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CNN International: Powerful Hurricane's Outer Bands Spawned Tornadoes; Hurricane Milton Batters Parts of Florida; Milton Exits Florida After Leaving a Trail of Destruction; Florida Governor: We'll Better Understand the Extent of Damage as the Day Progresses; Florida Governor Warns People to be Cautious in Aftermath of Milton; Florida Had its Most Tornado Warnings in a Single Day. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired October 10, 2024 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:00]
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hi everyone, hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Omar Jimenez, and this is CNN "Newsroom". The sun is up in Florida, and emergency crews and residents are getting their first look at the damage left by Hurricane Milton. Rescue crews are trying to reach trapped residents in Pinellas County.
And we've just learned at least four people are dead in St. Lucie County on the East Coast of Florida, according to the sheriff, after a tornado tore through a retirement community. The storm has moved offshore and is heading east into the Atlantic Ocean as a Category 1 storm, but not before leaving a trail of destruction right through the state.
Later this hour, Governor Ron DeSantis and FEMA Chief Deanne Criswell will update us on the current conditions. Milton made landfall Wednesday night, just south of Tampa as a Category 3 storm. It brought damaging winds, flooding rains, storm surge. Millions of homes across the state are still without power, and part of the reason for that, dozens of tornadoes spawned by the hurricane's outer bands.
Take a look at this, Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. The stadium was supposed to house first responders, but Milton completely laid waste to this ripping the roof off of it. You can see right through to the baseball diamond there. And Tampa's Mayor warns residents, just because the storm is gone doesn't mean the danger is too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANE CASTOR, TAMPA MAYOR: What we are asking you now is, please, please stay inside. Stay inside until we can get out there with our teams. They are all in action right now, we can get out there assess the damage and make sure that it's safe for you to go back out into your community or to re-enter your neighborhood.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: So that was Tampa's mayor. Tampa is on the West Coast of the state. Orlando, Florida is right in the middle of the state, and wasn't spared by Milton either as the storm moved across the Florida peninsula. CNN's Victor Blackwell has been there all night and filed this report a short time ago,
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: We just heard from the Mayor of Orlando, Buddy Dyer, who says that although the winds have calmed and the rain is taking a break, this is not over. He's asking everybody to shelter in place, continue to stay where they are. I mean, Buddy Dyer was here for Ian two years ago.
He was here for Charley 20 years ago, so he knows hurricanes and how they can impact this community. We're expecting to hear from him and EOC officials with more detail later this morning, while we're waiting to get a clear picture of what it looks like here in Orange County. I checked with officials right next door in Brevard County, straight east here from Orange County.
They've got more than 70 miles of coastline in Brevard County, Cape Canaveral is there, Cocoa Beach. 87,000 or so customers without power and a report of a tornado touchdown there as well, no report of injuries, according to county officials. We're still working to get some clarity from Cocoa Beach.
Police about that tornado that touched down some damage to infrastructure. They did have to evacuate some people from an apartment building for some localized flooding there as well. A little more than 500 people who went to shelters in Brevard County, far fewer than the thousands who went to shelters here in Orange County, about 2600 here, about 1000 in shelters in Osceola County, which is straight south.
So those people possibly will be able, once the sun comes up, once their communities are searched, will be able to go back to their homes.
JIMENEZ: And that was Victor Blackwell in Orlando for us. We showed you the images of the Tampa Bay Rays stadium with its roof ripped off. That's where we find CNN's Boris Sanchez, who's in St. Petersburg, with a look at some of the damage in the wider area.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Tropicana Field, one of the centers of the community here in St. Petersburg, getting battered by hurricane Milton, as you noted, and you've seen that drone video, the roof of it just shorn off, and that was one of the bases of emergency operations. You had emergency responders sheltering there. It gives you an idea of just how powerful this storm was.
[08:05:00]
I should note that for the most part, the neighborhood surrounding the immediate neighborhood surrounding Tropicana Field, considering how strong the storm was, and the rain and storm surge we were set to see, appears to be in relatively decent shape. But obviously that's what the caveat that we don't know exactly how all the areas of Pinellas County are doing.
We actually spoke to a sheriff's deputy this morning that had blocked off access on a bridge into Pinellas County. He reported that there had been some downed power lines, and that is a major part of the concern, the unseen danger that still lurks underneath floodwaters, underneath rubble, potentially.
We do know, as you noted, that some areas are flooded out and rescues are underway, especially in the eastern part of Hillsborough County. You mentioned Plant City, we understand there's some two to three feet of flood water in certain areas, and a senior citizens facility had to be evacuated back here in Pinellas.
Part of the concern is with the barrier islands, those places that are at sea level, that have the coast on one side and the bay on the other a lot of debris from hurricane Helene was left over in those areas. They are impossible to access right now. Nevertheless, officials are putting out the word to stay indoors.
They want folks to stay inside to avoid those unseen dangers as they survey the damage and get a better idea of just how devastating hurricane Milton was to this specific area.
JIMENEZ: Thank you, Boris Sanchez. And as we've been saying, Milton unleashed record amounts of rainfall. And you can see -- we want to give you a look at what it looked like in St. Petersburg during the height of the storm Wednesday night. The city saw a one in 1000-year, rain event with more than 18 inches or 45 centimeters pummeling the area.
You can see just the sideways rain coming in there. And the Director of the National Hurricane Center walked us through Milton's impact when we spoke to him earlier today.
MICHAEL BRENNAN, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: We've seen Milton play out pretty much as expected as we went from landfall through the substantial impacts, we've seen all across much of central Florida overnight. Yeah, you're right with the center coming in south of Tampa that pushed the worst storm surge down into places like Venice and down into Sarasota County.
But the flooding that you saw in the Tampa area with 18 inches of rain in St. Petersburg, greater than 15 inches in some locations, really puts a lot of water everywhere anyway, regardless of whether it's coming from the bay or from the sky. And then they got into that Northwestern eyewall where we saw some really intense winds, and they were in that eye wall for quite some time.
And you've seen the damage. You've seen the wind damage with gusts 90, 100 miles per hour across portions of central Florida. Still substantial winds ongoing along the Florida East Coast this morning, still a very dangerous situation across much of Florida.
It's important to remind people that we lose a lot of people after storms in these types of major hurricane landfall. So, we want people to be safe in that post storm environment. Don't go out and about. It's dark, there's damage, there's flooded water, there may be power lines down. Don't be going out until your local officials tell you it's safe to do so. JIMENEZ: As we've been talking about the damage that we've been seeing, these are live images out of Pinellas County right now. You can see a man in the bottom left of your screen walking literally chest deep in water right now, you can see, obviously, the height of it. It seems to be a residential area.
There is a man seems to be on the phone in that light green jacket on top as well, likely as the sun has come up, people are trying to figure out what to do, as they see their neighborhoods completely transformed by the effects of hurricane Milton. But again, that man walking chest deep in the water gives you, perspective to the amount that we have seen come in over just the past 24 to 48 hours as well.
We're going to keep an eye on these live images as well, and as you saw someone go through on a boat. Cities dotting Central Florida's Western Coast got the initial brunt of the storm. And of course, Milton hit just two weeks after hurricane Helene left devastation across the region. Clearwater is just west of Tampa, and the mayor there had this assessment of Milton when he spoke to CNN's Kasie Hunt earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUCE RECTOR, MAYOR OF CLEARWATER, FLORIDA: I feel like we've received a direct hit from hurricane. And when you combine the two hurricanes that came through, terrible storm surge, which we've talked about two weeks ago, and then last night, hurricane force winds and heavy rain, which caused flooding in places which normally don't flood and Clearwater, and throughout the county.
And then you saw the wind damages south of here in St. Petersburg, on the baseball stadium. And as I drove my cars a short distance from my hotel to city hall this morning, there are trees down everywhere. Many of the trees damaged by wind, as you might expect, but also, we had trees collapse because the ground was so wet and saturated that the trees collapsed.
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: So, Mr. Mayor, what can you tell people who are just waking up this morning, who may unexpectedly be needing help to do at this point?
[08:10:00]
And what are your first responders doing at this hour?
RECTOR: Well, we're reaching out, and we're going to make, you know, return any calls that we get, hopefully, and I haven't heard yet that we've had to, you know, rescue anyone from a dangerous situation yet, but we had a lot, a lot of elderly who were in shelters, and I'm sure they are very uncomfortable.
And I'm sure with their medical needs and being in an uncomfortable place, that our firefighters, our EMTs are working very hard this morning to assist them.
(END VIDEO CLIP) JIMENEZ: And again, as we've been talking about the sun is coming up, we're getting a first look at really the damage after hurricane Milton has passed. Boris Sanchez joins us now from St. Petersburg, Florida. Boris, what have you been seeing where you are?
SANCHEZ: Yeah, Omar, so we are outside one of the centers of the community here in St. Petersburg. This is Tropicana Park, home of the Tampa Bay Rays. And as you can see behind me, the roof is in tatters the winds from hurricane Milton shredding it. Notably, this is one of the bases of emergency operations for the response to this hurricane.
You had emergency personnel that was sheltering there. You had resources that were stationed there. Fortunately, I can report that the immediate area around the park seems to be OK. We've seen widespread flooding across Pinellas County, where we are, neighboring Hillsborough County as well, but at least in this neighborhood, things appear to be fine.
That doesn't mean that this area, by any means, is free from damage from hurricane Milton. We have seen downed trees. We have seen, as I noted before, widespread flooding. We try to access part of Pinellas County that was shut down. There were sheriff's deputies blocking off a bridge, and we spoke to one of them, who relayed that there had been power lines, a number of power lines that were down.
They have been putting out the word local officials that folks should stay indoors, in large part because of the unseen dangers. This is a hurricane that swept through at night. It left at least about a foot of rain in Tampa, more in other areas. In Hillsborough County, there's about two to three feet of standing water in some parts.
And there could be all kinds of danger that you don't necessarily know is there underneath water or underneath rubble and potentially property or trees that are on the verge, that are teetering and about to break off or about to fall that could pose serious risk. That's why officials are putting out the word that folks should stay at home until all the damage is surveyed, until they get a clearer picture of what they are seeing.
Now we know that rescues, water rescues, are going on further south, in Clearwater, Florida, as well as in Hillsborough County. This is the eastern part of Hillsborough County. This is largely an agricultural area. A lot of migrant workers there. We know that a senior citizens facility had to be evacuated.
Folks were getting rescued there. It is just starting to dawn on folks here the extent of the damage from hurricane Milton. So, there's still a lot of danger out there, and they want folks to heed the warnings and stay indoors, Omar.
JIMENEZ: I mean, as you mentioned, what officials have been saying, just because it's light out, the rain is stopped, the wind is stopped, doesn't mean the danger has as well. Boris Sanchez really appreciate the reporting. I want to get now over to Volusia County, more specifically the City of DeLand, Florida, a little north of Orlando. And we're talking to Chris Graham. He's a community information manager. Chris, good morning. Thanks for being with us. Sunrise there about a half hour ago or so, how are things looking?
CHRIS GRAHAM, DELAND, FLORIDA COMMUNITY INFORMATION MANAGER: Good morning, Omar, you know, things have died down. The wind has died down. I don't think we're getting much rain anymore, but last night, you know, we were getting inundated with rain. We measured over 15 inches of rain since 05:30 p.m. yesterday, and we've had 19 inches total through the week.
So, this has been an unprecedented event for us. I was talking to my city manager this morning, and he's been here for more than 20 years, and he said, this is the worst we've had since the oh four hurricanes. When you're talking about the amount of rain we've received, the wind damage.
And we're trying to tell people to stay off the roads right now, because, you know, there's this curiosity. People want to see what it looks like, what the damage looks like, but we haven't even been out yet, because we're just getting the daylight. And so, people really just need to stay inside and wait, wait for things to clear out.
JIMENEZ: And I know, you talked about the amount of rain that you all got, and just -- I mean, just since Wednesday at 05:30 as you were talking about. Do you have a sense of the damage of anything significant that that you all are having to, maybe prioritize this morning based on what you're seeing?
[08:15:00]
GRAHAM: Yeah, right now our crews are out at our wastewater treatment plant because our intake system, which takes all of our toilet water and all of our liquid waste right now, is completely underwater, and that's only happened since 2004. So, it's been 20 years since that has happened.
Right now, we're trying to create a berm around it, telling people to conserve their water. Don't flush the toilet right now, and once we get that berm around it, we'll pump the water out, and hopefully we can take that back. But you know, I'm seeing images from neighboring cities with roads completely washed out that you would never have expected.
It was just an incredible amount of rain that we received in just a short period of time. So again, people just need to stay off the roads and let the professionals get to work, and we'll get things back to normal as quickly as possible.
JIMENEZ: And I think for some folks who might be looking at a map, we'll look at where you all are and say, well, you weren't on the west coast of Florida. You didn't take the initial that's not where the hurricane made landfall, but obviously it moved across the state, and it brought with it so much rain, as you talked about wind, of course, a lot of a trail of destruction, really, in its path. Based on what you all assess prior to the storm coming in, what were you telling residents? How are you explaining that? Yes, it may not be where it's making landfall, but it is going to cause significant damage, or at least affect the land in a serious way. How are you communicating that and assessing what to communicate?
GRAHAM: Right, you know. So, the hurricane was just due south of us. It was going to skirt us a little bit, you know, we're kind of in that window, you know, we may or may not get hurricane winds. So, you know, we were just telling people to be cautious. You know, of course, we weren't getting hit, getting the direct hit that central west coast and that we have a lot of friends and family there, so my prayers are with them.
But we were just telling people, look, we need to take this seriously. This is something that we probably haven't faced in quite some time. So, and I think a lot of people did heed those warnings. We did have a tree fall on a car that was driving out before a curfew went into place, and that video went viral.
And so, it was a great reminder telling people, hey, you need to stay off the road. There's no reason to be on the road. And even though things have died down, trees could be, you know, on the verge of falling, limbs could be loose. So again, it's just best to stay inside until things have subsided, and we'll let people know when it's safe to go outside.
JIMENEZ: And for the trees in particular. Were you worried about the amount of tree fall? I know you all have, I believe, a history of oak trees in the area as well. Were you worried about the tree damage in this particular in your area?
GRAHAM: Yeah, that was one of our main concerns. We hadn't had a significant event for at least since hurricane Irma, and maybe even before that. So, we have a lot of very large oak trees that are susceptible when you get a lot of rain, when you get a lot of wind, they are susceptible to blowing over.
So, we were worried about that. We haven't gotten a ton of reports of that yet. But again, people aren't -- are just starting to emerge from their homes. So, I think we're going to start seeing a lot more of that. But based on what the city manager was telling me, I think we are looking at quite a bit of debris that will be out there and a big cleanup for sure.
JIMENEZ: Yeah, well, Chris, I really appreciate you taking the time. I know you all have a lot of work to do today. Sounds like you at least have identified some places to start with. Wish you the best luck. All right, still to come, picking up the pieces again. Emergency teams are starting to assess the damage after hurricane Milton hammers Florida. Only two weeks after hurricane Helene came through. We'll explain, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:20:00] JIMENEZ: Welcome back everyone. More now on our top story with Florida's first light comes the first assessment of damage from hurricane Milton. And we're up and we're watching, I should say, for a live update in a few minutes from the state's governor and the Federal Disaster Response Chief.
You can see some of the winds taking pieces of trees, just the extent and the magnitude of the damage that came through here. Right now, we know Milton is moving off the Florida coast, but officials are quick to point out the storm is still a dangerous hurricane with winds of 85 miles per hour.
You can see where it is right now. Florida, of course, had a rough night. Take a look at this video, the roof of this stadium, Tropicana Field, with the Tampa Bay Rays play mostly ripped away by Milton's high winds. There are no reports of injuries, thankfully, from Tropicana Field, but it had been turned into an emergency shelter for first responders.
CNN's Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us now with the latest on the storm's track. Hi Derek, so the storm is passed, but the effects of it seem like they're going to be lingering for a bit.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, I'd say we're not out of the clear just yet, even though what is now a Category 1 hurricane looks like a former shell of itself, no defined eye. It's very sheared apart. You can see the satellite imagery how disorganized it looks, but on the backside of this we're still receiving rain and strong winds, especially near the Space Coast.
In fact, that's the location where National Hurricane Center has continued its hurricane warnings. So right along this coastline here, just north of Daytona Beach, this area experiencing gusts of 58 miles per hour right now. So, this would be the backside. The rain bands on the backside of hurricane Milton as the eye, which is right there.
There's the center of circulation moves off Cape Canaveral, that's the Space Coast from Florida. Now, there was a prolific amount of rain that fell from the sky from this hurricane as it sliced through the Florida peninsula, the central portions of the Florida peninsula, from Tampa to Orlando, that shading of pink that is 10 inches or more of rain.
St. Petersburg got 18 inches of rain, that's a foot and a half of rainfall, and in just a three-hour period, over 9 inches of that water fell from the sky. So, no wonder we're seeing these active high water rescues taking place on the western side of the state, but also, we have our flooding concerns across the central interior of the Florida peninsula as well.
As the system continues to move away, there are active flash flood warnings still ongoing. This includes Lake, Orange, Seminole and Volusia County that will last right through about 09:00 a.m. this morning before really the outer edge of that storm makes its way offshore. So that onshore component still bringing a storm surge threat at least potential three to five feet, where you see the shading of yellow, that's where storm surge warnings are still in place. They have been discontinued along the West Coast, where Hurricane Milton made landfall late last night or 08:30 roughly Eastern Standard Time, near Siesta Key south of Tampa and that was so critical in this forecast, because that gave a reverse storm surge, because of the Northern periphery of Tampa Bay, actually taking the water out of Tampa Bay.
But these are some of the storm surge preliminary values in the southwestern sections of the state. Impressive wind gusts as well over 100 miles per hour, knocking out power for over 3 million customers as Milton made its way through the central parts of the state. And I'll leave you with these tornadoes dropping from the sky.
We know that hurricanes are prolific tornado producers as well, especially near the Gulf, but they don't normally produce the significant of tornadoes.
[08:25:00]
So, these were strong, damaging tornadoes. You can see the transformers blowing up as it crossed the road. There were, in fact, a record number of tornado warnings issued across the state of Florida in one day, 126 tornado warnings were issued. And if you look back at the previous landfalling hurricanes in this area, you could just name them off.
So, here's Milton. That was Irma. This is the number of tornado reports from that storm. This is Helene from two weeks ago. And this is Ian from September of 2022. Again, another prolific tornado spawning event. But really says something when Milton was the number one.
JIMENEZ: And look, I mean, it gives you a sense too, of the other threats that can come. Not just again. People think of the winds of hurricane they think of the rains. But you talked about flash flooding from bodies of water in the area. You talked about tornado warnings as well. I mean, it just shows the breadth of it.
DAM: Omar.
JIMENEZ: Yeah.
DAM: I mean, this tornado was on the eastern side of the state. This is coming out of Palm Beach County. So, we're talking well away from where the storm surge threat was, at least on the West Coast. We put so much focus and attention on that, and rightly so.
But these are often the overlooked threats of oncoming hurricanes because we know they exist, but we focus on the water, because we use that slogan, you can hide from the wind, but you need to run from the water, because water is so responsible for the fatalities and the destruction. But clearly, tornadoes are a concern well outside of the center of the storm.
JIMENEZ: Yeah, unbelievable! And seeing that, we're showing that graphic again, behind you, you're showing us just the amount of tornado warnings and to put some of those other very big and serious hurricanes in perspective, there. Yeah, 126 tornado I covered Irma in 2017.
DAM: Yeah --
JIMENEZ: 69 really, really crazy stuff. Derek Van Dam really appreciate it.
DAM: OK.
JIMENEZ: All right, no stranger to hurricanes. Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu knows all about how to cope with the aftermath. CNN's John Berman has been talking to him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: You were also Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana when Katrina and Rita hit. You've got experience at these moments. What's the most important thing, the morning after?
MITCH LANDRIEU, FORMER NEW ORLEANS MAYOR: Well, first of all, we don't know yet what the extent of the damages. That storm was a really horrific storm, and in many instances, this is actually the most dangerous time. You still have a lot of water out there. As you said, you've had tornadic activity, which, if that hits you, you know, we've had a couple of deaths from there.
You have individuals that didn't leave that need to be rescued, so you have to let the first responders do their work. I'm sure that the governor, in short order, is going to have a press conference with all the federal officials there to talk about what they see, what they know, what they have to do for the next couple of hours.
But I know, as hard as it is, this has been for the people of Florida. You know it's going to take some time to assess what the credible damages, but listen to the governor, to the local elected officials, and let the emergency responders do their work.
BERMAN: And the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, will be holding a news conference we understand, at 08:30 a.m. Eastern Time, along with, we believe, the FEMA Administrator.
LANDRIEU: Yeah.
BERMAN: Who is also a joint federal state news conference, which will brief the people correct as a leader at this moment, what does one need to do?
LANDRIEU: Well, if there was ever a time for us to come together as a country, this is it, you have to be on the same team, the president, the governor, all the federal officials, the state officials, the mayors in these areas, the police chiefs and the sheriffs and the EMS, everybody's got to stay really focused.
The governor will help lead that effort, as you said, Administrator Criswell will be standing by his side. They're going to tell everybody what they see, what they know, how they think they can help. But the best thing that folks can do, even in this incredible pain, is listen to what it is that they tell you based on you're going to want to rush back in.
That's always a bad idea. There are 3 million people that are out of electricity. The worst of this storm is not necessarily over from everybody, because as you said, John, this turnaround activity can really, really be dangerous. So, we're not out of it yet, and the damage is going to be catastrophic for many, many families and business owners and communities.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JIMENEZ: As we listen to those comments, water rescues are still going on right now, and as you just heard, more than 3 million households across Florida are without power as Milton moves offshore. CNN's Brian Abel has been reporting on the hurricane since it hit. Here's his update from Orlando.
BRIAN ABEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The wind in the rain, it comes and goes here in Orlando, as Milton made its way through, experiencing the outer bands of it at the moment, it has calmed down significantly, but those winds strong gusts, 74 miles per hour recorded at Orlando airport, strong enough to take down a street light about a quarter mile down the road here, and bend some of these trees that you see lining a very busy downtown street here.
[08:30:00]
We are also now learning of water rescues underway in multiple counties. The emergency management teams here tell us in Orange County at least, that they are waiting for the sun to be up before they begin to go and assess the damage truly. We have also learned that this a deadly storm system because of the tornadoes that was -- that were spawned from it. In St Lucie County, multiple fatalities we are -- it's unclear how many fatalities at this point.
But we have also learned that people have been pulled from debris in various areas across the state that did experience those tornadoes. Power on here, but not so for more than 3 million customers across the state.
JIMENEZ: All right, thank you for that reporting. Still to come, Milton roared ashore in Sarasota County, Wednesday night, we're going to have an update from the mayor there and potentially more officials when we come back, stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JIMENEZ: All right, welcome back. We're watching a press conference with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell. Let's listen in.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Yes, the key in Sarasota County, it moved quickly across Central Florida overnight, producing significant flooding and damaging winds near its path. The storm did bring much destruction and damage. Tornadoes ravaged parts of the East Coast of the state. Flooding occurred on the west and east coast.
Totals upwards of 10 to 15 inches has been observed across much of the Tampa Bay area, nature coast and spreading eastward along north of I- IV Corridor towards Sanford. Isolated pockets of up to 18 inches of rainfall were observed in Pinellas and Coastal Hillsborough counties. Five to 10 inches of rainfall has been observed further northward towards Gainesville.
Along eastern portions of the I-IV Corridor and south of the Western I-IV Corridor towards Sarasota. Several rivers reach major flood stage, and major flooding continues along portions of the Hillsborough River, St. Johns River and -- Kiva River. Water levels are forecast to continue rising along Northeast and West Central Florida rivers and waterways with many forecasts to remain within or reach moderate to flood stage over the next day or so.
We had over 80,000 people that were into shelters overnight as the storm hit the state. We will better understand the extent of the damage as the day progresses and you have people that are out there assessing damage right now, first responders have been working all through the night to help people who were in distress.
And what we can say is the storm was significant, but thankfully, this was not the worst-case scenario. The storm did weaken before landfall, and the storm surge, as initially reported, has not been as significant overall as what was observed for Hurricane Helene.
Right now, it looks like Sarasota County had the most significant storm surge, likely somewhere between 8 to 10 feet. And remember, with Helene, we had 15 to 20 feet up in Taylor County. Rescue missions have been underway throughout the night. State search and rescue teams report at least 48 individuals have been rescued as of 06:30.
National Guard search and rescue teams have worked overnight and successfully executed rescues of families and pets on the West Coast and from the destruction of the tornadoes in East -- in the Central and Eastern parts of Florida, the guard continues to work into the morning and have 31 rescue aircraft operational, and hundreds of rescuers engaged in over 125 active missions in 26 different counties, over 6500 soldiers are deployed throughout the state.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission has made land and water rescues in Pinellas, Hillsboro and Pasco County. The State Guard has also been engaged in search and rescue, assisting with flood water evacuations as well as damage assessments. There are currently 3.1 million accounts without power.
There have been 635,000 restorations since Hurricane Milton hit Florida. The areas that have the most significant outages as of this morning are Hillsboro, 75 percent out Hardy, 97 percent out Manatee, 82 percent out, Pinellas, 68 percent out and Sarasota, 75 percent out.
Of course, there are 50,000 plus linemen that have been pre staged. A lot of what they'll do this morning is likely assess the damage and then begin restoration operations very quickly. And we appreciate everybody that's in that fight, because that's very important for a lot of people.
Cut and toss have begun at first, like by the Florida Department of Transportation, 328 crews are active in the field, with over 350 pieces of heavy equipment and trucks.
[08:35:00]
150 bridge inspectors were dispatched at first light and have begun performing inspections to open bridges across the impact areas. As I put in my executive order, residents, have a right to be back into their homes as soon as the roadways are deemed safe.
In Tampa, the Gandy Bridge and Howard Franklin Bridge have been inspected, cleared and are open, and inspections of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge are underway. There is debris on the Sunshine Skyway as well as the Courtney Campbell, but once that debris is clear, we anticipate those bridges opening later this morning.
Other bridges are being opened as soon as the state inspections are completed. The Tampa airport is repairing minimal damage and should be open no later than tomorrow. Seaports are awaiting Coast Guard channel surveys to reopen waterside, but as of now, our initial assessments say they will likely be able to resume operations very quickly.
We still have a lot of school closures for today. I think Floridians should just keep in contact with their local officials about what that's going to be. I would imagine a lot of the schools that were not necessarily in the direct path of the storm will be open tomorrow. It may take a few more days for some of the places that were harder hit.
Now, as you survey damage and clean up, please be cautious of hazards we have post storm fatalities almost every storm, and a lot of these fatalities are avoidable, so please be cautious of downed power lines. Don't touch them. Don't remove tree debris that may be entangled with downed power lines.
Standing water can conceal downed power lines and other hazards, so please be mindful and never walk through storm waters. Standing storm waters can also carry a bacteria that can lead to fatal infections. This type of infection was responsible for a fatality following Hurricane Helene. So please avoid wading through standing water.
Please use proper Ladder Safety. Please use proper generator safety. Do not operate the generator inside your home. It must be outside a safe distance from doors and windows. Visit Florida's Emergency Accommodation Modules on Expedia and Priceline will remain available for those who are returning to their homes which were evacuated during the storm and sustained damage or in need of other type of shelter.
So, these models will continue to provide real time hotel availability and lodging resources, making the experience easier for users. If traffic lights are out in your area, please drive with caution and treat each light as you would a four-way stop. And also remember, if you're going to use a chainsaw, be very careful with that. We have mishaps on that after every storm. We are extending the hope Florida line for another two weeks at 24 hours, 7 days a week. So, if you need assistance or resources post storm, you can call 1833 get hope, 1833 get hope. Hope Florida's disaster arm activate Hope is a program designed to help people find help following a disaster such as a hurricane. So, you can call the hope line.
You can also visit the Hope bus, which will be in some of these areas very soon, and there'll be announcements about that. Florida Commerce and the State Emergency Response Team activated the business damage assessment survey in response to Hurricane Milton, business owners can self-report physical and economic damage caused by the storm.
Businesses complete -- can complete the survey online at Floridadisaster.biz, Floridadisaster.biz, Florida Commerce has also activated the Small Business emergency bridge loan program. We have 50 million available to Florida small businesses, and it's zero interest loan, very flexible repayment options. You can apply for loans of up to $50,000 through the program. Loans of up to 100,000 are available for agriculture and aquaculture small businesses and loans of 150,000 are available for citrus and cattle operations.
Again, these are short term, zero interest loan. You get the cash in your hand. The repayment terms are very flexible. You can apply at www.floridajobs.org/ebl -- floridajobs.org/ebl. We've also activated the Florida Disaster Fund for those who want to make tax deductible charitable contributions that will be used to be able to help Floridians who are in need.
And you can go to Floridadisasterfund.org. Floridadisasterfund.org. If you have any questions, we're going to continue to support all remaining rescue missions that are -- that are underway and that may be needed in the near future.
[08:40:00]
We'll also continue to assess the damage that was done from the storm. We also anticipate that because of the amount of water -- you know you may see flooding happened, not just now, but in the subsequent days. But I think everybody responded very quickly, proud of everybody's hard work. We got more work to do, but we will. We will absolutely get through this. OK. Kevin Guthrie.
KEVIN GUTHRIE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FLORIDA DIVISION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Good morning, everyone. Governor, thank you for your leadership time and time again. I know you and the State Emergency Response Team will lead the charge as we respond to -- and recover from this storm.
Hurricane Milton officially made landfall as you heard the governor say, the impacts from the storm are still being felt across North and East Central Florida, even right now, as that last banding train of rain starts to move offshore, please, especially if you're in the areas, if you're in those areas of Northeast Florida, the East Race Coast, Space Coast, please make sure you're sheltering in place until officials determine it is safe for you to leave. In the first 72 hours after a storm there is a parallel effort to search, secure and stabilize the area. As search and rescue missions continue in response to Milton, please do not go out and visit the impacted areas. You will be inhibiting first responders by doing so. Right now, we need those roadways clear for electrical crews, fire crews, EMS crews, Urban Search and Rescue Crews.
We have 20 something urban search and rescue teams that will move into the area and do a door-by-door search, even though, as you heard the governor say, this was not the worst-case scenario, we still had damage, and we're going to need to get out there and go door-to-door and make sure that everyone is OK. So please stay off the road.
Listen to your local authorities for updates on when it is safe to go outside and when it is safe for you to return to your homes. I know a lot of people evacuated, and we appreciate that. Do not be in a hurry. Check in with your local emergency management agency or local sheriff's offices to see if they are posting anything on if it's safe to return home. Please make sure you do that again.
As the governor said, we're going to open up roads and bridges so that you can do so, but there may be extenuating circumstances in the neighborhood level, so please make sure you're checking before you come back home. Major flooding continues along the Hillsborough, St. John's and Little Wekiva Rivers.
I want to take just a moment and just talk about there is going to be another phase to this particular incident, and that is very similar to Hurricane Ian. We have a lot of rain that has fallen over the central portion of Florida. The St. Johns River basin that comes down into Seminole County, Brevard, portions of Brevard, portions of Volusia County, and on up the St. Johns River, those headwaters have experienced a lot of rainfall.
That river takes about 45 days to completely flush itself out to the Atlantic Ocean. So, what we're going to be seeing first is impacts down in the Seminole County and surrounding county area, and then you'll see that move up into Palatka -- and then on up into St. John's, Flagler, Clay, DuVall counties.
So, that's going to be a long-term effort when it comes to making sure that people are monitoring the situation on the St. Johns River, as well as the ones that I mentioned, Hillsborough and the Little Wekiva. Some roadways are flooded, which is not say -- a safe situation for anyone, please do not attempt to walk or drive through flood waters.
Accidents due to flood waters are 100 percent preventable. All you got to do is turn around. If you're sheltered in place or when you return to your home and you're looking at the damages around your home right now. Do one thing for us. Take out your phone. Take some pictures inside and outside, all four sides of the house, every room inside the house.
What are things that you should be documenting? Make sure you're documenting just the physical damages. But then also, since this was a flooding event, we want to make sure that you capture those what we call high water marks on your home. Do that inside and outside for a point of reference when you're on the outside of the home, make sure you get like, the doorknob of the outdoor house.
That will give us a reference, a point of reference on how high that water got. If you're on the inside, make sure you have like an electrical socket or a light switch, or, again, a door handle on the inside of your home in the picture, so that we can get some type of reference as to how high that water is coming.
If you're beginning to clean up process, please ensure you're wearing the appropriate safety gear. Do not attempt to clean up hazardous debris or down power lines, as the governor has said, report all of that to your local authorities. Do not cut any lines again. We do not need Florida men and Florida women out there cutting random lines as they go.
You don't know what is a cable line. You don't know what it was electrical line. And probably more importantly, these days is you don't know what is a fiber optic line.
[08:45:00]
Most of our 911 lines run across fiber optic. We do not want anybody cutting lines. Let the professionals come in here and identify what it is before it's cut. Remember again, some roads are still dangerous due to flooding, debris and potential downlines do not risk it. Let our crews get out there and get everything back up and running.
For assistance after the storm call state assistance information line. Again, that's information only. 1-800-342-3557, help is available in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole, Floridadisaster.org/updates, for information on the web. And then, of course, follow us on At -- I'm sorry, follow us at F-L-S-E-R-T on X and Instagram and Facebook at FDM, that is the most trusted and fastest source that we have.
We have several people helping us out on posting on social media, so that is going to be the best place and the fastest place to get stuff from us. Thank you, Governor DeSantis, again, as together, we will overcome the storm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Morning, ladies and gentlemen. And thank you, Governor DeSantis, for reestablishing and resourcing this state guard so we can deliver critical emergency response capabilities right to the point of need, working alongside Director Guthrie, General Haas and Director Youngs and the rest of his state agencies personnel moving rapidly in order to save lives, rescue our citizens and minimize human suffering. Throughout the night and this morning, our special mission unit with search and rescue --
JIMENEZ: All right, we've been watching a press conference right now with the Governor, and before -- after him was the Head of Emergency Services there in the State of Florida. They were giving us updates on some of the storm damage assessments that we've seen, including more than 3 million accounts without power, though they have restored progress over 630,000 at this point. But also, really emphasize the dangers of post storm risks, including
things like downed power lines. Boris Sanchez is live for us in St. Petersburg, Florida. Boris, I don't know if you had a chance to listen to listen to some of what the governor was saying there. What are conditions like there? What are we hoping people are looking out for this morning?
SANCHEZ: Yeah, Omar. As a native Floridian, I've been through so many hurricanes, and so often there are avoidable deaths after the storm, and that's what Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was trying to put out there for folks to be careful, to be cautious, because too often after these storms, folks come outside, they see the sun, the wind has died down, the rain is gone, and they think everything is fine, and that is simply not the case.
You noted the dangers. There are downed power lines. There's the potential for there to be bacteria and standing water. There's a potential for there to be debris that is teetering on the verge of falling, and that obviously poses risk. And then, of course, there is human error as well.
We reported extensively in the past. In fact, the governor mentioned it, that after Hurricane Helene happened, folks have accidents with chainsaws. People put generators operating indoors, that's the kind of thing that could easily be prevented, and so they want to put the word out for folks to be very careful, to not get into a situation they do not need to be in, because already it's difficult for emergency crews in a situation like this.
You had a storm that came through overnight. It dumped more than a foot of water in Tampa. That isn't the worst hard-hit area, but Tampa gets that amount of water in 4 to 6 months. You can imagine that in a single day, in a single night, effectively, that creates a ton of problems.
Obviously, flooding is a principal concern. It traps folks, and right now, people are trying to get to people that have been stranded. I know of at least one assisted living facility in Hillsborough County, where there are ongoing water rescues. There is at least two to three feet of standing water there.
When you have a storm come through at night, and as it passes and the day comes and the storm is gone, it's very easy for folks to get confident to go outside. But of course, we haven't been able to survey all of the damage. We try to get into an area of Pinellas County that was shut down. There were sheriff's deputies blocking off a bridge there.
When we asked them why, they pointed out there were downed power lines in the area, and they didn't want anyone to get hurt. This is a very tenuous situation, and that's why officials continue putting out the word that folks should do their best to stay safe shelter in place, especially if they see damage outside Omar.
JIMENEZ: Yeah, and some of those downed power lines can get caught up in trees that have fallen and people are driving, they get out, they try to move some of those trees, and they don't even realize that there are power lines in there. Boris Sanchez in St. Petersburg with the blown-out roof of Tropicana Field behind him there from the effects of Milton. Yeah, there. You can't miss it. Really appreciate the report. All right, everyone more news after the break.
[08:50:00]
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JIMENEZ: All right, welcome back, everyone. We want to update you on Hurricane Milton. The powerful storm has moved away from Florida's Space Coast toward the Atlantic Ocean. This after ripping a trail of destruction across the state. We just heard from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, at least four fatalities have been reported, and more than 3 million homes are without power at this point.
CNN's Isabel Rosales has been on the ground in Florida this morning, and earlier, she spoke to Brenda Coleman, the Manager of Plant City Holiday Inn, who is understandably very emotional at the scene this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRENDA COLEMAN, MANAGER, PLANT CITY HOLIDAY INN: Just with the hurricane in the water, it just kept rising. And I've been here 14 years, and I've never seen it --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're emotional. Yeah.
COLEMAN: Yeah, love -- sorry. I've always, as the owners probably know, I always tried to treat this like it's fine. See, this is hard. Sorry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are the customers here?
COLEMAN: Ms. Emer have been good. I've had a couple that were kind of upset, but they at the end of it, they're like, they know that there's nothing I can do that -- you know it is nature. So, we just had to hold together and make sure everybody was safe. And I got most of the guests that were on the first floor to a higher floor --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.
COLEMAN: -- so that everybody was safe, and then I had the couple that stayed here with my mom and I so that we went down here by ourselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: And it shows that as the storm has passed, people are now just starting to take into perspective what the storm actually brought. Let's get another check in with our Meteorologist, Derek Van Dam with the latest on the tornadoes that hit across the state. Again, tornadoes within this hurricane system.
DAM: Yeah. And tornadoes that were not on the West Coast of Florida, where the initial landfall took place. This is a tornado out of Palm Beach County on the eastern side of the state, so far removed from where all the focus on the storm surge and the eye wall coming ashore, that is the hazard.
It's a well-documented threat that approaching landfalling hurricanes spawn prolific tornadoes, but they don't normally spawn these types of tornadoes, destructive ones. They're usually small, spin up tornadoes. They can cause damage, but they're usually not as destructive as what we've seen now with some of the first daylight video coming out of Southern Florida, this is interesting.
126 tornado warnings were issued by various national weather service offices across Florida, Southern Florida in particular, and that sets a record for the most tornado warnings in a day for the State of Florida. So that puts it into perspective. We're calling this a tornado outbreak, and rightly so.
And if we look back at previous Florida tornado counts, where the records are, these are previous land falling hurricanes as well across the state. 2017 that's Irma, 2024 that's two weeks ago with Helene. 2022 that is Ian that spawned 47 tornado warned storms so quite significant.
[08:55:00]
All the wind associated with this system, knocked out power for over 3 million people, and that's going to take days, if not weeks, to restore that electricity to people in order. In fact, still experiencing tropical storm forecast on the extreme eastern coastline of Florida as Hurricane Milton pulls away from the Space Coast, we say goodbye and good returns finally, Omar.
JIMENEZ: Finally, I think for a lot of folks here, between this and Hurricane Helene, hopefully some relief cutting in the near future to try and take stock of all the damage that Hurricane Milton actually brought. Derek Van Dam really appreciate it.
And as we've been hearing from Governor -- from the Governor of Florida, for example, Ron DeSantis, as folks are waking up there trying to assess the damage that this storm brought, trying to pick up the pieces of their lives in some cases. So, we'll continue to bring you some of the details there. Thank you for joining me here on CNN Newsroom. I'm Omar Jimenez. "Connect the World" with Becky Anderson is up next.
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