TRANSCRIPT
Hurricane Idalia has unleashed devastation along a wide stretch of Florida.
It's submerged homes and vehicles, turned streets into rivers, unmoored small boats and brought down power lines.
"While it is still too soon to assess the total damages, we know that the storm made landfall as a category three, which means over a 120 mile per hour winds and up to ten inches of rain in some areas. Peak storm surge, in some places along the coast, it has peaked right now, but it could surpass once they measure over 15 feet of storm surge. And we'll get exact numbers as they're able to go in and assess what the total storm surge was. And in fact, Idalia, is the strongest storm to hit this part of Florida, to make landfall in this part of Florida in over 100 years."
That's Deanne Criswell, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency known as FEMA.
She says Idalia is not done yet as it's now made its way inland into the state of Georgia.
"People that are still in the storm's path should not venture out into the storm and remain sheltering in place if your local officials are telling you to do so. However, if you are in trouble and you need immediate assistance, please call 911. As you do go out, do not wade in the water. Do not drive through flooded roads and streets. Just remember, turn around, don't drown. Unfortunately, we see so many fatalities after the storm passes. We want to make sure that everybody is taking the right precautions to keep themselves safe."
For Florida, the worst is over says Governor Ron DeSantis.
"The eye of Hurricane Idalia has left the state of Florida. The state is still being impacted by the storm's bands, and we're seeing that, particularly in the northern part of the state. So far, there have been 262,000 accounts that had lost power have been restored. And there are more than 250,000 accounts that are currently out of power and in need of restoration."
During the hurricane, he received a call from his wife, Casey DeSantis, to tell him an ancient oak tree had split in half and had fallen on the roof of their home.
"I don't know if they're going to cut down the whole tree. If they do cut down the whole tree that's just going to be more room for my kids to hit baseballs in. And so in some respects, for us, even though the tree was nice, we'll probably make do and just be, be, be, be quite all right."
Hundreds of thousands of those evacuated have yet to return to their homes and businesses.
US President Joe Biden has been in touch with the governors of the states affected and warns the hurricane remains a present danger.
"I made a point to speak to all the governors most likely to be impacted by this storm. I spoke with Governor DeSantis several times, Governor Kemp, Governor McMasters, Governor Cooper about the impacts of the storm, and that made landfall at 7:45 a.m. this morning as a Category 3 hurricane. And it's moved over land and has now shifted to Category 1, but it is still very dangerous with winds up to 75 miles an hour. And the impacts of this storm are being felt throughout the southeast, even as it moves up the eastern coast of the United States, affecting Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. And we have to remain vigilant and there's much more to do."
Mr Biden also spoke of climate change bringing havoc, death and destruction around the world, including in Maui.
"I don't think anybody can deny the impact of the climate crisis anymore. Just look around. Historic floods, I mean, historic floods, more intense droughts, extreme heat, significant wildfires have caused significant damage like we've never seen before, not only throughout the Hawaiian Islands and the United States, but in Canada and other parts of the world. We've never seen this much fire. And while we're dealing with this latest extreme weather event, I remain laser-focused on recovering and rebuilding efforts in Maui."
