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Interview With Former FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate; Rescues Continue in Aftermath of Hurricane Milton. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired October 10, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: She says that she ran out and ran up to the second floor of her complex. And a neighbor was able to take her in. Others I spoke to said that they fled with nothing but their clothes on their bodies.

We saw folks being escorted out holding pets, holding anything that they could grab onto. Fortunately, at last check, there were no injuries to report. However, I did see someone that needed medical attention. Obviously, it's a very stressful situation. We heard some banging on doors previously.

Law enforcement was canvassing -- along with rescue crews, canvassing door to door trying to make sure that everyone was out. As you can see, operations right now are paused. Thankfully, the good news is, it does not appear that anyone here was seriously hurt.

Again, this is one of the hardest-hit areas in Clearwater, but I do want to point out, we checked, and this was not actually in the evacuation zone for Pinellas County, so really a wakeup call for folks that were living here. There was a bus that came through just a short while ago, a couple of buses that came through to escort residents out.

So they do have a shelter that they can go to, obviously to take in them, their pets, and some of their belongings. But this is just one slice of what we have seen from Hurricane Milton all along the Florida Gulf Coast.

Here in Pinellas County, obviously, Clearwater one of the hardest-hit areas, but as you go further south, you get closer to Sarasota and some of those areas, we have seen intense flooding there and storm surge as well, Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Yes, and it's interesting. We have seen several examples where folks who were not in the evacuation zones were really frightened to wake up in the middle of the night and see water coming up. Isabel Rosales, also, where she is, same situation.

Boris Sanchez, thanks so much for the latest there. We will check back in with you later.

And my next guest has been working around the clock tracking the scope of this disaster. Michael Brennan is director of the National Hurricane Center.

Michael, we have heard that Milton has left at least four people dead. That number is expected to grow. Still, FEMA and Governor DeSantis both say Florida dodged a -- quote -- "worst-case scenario." What do you think about the level of destruction so far?

MICHAEL BRENNAN, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Well, we're just starting to see the impacts this morning as light comes up and we start to get a handle on what happened, and certainly saw multiple destructive impacts from the storm surge and the tornadoes to the winds to the flooding. So it'll take some time to figure out the full picture of Milton's impacts.

But I think, certainly, we did avoid the worst-case scenario for getting storm surge up into Tampa Bay, because we had the system come in and make landfall a little farther south. So we saw that worst surge basically from the south part of the Tampa Bay region down to Charlotte Harbor and Fort Myers, some significant surge impacts there.

Just starting to assess what happened in that region. But we did see that very heavy rainfall, those hurricane-force winds play out throughout that heavily populated I-4 Corridor overnight and early this morning.

BROWN: And Florida had its most tornado warnings in a single day yesterday.

BRENNAN: Yes.

BROWN: We saw how the storm whipped up the tornadoes before it made landfall and after.

Tell us more about how hurricanes like Milton produced tornadoes, and what about Milton contributed to this record number?

BRENNAN: Yes, so the hurricanes, because they have really strong winds at the low levels, and then those winds turn in direction and speed and change with height as you go up through the atmosphere, that allows thunderstorms that develop to start to spin and creates an environment that's conducive for tornadoes.

So Milton was a big, powerful hurricane. So it had a really strong wind field that was moving across the southern portion of the Florida peninsula yesterday. We also had some heating from the sunshine that allowed the atmosphere to warm up and become unstable and supported those thunderstorms to develop.

And the tornadoes we saw develop yesterday in Milton were really kind of supercharged compared to the typical tornadoes you see in a hurricane environment. So, they were longer-living. They were more powerful. There were more of them.

But we did have that kind of tornado watch that was issued early in the morning for the whole central and southern portion of the peninsula. Weather Service offices issued tens to even over 100 tornado warnings yesterday to try to keep people safe. But, unfortunately, we did see some fatalities and some structural

damage from some of those storms, especially in portions of Southeastern Florida.

BROWN: Yes, I also just want to ask you about the undeniable climate change angle here. I understand that Milton was strengthened by exceedingly warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico. How does what happened with Milton foreshadow what else we might see this hurricane season?

BRENNAN: Well, we have known that the water temperatures across the Atlantic Basin, including the Gulf, were above normal and going to be above normal this season.

So we were -- that's one reason why we're expecting a very busy hurricane season, which we're seeing play out. Those warm waters are just one part of the fuel for a storm. You have to have the environment and the atmosphere be favorable enough for a storm to take advantage of it like Milton did.

But, again, the main message to people in Florida and the Gulf Coast is it's October. This is the time of year when we tend to see these storms develop in this part of the basin, and they can again -- when they form close to home, they can develop and make land fall within just a few days. So that risk is going to be there for the next few weeks at least.

[11:35:00]

And reminder for everybody the hurricane season goes all the way through the end of November.

BROWN: I know. It's just scary to me after what we just saw with Helene and then Milton.

BRENNAN: Yes.

BROWN: The double whammy there for so many folks, and just to think we still have a ways to go until hurricane season is over.

Michael Brennan, thanks so much.

And we have this brand-new video coming into CNN of images captured from our drone in Tampa, Florida, just extraordinary damage up and down the street there in Tampa. And we keep talking about, look, this wasn't the worst-case scenario, but it was still really bad and people have lost their homes. They're having to rebuild.

They're having to wake up to a new reality. And some of this footage we're seeing from the drone just kind of helps sum that up. And after the floodwaters recede, the question is, does the federal government have enough resources to clean up Florida, when so much is still needed in North Carolina right now?

We're not going to forget about those folks. I'm going to speak with a former FEMA administrator about what's going on right now, what's going right and what's going wrong. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:36]

BROWN: Well, it could take days or even weeks before we learn the full scale of Milton's devastation.

Former FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate joins us now from Gainesville, Florida.

Craig, in terms of getting help to people in need, what are the urgent priorities this morning as you assess what happened with Milton?

CRAIG FUGATE, FORMER ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: Well, the big priority is search-and-rescue and getting the roads open, and then hopefully people that have evacuated staying where they're at and people that are home not getting out trying to drive around, getting in front of the emergency response teams and the power companies trying to get power back on.

BROWN: Right.

There's all kinds of down power lines, debris in the roads, all kinds of hazards out there still.

FEMA Director Deanne Criswell said that Florida dodged the worst-case scenario in an interview we have seen in earlier this morning. But Milton's impact from the storm surge to flooding to debris could continue to pose threats, of course. What are the biggest dangers people should be aware of?

FUGATE: Right now, the biggest danger is in this recovery, people getting out too quick, people getting up on ladders and other things that they're not used to doing. People driving around in these areas of debris and down power lines.

Historically, as far back as the 2004 hurricane season, we have seen in some cases more deaths after the storm during the recovery, when it's really dangerous. So that's why we just tell people, look, unless you're in danger, stay home, stay where you're at. Let the emergency services folks get out there and make it safe.

BROWN: That's interesting. So you say you have seen in some cases more deaths after the storm during recovery than the actual storm. Tell us a little bit more about that and why.

FUGATE: It's just a dangerous environment. You have got a lot of unstable debris out there, trees down. A lot of people get out there and try to do stuff they're not used to doing, like operating chain saws, getting up on roofs.

It turned out the leading cause of death in some of our hurricanes was head trauma due to falls off the ladders. Tonight, there's going to be a lot of areas without power, without traffic signals. We have seen that, when people drive at night and they're in -- they don't recognize the areas they're in, we had head-on crashes. Right after Hurricane Charley within two days, we had a fatal accident from people driving at night. So that's why it's so important that people take it easy, take it slow, heed the recommendations of your local officials, and hopefully we will keep a loss of life to a minimum.

BROWN: So we heard from FEMA about the money it has right now, a little over $20 billion, to help with recovery efforts from Milton, Helene, all these other natural disasters we have seen in the U.S.

It's asking Congress to give it more money, right? What do you estimate as you look at all this and the damage the cost to be for recovery?

FUGATE: Well, I think that's going to take a little bit of time.

And I think the other thing is, we talk about FEMA, but it won't just be FEMA that will need funding. One of the big agencies that supports long-term recovery is Housing and Urban Development through their Community Block Grant dollars for disasters. Our Army Corps of Engineers, EPA, and other agencies are going to need funding.

So FEMA's got the money to do the initial response, but FEMA's also going to need funding for the long-term recovery to do the permanent rebuilding out of these disasters.

BROWN: And what about people? Because there's a lot of reporting out there about FEMA's dwindling work force, right?

I think it was only 9 percent of its work force was able to respond to the Milton in Florida. And you have to think it's going to take a lot of manpower to help with recovery after all these back-to-back hurricanes and everything going on across the country.

FUGATE: General Accounting Office, I think, saves that report every time there's a big disaster.

This is not new. And FEMA's always had challenges with staffing for a temporary work force for long-term recovery. But it doesn't impact the initial response. And, again, a lot of what you're talking about is done by state and local officials, volunteer organizations and mutual aid from other states.

And where the real work that FEMA will be doing that will require more people is when we get the permanent rebuilding and managing that financial process of the grant reimbursement. So this should not be an impact on any of their spots.

It's more of how FEMA should be staffed and funded to have the employees to do long-term recovery. And, so far, there's been a reluctance to increase FEMA's permanent work force. So as long as they're dependent upon at-will employees that they call up during disasters, when the economy's strong, it's very hard to keep those staffing levels at the highest they need.

[11:45:12] BROWN: And, as you point out, it's a collective effort. It's not just FEMA out there helping. It's all kinds of organizations.

So thanks so much, Craig Fugate. We appreciate it.

Up next, a Florida business owner who rode out Milton will tell us how he plans to stay open.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, this morning, people who chose to stay and ride out Hurricane Milton are telling their stories, people like Rip Oldfield and his daughter-in-law Becky of Apopka, Florida, near Orlando.

[11:50:03]

Rip and Becky, thanks for coming on. First of all, how are you doing?

RIP OLDFIELD, BUSINESS OWNER: A little weary, but a little short on sleep this morning.

BROWN: I can only imagine.

BECKY OLDFIELD, FLORIDA RESIDENT: We're hanging in there.

BROWN: Well, you're still bright -- you look bright-eyed to me. I'm impressed, given what you all just went through.

Was there was there any moment overnight where you were like, why did we decide to stay and ride out this storm? Or did you feel like, OK, we're going to be just fine?

R. OLDFIELD: The building we're in was built in 1954. It survived Donna in '60. We were pretty fortunate, pretty lucky that the old building held up.

BROWN: And so what was it like for you overnight? Did you -- did you try to even sleep or were you like it was just a lost cause?

R. OLDFIELD: A couple of times, we laid down trying to keep our coolers and our freezers going, and a couple of times we had to get up middle of the night, put gas in them.

And the wind was howling. You had to hang on the door. It would have ripped the door off the building.

BROWN: Wow. That's something.

So, Rip, you own the Rock Springs Bar & Grill and had said that you hope to stay open through the storm. Tell us about that because you wanted it to be open to also help folks in need. Have you been able to do that?

R. OLDFIELD: Yes, we're open this morning. We're running with generators. We have been here almost 39 years and never closed one day. We feed a lot of local families on the holidays, and we're just hoping to stay open every day.

BROWN: That's so inspiring that you have been around for so long. You're open year-round and you're going to stay open no matter what, no matter if a hurricane comes through.

So, Becky, how about you? How are you doing, and through all of this?

B. OLDFIELD: I live on five acres. And I was really concerned about our cows and donkeys and just a tree falling down on one of our fence panels.

We did lose four really large oak trees, but luckily they didn't fall on any fence panels. During the night, it was really hard to sleep. I have got two young kids, Paisley (ph) and Brendan (ph). And they kept coming in. They were obviously scared. We lost power about 11:30 and we would hear transformers blowing outside.

The wind, it sounded like a tornado, honestly, and we have never experienced one of those before. So it definitely was frightening. And then this morning, when I went out just to kind of check on everything, it was pretty shocking. This is the most I have ever seen personally on my land.

So we have a lot of cleanup to do. And driving to the bar so that we could do this video call with you guys, it was a little scary. There's a lot of trees down in the road.

BROWN: Yes.

B. OLDFIELD: A ton of people (AUDIO GAP) power, so they have been coming in since 8:00 this morning to eat bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches.

BROWN: That sounds yummy after you -- right out of the storm, that's all you want, right?

Let me we just follow up. I'm an animal lover. How are your animals doing? You said you live on a farm?

B. OLDFIELD: Yes, we have piglets too. So I did bring those inside last night, but our donkeys and cows are still really shooken up. So they're still running around the pastures, but you never want to lock them up.

You want them to kind of be free during this, because a lot of times they will injure themselves because they obviously freak out with the winds and a lot of the rain and the lightning.

BROWN: Oh, I didn't actually know that, but wow, I feel so sad for them that they're still shaking up. I bet, right?

B. OLDFIELD: Yes.

BROWN: All right, Rip Oldfield, Becky Oldfield, thank you for coming on and thanks for all you're doing to keep your restaurant up and running to help folks in need there. We appreciate it.

R. OLDFIELD: Thank you all.

B. OLDFIELD: Thank you.

BROWN: Well, the eastern side of Florida got an unexpected barrage of tornadoes right before Milton made landfall.

Meteorologist Charlotte Carl with CNN affiliate WPEC has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHARLOTTE CARL, WPEC METEOROLOGIST: Out here at the corner of Orange Ave and South Rocks Road just outside of Fort Pierce on the west side of 95.

And there is a giant warehouse-like structure torn to pieces behind me. This is one of those warehouses that you see that kind of pop up out of nowhere. They're built with some aluminum supports and then those outside kind of aluminum ridge structures.

And the damage is spread across the street at least down a quarter-of- a-mile, a few hundred yards. We can't even see the extent because it starts to get a little too densely covered with trees. But this is just an example of how these tornadoes were longer track, because all of this debris was lofted and picked up, taken down a few hundred yards at least.

And it also shows how the downed power lines are one of the primary risks associated with these tornadoes, because this -- if it was a tornado that made its way across the street, it ripped apart the power lines. There's no power on this street right now, whether that be because they cut the power or because of the power lines being severed.

[11:55:03]

But the power lines themselves are lying in these reservoir, pools of water that formed because of the rain that happened yesterday. Fort Pierce saw at least four inches of rain during the downpours that we saw associated with these tornadoes.

So it will be very interesting to see when the National Weather Service of Melbourne comes out here tomorrow to do their assessment what they determine, the EF rating of the tornado to be. This is one of the structures that they do not consider to be well-constructed, as they're just built essentially with sticks and some aluminum and propped up kind of very fast.

And so we will get that updated survey for you as soon as we have it.

But, for now, reporting live just outside of Fort Pierce, I'm Charlotte Carl.

(END VIDEOTAPE)