Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Milton Now A Category 4 Hurricane As Florida Braces For Direct Hit; Harris To Propose First-Ever Medicare Home Health Care Benefits; Price Of Mega Millions Ticket Will More Than Double To $5.00. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 08, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:05]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, this morning the west coast of Florida is bracing for what will be one of the strongest hurricanes ever to make landfall there. Mass evacuations along the state's west coast are underway. Major cities, including Tampa, bracing for the harshest impact Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

CNN's Ivan Rodriguez is on the ground in Florida with the latest.

IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, the last time a major hurricane made landfall within 50 miles of Tampa was more than 100 years ago, and that's one of the reasons officials have been pleading with millions of people to get out and evacuate. Today really is the last day people have to get out and still have time before the conditions begin to deteriorate here.

We are also seeing bumper-to-bumper traffic on highways leaving Tampa. Florida, we know, has suspended tolls on these major highways to assist with these evacuations. They're also allowing drivers to use the shoulders on highways in order to make traffic flow a little bit faster. But for the last 24 hours traffic has really been jam-packed across this Tampa Bay area region.

We are also paying close attention to the cleanup of debris across this area. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says that crews are going to be working until it's no longer safe to do so to try and clean up all the debris that's been left behind after Hurricane Helene came through.

Just to drive here where we are in front of this boat ramp, neighborhoods that we drove by are still seen with piles of debris in front of homes and in front of apartment complexes.

And that could be very dangerous because when Milton does make its landfall we could see projectiles or those debris begin to turn into projectiles. If not, they could clog a lot of the sewers or just get in front and inside of those roads, not allowing crews to be able to access them. So it's going to be working here around the clock to try and get that debris out -- John.

BERMAN: It is all so dangerous. Ivan Rodriguez, thank you very much -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And joining us now is FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell. Administrator, thank you very much for coming in.

You guys are so busy right now. You have Hurricane Milton bearing down. Less than two weeks ago you had Hurricane Helene hit.

How are you positioning staff and positioning resources for this while you're in the middle of still helping with the recovery from Helene in so many other states?

DEANNE CRISWELL, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: Good morning, Kate.

I think the first thing is we have dealt with multiple significant events before. If we think back to 2017 with Harvey -- or Maria, or even 2020 where every state had a disaster declaration, and then we had significant hurricanes and the wildfire season.

So we are prepared for this. We plan for this. I'm not saying it's not going to be a challenge, but I know that we are going to be able to meet everybody's immediate needs as Hurricane Milton comes in.

We're prepositioning resources, like search and rescue teams, health care assessment teams. The Army Corps of Engineers for power assessment and generator support. And a lot of different resources to meet the immediate needs for the people in Florida while also sustaining everything that we're doing not just here in North Carolina but all of the states that were impacted by Helene.

BOLDUAN: That's reassuring to hear that you believe that the agency is staffed -- has the ability to meet all the needs -- the immediate needs because The New York Times is reporting that FEMA is dealing with a severe staffing shortage right now given how many disasters that the agency is responding to.

Some of what the Times wrote is, "...just nine percent of FEMA's personnel or 1,217 people, were available to respond to the hurricane or other disasters. To put it into context," they write, "over the previous five years, one-quarter of the agency's staff was available for deployment at this point in the hurricane season." Just nine percent versus a quarter of the staff.

Does this staffing shortage hurt FEMA's ability to respond fully to Hurricane Milton?

CRISWELL: I think the numbers that we're talking about there Kate are the incident management personnel that we have. We also have our steady state personnel. And again, one of the things that we always plan for is how do we tap into the full strength of FEMA but also the full federal family.

So a few of the things that we're doing is we are looking at all of our open longer-term recovery offices and reassigning people to help support some of the immediate needs right now. We also can tap into what we call the DHS search capacity where we've got members from across the different departments -- agencies within the department that also come in and support us.

We have these layers of staffing models because we know that we are going to have to face multiple events at once just like this.

BOLDUAN: The rumors and misinformation swirling about FEMA can't be helping efforts right now.

Some of it, like rumors that funds are being diverted or stolen to house migrants, which is a false rumor, has been pushed by former President Donald Trump. You have talked about this. You've even -- FEMA has even launched a webpage to correct the record on the rumors that are swirling. But last night, Donald Trump continued promoting another false rumor about FEMA. Let me play this for you.

[07:35:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So we're to almost $300 billion for Ukraine and yet they're offering people $750 --

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST, "THE INGRAHAM ANGLE": For immediate needs.

TRUMP: -- for the worst -- yeah.

INGRAHAM: Yeah.

TRUMP: But for the worst hurricane that anybody's seen. But more importantly than that is they don't have the people. They're not doing -- it's a bad -- it's a very bad thing. This is --

INGRAHAM: How would you do it differently?

TRUMP: I'd have a tremendous team of people here. They don't have any people here. The people are all -- look, I was in North Carolina yesterday. I was in Georgia, and Georgia is different. You have a good governor. He's doing a very good job. But North Carolina is a disaster, and it was also hit very hard. But they don't have the people and they're complaining there's no people around to help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Can you respond to that, Administrator?

CRISWELL: Yeah. I mean, his accusations are just completely false.

I think the first thing I would say is just because you don't see somebody on the ground in a FEMA shirt doesn't mean that we don't have people there. We have people that are embedded in the state emergency operations center. I have teams that are walking around neighborhoods. I have teams that are embedded with all of the county EOCs. People are on the ground.

But we're also bringing in resources, and it's not just FEMA. We are one part of the federal family. We have over 3,400 members from across all federal agencies in North Carolina helping to support this response. We will continue to bring in more resources as we go into the recovery and the long-term needs that these communities have.

Kate, we really have just got to stop this rhetoric because what it's doing is it's putting fear in the people that we're not going to be there to help them. And I worry that they won't register for assistance with us and get access to the critical resources that they are eligible for. And so I really just appreciate all of your support and at CNN to help us get the right story and the right message out there.

BOLDUAN: Because I mean this. I mean, false information when people are so desperate and in need is dangerous at the very least.

Are you seeing it -- are you seeing signs that these rumors and the misinformation is taking hold? That it is becoming a problem, and that people are grabbing onto it on the ground?

CRISWELL: You know, I think that there is some people that are making these claims and believing this. But what I see on the ground actually is the majority of people -- the local leaders and the sheriffs that are also helping to fight back on this narrative, letting people know that FEMA has been there with them. The federal government has been there with them side-by-side during the response and now the recovery. And they're the trusted leaders in that community.

But I want to make sure that this has to stop because if it continues, we will see more and more people not trusting their federal government to be able to give them what they need. And so I need people register for assistance so I can get them the financial resources they need to support their recovery.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. They need the federal assistance in these disasters. You need them to trust that the federal government will be there. It -- I mean, if that trust breaks --

CRISWELL: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- you can see how catastrophic and dangerous it really could be for people.

Administrator Deanne Criswell, thank you for coming on.

CRISWELL: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, a brand new poll shows voters are now more likely to see Vice President Harris as the candidate representing change. That is a first for Harris in The New York Times/Siena College poll. Overall, the poll shows Harris up 49 to 46 percent. That is within the margin of error.

And today Harris is set to make a first-ever proposal to have Medicare pay for home health care costs. This is a huge issue for seniors and children of seniors. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is with us now on this new proposal -- Priscilla.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, John. This is a proposal that is appealing to the sandwich generation -- essentially, those adults who are both caring for children and their aging parents. And what we are seeing from the Harris campaign over the last couple of weeks is them trying to needle former President Donald Trump and sort of gain an advantage or an edge on the issue of health care. So this proposal, again, focusing on those long-term care needs of senior citizens.

Now, according to a senior campaign official, this would be paid in the following ways. Expanding Medicare drug price negotiations, increasing drug discounts from manufacturer, among a slew of other measures. Because the idea here is trying to help with those long-term needs knowing that generally it is very difficult to get that assistance except in the most narrow of circumstances or, in some cases, where Medicaid -- or where someone is eligible through Medicaid.

Now, the vice president herself has talked about her own personal story and how she also had to help take care of her aging mother. So this is something that she will likely raise when she is on "THE VIEW" today. Again, part of this media blitz where she is going to outline this proposal.

[07:40:05]

And again, John, the campaign is trying to peel more voters away by introducing more of these policies. There's always a little bit of vagueness in terms of how exactly it's going to be done or paid for. But in this case, she's expected to outline more of that when she is on "THE VIEW" later this morning.

BERMAN: Priscilla Alvarez, thank you very much.

Here now, CNN political commentator Karen Finney, and strategic communications expert and former Republican strategist and pollster, Lee Carter.

As someone in this sandwich generation -- and I want to be careful how I say this because all my parents and in-laws are watching this -- it is something that we are concerned about is care for seniors and aging parents.

It is worth noting Kamala Harris leads Donald Trump in The New York Times/Siena College poll among seniors 49 to 47 percent. But, Karen, how do you think this issue and this proposal that comes out today will impact this?

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it's going to appeal to a lot of people like you, like myself. I mean, I remember when my father was ill trying to figure out how to get him the care that he needed was a real challenge while trying to work a job -- my job. And so I think for a lot of people they'll be able to relate to it. I also think there are younger people who may not quite be in the sandwich generation, but they have grandparents that they're seeing their parents have to deal with.

So I think -- you know, again, it's speaking to what Priscilla was saying. We're at the point in the campaign where different policies are going to appeal to different slices of the electorate that you're trying to peel off and bring your way. But we're also a point where she's trying to put more meat on the bones if you will around her policies. So I think it will have a positive impact because this has been a longtime issue that people have had a lot of concerns about how to deal with.

BERMAN: Look, it is one of those issues if you know, you know, right? If you know, you know.

Lee, I do want to ask you about the other really big, interesting finding from The New York Times/Siena College poll, which is that which candidate is seen as the agent of change. For the first time in the Times' polling it is Vice President Harris, 46 to 44 percent. Obviously, the margin is close there.

But I wonder if you can point to anything she's done or that has happened in this campaign that has led to this shift?

LEE CARTER, STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS EXPERT, FORMER REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST AND POLLSTER: Well, I'm not sure that there's any one thing that she's done but all of her messaging has really led us to this moment. She's been continuously focused on turning the page. She's trying to talk about starting again. She's really refreshed the whole campaign -- a shift -- a huge shift from where Joe Biden was about this fight against threats to democracy to now a fight for freedom. Many people are seeing here as somebody who is going to do something different.

Now, those undecided voters are still not sure that she represents change. Those undecided voters are trying to say I want to really understand what she's going to do differently, and I haven't yet heard that. But we're starting to see that she's getting traction with it.

BERMAN: J.D. Vance, in the debate against Tim Walz -- everything was about trying to tie Kamala Harris to Joe Biden. It was everything was trying to make her the incumbent. So this clearly is one of the most important battlegrounds here.

CARTER: That absolutely is the number one issue I'm hearing from undecided voters. It's is she going to be different than what we have today because today does not feel very good for most Americans. They're pessimistic. They feel like prices are too high. And if she's able to convince the American people that she is, in fact, a change agent -- that she's going to fight for them and make a real difference, she could really run away with this. But up until now the undecided voters haven't bought into it.

BERMAN: Yeah, that's a big if, right?

CARTER: Yeah.

BERMAN: I mean, it's a hard task when you're the sitting vice president. She did do the interview with "60 MINUTES" last night -- part of this media blitz we are seeing this week. "THE VIEW," Howard Stern, Stephen Colbert all today, Karen.

I want to play a little bit of this with "60 MINUTES" because Donald Trump didn't do it. He refused to do it. Listen to how Vice President Harris addressed that.

FINNEY: Um-hum.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If he is not going to give your viewers the ability to have a meaningful, thoughtful conversation, and question and answer with you, then watch his rallies. You're going to hear conversations that are about himself and all of his personal grievances. And what you will not hear is anything about you, the listener. You will not hear about how he's going to try to bring the country together, find common ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Watch his rallies.

FINNEY: Yeah.

BERMAN: We heard that in the presidential debate, too, Karen. Why do you think?

FINNEY: Yeah. Well, because if you do watch -- and you don't have to watch for very long -- it very quickly becomes, as she said, this torrent of grievance. I mean, it's not surprising to me that voters are realizing that he is the -- an agent of change when you have Donald Trump talking so much about the past. About the 2020 election.

But also, when you listen to his rallies it reminds you -- and I think this is part of the strategy here is to take us back to what it was like when he was president and we lived by tweet. Every tweet was a new firestorm of oh my gosh, what has he said now? What has he done now?

[07:45:08]

Instead of just the calmness of let's just run the country. Let's make sure people have what they need. Let's make sure we're dealing with the needs of the American people instead of -- even as Trump will talk about using the U.S. military for his retribution, and things like that.

So I think that's part of why she's saying that. Just listen to what he says, listen to what I'm saying, and you decide who you think cares more about you and your family. BERMAN: I'm going to jump in right here because I do understand that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just began his hurricane briefing on the status of Milton. Let's listen.

GOV. RON DESANTIS, (R) FLORIDA: I'm joined by Kevin Guthrie, Jared Perdue, Dave Kerner, Gen. John Haas.

Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall on the west coast of Florida sometime between Wednesday evening and early Thursday morning. The storm has moved a little bit slower than initially projected.

But remember, do not get wedded to the cone. Do not get wedded to where the projected landfall is. I think the 5:00 a.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center had it somewhere in the Bradenton Beach area in Manatee County. You could have wobble either way.

And I think one of the things that's been good is a lot of those folks down in Southwest Florida, like in Lee County and Charlotte, they're used to seeing the wobble end up going south. And so you've had a lot of people that have evacuated from some of those barrier islands.

So just know it's possible that it could hit north of Tampa Bay. It could hit Tampa Bay. It could hit south of Tampa Bay somewhere in Southwest Florida. But wherever it makes landfall there is going to be impacts far beyond what the cone actually shows.

Now, we have made, as I mentioned yesterday, pre-landfall declaration requests from FEMA. The federal government has approved a portion of our request. There are going to be landfall requests for major disaster declaration and individual assistance, and we anticipate those being approved as well.

We have 51 counties currently under a state of emergency. As of the 5:00 a.m. advisory, Hurricane Milton is still a major hurricane. It is no longer a Category 5, but it potentially could strengthen back to that as it makes it approach to the state of Florida.

Maximum sustained winds are in excess of 150 miles an hour. Now, their forecast do call for it to weaken before it gets to landfall, and maybe that's true. Let's hope it's true. Maybe it's not. But even it does weaken you're still looking at a major hurricane. It is going to have really, really significant impacts.

Right now it's located about 560 miles southwest of Tampa. A storm surge warning has been issued for the Florida Gulf Coast from mainland Monroe County northward to the Dixie-Levy county line, with storm surge watches in effect for Nassau County to Brevard-Indian River county line, including the St. Johns River.

Ten to 15-feet peak storm surge is forecast for the Pasco-Pinellas county line all the way down into the area where you have Manatee and Sarasota. Five to 10 peak storm surge is forecast from Yankeetown southward, and then from Inglewood-Southwood to Bonita Beach, including Charlotte Harbor.

So that almost entire west coast of the Florida peninsula has the potential to have really, really, significant storm surge. And when you're talking about 10 to 15 feet, that's obviously major. But we saw what even four feet did with Hurricane Helene in some of these communities. And so this is something that's really, really significant.

There's a hurricane warning in effect for Levy, Marion, Citrus, Sumter, Lake Seminole, Hernando, Orange, Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Polk, Osceola, Manatee, Hardee, Highlands, Sarasota, DeSoto, Charlotte, and Lee counties. And then tropical storm warning in coastal Franklin, coastal Wakulla, coastal Jefferson, Taylor, Suwannee, Lafayette, Dixie, Gilchrist, western Columbia, western Alachua, Okeechobee, Glades, Hendry, Collier, Monroe, including the Florida Keys and the Dry Tortugas.

We have a hurricane watch for Nassau, Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Putnam, Flagler, Volusia, Brevard, Indian River, Okeechobee, Glades, Hendry, Collier, Dry Tortugas. And then a tropical storm watch inland Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, eastern Columbia, Baker, Union, Bradford, eastern Alachua, St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade.

So basically, the entire peninsula portion of Florida is under some type of either a watch or a warning.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management is actively addressing storm-related resource requests. We are currently fulfilling close to 1,000 missions to support our local communities. That includes everything from Tiger Dams and generators to staff support, as well as food and water and tarps.

[07:50:08]

We've also deployed more than 11,000 feet of flood protection systems and we're prioritizing critical infrastructure like hospitals, wastewater treatment facilities, and electrical infrastructure. We've also done things like generators to support special needs sheltering operations. Of course, Starlink internet -- all counties have access to Starlink internet devices and can use those as they see fit.

More than 350 ambulances and more than 30 paratransits are in operation. We also have another 144 in staging that can be used if the need arises.

The state of Florida is amassing fuel reserves ahead of Milton and staging it to be utilized as needed. We have been dispatching fuel over the past 24 hours as gas stations have run out. So we currently have 260 --

BERMAN: All right, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis briefing reporters, briefing the state, briefing the nation on the status of Hurricane Milton preparations. He made the point that the entire -- almost the entire Florida peninsula is under some kind of hurricane warning or watch.

The storm now a Category 4. It could strengthen again. He was making the point that people shouldn't anticipate or bet on this storm wobbling one direction --

BOLDUAN: Yeah, don't (INAUDIBLE) stop this. Yeah.

BERMAN: -- or another because it's going to have an impact -- a major, perhaps, catastrophic impact on just such a big area.

BOLDUAN: And still says though it's slowed down a bit landfall is expected late Wednesday-early Thursday.

We're going to have more updates coming from the National Hurricane Center as well in just a few minutes. And we're standing by for that update from the Hurricane Center on the exact track and intensity of Hurricane Milton and what it looks like now. We'll have much more on that ahead.

Plus, whiplash in Georgia. The Georgia Supreme Court now reinstating a controversial law banning abortions after six months -- or six weeks.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:56:27]

BERMAN: All right. This morning, Georgia's six-week abortion ban is back in effect. The Georgia Supreme Court reinstated it while it considers an appeal of a lower court ruling that struck down the law last week. The court did leave in place part of a lower court decision blocking prosecutors from getting access to medical records of abortion patients.

So winning the lottery will cost you more. Starting in April, Mega Millions tickets will double in price going from $2.00 to $5.00. That's actually more than double. I'm good at math.

The lottery says that will allow bigger jackpots and more chances to become a billionaire. Really, the chances are that you will not win. It's a losing proposition buying these lottery tickets. That's just my opinion. But they do say it will improve your odds of winning.

Taylor Swift is now the world's richest female musician not by playing Mega Millions. She just took over the number one spot on the Forbes' list. Her net worth is $1.6 billion. Dropping to number two, Rihannah, with $1.4 billion. So she's still doing OK. The only musician with a higher net worth is JayZ.

Swift became a billionaire last year thanks to earnings from her global Eras Tour and her music catalog. And I would say, Kate, her overall talent.

BOLDUAN: Overall awesomeness. A few people you just listed do not need to play the lottery, I think is what we do establish here.

So, the National Hurricane Center says that Hurricane Milton could be one of the most destructive storms on record for west coast Florida -- west central Florida. As they prepare for this next hit coming at them we are getting a look at just how much these storms really do cost property owners and what they need to prepare for. CNN's Matt Egan is tracking this for us. What did you find, Matt?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Kate, Hurricane Helene unleashed total destruction, right? We're talking about torrential flooding, catastrophic landslides, and biblical flooding. And that storm is going to financially destroy some people even as another one looms.

So, CoreLogic found that Hurricane Helene estimated to cost between $30 billion and $47 billion in losses. That's across 16 states. Now, these are model losses so they could go even higher as we learn more about the scale of destruction, especially in hard-hit states like North Carolina.

Now, the problem is that some homeowners and businessowners -- they didn't have insurance here. So, CoreLogic estimates that the insured losses of up to $17.5 billion will be totally dwarfed by the uninsured flood losses of up to $30 billion. Now, that is massive.

And, of course, some of the people who don't have insurance, right, they're going to be out of luck. They could have to go into foreclosure, right? They could lose their businesses.

This all spotlights this massive problem between who has flood insurance and who needs it, right? Because homeowners insurance typically does not cover flood damage, right? It'll cover fire, and lightning, and hail, and other issues, but not flood. That has to be bought separately often through FEMA, and it's only required for homeowners to buy the flood insurance when they have a federally backed mortgage and it's located in what's known as a 100-year flood zone.

Of course, given what's going on with the climate crisis and all this extreme --

BOLDUAN: That's the thing -- it's all changing.

EGAN: Right. Where are you actually safe these days? Unfortunately, almost nowhere.

And, of course, Florida is not safe. Right now they're bracing for this direct hit from another massive hurricane. We're looking at massive flood risk in the next couple of days. We could see Orlando get two months' worth of rain just through Thursday. Tampa could get five months of rain.