.

BERMAN: Are you preparing for potentially thousands of displaced -- long-term, displaced people?

CRISWELL: We are, John -- we're preparing. When we look at these large population centers that have had significant impacts to their homes, we know that a number of these families are living in mobile homes, which have a very hard time withstanding storms as strong as Ian. And so, we are preparing for the potential of thousands of families that are going to need assistance as they assess their own damage and get on their road to recovery.

BERMAN: And I know you've been preparing and staging. Are there federal officials now on the ground in Lee County in some of the hardest-hit areas?

CRISWELL: I don't know if I have anybody specifically on the ground in Lee County yet, but I know that we have our search and rescue crews that are focused in that area trying to save lives. We've got a team that's been embedded with the state in Tallahassee and we've got teams that are staged across the state that can come in and respond as quickly as possible.

I will have teams on the ground today in these most impacted counties so they can start to provide information back up to our leadership team.

BERMAN: All right, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell. I do appreciate all the information that you've given us. I know this is a tough job and it's just beginning. We'll check back in with you as soon as we can. CRISWELL: All right. Thanks a lot, John.

BERMAN: Brianna, the light is now coming up in southwestern Florida, which is a blessing and a curse. A blessing because people can go out and assess the damage firsthand for really the first time, and a curse because of what you're hearing from Deanne Criswell -- reports that she's hearing from sheriffs of loss of life that may be some high numbers or numbers that will be upsetting to hear for lots of people.

[07:35:04]

Also, reports from the FEMA administrator that they are prepared for the possibility of thousands of displaced people -- long-term, displaced people. I think this is really only just beginning, Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. The recovery is going to take months and months in some of these areas, we certainly expect here.

So, this morning, more than two million Florida residents are waking up without power. That's a number that includes nearly 80 percent of Sarasota's residents, including the city's mayor. Mayor Erik Arroyo is joining us now.

Mayor, can you give us a sense as we're hearing here now from officials very concerned about the number of fatalities? Have you heard anything about your area?

MAYOR ERIK ARROYO, SARASOTA, FLORIDA (via telephone): No, and our number-one priority remains the safety of our residents in Sarasota.

We have 200 or so instances of downed trees or downed power lines, and a phone number will be provided to our residents on social media so they can report that.

Our barrier islands are still closed off. Water is back in the barrier islands. We shut them down before the hurricane hit. The next phase is to conduct an inspection to make sure that the water infrastructure is adequate.

We will hold bridges closed and make an assessment as to damage, and when they're safe to open we'll open them back up.

There are no reports of injuries or loss of life at this time.

One hundred individuals from public works and parks and recreation will be clearing the paths in the roads of any debris. That's happening as we speak.

But like it has been said, there's 250,000 individuals displaced from southwest Florida and it's going to be a community effort to try to get them the help that they need. At this point, for us at least, the worst is over and it's all about coming together as a community and helping us rebuild.

KEILAR: The danger, obviously, still very much there when you're talking about downed power lines. I think that's something people really need to remember.

How are you communicating that to folks when a lot of them don't have power and maybe it's tricky to communicate with them?

ARROYO: Yes. We're telling people -- most casualties and deaths occur when people try to do something themselves after a hurricane. So if you see a power line that could very well be a live wire and it could be very, very dangerous. So report it to the officials and stay away from it.

Don't try to self-help. This is -- this is definitely not the time to try to rush the process. Be safe and get the proper authorities to investigate.

KEILAR: And so, you lost power in your home. You're looking to a recovery here. Any idea when things can come back online?

ARROYO: You know, last I heard there were -- 80 percent of the county was losing power. But as of right now, it seems to be in patches. Some have their power back on and some don't. So it look -- it looks like they had a lot of individuals on standby to help fix this grid.

So, Florida Power and Light has been steadily at work and I'm assuming that they are working around the clock on this now that it's safe to kind of go outside. But this will be a perfect opportunity for them to underground all the power lines, which desperately needs to be done in Florida.

KEILAR: Yes, I hear you on that.

Mayor Arroyo, thank you so much. Please keep us posted as you're getting more information throughout the day.

ARROYO: Thank you.

Next, we'll be heading back out to John Berman in Tampa. He's going to speak to the sheriff of Hillsborough County as crews are going out and assessing the damage this morning.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:42:51]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: What are you seeing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just -- water rising. And we'll see by this afternoon how much more it's going rise. But that's mainly what we're just looking for.

Irma is when we had our highest peak that I've seen in my lifetime. And like I say, I think we're going to see it again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, that's a resident in Geneva, Florida, not far from Orlando.

They're getting hit by Ian right now, which is a tropical storm -- 65- mile-per-hour winds with drenching rain. And some parts of the state have seen up to 20 inches of rain. That's where Ian is now.

Where it's been and done some of the worst damage was on the southwestern coast. Wind speeds of 140-150 miles per hour when it made landfall. Storm surge of 10 to 12 feet in some places. And only now as the sun comes up are we beginning to get an assessment of the damage that was done.

I'm joined now by Patrick Fuller who is the emergency management director of Charlotte County, which includes Punta Gorda where our reporters were for the worst of the storm yesterday. Also, Port Charlotte.

Patrick, if you can hear me, what are you seeing this morning?

PATRICK FULLER, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR, CHARLOTTE COUNTY (via Webex by Cisco): Good morning.

As you know, our crews are just now getting out on those roadways. They're finding a lot of debris and a lot of downed power lines. It's slow-moving because of all the roadways. But that first priority is getting those roadways open so that we can get out there to our residents and ensure that emergency response can commence.

BERMAN: What reports are you getting on fatalities?

FULLER: Right now, it's too early to tell on that. Again, it's -- the priority is getting those roads cleared so that we can actually get out into the neighborhoods. We really hope that when we get out there we find that it's not as bad as we fear. But we're certainly preparing to ensure that responders can get to where they need and if there's anyone out there that needs help they can arrive and respond.

BERMAN: What has there been in terms of rescues?

FULLER: Right now, like I said, it's -- the winds only stopped just a few short hours ago. The debris is to the level that moving a fire truck, moving a police car through the roadway -- it requires large crews to move the debris out of the way. Power crews to ensure that downed power lines are not energized and it's safe to travel. It's just too soon to say how many rescues are taking place.

[07:45:17]

BERMAN: Yes, I do understand. It's only been over the last couple of hours where you could even get out the door to begin this process, and it will take some time to assess.

In terms of the debris, describe what your people are seeing. Our teams who -- some of whom were trying to get out of Punta Gorda, really are having a hard time because the roads in some places impassable. FULLER: Yes, you nailed it right on the head. We're talking downed trees, other vegetation, construction material, power lines. It's just -- and a lot of water -- a lot of standing water that is making it difficult for the average vehicle to get through. High-water vehicles that emergency crews have have a little better time getting through but it still requires removal of debris and clearing it just to cut and toss it to the side so they can get through and emergency crews can get to our residents.

BERMAN: And the damage you're seeing, it's wind damage mostly. Was there any storm surge to speak of?

FULLER: We're still assessing that. We haven't been able to get to those areas that we fear may have received the worst storm surge. Certainly, wind and heavy rainfall is what we're seeing just from the initial early, early push. But we certainly expect to see some level of storm surge damage here in Charlotte County.

BERMAN: All right, Patrick Fuller, emergency management director, Charlotte County. It's been a long night for you. You're getting to work. You're getting your people out there.

Please keep us posted. The best of luck to you. You and your team please stay safe.

FULLER: Thank you.

BERMAN: Joining me now -- I'm just going to walk over here right now -- is the Hillsborough County sheriff, Chad Chronister. Come on up here to me.

We had a chance to speak to you yesterday. You were in the middle of it all. I know in terms of rescues and need, it was one person caught under a tree. But this morning there's still a lot of problems here.

Describe what you're seeing here.

SHERIFF CHAD CHRONISTER, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA: Three hundred thousand people without power. A lot of roadways are blocked. Trees are down. And we believe the flooding will start in the south end of the county.

As this storm -- the energy lets go of the water and allows it to come back, all the water leaving has nowhere to go. So our floodplain is at 11 feet. They are predicting it's going to be around 25 feet. So, we're not out of the woods yet.

And you can see the wind here. You feel the wind. It's still 30-mile- per-hour gusts.

BERMAN: So, the flooding, so people understand this -- it wasn't the storm surge that was a problem, it's the freshwater flooding from all the rain coming from inland toward out. And you think that the worst is still to come there?

CHRONISTER: Correct, and the south end of the county is where we will start seeing the problems. Again, there's nowhere for the water to go. As we have water, again, with the -- with the energy of the storm saying OK, Tampa, you can have your water back. The water here -- the freshwater from all the rain we got -- you know, almost two feet of water -- there's nowhere for it to go. So as it blocks, it's just going to continue to rise.

BERMAN: And what about the people? We haven't seen that many people out. This is normally a busy downtown commuting area here. People don't seem to be going to work today.

Do you want people to stay home if they can?

CHRONISTER: Thank you, and that's a great point. Please, don't let the curiosity get the best of you. And for zones that have been evacuated, stay away. I know you want to get home and you want to check on your house, but you have no power. There's nothing to go back to as far as -- you're going to be uncomfortable.

If you give us some time and allow us to get power restored and cut the trees down and get -- open up the roads, we'll be that much more expeditious in getting you back to normal.

BERMAN: I have just one last question. I know you have your work cut out for you here but you've also been in the line with some of your colleagues further south. Lee County and some of these other counties, they've been hit really hard.

What are they telling you?

CHRONISTER: Well listen, I -- we got a phone call on Monday. I'm great friends with the Lee County sheriff, Carmine Marceno. He was like listen, you're going to get a direct hit -- whatever resources you need. And I talked to him last night. He was standing on top of one of the high-water SWAT BearCats on a satellite phone and he describes it as just catastrophic loss -- just total devastation.

So, our next mode will be once he has some accommodations worked out and lets us know what we need, whether it's aviation, or boats, or marine unit, and manpower, we'll start shipping it his way.

BERMAN: All right, Sheriff. Thank you so much for being with us.

CHRONISTER: Thank you. Stay safe.

BERMAN: Be well. I know you've got a lot of work to do here.

CHRONISTER: Stay safe.

BERMAN: All right, just total devastation. Those are the reports we're getting from further south -- Lee County and places like Fort Myers. The sun coming up here.

We have our reporters headed to some of the hardest hit areas. This is CNN's special live coverage. Please stay with us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) WINK REPORTER: Honestly, I'm just trying to wrap my mind around what's going on right now because it is so unbelievable. If you take a look behind me, this whole bay -- there is a dumpster just floating by like a log. Our news cars that we drove to get here are completely underwater.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:54:08]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm five feet, so this water is probably four foot at least.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That's folks in Naples, Florida, south of here, who dealt with some of the earliest and worst storm surge. Reports of up to seven feet of water there.

Earlier this morning, I had a chance to speak to Pete DiMaria, a member of the Naples fire department about what it was like as the water was coming in -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Pete, if you can hear me, we're so lucky to have you on. I'm so happy to hear from you to get a sense of what you are seeing there this morning.

[07:55:00]

CHIEF PETE DIMARIA, NAPLES FIRE-RESCUE DEPARTMENT: Yes. We had a really strong storm surge that came in yesterday afternoon that affected our entire community. And I would say, fortunately, it's starting to recede right now and we're trying to get our personnel out and take a look at what's going on first thing at first light this morning.

BERMAN: How many rescues did you end up conducting yesterday?

DIMARIA: We conducted about 10 rescues leading up to the surge, and then we couldn't get our vehicles out of the -- out of the station. So we had about I would guess somewhere between four to seven-foot surge that came up into our stations and we just -- we couldn't get our vehicles out. But we have about six people in our station right now that are -- that are held up here until they can get to their homes and see what kind of damage they had.

BERMAN: Oh, four to six feet in the station itself, and the people in your department only now beginning to assess the damage in their own homes.

What are you hearing from people in Naples? Any people trapped?

DIMARIA: Well, we've had a real tough time with communications. A lot of cell towers are down. We've probably dealt with a full 24 hours of tropical-force and hurricane-force winds, so we're having a hard time communicating with the -- with the rest of our area. But we've been pushing out messages the best we can through social media and through internet, so we're hoping they get the message.

We're hoping they stay inside and they stay safe, they'll wait for us to come by and clear the roads, and wait for the rest of the surge to recede so they can get out safely and start to get back to some normalcy.

BERMAN: I don't know if you've been able to step out the door or even look outside, but what does it look like outside this morning?

DIMARIA: Well, we can -- we can certainly see that the -- there's water lines on all the buildings around us. We can see -- where we're situated about a half mile from the Gulf and so there's -- we know that there's been a lot of water and a lot of structures in this area and throughout the city of Naples.

There's a lot of debris. I don't know that there's as much debris as we've seen with some other storms but the surge has certainly caused a tremendous amount of damage in our area.

BERMAN: You said four to seven feet inside the station itself. Can you describe what that was like as the water was coming in?

DIMARIA: It was a little unnerving, to be honest with you. We felt like we had to situate ourselves in a -- with a good plan but as the water rose up so quickly on us we had kind of retreated back into the station.

We have a good facility here. It's a cat 5 facility. So we were able to -- our living quarters were above that but our bay and some of our entry areas were lower. They're built that way so they can take a flood and then recede. But it was unnerving because we couldn't get out of the station and we had some rescues to make, and it just became a difficult situation for our personnel wanting to get out there and do their jobs.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: I'm John Berman live in Tampa. Brianna Keilar is in Washington. This is CNN's special live coverage of Ian, which is now a tropical storm moving toward Orlando. Wind speed, 65 miles an hour or so, bringing drenching rain. So many parts of this state have had 20 inches of rain already and can't really handle that much more, but they're going to get it -- as much as eight to 10 inches more perhaps in some places.

Two and a half million customers in the state of Florida without power this morning. I spoke to one official who said they'd already restored 700,000 customers but more and more people keep getting kicked offline. The concern now is some areas might be so devastated they might have to rebuild the power systems completely, and that could take weeks, optimistically, if not even longer.

The worst of the damage was done on the southwest coast where the storm surge was 10 to 12 feet in some areas, inundating Fort Myers, Naples, Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda. They had fierce, fierce winds there. Our reporters were getting hammered throughout the afternoon and evening.

I just want to give you a sense of how powerful the force of this storm was. As I said, I'm in Tampa and Tampa really did not get the worst of it at all.

But between the winds and the rain, this is some kind of roofing that was on one of the buildings here. And this is a giant piece of just heavy vinyl and twisted metal, and it got ripped off the roof and thrown onto the street here. And this was not even the worst of the storm, Brianna.

KEILAR: And Ian, of course, downgraded to --

BERMAN: Oh, actually -- hang on one second.

KEILAR: Sorry -- go on, John.

BERMAN: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Brianna. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.

I just also wanted to say that earlier, I spoke to Deanne Criswell, the FEMA administrator, really to get a description of what they are up against this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRISWELL: And the area that has been hit the hardest, certainly from what we're hearing right now, is Lee County. We know that there was significant storm surge there.

[08:00:00]