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Milton Leaves Widespread Damage Across Florida; Obama Tears Into Trump in First Rally for Harris; Israeli Airstrikes Hit Central Beirut; Zelensky at Vatican for Meeting with Pope Francis. Aired 4- 4:30a ET
Aired October 11, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hours after Hurricane Milton moved off the coast of Florida, Floridians are surveying the extensive damage across the state.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Never, never have I experienced damage or the amount of tornadoes that came to this area.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Donald Trump is a 78 year old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she's your
president.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The consequences of him ever being president again are brutally serious.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Max Foster. It is Friday, October the 11th, 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in central Florida, where millions of people are dealing with the lingering dangerous conditions in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.
Search and rescue efforts are ongoing. The hurricane has led to an infrastructure crisis with roads and buildings damaged and many areas short on clean water, gasoline and electricity. Milton is blamed for at least 15 deaths.
Some places were inundated with more than 18 inches of rain, almost half a meter, marking a one in a thousand year rainfall event. The hurricane also unleashed an extraordinary storm surge and spawned a swarm of tornadoes before moving offshore over the Atlantic.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have lived in Florida since 1989. Never, never have I experienced damage or the amount of tornadoes that came to this area. And it was the most frightening thing I've ever lived through.
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FOSTER: More than two and a half million homes and businesses are still without power. Roughly 1,000 people have been rescued so far. Guests and employees at a hotel in Plant City, about 20 miles inland of Tampa, were left visibly emotional and shaken after the storm flooded the hotel.
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BRENDA COLEMAN, TAMPA RESIDENT: Just with the hurricane and the water, it just kept rising. And I've been here 14 years and I've never seen it get this high.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're a little emotional, yes.
COLEMAN: Sorry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tearful.
COLEMAN: Yes, I've always, as the owners probably know, I always try to treat this like it's mine. So to see this is hard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Milton hit Florida as residents were still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall less than two weeks ago. CNN's Randi Kaye reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really hard to see. It's kind of spooky to see all the damage.
KAYE: RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hours after Hurricane Milton moved off the coast of Florida, Floridians are surveying the extensive damage across the state. There were a number of confirmed dead in St. Lucie County, over 100 miles from where the storm made landfall following tornadoes spurred by Milton.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The tornadoes we saw develop yesterday in Milton were really kind of supercharged compared to the typical tornadoes you see in a hurricane environment.
KAYE (voice-over): New drone footage shows Milton's destruction on the west coast of Florida, where the hurricane made landfall as a category three storm. The storm's monstrous winds ripping the roof of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg to shreds and downing several cranes in downtown St. Petersburg. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Things can be replaceable, but life cannot.
KAYE (voice-over): Just hours after the sun came up, water rescues taking place in Hillsborough County were massive flooding due to the rain, not the storm surge, trap people.
SHERIFF CHAD CHRONISTER, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA (via phone): I just happened to be on the airboat for that one that's over 200 rescues we've done and are still actively conducting. He was frantically wailing his arms. We went over and it literally was like a scene out of a castaway movie, how he's hanging on for dear life.
His mom evacuated him to a safer area last night. He was walking home, didn't realize the water was going to get as flooded, as deep as it did. And he's not a good swimmer. And hence, hence the rescue. And he was visibly shaken.
KAYE (voice-over): In Fort Myers, Robert Haight says he got his pregnant wife and kids to a safe spot just moments before a tornado bore down on them.
ROBERT HAIGHT, FORT MYERS, FLORIDA RESIDENT: I saw the tornado coming.
[04:05:00]
I yelled for my wife to come look at it. It's cool. Kid, wife, come look at it. Started to get close, hit the trees. And we all started going for the hallway. Didn't even make it there in time. Started toot, toot. And I heard a piece of glass crack. And it sucked the whole roof off. And I felt the thing sucking me up. I grabbed my kid and my wife and hunkered down.
KAYE (voice-over): Another Fort Myers homeowner says the storm ripped his home apart in a matter of minutes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All this, this happened like instantaneously. Like these windows blew out. I was about probably right here when it happened.
KAYE (voice-over): One Tampa business owner braved floodwaters to assess the damage to his commercial property Thursday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know what to say. It's a lot. Born and raised, I've never seen anything like this. With Helene, for the first time, we had storm surge and took on water in the 20 bottom units. Now with Milton here, we've lost the brand new carports. Our dock is destroyed.
KAYE (voice-over): While many evacuees are hoping to soon return home, hard-hit Sarasota's chief of emergency management is urging people to hold on a little longer.
SANDRA TAPFUMANEYI, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT CHIEF, SARASOTA COUNTY: Still dangerous out there. So we're asking for residents, just if they put. You know, we know a lot of people evacuated, which we appreciate, but we just need some time to clear everything so that it's safe for them to return.
KAYE: And we made our way to Siesta Key where Hurricane Milton made landfall. And this is what we found just at one of the homes here. All of this had been stacked up, we're told, by neighbors from Hurricane Helene.
They had cleaned out their home from the damage after that hurricane. And now it is all over their yard. There are mattresses, there are suitcases, there's a television, there's trees down.
And this is what you find all over Siesta Key there. The streets are flooded, some streets are blocked. There is all of the destruction from Hurricane Helene is in the streets. It is really a sight to see. And many people here say that they're afraid they can't stay here. They just don't believe that, unless you have a fortress, that it is survivable for a hurricane.
Randi Kaye, CNN on Siesta Key, Florida.
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FOSTER: Hurricane Milton whipped up more than 30 reported tornadoes, oftentimes so quickly that residents had little time to react. At least nine tornadoes plowed through St. Lucie County, including three in less than 25 minutes, causing a deadly impact. CNN's Brian Todd is on the scene with the very latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHERIFF KEITH PEARSON, ST. LUCIE COUNTY, FLORIDA: You know, this is a 55 and older community that's modular homes that multiple tornadoes came through and just destroyed.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): And the tornadoes came hours before Hurricane Milton even made landfall. At least six people were killed in St. Lucie County.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This has been a tragic 24 hours.
TODD (voice-over): At least nine tornadoes confirmed in St. Lucie County alone. This video showing one of the twisters power.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were tornadoes popping off everywhere across our county.
TODD (voice-over): And this aerial video shows some of the damage. Homes torn apart or ripped in half, roofs gone and fences tossed like paper.
JULIENE MARTIN-MORGANELLI, PRESIDENT, SUNNIER PALMS MEMBERS LODGE: I love all these people. They're like my family.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just, it's uh.
MARTIN-MORGANELLI: And I just don't want people to have to come back to this. What a shame. TODD (voice-over): And from the ground, a semi truck shredded. The bed of the truck flipped over. Twisted metal, wood and other debris scattered around businesses.
And this St. Lucie County church lost part of its roof. The pastor telling us they will rebuild.
PASTOR LEO VOLLBRACHT, LAKEWOOD PARK METHODIST CHURCH, ST. LUCIE COUNTY: Our heart breaks for what's happening right now in our community and the people reeling.
TODD (voice-over): Other buildings left in shambles. Take a look at this warehouse. And even sheriff's vehicles were crushed under a hanger.
PEARSON: It lifted up modular homes and tossed it like it was like it was garbage.
TODD (voice-over): Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis made a stop in St. Lucie County on Thursday, confirming he spoke to President Biden on the phone.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): I appreciate being able to collaborate across the federal, state and local governments and work together to put the people first.
TODD (voice-over): Which is good news for those people who are left with damage.
VOLLBRACHT: There's still hope. There's still hope in our world. And the community is here for you. You're not going through this alone.
TODD: I spoke with Jimmy Patronis, the chief financial officer for the state of Florida who is on site here. He told us that state authorities are now working to trying to thwart an insurance scam that is targeting elderly people who live in that Spanish Lakes Country Club village neighborhood where those elderly people were killed.
Patronis says predators are coming in and trying to con people, elderly victims whose homes were damaged by the tornadoes, trying to con them into signing away their insurance claims. They drop the paperwork and they con people into signing away their claims. These predators are then billing the insurance companies for that money and siphoning money directly away from the victims.
Brian Todd, CNN, St. Lucie County, Florida.
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FOSTER: President Joe Biden expected to provide an update on the federal government's response to hurricanes Milton and Helene in the coming hours. Vice President Kamala Harris will attend the briefing virtually on Thursday. Biden praised the government's response, calling it a robust whole of government effort.
[04:10:03] The president said he, along with the vice president, have been in constant contact with state and local officials to offer whatever is needed. But Biden pushed back hard against Donald Trump for what he called reckless, relentless disinformation and outright lies.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To all the people impacted by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, despite that misinformation and lies, the truth is we're providing the resources needed to rescue, recover and rebuild.
Mr. President Trump, former President Trump, get a life, man, help these people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Meanwhile, the secretary of Homeland Security says there is more than enough disaster relief funding available for Hurricanes Helene and Milton. But he called on Congress to approve additional funding for the Emergency Management Agency to get through the rest of the hurricane season, which ends on November the 30th.
Donald Trump heading to both Colorado and Nevada for campaign rallies later today in an effort to energize supporters in the final weeks before the election. He spoke at the Detroit Economic Club in the battleground state of Michigan on Thursday. Promising a rebirth of the city if he wins and vowing to bolster the U.S. auto industry and manufacturing. Trump compared Detroit to a developing nation and said the U.S. would end up like the city if Vice President Kamala Harris is elected.
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TRUMP: I don't think anything that we're talking about today is high on our list. I mean, the whole country is going to be like, you want to know the truth? It'll be like Detroit. Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she's your president. Well, we're a developing nation, too. Just take a look at Detroit. Detroit's a developing area a hell of a lot more than most places in China.
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FOSTER: Trump's speech was peppered with personal attacks on Harris. He called her, quote, dumber than hell and said the U.S. will lose wealth and power if she wins the election. He also unveiled tax break proposals for Americans living overseas and those trying to buy a car.
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TRUMP: Today, I am also announcing that as part of our tax cuts, we will make interest on car loans fully deductible.
(END VIDEO CLIP) FOSTER: Former U.S. President Barack Obama kicked off a 27-day campaign sprint for Kamala Harris on Thursday. He headlined a rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, highlighting the experience and values that Harris and running mate Tim Walz bring to the table.
Obama also delivered his most personal and furious critique of Donald Trump yet. He called Trump greedy and said his tax plan was a giveaway to billionaires and big corporations, adding that Trump's claim that he guided a robust economy is nonsense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The reason some people think, well, I don't know. I remember that economy when he first came in being pretty good. Yes, it was pretty good because it was my economy.
(CHEERING)
OBAMA: We had had 75 straight months of job growth that I handed over to him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Meanwhile, Harris campaigned in Arizona and Nevada. She courted Latino voters in a Univision town hall in Las Vegas, outlining her plans on immigration reform and border security. She also slammed Trump for tanking the bipartisan border security bill earlier this year, saying he just wants to run on problems instead of fixing them.
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KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: When I am elected president, I will bring back that border security bill and I will sign it into law and do the work of focusing on what we must do to have an orderly and humane pathway to earn citizenship for hardworking people. I think it is a false choice for people who would say you do one or the other. I believe we must do both. I believe we can do both.
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FOSTER: Well, in Arizona, the vice president praised late Senator John McCain and told the crowd that she believes the race will be tight until the very end.
Well, a pair of devastating Israeli airstrikes, meanwhile, hitting central Beirut as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his security cabinet discuss their response to Iran's missile barrage. That's coming up.
And tourists stuck underground after a trip to a gold mine takes a very bad turn. We'll have the latest on that.
Plus, Hurricane Milton, a non-profit disaster relief group, is bringing all hands on deck to help people in Fort Myers, Florida. A conversation with the group's leader coming up later.
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FOSTER: Lebanese authorities say the latest Israeli airstrikes on central Beirut have killed at least 22 people. More than 100 others were wounded. Witnesses tell CNN an entire four-story building filled with recently displaced people collapsed. Rescue workers have been digging through the rubble trying to find survivors and victims.
Hezbollah says a senior official who managed the group's domestic and international affairs was the target, but he survived the attack.
An official tells CNN the Israeli security cabinet hasn't reached a decision on how to respond to Iran's missile attack last week. Tehran launched around 200 ballistic missiles last Tuesday targeting Tel Aviv and military sites. Most were intercepted by Israel and the U.S., although some did get through.
Iran's foreign minister is on a diplomatic mission to enlist the support of Gulf Arab states ahead of the possible Israeli retaliation. He visited Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. A regional diplomat tells CNN the United Arab Emirates will not allow its airspace to be used for any attack against Iran.
Salma is across all of these developments. We should focus initially on Lebanon because this is the largest single attack there's been, hasn't there?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The largest in central Beirut. That's the important caveat.
[04:20:00]
And we do have live pictures because absolutely this neighborhood is reeling this morning. Rescue workers are still digging through the rubble. You can see those bulldozers trying to clear the debris, trying to find any survivors.
Israel struck central Beirut twice last night, rather, around 8 p.m. local time. One of those strikes leveled a four-story residential building. And what neighbors and eyewitnesses were saying, Max, is it wasn't just the residents that were inside the building. It was also displaced people, people who came from other parts of the country, thinking central Beirut is safe, only to find themselves, of course, the targets of this unprecedented aerial assault that Israel has been carrying out for weeks now on Lebanon.
Now, according to Hezbollah officials, security sources inside Hezbollah, the target of this attack was essentially a top diplomat for the organization. He did survive, as you mentioned, this attack.
But I have to emphasize when you're looking at these pictures that this is going to leave people with the sense that there's no safe place in Beirut any longer because Israel had been targeting the southern suburbs. Those are considered Hezbollah strongholds. To have an attack like this right in the heart of the city, that is going to shock and terrify families.
FOSTER: And there'll be people terrified in Iran as well because they're expecting an attack from Israel.
ABDELAZIZ: Absolutely. So Israel's security cabinet, as you mentioned, did meet today. They have yet to determine how they're going to respond to this massive and ferocious attack by Iran.
200 ballistic missiles fired at Israel, as you mentioned, most intercepted. One person killed, but very minimal damage, very minimal consequences. But the intention of that attack, 200 ballistic missiles, of course, is one that Israel has vowed to respond to.
The country's defense minister, Yoav Gallant, saying that their response would be powerful, precise, and surprising were his three words.
There's two ways that this could play out, Max. Israel could respond to the intention of Iran's attack. Again, unprecedented, ferocious, 200 ballistic missiles. Or it could respond to the result of that attack. Extremely limited in scope, minimal damage, minimal consequences.
How could Israel also respond in a way that is limited? And this matters, the scope matters, because you're going to keep having this tit for tat. Remember, Iran fired those ballistic missiles because of the assassinations of the leader of Hamas and Hezbollah.
So prepare for Iran to respond to whatever the response Israel will have is. And as this is playing out, of course, U.S. officials are in close contact with their Israeli counterparts. They say that they want to see something that continues to try to bring down the temperature in the region.
You've heard President Biden say oil facilities, nuclear facilities should be off limits. Prime Minister Netanyahu is not making any of those promises.
FOSTER: Salma, we'll see. Thank you.
Palestinian Red Crescent reports at least 28 people have been killed by an Israeli airstrike in central Gaza. The aid group says dozens of others were wounded at the school, which was being used as a shelter.
Israeli military claims that terrorists were operating a command and control center at the site. Gaza civil defense officials report a separate strike killed at least six people at a clinic housing displaced people in northern Gaza.
The IDF told CNN it wasn't aware of a strike on the clinic, but said a targeted strike hit Hamas terrorists nearby.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is at the Vatican right now for a meeting with Pope Francis. The Ukrainian leader is visiting European allies and trying to sell what he calls a victory plan. That's his blueprint for winning the war against Russia, but its full details are yet to be made public.
Mr. Zelenskyy may have his toughest conversation when he meets Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Germany in a few hours from now. Berlin plans to slash its military aid to Ukraine in half next year.
Let's bring CNN's Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb. Christopher, what will the Pope be wanting to get out of this meeting?
CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Max, this is the third meeting that Pope Francis and President Zelenskyy have had since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. I imagine top of the agenda will be what the Vatican, the Pope can offer in terms of diplomatic and humanitarian assistance. One of the things the Vatican has been focused on is trying to secure the release of political prisoners.
Earlier this year, President Zelenskyy thanked the Vatican for its work in securing the release of 10 Ukrainians who had been held captive by Russia, including two of them Ukrainian Catholic priests.
So I expect it will be what the Pope and the Vatican can do diplomatically and in terms of helping support Ukraine with humanitarian gestures.
[04:25:00]
Now, the Pope has tried from the beginning to play a peacemaker role to try and mediate an end to this war in Ukraine. Now, he has sometimes faced criticism for his position. He refused directly to condemn President Putin at the beginning of the conflict and he drew the ire and the anger of Kyiv when he said that Ukraine should have the courage of the white flag and end the war with Russia.
But things have, I think, improved between the Vatican and Kyiv since those remarks. And the Pope very keen to what he can to support Ukraine diplomatically and with support, humanitarian -- and humanitarian assistance -- Max.
FOSTER: In terms of the Pope's role with, you know, conflicts like this, he plays the middle ground, doesn't he? He has to work with all the different sides involved. I mean, how do you feel he's handling this as opposed to other popes you've monitored?
LAMB: Well, I think compared to other popes, he gets much more involved in these conflicts and in these major global issues. He's willing to step into the fray. I think what he's tried to do in this conflict is support Ukraine. He regularly calls out the suffering that the Ukrainians are facing.
But he also seeks to have a diplomatic channel with Russia, which I think is why he refused to, in the beginning, directly condemn Russia and Putin, so that he could try and have a line into the Kremlin. And that's been a very difficult strategy.
It doesn't seem that Russia is very interested in talking to the Pope. But Francis is trying his best to be a kind of mediator, to be a peacemaker. Not an easy thing for him to do. He has faced criticism, but he's determined to try and carry out this role.
FOSTER: Christopher Lamb, thank you so much.
People in Florida are assessing the damage from Hurricane Milton, and perhaps filing insurance claims for financial losses, coming up a new estimate of the full cost of this storm.
Plus, a surprise visit from the Princess of Wales, appearing in public for the first time in months, and for a very somber occasion. We'll have the details.
