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Ian Becomes A Hurricane Again, Takes Aim At Georgia, Carolinas. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired September 30, 2022 - 05:00   ET

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

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[05:00:32]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Got clobbered with all the furniture and stuff that was floating it so that's how I got this. I got shoved into a wall. Anyway, when I got front door open and there was a surge in it, it took me to the middle of the yard. You're not fought to get back on the porch.

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The sheer force of that monster storm. We're standing right in the middle of some of the destruction. I'm John Berman in Fort Myers, Florida.

And hurricane Ian, yes, it is a hurricane again. It isn't done yet. It has intensified to a Category 1 storm and after tearing a destructive path through Florida. It is headed at South Carolina with 85-mile per hour winds. It is expected to make landfall there around mid-day near Myrtle Beach and it could bring life threatening floods there after what it did here.

This is already likely the largest natural disaster in Florida history. Parts of the state just decimated. South Carolina's Governor looking at the impact here in Florida says we know what's coming. Thursday was the first chance for Floridians to assess some of the damage from this storm as of this morning. CNN is reporting at least 19 storm related deaths, that number will almost certainly rise.

Here in Fort Myers, we've seen so many scenes of destruction, some of the images are just breathtaking. Fort Myers Beach, I had a chance to take a fly over it in a helicopter. Fort Myers Beach much of it just flat. People there were trapped in floodwaters that were waist high in worse.

Sanibel Island across the water from Fort Myers Beach suffered catastrophic damage. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis described the storm surge there as biblical. Statewide more than 2 million people are without power this morning. You can see some of the fires. I saw those burning from the sky. They were still burning late yesterday. I want to bring in Chad Myers at the Weather Center. Chad because it's not done, the storms not done I can't believe it has strengthened to a Category 1 now heading towards South Carolina. What can you tell us?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It moves offshore right over Cape Canaveral and back into the Gulf Stream. And that's the very warm water that runs up the east coast all the way to Atlantic Canada, which kind of kept Fiona going for a long time.

This though, is now turning into a flood maker and even a little surge maker for the Carolinas, it makes a huge difference when this comes over the Carolinas through here. Because the tide unlike the Gulf, which is a foot or two, the tide differences six feet here. If this comes in at high tide, in your location, that's a bad thing because you're plus six from just regular tide compared to low water datum. And then you're going to add four to seven on top of that, that could inundate some of these coastal communities. It's already raining right now. It's going to be moving on up and it's still in very warm water.

Now the forecast is for it to stay at 85 miles per hour. And we're not seeing anything like that now. In fact, what I am noticing is that the winds are from the North. That's good, because that's not pushing water into these estuaries into the base, not pushing it into Murrells Inlet or Charleston, at least yet, that will change.

Notice the center of the circulation is going to start beginning to push that East flow, that East when that pushes that little bit of water every wave is a half inch higher than the one before it. And that's how you start to push this surge into the Carolinas all the way from Little River, all the way down past even Charleston. That's where the surge could be the worst and I expect that as we work our way into this afternoon. That's when the landfall will be.

Four, to maybe eight inches of rainfall could make that flash flooding you talked about, absolutely. Water trying to come down the rivers and more water trying to go up the rivers, that never works out for you. You don't want to have that but typically this is where we are.

[05:05:00]

Now remember, the South Side of the eye was the worst part because of the direction of travel into the western part of Florida. But the north side of the eye is the worst now because the circulation takes it like this.

Something else I'm watching this morning, John, I'm watching the lightning. The more lightning we get. We talked to the hurricane hunter about that the other day where he said he's never seen so much lightning in a storm. That means it's intensifying. Lightning means the storms are getting stronger. Right now only five strikes but for a while up through here, there were 41 strikes just in 10 minutes, which at least some of the storm is trying to intensify. The low center itself and where the storms are, are not lined up right now. And that's good, which means we're not going to get rapid intensification likely. Also we have some dry air mixing in here. We're going to continue to watch it for the Carolinas, I mean anywhere from Murrells Inlet all the way down to Georgetown that's likely probably where the storm will land. Georgetown plus or minus 25 miles one way or the other is where the center of this circulation will make landfall today. John.

BERMAN: Yes, I've been there around there when a storm has hit it floods so easily so easily. So easily, Chad. People need to pay very close attention to the storm. We'll check back in with you. Thanks so much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

BERMAN: So as I mentioned, I went up with the Sheriff of Lee County over Fort Myers Beach in a helicopter to see just how extensive the damage is. Watch.

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BERMAN: All that debris just littered everywhere. These were buildings. This was the building right there.

SHERIFF CARMINE MARCENO, LEE COUNTY: There were buildings restaurants and what used to be the Fort Myers pier.

BERMAN: How far back does the sand go?

MARCENO: It goes straight through to the bayside. (INAUDIBLE) right there. Empty spots that you see there were homes.

BERMAN: I'm sorry. So these on this beach here, there used to be homes/

MARCENO: You're going to see the empty lots right here as you see, those lots right there. Those were homes. Those were hotels. Those were real property two, three, four, five storeys high washed away.

BERMAN: The buildings just ripped off to their foundations that just swept backwards.

MARCENO: That's right. When you look to the right side here, there's actually boats thrown into the mangroves, vehicles inside the water submerged because there's a car and a canal right there too. You can see that? Like a jeep. This is like Mexico beach.

BERMAN: Look at that. I can see the foundation where those houses were right there. How many rescues have you done today?

MARCENO: We've done dozens. As you can see, look to the front of our -- these are major, major boats thrown into the mangroves.

BERMAN: Where?

MARCENO: Boats up in the mangroves right there. Not just one, dozens throw everywhere. BERMAN: How long will it take to get this back?

MARCENO: When I look at this, this is not a quick fix. This is not six months. This is long term. Long term. I mean you're talking about, you know, not refurbishing structures. You're talking about no structure left. You're talking about foundations concrete. You're talking about homes that were thrown into the bay. This is a long term fix. That is life changing.

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BERMAN: One of those last shots there you can really see it, you can see the water troughs through the beach there that just pushed through that barrier island, push completely through, almost created a river at one point when the storm surge was up and just rip those houses and push them way back into the bay. Just remarkable. Awe Inspiring. Terrifying to see damage like that.

So local reporters in this area all up and down Florida have been standing up to their knees to give viewers a close up look at what happened.

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VIC MICOLUCCI, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, WJXT: There is devastation everywhere you look. Yesterday we were dealing with those conditions, today we are seeing the aftermath of the human toll. Now the devastation is not just here along the waterfront. We drove all around the Fort Myers area and we see homes with three four feet of water in them. The watermarks still there. Damage everywhere. Roofs ripped off, trees down, powerlines down.

[05:10:00]

DAREN STOLTZFUS, SPORTS DIRECTOR, WESH: We've got another boat coming in. People wrapped in blankets. We've got masks on there, you know, risk for COVID-19. I mean this is just catastrophic but watch the great care these Orange County rescue workers are doing to make sure that they can try to keep the seniors as dry as possible. This is just a horrible situation. We'll be here as this develops.

LOUIS BOLDEN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, WKMG: Look at that water. And look at how deep that water is. We see -- this is that truck that I was describing area. Looks like a several people are on that truck. Right behind the truck is the airboat that we've been telling you about. And the airboat is coming out as well. So they are slowly but surely making their way into the Dellwood Park neighborhood and rescuing people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People with their pets and our belongings. Whatever they had, they can grab. They're actually they're getting on a boat with Fire Rescue and heading over here towards main road really here off just all winter garden road. We're go into get back to you guys, as soon as in a couple of minutes. We're going to stick around here. We're going to continue making sure they're bringing out more folks, as you can see. And as soon as we learn more, we will -- (END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I think all that flooding in Orlando you're seeing there, that's in the central part of the state. That's nowhere near the coast. That's not storm surge. That's rain. That's swollen rivers and streams doing that.

So at least 10 people were killed in Charlotte County by hurricane Ian. Officials there are still learning the extent of the damage to property. Joining me now is Charlotte County Commissioner Bill Truex. Commissioner, thank you for being with us this morning. How is Charlotte County?

BILL TRUEX, CHARLOTTE COUNTY COMMISSIONER: Here at (INAUDIBLE) County, I would say we're blessed, which is hard to say after what you see on the ground here, which is a lot of devastation. We were saved by not getting the storm surge that the Sheriff Marceno talk about the storm surge down in Lee County, we were saved by not having to go through that, quite frankly, and they're suffering from it. But we have had deaths.

We have a tremendous amount of damage in my district, which is over in the western part of the county. And it has been an eye opener for many people here. Particularly the large number of new residents we've have in this area that have not experienced this type of storm before.

BERMAN: Now when you move down here from the north, to get out of the cold, you haven't been through a hurricane not like this. Most people haven't been through a hurricane like this. At last count, we had heard 10 deaths in Charlotte County. Is there an update to that?

TRUEX: I don't have anything further. That's the last I'd heard when I left the EOC last night at 7:00. And we're not certain of the details of those fatalities at this point. But we did have 300 triage, 911 calls when we could not respond. So there -- there's probably still recovery effort going on certain parts of the county.

BERMAN: Are people heading back to their homes? Are they able to get back to their homes?

TRUEX: Yes, the Public Works push crews went out yesterday and started opening up the major roads. Some of the neighborhoods are still kind of hard to maneuver through. So I would caution people to be very careful there are people coming back. I saw numerous people going back out to the Inglewood beach area yesterday. Traffic was horrendous. Of course there's no traffic lights. So it's the -- if you have a lot of patients dealing with this scenario right now.

I have a -- my next door neighbor is in New Jersey he's flying in on Sunday. And you know there are people coming back from wherever they went to or wherever they came from.

BERMAN: Yes, there's a hunger people have a need to get back to see what happened to their homes, to see what happened to their lives. If they did evacuate if they were smart and got out of harm's way. They want to go back to see the damage but just be careful. Be careful and be prepared I think for what you're going to find there. Bill Truex, Commissioner, Charlotte County. I can't thank you enough for being with us. Thank you for all the work you're doing. Let us know if there's any way we can help.

TRUEX: Thank you so much. I appreciate the opportunity and everybody be safe.

BERMAN: At the City of Cape Coral much of it submerged by floodwaters. CNN got an up close look. These are a special live coverage from Fort Myers, Florida.

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[05:18:47]

BERMAN: CNN's chief climate correspondent Bill Weir waded through water with a homeowner to survey the damage to her house.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I told Pat there's no way I'm walking in that building. There's snakes, there's pirates and alligators and alligators and alligators.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: But this is too important.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm here now.

WEIR: We're here now. It's like something came down hard on your cardboard. Careful.

[05:20:09]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know if I can open it.

WEIR: Is it locked?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

WEIR: It's got a good luck, right? Because it work from the inside. Can we reach around.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's OK, the glasses.

WEIR: So right over here. It's wedged against the frame.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

WEIR: I got you. Yes, hold on now. I got you. There you go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. Wow. Salvageable I don't know. You will see it. Amazing. (INAUDIBLE) see this but it's absolutely amazing what that water.

WEIR: My goodness.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is disgusting. What do you think?

WEIR: So, I hate to say, I know you're so hopeful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. They said there's people worse off than us. All those people out there (INAUDIBLE), all those people that don't have a second home to go to. Wow. It's amazing too.

WEIR: Isn't it? This describe this stuffing in here.

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BERMAN: The footprints in her living room, the silt that had settled there, it's so hard. It's so emotional for people to go back again. People who evacuated, people who got away from their homes when the storm hit are now only getting a chance to go back and see the damage that was done to see if anything is salvageable. So much damage up and down the state.

And MyRadar storm chaser Aaron Jayjack had a chance to drive from where I am and further south, all the way up to Orlando sort of through the middle of it all, the middle of the path of destruction. What was it like to do that drive? What did you see?

AARON JAYJACK, MYRADAR STORM CHASER: And I saw some horrific stuff in West Florida. You know all the way from where I started the chase Punta Gorda where they got hit by the by the eye itself the center of the eye down through Fort Myers into Bonita Beach, Bonita Springs.

By far the worst most horrific damage I saw was Fort Myers Beach. I drove right up to Fort Myers Beach yesterday right up to the bridge the causeway to the beach itself where they've got law enforcement not letting anyone across unless you live there.

[05:25:06]

And it's some of the worst hurricane damage I've seen. You know, I've been in Cat. 5 Hurricane Michael and that was, you know, that was -- definitely Cat. 5 hurricane Michael is the worst storm surge damage I saw Mexico Beach but right next -- about next right here at Fort Myers Beach was some of the worst damage I've ever seen.

I flew the drone over it. Houses completely gone. Boats. That was unbelievable how many big boats have just been moved around and probably it looks like 15 foot surge was just pummeling that area during the hurricane.

BERMAN: Well, I'm standing in the middle of boats, big boats right now that were pushed in here in Fort Myers. In fact, over my shoulder here, this part of the dock that was pushed about, you know, 150 yards from the water behind me. So we're right in the middle of it. We've seen it and I had a chance to fly over Fort Myers Beach myself yesterday to see it is horrible.

And one of the questions I think everyone has people on the ground here and viewers around the country is do you think there are still people who are unaccounted for? Are there people who still might be trapped in some of the destruction?

JAYJACK: Yes, I talked to law enforcement yesterday and they are definitely -- they're still -- they were in full search and rescue mode at, you know, yesterday evening at 5:00 pm. They're still in -- I saw (INAUDIBLE) ambulances going in and out of there. So it's -- I mean it's such a bad. They're going to be -- they're checking the boat, you know, looking for people that may have stuck around because there certainly are people that did ride it out there.

I don't know why they didn't read -- ride it out some, you know, there's different reasons some people maybe don't have the financial means to get out of there, some people just, you know, they've never experienced anything like this so they don't think the worst is going to come there. And that's just not the case with these hurricanes. All it takes is one hurricane with big time surge like this and it's, you know, it's definitely going to change the minds in the future if they do get another hurricane whether they evacuate again or not.

BERMAN: Yes, you bring up a great point, a lot of people don't evacuate because they feel like they can't. They feel like they have nowhere to go. Aaron Jayjack who's in Orlando now. You better start driving up to the Carolinas because this storm is about to hit there. Again. Aaron, thank you very much for being with us.

JAYJACK: Yes, you're welcome. Thank you.

BERMAN: All right, as we said, so many people now are having to make choices about their homes or what's left of their homes. We're going to speak to the owner of a construction company coming to help people in these areas that have been so badly damaged. This is CNN Special Live Coverage.

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