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Fuel Into Florida; Power Outages In Florida; Irma In Caribbean; Tampa Residents Face Power Outages; Fuel Shortages Continue; Naples Recovery Cost. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired September 12, 2017 - 13:00   ET

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


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We start with very desperate times in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. The storm has moved off but the trail of wreckage will last much longer. The worst of it in the United States is in the Florida Keys, where officials estimate that at least a quarter of all homes are destroyed and nearly two thirds sustained major damage.

Our Bill Weir is in a boat going down the coast of the Florida Keys. Bill, tell us the latest.

BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are anchored in a Lower (INAUDIBLE) Key. We're at about mile marker 72-73. That is the U.S. 1.

And it looks like there's a traffic jam right now as there's -- we've been watching big earth movers get the sand of that Irma spread across U.S. 1. You can see it over there. And those are all, I assume, first responders, supply chains, there might be some residents in there, trying to make their way south.

This is about the limit to where you can -- you can drive. But when we first came in here, it was obvious what kind of damage the waves did, that storm surge. There's some wind damage on the roofs.

But for those who are familiar with this stretch of U.S. 1, there used to be a very popular restaurant right there called Mr. Lobster. It is completely gone and most of it is scattered over on the other side of this Antigua Harbor.

And as Rod pans over, you can see those big shipping containers that used to hold the seafood and the kitchens for that place. You can see them -- you know, they were pushed across.

There are sunken boats all through this canal here. Sea grass and lobster traps from the Atlantic side, from the oceanside blown over the highway into people's yards.

Some boats are shoved up into the mangroves. The good news is we are seeing so much activity here. Proof of life. People we -- as we came, as we motored in through this harbor, people with their storm shutters open. Their generators going. Their, you know, stuff drying on their railings. People waving cheerfully.

So, I think right here, things are, all things considered, pretty good. We weren't able to go ashore yet. We did ask these folks if they had any diesel they could spare. Gasoline, as you can imagine, is the most precious commodity these days. Ice being a close second.

But all kinds of activity here as people move from search and rescue and the initial shock of what they've seen at their properties to clean up and recovery.

BLITZER: Bill Weir reporting for us from the Florida Keys. We're going to get back to Bill shortly.

I quickly want to bring in CNN's Ryan Young who's with the U.S Coast Guard right now as they try to bring fuel, desperately needed fuel, into the state. He's near Tampa. Ryan, what are you seeing? Tell the viewers what's going on.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we are in Tampa Bay right now near the skyway bridge. And you can see the Coast Guard who are definitely with the response team as they go through the shipping channels to give the all clear.

This is the critical last step that they will do to make sure that those shipping channels are back open. I'm going to walk you back outside to give you a view here. If you look outside[BK1] right there, that is the skyway bridge. This is Tampa Bay.

And what they are doing is they're going to make sure that this roadway is back open so those critical ships can bring that fuel in.

This is Josh. And do you work with the Coast Guard? And, look, explain to the viewers why this last step is so important to get the ships back in to the shipping lanes.

JOSH, U.S. COAST GUARD: Sure. We're doing everything we can right now to make sure that Tampa Bay is safe to pass, especially for these big commercial vessels. You know, they have cargo. They have fuel. They have everything. Just making sure that it's safe for them to come in, to make sure they don't hit anything and it's safe for them.

YOUNG: One thing that we witnessed is we saw them all lined up. And I want to explain this. I'm going to grab my cameraman, Larry, here and turn him just a little bit. That green dot right there. Explain what -- how they use that.

JOSH: OK. So, for those of you familiar with the water, that's a buoy. That's a -- that's how mariners make sure they know which side of the

channel to be on, where -- you know, steer between certain buoys. Those are definitely vital as far as the commercial boats coming in.

YOUNG: And, Wolf, as you can imagine, the power of the hurricane coming through here definitely disrupted some of this. They have seen some damage. But the good news is so far, what they've also noticed is it looked like the shipping channel may be back open soon. But we still have one more step before that's over, right?

JOSH: We do have one more step. We're doing everything that we can right now to make sure that we open port back up and get some kind of normalcy going back here in the port of Tampa. YOUNG: You said something to me earlier that I love. You talked

about your service. You understand that people in Florida need you right now, but you'd rather not be noticed. Tell me about that.

JOSH: Sure. We're in the ancient (ph) navigation community. It's kind of one of those things there if it's working properly, nobody's going to notice you doing your job. So, we're doing everything we can to get back to normalcy so we can go back to anonymity.

[13:05:04] YOUNG: When you see Coast Guard helicopters and so many people are thanking you guys for being there for them when they're needed, how does that make you feel as someone who served this country for so long?

JOSH: Oh, it feels great. You know, it's what we signed up to do. And, you know, it's very rewarding for us and we're just happy to do it.

YOUNG: Absolutely. Thank you so much.

From the middle of Tampa Bay, Wolf, we're going here. We might find out within the next hour or so whether or not the shipping channel will be back open. I saw the ships myself, the container ships. They were all lined up. They had that gas and that fuel to bring it back into Florida.

But we have to go over here to check the depths and to make sure that that is going to be back open. There was some damage but they think this should be back open within the next hour. But we're here live on this boat as they do the survey. As soon as we find out more, of course we'll let you know first.

BLITZER: Ryan Young with the U.S. Coast Guard in Tampa Bay, doing incredibly, incredibly important work (INAUDIBLE) the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard.

The storm has left a trail of fallen trees and downed power lines. Right now, nearly 7 million people across the southeast have no power. And for some, the lights may actually be out for weeks. Our Rene Marsh is with me here. Rene, first of all, what are you hearing about this power situation? It sounds awful.

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is awful. I mean we're talking about millions of people in the dark in one of the largest states, the state of Florida. And you said off the top there, some 7 million customers without power.

But when you think about how many individual people that means, I mean, that translates to about 15 million people, as we speak, are without power. And the federal officials have been very up front in pretty much saying it's going to be some time before all of that power is restored.

But we do have a little bit of good news. We just heard from Florida Power and Light. And they say that on the west coast of Florida, they expect that power should be restored by next Friday. As far as the east coast of Florida, they are saying that should be restored by the end of the weekend.

So, they are making progress. But, still, again, we're talking about so many towns, so many cities within this large state of Florida. They -- it is a massive effort to restore that power. Thirty thousand people have come from out of state just for restoring power alone.

BLITZER: Yes, we're going to speak, momentarily, with a representative from Florida Power and Light.

What about the airports, specifically the major airports down in Florida, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, among others?

MARSH: So, what we're seeing with the airports are, essentially, that the big ones, we're starting to see operations come back slowly. The smaller airports, like South Florida International Airport, that's in Fort Myers, as well as Key West Airport, obviously no operations there.

Good news is Fort Lauderdale opened this morning. Orlando, Tampa, they are operating, as well as Miami International flew some of its first flights this morning.

But before folks get too excited there, you still want to check with your airline because although they're up and running, it's limited service. They're going to -- it's going to take time before things get back to normal.

BLITZER: Yes, thousands of flights have been canceled --

MARSH: Right.

BLITZER: -- over these past several days. And, presumably, more will still be canceled because of the uncertainty.

MARSH: There's always that ripple effect. I mean, the air system is so interconnected that when you have one problem. Especially in a huge state like Florida and you're talking about so many airports that were impacted, no doubt there is also going to be that ripple effect.

BLITZER: All right, Rene Marsh reporting for us. Thank you.

The vast majority of the power outages are in Florida, where crews are spread out across the state trying to restore power.

Joining us once again is Rob Gould. He's the Vice President, Chief Communications Officer for Florida Power and Light. Rob, thanks very much for joining us. So, update us. Are we talking days, weeks, maybe even in some cases months until service is restored?

ROB GOULD, VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER, FLORIDA POWER AND LIGHT: Well, what we've done, Wolf, is we've done our assessment. And, actually, there is some encouraging news from what we're seeing out there and I'll explain that in a moment.

But, basically, what you just heard is right. We're going to split the state down in the middle. The east coast of Florida didn't have as much damage, relatively speaking. It still has a lot.

But we're talking about the end of the weekend, we should have, essentially, all of our customers restored. Certainly, there were pockets of tornadic activity, severe flooding and other debris that we -- you know, that is going to cause issues. That may delay restoration.

But on the west coast, we would expect to have, essentially, all restoration complete by next Friday. And, again, what we are seeing is that certain parts of our investments in the system are paying dividends for our customers. Some of the feeders that we hardened, 30 percent performance better than non-hardened feeders.

Where we have concrete poles and in place of wood poles, they have held. We're not seeing any transmission structures. That's the backbone of our infrastructure. The interstate highway, if you will, of energy. We have not seen any of those structures come down. That is very good news for our customers.

[13:10:06] BLITZER: So, when you say next Friday, I just want to be specific. You mean a week from this Friday, another 10 or 11 days, is that right?

GOULD: That's correct. We're talking about a 10-day restoration in total. It's going to be a long slog. I certainly don't want to suggest that my words of encouragement are going to make this any easier. We know a lot of our customers, many of our employees and our families are without power. We want to get that power on as quickly as possible.

But, again, I do want to emphasize what we're seeing is encouraging, in the sense that the investments that we've put into the system, over the past decade since the last rash of storms, seems to be paying dividends for the benefit of our customers.

BLITZER: All right. So, the good news is maybe by this weekend, the east coast of Florida will have power back 100 percent, the west coast maybe another 10 or 11 days, by the end of next week. What about in the Keys?

GOULD: Well, we don't serve the Keys. You know, they are certainly hard hit. But I suspect they're going to face the same exact issues that we're facing. We run from the Georgia line down to the tip of the Keys and back up toward Tampa. But for everybody, it's going to be a long slog.

The biggest thing we hope our customers, and I'm sure I speak for all the other utilities, exercise caution. Be safe. Please -- you know, the time to be safe is now. Most of our fatalities actually do occur after the storm has come through.

BLITZER: Because of the downed power lines especially if they hit water? Is that right?

GOULD: That's the big thing and generator safety. So, if you're out and about, especially at night, especially with all this flooded water, there can be a line that you don't know is there. It can -- it might not even be moving. And if you step on it, it could be energized. That could be fatal.

And then, using generators. And, variably, we're going to have customers who will not use the generator correctly. The generator needs to be outside the garage, away from windows and doors so there's no carbon monoxide poisoning whatsoever. We're going to get through this. But, at the end of the day, we ask for patience and we ask for safety.

BLITZER: Rob Gould is with Florida Power and Light. And we'll continue to check back with you, Rob. Thanks very much for all the help.

CNN's Ed Lavandera, by the way, is on the ground in Naples for us. That's one of the hardest hit areas along the west coast of Florida. You're going to see what he found. He's standing by to join us live.

Also, a paradise lost. Large parts of the Caribbean turning into a nightmare as people there run out of food and water. We'll go there live.

And a new report suggests members of President Trump's legal team wanted his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to resign. Why they consider him a legal liability.

[13:13:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:05] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The devastation in The Keys is so, so enormous right now. We're just getting in a report from Brian Entin with our affiliate WSVN. I want to you watch this report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN ENTIN, WSVN REPORTER (voice-over): This is a glimpse of what Cudjoe in the Florida Keys looks like. Many of the homes are partially destroyed. The sides and the roofs ripped off. Neighbors coming home to find the devastation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When Katrina hit Louisiana and stuff like that, and you feel sorry for people and you think, what are they going through? But when it hits, it's like it hits home. It's totally different, you know? And it's not just us, it's everybody.

ENTIN: House after house in the neighborhood damaged by Hurricane Irma's eyewall. Neighbors Shawn (ph) and Dawn (ph) rode out the storm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I stayed in the bathroom, me and my girlfriend Donna (ph). We stayed in the bathroom in the hallways. It was -- for two days it was hell. You didn't know if you were going to make it or not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the bigger gusts came by, you could feel it like jumping. The, you know, the floor jumps a little bit. And I got a piece of the sheetrock from the ceiling came through.

ENTIN: The destruction in the Cudjoe area is the worst, but there is widespread damage from Key Largo to Key West. And U.S. 1, the only road in and out, is in bad shape in many different spots.

ENTIN (on camera): This is a mobile home park on Big Pine Key. You take a look around and you see everything is pretty much totally destroyed. These mobile homes were ripped apart. We're hoping that no one was here during the storm. And it's unclear whether or not search and rescue crews have made it here yet.

ENTIN (voice-over): Communication continues to be a major problem. No cell phone service and no electricity. People who rode out the storm aren't able to tell their families and friends that they're OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just that we're alive and we made it and we miss you and love you very much. And thanks for all the prayers that came from home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That report, Brian Entin from our affiliate, WSVN.

We're going to take you back to The Keys in just a few moments. But first, I want to go north to the Tampa Bay area where residents were spared a direct strike from Irma. But, nonetheless, suffered significant damage. Our correspondent, Dianne Gallagher, is on the scene for us.

Dianne, what's the main concern where you are?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, you're basically looking at, at this point, the main fuel (INAUDIBLE) power. (INAUDIBLE) earlier. Here at this point we're talking (INAUDIBLE) power at this point. So gas (INAUDIBLE) because right now most of them don't have gas because they don't have power to use this pump. So we've --

BLITZER: We're going to get back to Dianne Gallagher. Unfortunately the audio keeps coming in and out. We're going to fix that, get back to you, get back to her and update you on what's going on.

As thousands and thousands of people see their homes now for the first time since the hurricane, what's the risk of them coming back into the destruction zone?

[13:20:00] Plus, the race to get power restored gets more desperate. The former head of FEMA, Craig Fugate, he's standing by live. We'll discuss.

And the scope of this storm stretching all the way up the coast. Parts of historic downtown Charleston, South Carolina, under water. You're going to hear from the homeowners there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to our continuing coverage. I think we've reestablished communications with Dianne Gallagher.

She's outside of Tampa and she's reporting on the fuel shortage, which seems to be so significant.

I understand, Dianne, you and your crew, you just got your fuel -- you got a fill-up for your fuel.

GALLAGHER: Yes, Wolf, that's actually why we're here right now. We were going on to do some other stories, but we've been driving around so much yesterday reporting on the damage in this area (INAUDIBLE) to get it.

[13:25:02] So (INAUDIBLE) trying to do is we couldn't find a place that had additional fuel. So we (INAUDIBLE) down 20 miles to Brandon, Florida, which is where we are now at a place called Thorntons (ph) because we heard from someone at the desk at the hotel we've been staying at that maybe there was some fuel here. They had gotten the supply late last week.

It's kind of working like that right now in at least the Tampa area, fuel by word of mouth really. It's almost like a liquid gold situation where you can't find places that have fuel. And if they do have fuel, well, 36 percent of people in Hillsborough County don't have power. That includes a lot of businesses.

So really, Wolf, these people here are learning that they have fuel because other people are telling them. I was inside. Some of the customers were saying, once people find out that there is fuel here, this place is going to be insane. It's going to be crazy.

Just yesterday, when we were going by, there wasn't much open. There was one gas station over in Bradenton that we were at. It didn't have fuel, but it had food. And there was a line of 40 minutes to wait just to buy things like bread or ramen noodles for people.

And so at this point right now most of these people just trying to get some additional fuel to top off their cars in case they have to start going to work because there wasn't a significant amount of damage there. So their lives have to continue, even though we don't really have power for, you know, nearly 40 percent of the county. (INAUDIBLE) don't have fuel for almost everybody who's on the road right now.

BLITZER: All right, Dianna, thank you.

Dianne Gallagher reporting on the fuel shortage, which is so significant. Huge parts of Florida right now outside of The Keys, one of the hardest hit areas of Florida was Naples out on the West Coast, just a few miles from where Irma made its second landfall. Damage can be seen all over town and authorities are telling residents to boil their water until they can determine the water supply is indeed safe.

Our Ed Lavandera has been throughout the storm area for us.

Ed, you just heard from the mayor of Naples. And you've got some breaking news on the cost of this recovery. ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we just spoke with the mayor

here, Bill Barnett. He tells us that the city has completed its initial damage assessment. And, again, this is only for the city of Naples. And they estimate so far some $100 million in damage. And they -- the mayor expects that total to continue to go up. That includes the clean-up, wind damage repair and those sorts of things. They have already started tabulating that. So $100 million price tag in one small city alone. You know, that doesn't even take into account the rest of the areas in the much larger metropolitan sized areas.

And, of course, the clean-up is a big issue and also getting the power. That power restoration is really one of the things that is starting to -- will start wearing on people rather quickly.

We're here at one intersection on one of the main roads that cuts through Naples. And we can see here, some of the crews that have already been working. There are about 210,000 customers that need power here in Collier County, where Naples. And last check we saw, 186,000 people still need their power restored here. So that's a tremendous amount of work.

Let's listen to a little bit more of what the mayor had to say in our conversation with him just a little while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL BARNETT, NAPLES, FLORIDA: From the immense clean-up, to the buildings that were damaged, I mean it's property damage, it's some structural damage, it's cleaning up flooding. It's, I mean, anything and everything that you can possibly think of goes into that. It will be broken down I mean almost down -- almost down piece by piece.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And, Wolf, you know the question we hear repeatedly over and over, everyone talking about, when is the power going to be back on. It's impossible to, you know, give an exact answer on that. But the mayor did tell us that he was told that the worst case scenario here in the Naples area, it would take another 10 days to get the entire city entirely back on its he power system. So that's 186,000 people. And the mayor says it could take until September 22nd.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, we heard from Rob Gould of the Florida Power commission over there that it could takes at least 10 or 11 days for the western part of the state to have power restored. They're doing a little bit better on the eastern side of Florida, maybe by this weekend.

At one point, Ed, during this storm, parts of the town, Naples, was -- were under water, what, for almost four feet of water. Some predictions -- actually they were much higher, that they would have a higher storm surge. Did Naples escape the worst of it?

LAVANDERA: You have to think so, Wolf. I mean that was really one of the things -- and we were here in the -- like 24 hours before this storm hit and you really got that sense that people were, number one, moving away from the coast. There was mandatory evacuations there.

[13:29:51] We spent some time in Marco Island, where, again, that's about a 20, 30 minute drive south of where we are. Those folks there were really preparing for that 10 to 15-foot storm surge. And the police chief on Marco Island told me yesterday that they really only saw three to four feet. Obviously that is, you know, very welcome news. And he said on that particular island, one of the dramatic things they saw is that in a lot of the single family homes --