Summary
Hurricane Ian causing catastrophic storm surge flooding in Florida. Monster Category 4 Hurricane Ian lashes Florida. Hurricane Ian becomes the fifth strongest hurricane to hit the United States.
Transcript
ARI MELBER, MSNBC ANCHOR: Life-threatening storm surge level. Flooding, they expect as you have heard up to 18 feet of flooding in some areas.
You`re looking here now at Naples, where you can see the storm surge, one million without power. Another video also from Naples, Florida, where you see the refrigerator floating in the middle of a parking lot, tossed around by waves.
And here is a satellite image of Ian making landfall. What you can appreciate here, we`re told by the experts, is that the storm from this perspective you can see more clearly that it runs in its width about 500 miles at certain points. That is formally wider, a larger area than the entire state that it is currently pummeling.
And then there`s Fort Myers, where the roads have been impassable. You see the devastation. You see how difficult that would be to be anywhere near.
NBC`s Kerry Sanders is actually in the storm as the eye was making landfall.
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KERRY SANDERS, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: There is the wind speed as I`m standing next to a building which has somewhat protected me. So I`ll take a knee. Whops. If I can take a knee here. There we go. Let me just adjust to the storm for a second. OK, you guys got it. I`m going back up. This is really strong. You get the idea. That`s power. That`s Mother Nature.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: That is the power of Mother Nature and that is what citizens have been urged to evacuate for. The journalist you see have safety techniques as well as back up to try to deal with covering this safely. We appreciate their service. The Weather Channel`s Jim Cantore reporting from Punta Gorda, Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM CANTORE, WEATHER CHANNEL: It`s just came flying by. All right, you know what? I think I`m just going to come in here for a second.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: Ian is moving inland. There is a slow-moving aspect to this storm. Eight miles per hour. They are bracing for two months` worth of rain according to estimates that will come down in a matter of days.
We begin with our colleague MSNBC`s Ali Velshi live in Naples.
Ali, what are you seeing in your reporting?
ALI VELSHI, MSNBC ANCHOR: Well, I just stood over here for a second. Now you can see it`s still here. We`ve got another one of these outer bands that`s hitting us now on the back end, what they call the dirty end of the storm because obviously this part hit us. But a couple of hours ago this is the first time in six hours that I`ve come back down to ground level. And it`s a few hours ago, I asked my team. We heard something that sounded like structural damage under us because we`ve been reporting from upstairs.
And look at this, it`s a cinder block wall that was the entire width of this area cane down. You can see the bits of cinder block all over the place. Now it was not a structural wall, there is a beam here. So this wasn`t structural. But think about this. There`s joist here. A little aluminum joist hanging by, you know, a couple of wires. That`s the kind of thing that 112 miles an hour, which is the gusts -- earlier can impale someone.
There`s like little fittings that are all over the place. Small, they don`t weigh very much, but imagine that flies and hits you. So that`s the kind of danger that occurs even the smaller part of the storm that we`ve got. This kind of damage. You just heard Governor DeSantis talk about the fact that downtown Naples remains flooded. We`ve started to see the water recede here. You still see a little bit coming in. But this was a complete surge for hours and hours and hours.
Behind us, video that I was showing all afternoon live where vehicles that were submerged. We had five feet of water here. Now it`s down to nothing. So here in this part of Florida more than a million people without power. Still a lot of flooding. Emergency services are not up. There`s too much wind for them to go out and start rescuing people. Certainly too much wind for them to start restoring power.
But this storm is still very active and still very dangerous, north of where I am now. And now moving northeast. They`re very, very worried about flooding. It`s headed toward Orlando and St. John`s riverside which floods all the time anyway. So this is definitely not over. But I`ve finally been able to get to the ground level and see some of the destruction which we haven`t seen earlier.
It doesn`t seem like much right now, but that cinder block wall, that`s not a piece of dry wall that was flying around. This is actually really heavy stuff. We`ve got a lineup of cars behind us that were parked properly that have now been just floated into a pile basically at the entrance to this hotel that we`re staying at. So a lot of damage, Ari. A lot to still look discover in the course of the next 12, 18 hours.
MELBER: And, Ali, in your reporting, how have you seen the force of this storm evolve in the time you`ve been there?
[18:05:06]
VELSHI: Well, in the early hours, about 11:00 or 12:00 noon, 1:00, it was mostly water. It was a very forceful Gulf of Mexico coming in, but it was a storm surge like I`ve never seen before, and I`ve been covering hurricanes for a long time. It was remarkable to see the force of the Gulf of Mexico basically overtaking Naples.
Then really as the eyewall hit, the stuff that you were just showing of Kerry Sanders, it changed and it whipped up into a more traditional wind storm hurricane. Now in America in hurricanes the water tends to be more damaging than the wind does. But in this case I got to see both part of it. Again, it`s still quite windy right now. It`s not over. And when I come in here you can hear it in the mic and you can still see -- just take a look right through there.
Just show them what the gulf looks like right now. It`s still a rough body of water. But that`s just like a rough day on the water. We`ve seen the worst of it passed by Naples right now. But Florida has not seen the worst of it at all. In fact, even in those areas around Tampa, it floods. So you`re still going to see a lot more of that happen in the later hours of tonight. This is far from being over.
MELBER: Understood. Ali Velshi, doing the reporting on the ground for us, please stay safe and thank you, sir.
I want to turn to Florida State Senator Janet Cruz out of Tampa. Tell us what`s happening where you are.
STATE SEN. JANET CRUZ (D), FLORIDA: Hey, good evening, everyone. Well, I have seen Mother Nature test the resiliency of many palm trees around here. We have some intense winds and we are waiting for the rains to pick up. I think that, you know, when Tampa sees four inches of rain routinely it makes some of the streets impassable.
This could be as much as 24 inches of rain. And that means flooding like we have never experienced it before. And we are bracing for widespread power outages that are already underway and assured that they will continue to spread. So I`m telling my fellow Tampanians to shelter in place. It`s too late to relocate. We`re going to ride this out the way that we do.
We are a city of champions and people that take care of each other so we are still facing cat-1 potential winds. So this is -- you know, we`re still looking at floodwaters that could contain simple matter, bacteria and viruses. We are far from being in the clear here.
MELBER: You mentioned the guidance to now shelter in place if someone is there, in these paths. Do you have a sense of how much compliance there was under the original evacuation guidance?
CRUZ: Well, I will tell you that I saw -- I spent the weekend filling sandbags at some of the city sites and folks were taking this seriously. We have seen some unbearable heat in Florida this year because of the heat and the warming oceans. We have seen some very, very strong storms. We`re used to summer storms here. That`s not usual in the afternoon but things have been pretty violent and pretty heavy.
So I think those Tampanians that know, that lived in Tampa Bay, we see the weather changing. And a lot of people heeded the call. If they`re in a flood zone, most folks evacuated and went to more inland areas.
MELBER: Understood. And Senator, thank you for your time and good luck to you and everyone, all your constituents.
We`re basically going to go moving inland in our coverage now. NBC`s Jesse Kirsch in Orlando where conditions have been getting worse by the hour.
Jesse, what is your reporting show?
JESSE KIRSCH, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ari, those conditions continuing to deteriorate. And we`re starting to get those bigger pops of wind. And what I want to stress for people watching this at home right is what you`re seeing. This wind, this rain, that is coming in sideways some of the time.
This is far from what we expect to be the worst of Ian in this part of the state. That is expected in the overnight to morning hours. This is just the northern bands, which should give people an idea of the scope of the devastation this storm is likely causing south and west of me right now as it makes its way towards us in the Orlando area. In this part of the state officials are worried about up 90 mile per hour winds.
But possibly the biggest concern is more than two inches of rain which we could see dumping on certain parts of the area. And that of course could lead to flash flooding. At this point officials have told people they should be off the roads, sheltering in place where they are. Specifically for people who live in mobile homes. They`ve been asked to move to hardened shelters, and we know that at least one shelter in the Orlando area has reached capacity.
[18:10:02]
Officials, though, at this late hour, have opened two more shelters so they are still trying to encourage more people to seek shelter away from home. Certainly likely away from homes that are first floor homes that might be on very low lying areas. Because, again, the biggest concern out here is the flooding threat. Even beyond Ian`s direct path, we`ve already seen nearly a dozen possible tornadoes touching down in Florida.
We`ve seen some airplanes tossed around, some small airplanes tossed around, and again this is all outside of the heart of Ian, outside of the eyewall. So these are people who are getting slammed by this storm well beyond the direct path. And obviously we`re going to get an idea of the true scope of the devastation in the hours and the days ahead. But again I just want to stress for people watching, we are far from seeing the end of Ian, certainly in this part of the state because we are hours away from the worst of it which could be coming in the overnight hours, Ari.
And that causes concern to be even more dangerous potentially because obviously this kind of weather in the overnight hours and people may be trying to still get on the roads, that is a recipe for disaster.
MELBER: Yes. You mentioned what is coming down the pike, and what people might be considering. Orlando has got over quarter million people. Have you seen many people out and about other than the reporters? Or -- and first responders?
KIRSCH: I`d say it`s largely a ghost town at this point. We`ve seen a couple of cars sporadically driving by. We`ve pretty much been the only people on the roads. And at this point we`re planning to just be bunker down where we are throughout the evening because the conditions have been deteriorating hour by hour, and have seen those little pops of wind.
We`ve been driving around, Ari, in a massive SUV. And that car has been wobbling at points because of some of these wind gusts, and here comes another big band. And again, we`re hours, probably 12 plus hours I think at this point. And right around 12 hours from when the worst of Ian is expected to hit us here.
And Catherine from our climate team who`s been amazing and helpful throughout the day, pointed out to me, what`s so amazing about Ian is that it is going to continue to slice across Florida. And obviously we`re expecting it to keep making its way up the east coast. Thankfully around here we haven`t seen too many power outages yet. Our cell phone service is holding strong for now. But obviously Florida, across the state, east to west, south to north is looking at a lot of headaches in the hours and days ahead, Ari.
MELBER: Jesse Kirsch in Orlando. Stay safe, thank you.
We turn now to NBC News meteorologist Bill Karins. Bill?
BILL KARINS, NBC NEWS METEOROLOGIST: Ari, we`re tracking this storm inland. It`s weaking ever so slowly now, down 130 mile per hour winds. That`s the lowest end of the category four. As it`s over land, the frictional component, though, it`s not over the warm water anymore. It`s going to quickly weaken. We`ll be down to a category one later on tonight.
There are still wind damage being done. We still have this extreme wind warning, especially in this northeast eyewall, in between Venice, Florida, and Acadia just north of Port Charlotte. This is where the strongest winds are likely now and also wrapping back down to the backside into Captiva. I`m sure they`re still getting some gust in the 80 to 100-mile-per-hour range. And some of that is trying to push into Fort Myers.
So we`re not completely done with the wind damage portion of this storm. As we now watch the storms heading up into central Florida. Here are some of our latest wind readings. Orlando, you`ve ever seen a live shot there? About 44 mile per hour winds. Once you get up to about 50 to 60, that`s when we`ll start doing tree damage. That`s when you`ll start to have some power outages. Sea breeze up to the 64. That`s kind of the leading edge of the power outages.
Now approaching (INAUDIBLE) counties. Tampa still gusting to 68. So, you know, you didn`t miss the storm by much. That`s enough for some scattered outages, too. It`s a minor cleanup. The heavier damage is really Sarasota southward. And of course where we had the landfall that 123 mile per hour wind gust.
So as we go through tonight, hurricane warnings continue from Orlando to Daytona Beach, to Melbourne here. Volusia County all the way back down, southwards the lake of Okeechobee. Hurricane watches have been extended now all the way from Jacksonville to Savannah to Charleston.
As storms going back over the ocean later on tomorrow, and then go make a second landfall Friday. It will not get as powerful as it was, at most be a category one hurricane. But even that in the areas of the Carolinas, you don`t want to deal with that. So this storm currently -- you can see how large the rain shield is. The heaviest rain right now just in the north of the center that`s what`s going to go over Orlando later tonight and up by four, heading toward the Daytona Beach area. That`s where we`re concerned with the heaviest rainfall and the possibility of flash flooding.
So here`s that new storm check from the hurricane center. By about 2:00 a.m. they have it down to a category one. It doesn`t weaken a lot after that. It`s going to go back over the warm water. And so that`s not going to weaken in as much 65 mile per hour winds tomorrow afternoon. Somewhere between Orlando (INAUDIBLE) beach, tide still northward to Daytona Beach. And then we take the storm northwards.
For that second possible landfall near Savannah, maybe towards Hilton Head Island, Charleston area. 65 mile per hour winds. So it`ll only take a little more than that. Another 10 miles per hour and this could be a hurricane. We hope not. Hopefully this will just a tropical storm but it`s within the realm of possibilities. Then just a rain storm heading up into Carolinas.
[18:15:01]
And I can`t believe I have to show you these computer models again. I thought I`d put them away. But yes, this is, as we go through at 6:00 a.m. Friday, most of them are off the coast. And most of them are tracking up here. Savannah, a few towards Charleston, and as far as the maximum wind gusts, this may go up I think in the days ahead. I`m told as we approach this, it`s still 48 hours away but right now 40 to 50 mile per hour range, Ari.
So as we go through daybreak tomorrow the wind should be getting light enough to see just how bad the destruction and damages. I know for a fact this storm surge, if the governor of Florida was correct, they`re saying, his meteorologist saying 12 feet in the Fort Myers areas. That is about six feet higher than anything they`ve ever experienced. So there is going to be a lot of people needing help. And there are probably people right now that still need rescue.
But thankfully the water is beginning to recede. And so at least, you know, people that are trapped on their roofs or attics or on the top level of their houses, probably about midnight or so they`ll be able to go back down into their houses and then feel a little safer.
MELBER: Thank you, Bill. I appreciate that.
We turn now to NBC`s Morgan Chesky in Tampa, Florida.
Morgan, what is your reporting show?
MORGAN CHESKY, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ari, those outer bands still making their way over the Tampa metropolitan area. But the big headline tonight, they`re not out of the woods just yet. The worst of the conditions from Ian not expected to hit Tampa anywhere between until 9:00 to midnight local time. That is where we`re going to see the strongest winds. Even though Tampa is in the crosshairs, it still could be category one hurricane winds, tropical storm winds, 70, 80, 90 miles an hour.
But the rain is really the big concern overnight, Ari. Forecast calling for anywhere from 12 to 24 inches. The folks here that live in this area, millions, could be seeing two to three months of rain and two to three days. And that is why local leaders have urged anyone who may have already evacuated. Even though they`re not suffering a direct hit here, do not come back home. It`s not safe to do so just yet.
In fact they`ve already had reports of flooding in low-lying areas, and I think one of the eeriest sights of all today was Tampa Bay with the water pulled away from the shoreline from Ian into the Gulf. Officials saying what goes out must come back in. Unfortunately that`s likely going to be in the form of storm surge. And while it may not be anything like what we`ve seen in Naples or Sarasota, it could still definitely pose a problem overnight. Ari?
MELBER: Morgan Chesky, thank you. Stay safe.
We`re tracking a devastating hurricane as we continue in the hour. We`re going to be hearing from people affiliated with the Red Cross, more local leaders. The former head of FEMA. Stay with us, we are back in just 60 seconds.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you show me how far the water, how high it is up? Can anyone get up on the furniture, too, as well? OK, so you`re already up on -- you have everything up high. Do you have a way to get into the roof?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go to the roof. Don`t go in the attic.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don`t go in the attic. Do you have a way to get on the roof?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we`re going to have to find out a way here soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: Some of the scenes out of Florida as authorities, experts, family and friends try to help people who may have not gotten out of the eye of the storm. We`re joined now by someone with experience in exactly this kind of emergency response.
Greg Fugate is the former administrator of FEMA in Florida.
Thanks for being here. Your view based on your experience of what we`ve seen thus far on both the hurricane and the response.
CRAIG FUGATE, FORMER FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: Well, this is still ongoing. And I think, you know, as much as we`ve seen the impacts right there on the southwest coast, the storm is still crossing states. Still a major hurricane. And the forecast is not only -- winds across a lot of state but extreme rainfall. So as we move into the nighttime hour, because I think it`s really critical. If you`re somewhere safe and you`re on the path of the storm, stay inside, stay off the road.
[18:20:03]
This is still a very dangerous situation that`s unfolding. And as bad as it`s been, it`s not over yet.
MELBER: What do you think of the emergency response and FEMA thus far?
FUGATE: You know, FEMA has been moving -- well, first of all, FEMA has been with a state of emergency operations. They don`t come in separately. They work with Governor DeSantis and his team. They`ve been in that EOC since the beginning of the week. They`ve been moving extra search and rescue teams. One of the challenges that the search and rescue team is going to have is conditions have not improved much. They start getting into these areas and we`re going to nighttime hours.
And so as this storm is still crossing the state, it`s going to slow down, those teams being able to get in there. The local teams will go to work immediately. These other teams will go around where they thought the storm is going to hit so they can get in quickly. And the focus is going to be where we had that storm surge damage and that impact from the storm where it made landfall. And then they`ll start working their way as the storm moves through the state.
MELBER: Then there`s the self-protection measures that citizens can take. Do you think Governor DeSantis thus far and at that press conference has been conveying the right information?
FUGATE: Yes, I mean, again, this is kind of like Florida`s playbook. We learned this after Hurricane Andrew, and you can look at what Governor Bush did on the five hurricane seasons. You know, Senator Scott when he was governor, how he ran the hurricanes. So this is something that Florida has a lot of experience. You know, governors will come, and they`ll bring in new teams but we have a lot of expertise and experience dealing with this.
And again the messaging is pretty standard. Evacuate, move to higher ground, those that aren`t in the evacuation areas, get ready to hunker down from the winds. Stay inside. And really I think the message now is we`re moving this transition as the storm make landfall is reminding people the danger is not over when the hurricane passes. Unfortunately in Florida, we have seen as many people die after the hurricane from carbon monoxide poisoning because they ran a generator in a carport.
Traffic crashes, electrocutions from downed power lines. People getting injured trying to recover falling off roofs. And so we tell people, if you`re somewhere safe, once the storm passes, stay home, stay off the road. Don`t try to get out see what`s going on because first of all you don`t want to get in the way of the rescuers who are trying to get to the people that are hard hit. You want to get plenty of room for utility companies so they can start getting the power turned back on.
And the risk of injuries is still very high even though the sun may come out. So people need to take it slow, be careful. And if you`re somehow safe, stay there. And listen to your local officials.
MELBER: Yes, you make such an important point that has come up in our hurricane coverage, emergency coverage before, which is what is scary and may motivate. I mean, some of these images, whatever people think of the sort of the way we -- on TV and online, people look at all these images and some of it`s scary, some of it`s, quote-unquote, "dramatic." But the real point for anyone nearby is yes, they can learn from that, for this time or the next time.
And yet you`re making the point that what is scary is distinct from what is the most dangerous given the sometimes injury and death rate in the days after. So what is your guidance to people in Florida who think they`ve gotten through maybe areas where it`s not as bad anymore? For how many days should they be in that vigilant mode you described?
FUGATE: Well, for the first couple of days, remember, we got trees down, power lines down, roads flooded, a lot of things were going wrong right now. And, you know, the national tendency, and this would be true for people that evacuated. There is tremendous -- and I understand because I`ve talked to these folks. They want to just get back and see if they`re homes are OK. But if you`ve evacuated and you`re somewhere safe, stay there. Don`t try to get back in.
Again, it`s not safe. There`s a lot of things that have gone wrong. And let the rescuers get in there and do their searchers. Let the utility companies come in and make sure it`s safe. And then when local officials think, OK, now you can come back, that`s your signal. But there will be a lot of people wanting to get back too quick. And it`s just going to make the whole recovery slower.
Give your local governments a chance to make sure it`s safe. I know you want to get back, I know you want to look. I know you want to check your homes. But if you`re somewhere safe, stay there until the local officials say, OK, we`re ready for you to come back. We`ve got enough stuff where at least it`s safe enough for you to come back and check on your homes.
MELBER: Understood. Final question, what happens next here in the nightfall aspect of this and the coming 24 hours?
FUGATE: Search and rescue is going to be a key thing. Again they`re not going to wait for the sun to shine, they`re not going to wait for the skies to be blue. They`re moving and people are trying to figure out these teams of getting into these areas as the conditions begin to improve and they can start doing the search safely. And they`ll start at night.
[18:25:02]
It will be limited but they`ll start getting into some of these areas. And then as the storm moves through that`s going to be the first phase, is get in, check, rescue. Get to anybody who`s trapped or injured. That`s going to probably be the major thing that`s going to be focused for the next 24 hours. Then you`re going to start talking about things like getting power companies in there, where they can get power turned back on. Starting to look at, will the stores be able to open? If not, you know, FEMA has bene bringing in supplies and commodities, and start to look at distribution.
You know, how many people are in shelters? Can they go home? Do they need to start looking at longer term shelter solutions? And this is going to play out over this first couple of days. But it really starts out with lifesaving and then the things that keeping people safe and what we call life sustaining, get those supplies in there, get utilities.
And what`s really going to drive this is power restoration because for a lot of areas, all those damage, if you can get the power turned back on it allows those communities to really start their own recovery. And then you`re going to then focus on the areas that took the heaviest devastation where you got not only power outages, we got a lot of buildings destroyed, and looking at what it`s going to take to get those areas back up.
MELBER: Understood. Craig Fugate, thank you so much for sharing some of your expertise here. You`ve been through many of these tough times before. We appreciate it.
We turn now to Jamie Rhome, the acting director of the National Hurricane Center. Welcome.
JAMIE RHOME, ACTING DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Thank you for having me.
MELBER: Absolutely. Jamie, I want to hand you the floor, walk us through what you know, what people should understand at this hour.
RHOME: You know, you can see here on this radar imagery that Ian made landfall just to the west of Fort Myers in and around Punta Gorda area earlier today and is now crawling inland. The much anticipated slowdown and forward speed has unfortunately materialized. Also the devastating storm surge that we were predicting down here in Fort Myers, Naples. You know, all points to the south of where the center made landfall.
We have this onshore flow has unfortunately materialized. You`ve seen the images play out on social media. Now we`re turning our attention to helping people understand the rain flood risk that is going to materialize overnight and into tomorrow. And you can already see it sort of developing here in the radar. You can see this enhanced reflectivity in the radar and sort of like a line almost forming up in here to the north. It is going to be a long night for people on the I-4 corridor.
MELBER: Yes. And given your work there, what you understand what you do there at the center, when we keep hearing that this is historically shaping up to potentially be one of the worst hurricanes or among the worst 10 at this point. What can you say about that?
RHOME: I mean, given the size, the magnitude and the number of people potentially impacted by this system, I mean, it looks like unfortunately a catastrophic event for big swaths of the Florida peninsula. The storm surge down here, you`ve seen it on -- you`ve seen the images coming in, devastating, devastating. And then this is very populated. This I-4 corridor from Tampa to Orlando to Jacksonville. Very heavily populated. So if this heavy rain and flood risk unfolds overnight like we think it will and tomorrow big, big impacts.
MELBER: Understood, and that`s why we are learning about it as we go from the experts and making sure people get all the most current information they can. I know it`s a very busy time for you, Jamie Rhome. Thank you for being here.
RHOME: Thank you.
MELBER: Absolutely.
Our coverage will continue here, we have more reports from the ground and from the Red Cross and some of the first responders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have to get new roof on, I`m good. We`ll hang in there. Now wake up in the morning and it`s 19 feet. So it kind of changes my reality. There`s no choice now. It`s late in the day, and yes, I screwed up. But I`ve got to do what I`ve got to do with the reality that I have which is get the hell out of that house.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[18:30:00]
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you ever seen anything like this at this speed it`s going at?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, this is probably one of the worst that I`ve seen myself, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER (on camera): That`s some reporting from a captain of a marina in Pinellas County that`s near St. Petersburg saying this is, as we`ve heard, one of the worst people I`ve ever seen. Hurricane Ian has hit the west coast of Florida. There`s satellite imagery that shows this historic category four storm making landfall. That first hit we`re told about three hours ago. The wind gusts 190 miles per hour at times.
And you can get some sense of the high winds at a distance here from this video. You have a tower camera in Fort Myers there, a downed stop sign you can see in Punta Gorda. Hurricanes Ian is now the fifth most powerful storm ever measured to hit the United States. I repeat, the fifth worst ever -- again, that`s not according to a casualty count, that`s according to the sheer power as it has been measured. The extensive damage though is already all over this state. Buildings in Delray Beach pummeled by what they are looking at as a potential tornado that grew out of the hurricane.
Now, as we have shown you experts so everyone can understand exactly what we`re dealing with. The warnings are the worst is yet to come. This is video from a camera that`s six feet off the ground in Fort Myers Beach. You can see the sheer overwhelming power and force of the surge storm up close. Flooding remains a huge concern. Cars have been submerged seen earlier today in Naples. Water levels up to the second storey of some of the homes there and the fire department walloped.
[18:35:29]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a storm surge that we talked about but we weren`t sure about. When we asked you guys to stay off the road, we`re not kidding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: We`re joined now by Jennifer Pipa, the head of disaster programs for the American Red Cross. What is the current state of these relief efforts amidst a hurricane that`s clearly not over?
JENNIFER PIPA, VICE PRESIDENT, DISASTER PROGRAMS, AMERICAN RED CROSS: So, we have hundreds of volunteers spread across the Florida Peninsula ready to help as well as volunteers that are already in these pre-evacuation centers to support folks as they ride out the storm in the coming hours. So, we know that the West Coast stood up first. As we`re seeing there are more and more shelters being requested to be opened to provide a safe place for people to ride out the storm in the central area of Florida. And now, we`re even seeing shelters open on the east coast.
So, we brought in hundreds of volunteers to make sure that we were ready, that when the counties decided to open these shelters and they needed additional supplies or they needed human resources or volunteers to come in and help, that we were positioned and ready to go to meet that need when they arise.
MELBER: Based on your work, what is your sense of the cooperation and compliance of those communities and people in the eye of the storm in the path who were -- who were encouraged to evacuate?
PIPA: I think that the best lesson we can learn from this is you never focus on the line in the center of the cone, you focus on the cone. This storm moved so many times over the last five to six days. And where we believed it was going to land was in fact where it did not. Folks have to take those warnings very seriously. When emergency management or local officials tell you to evacuate, you need to evacuate, go stay with family, friends. You don`t have to go far, but you definitely need to get out of those areas when they tell you it`s time to evacuate.
There are folks who probably thought they were going to be fine, didn`t think the storm was going to turn the way it did and now, unfortunately, are stuck in homes writing out that storm. As that storm clears and the search and rescue begins, we`ll be ready to receive those folks in Red Cross shelters with a blanket, a hot meal, and a hug, and help them kind of start thinking about what their next steps are going to be.
MELBER: What are your goals in the next 24 to 48 hours?
PIPA: So, our goals are to make sure that people have a safe, sanitary place to stay if they can`t have any place else to go and they need to evacuate, and to try and keep them connected with information as much as possible. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who has to leave and ends up at a Red Cross or a county-run shelter. They want to know what`s happening to their home. They want to know what`s going on in their neighborhood. So, keeping information flowing and keeping them connected and informed is a critical service that we can provide to the families who take refuge in our shelters.
As that time period goes on and emergency management officials say it`s safe for folks to return back, then we will help them get back to their homes. And that`s really when the really hard work of recovery and response begins. That`s where we start to understand what the impact, the level of damage that`s been sustained throughout the state of Florida and how we position the additional resources we have ready to come in to meet those needs.
But this is -- make no mistake, this is a long, long response. We will be here helping families recover through the end of the calendar year.
MELBER: Yes, wow. When you put it like that, I think that`s another way to measure -- we`ve talked about different ways to measure this, but you talk about the humanitarian aspect. The American Red Cross represented by Jennifer Pipa, thank you very much.
We have more coverage after this break.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the worst of Hurricane Ian. We have come up here for safety from the surge. Look at the wind powering through here.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my home. It`s the only thing I have. I mean -- and my mother. You know, I mean, if that goes then what do you do? Hey, look, you know, if you knew my life, this is nothing. If you knew my past and my life, this right here is nothing. You know, I mean, at least I got a chance to go ahead and help people.
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MELBER: Residents in Florida dealing with this historic hurricane and some discussing the adversity they face. We`re joined now by Tampa, Florida Police Chief Mary O`Connor. Thanks for being here.
MARY O`CONNOR, CHIEF, TAMPA, FLORIDA POLICE: Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
MELBER: What are you and your department seeing thus far?
O`CONNOR: Well, fortunately, the Tampa Bay area did not take a direct strike. I mean, we -- you know, we feel for our neighbors to the south. We`re obviously you know, never fortunate when you use the word hurricane in the same sentence, but we`re not seeing the impacts that our neighbors to the south are seeing we were expecting 12 to 15 up to 20-foot storm surge. We`re not going to see that. But we are seeing some significant winds. We`re having wind gusts in some locations 65 up to 70 miles an hour. We are seeing significant rainfall.
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The ground in Tampa Bay is already saturated, so any of the rainfall that we get over the course of the next several hours is going to completely saturate the ground even more and we`re going to see some pretty significant flooding. So, we are all hands on deck right now. You know, we have all the city departments here working and, you know, we`re encouraging our residents to just stay --= you know, stay safe, stay secure, and you know, just kind of ride this out right now.
MELBER: When we talk about policing in America, we hear a lot about crime. Of course, police departments have a role to also protect and serve and try to support public safety in whatever the community needs. Walk us through what exactly it is that your -- that your department and your officers are doing, and as you mentioned, in coordination with other first responders at a time where public safety in this very real sense is so paramount in Florida.
O`CONNOR: Well, we have like a multifaceted approach. I mean, obviously, as you were saying, with, you know, protecting and serving, the Tampa Bay area does have a significant homeless population and they are extremely vulnerable. So, we have been utilizing our homeless liaison officers and some of our local transportation avenues have been sheltering our homeless population to local shelters. And, you know, we`ve been doing significant outreach with them.
You know, from a public safety standpoint, we are in a state of emergency and there are unfortunately some people that will take advantage of the vulnerability of, you know, people have left their homes and businesses have obviously been shut down for a while. So, we do have some public safety criminal statute enhancements where if you commit a burglary or theft during the State of emergency that, you know, the level of the crime can be increased a bit. So, if it`s a second-degree felony, it`ll be prosecuted as a first.
Again, that`s just to you know, kind of focus in on those that are going to take advantage of the most vulnerable during a real-time of crisis at a time of need.
MELBER: Chief O`Connor, thank you and good luck to you and your community here that you`re serving. As mentioned, our coverage will continue after the break.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It feels like that got big noise. Like -- that`s it, yes. We`re coming up, all is gone, finished.
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LARRY WELK, RESIDENT, SARASOTA, FLORIDA: I am somebody who`s new to Florida. I just moved here a year ago. I thought I could write it out. And I`ll tell you, Katie, never again. Once I hear that coming, I am going to get in a car and get out of Florida.
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MELBER: This historic storm, Hurricane Ian, just pummeling Florida. You can hear the reaction from people. One citizen they`re explaining that they`re new and didn`t quite understand as the experts have counseled, as the press and really all the politicians and government officials have emphasized, you got to get out of the way if you get those orders evacuation-wise.
NBC`s Kerry Sanders has been reporting from Punta Gorda right in that bullseye of the storm.
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KERRY SANDERS, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: We`re on the back end now where the back eyewall was coming through. We`ve had some of the strongest winds here, so far. I`m inside a parking garage area, so we`re somewhat protected. But the winds are curious. And as the winds are blowing, there are cases, at certain points, there are things flying in the wind, like roofing shingles. It`s going to be a very long time to get in a battle to get an assessment of what`s happened here because it`s starting to get dark. And when the storm finally passes through and the rain quits around midnight, then we`ll wait for the sunlight to really see how bad it is.
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MELBER: Kerry Sanders has been doing that reporting. And now we turn to NBC`s Sam Brock live also in Sarasota, Florida. Sam, what do you seeing?
SAM BROCK, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Ari, it`s good to be with you. Just to set the scene, maybe Kerry is looking at 130, 140 mile an hour winds there. Where I am, just a little bit north of that here in Sarasota, 100 miles an hour or more. Really, in the last 30 to 45 minutes, it`s gotten dialed up, Ari.
I will tell you, over my shoulder, you can see portions of trees just clinging to. I don`t know what`s there that have been flying around through the streets. You`ll hear the sound of metal grinding from the awnings that are shaking over me right now. Even the stop signs that are bolted into the ground have been swaying back and forth. So, certainly, dangerous conditions here as well.
And it`s kind of a good segue to talk about all the power outages that we`ve seen throughout the state of Florida. We know this is going to be one of the major storylines in the days moving forward. 1.5 million Floridians right now, customers, with no power. That`s about 80 percent of the people in Sarasota County. From last check, I got to refresh that power outages you ask. Where Kerry is in Port Charlotte where that landfall certainly occurred, Charlotte County, they`re looking at 96.7 percent of customers with no power.
Then you think, Ari, about what the other things that are so important in the midst of a hurricane and how we cover it, health care, hospitals, people`s access to help. I was on the phone with Sarasota Memorial Hospital CEO earlier today who told me they have some facilities that are six months old, some that are 60 years old and maybe not capable of bearing the brunt of this kind of an attack.
So, what they did earlier today was actually move some of the patients on the flight before the storm arrived to get them out of harm`s way. It actually work that includes an entire ICU to safer ground. Some of the staffing there, Ari, as we see more of this wind, strong wind gusts come through, some of the staffing has been prepping and preparing to stay camped out at the hospital for days or weeks, whatever it takes.
You hear vinyl and aluminum siding flying around right now, so obviously, dangerous conditions. Healthcare is key and also help from emergency responders who have said, we are not going out in this.
I`ll leave you with this. One of the most sobering things I saw today read was from the Sarasota sheriff, who said they`re getting calls right now -- they`re rerouting calls to 911 Dispatch, but they`re getting calls from people with cardiac arrest, hemorrhaging, childbirth, and the operator is passing that along to a medical director who is walking those folks through crises as this is all going on.
Hopefully, it will pass within a number of hours to the point where at least some emergency responders can get to these folks who need help. Ari, let me send it back to you.
MELBER: Sam, thank you for your reporting. Stay safe, as we have told all of our journalists, teams, producers camera folks out there. Thank you.
That does it for this hour of coverage. Joy Reid continues our special coverage of this devastating hurricane after the break.
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