Transcripts For CNN Anderson Cooper 360 20240929

These things where you have this idea of what you thought basketball was or what she thought should watch when you saw women . But these ladies are like no, im an first before you start saying, this is how women should play basketball, its always a beautiful thing, laura and im excited for them theyre all undeniable as are you, kari champion. Thank you so much thank you, friend thank you all for watching Andern Cooper three, 360 is next Vice President harris at The Border for effort to get voters to believe were the numbers already show the progress is being made even as her opponent says, otherwise. And the polling rewards him. Also tonight with 45 killed and counting what Hurricane Helene did as it roared its way north. And with the rain at pax is still doing two parts of North Carolina and tennessee. And a new series of israeli airstrikes on hezbollah targets In Beirut, just hours after a major Airstrike Targeted Hezbollahs leader, Hassan Nasrallah. That evening. A lot to get to tonight that we are expecting to hear from Vice President harris. Any moment will bring that to you live the city of asheville, North Carolina, was already flooded from days of Heavy Rain when Hurricane Helene dumped even more of it overnight. Tonight, one person there described the situation as complete pandamonium, a citywide curfew is now in effect until 7 30 tomorrow morning. The same can be said in irwin, tennessee, where dozens of people were pulled from the Hospital Rooftop driven there by rising waters or Cedar Key north of st. Pete . Heres burn, where the storm picked entire houses off their foundations and blew them away, according to Michael Bobbitt who lives there and spoke to us is just as it was getting bad last night. Cedar key, as we know, it is completely gone. He now says Michael Bobbitt joins us shortly as well. Well, it much more on all aspects of the storm, especially in places where the danger is still real and staying safe is still the immediate concern. Joining us right now as we wait for Vice President harris, cnn political Commentators Van jones and Scott Jennings also journalist gretchen carlson, cofounder of lift our voices. So then this is obviously a big deal for Vice President harris there has been obviously a lot of focus on her position on The Border prison. Bidens position on The Border, the the deal that Donald Trump killed the bipartisan deal that he helped kill on The Border. What are you expecting to hear from Harris Tonight . Well, shes got something to say. Shes going to a border that the Biden Administration has secured it took a while and they took a lot of beaten. But they got it done. And so she can say we got it done. Donald trump stood in the way and i think republicans should be very happy now, i bet Scott Jennings is going to give her a lot of Credit Night because hes wanted something done on The Border. She got something done on The Border. She wanted him to separate from biden. She separated from biden. So i expect republicans to give her a lot of Love Today. Scott jennings are you going to give her a lot of Love Today i love brother van, as he knows, i could lead. I mean, that i love like your brother, but no, there will be no therell be no love for me or republicans for Kamala Harris today. In fact, i think the Trump Campaign Line today ought to be arsonist returns to scene of crime. I mean, look at the last 3. 5 years weve got The Border is effectively been opened. People flowing across ice. Ice today released information that there are 13,000 noncitizens convicted of homicide and almost 16,000 noncitizens convicted of some kind of sexual crime who were in the country right now, only because were in the shadow of an election is Kamala Harris trying had to rush and pay some Lip Service to this issue as a tactical matter, anderson, i dont think harris should be trying to elevate this issue because this is the best ground from which Donald Trump has stuff to know. I think the Harris Campaign is making a tactical mistake and i think they have very little to say that The American people are going to buy on this today richard . Its interesting that gretchen, its an interesting point that scott made that this is a gamble for the Harris Campaign obviously, Donald Trump has a lead when it comes to the issue of immigration among likely voters shes certainly hoping to chip away at that lead, but to scotts point, her going to The Border does raise questions about her role as she wasnt The Borders are as republicans are trying to paint her, but as dealing with Central America during the Biden Administration and the and what the Biden Ministration data or did not do over the last four years in The Border yeah. This is going to be her first trip in three years. Look, ive been saying from the beginning that she needed to step aside from some of bidens policies. But on this one, i think she has to stick right with it with his Executive Order when he issued no more asylum for people who are coming across The Border and apparently tonight shes going to be even tougher on that. But as you state, this is a bit of a conundrum for her or a big conundrum because i think she absolutely had to go because Donald Trump is leading in the polls on immigration. But at the same time, it could biter because voters are going to be reminded that she maybe hasnt paid as much attention to this issue as she should have. So she needs to talk about the fact that Border Crossings are down. She also needs to talk about the fact that Trump Trump Couldve had a huge victory with this. He had a bipartisan bill sitting in front of him earlier this summer. And because that would have looked like a victory for the democrats, he convinced the republicans in congress to not vote for this. She needs to talk about that a lot, but look, voters have a choice between a tougher Kamala Harris now on immigration and a trump whos always been tough, but who is actually going to deport legal well, immigrants, possibly i mean, Donald Trump has talked about Mass Deportations at the republican national convention. There are people, a lot of people holding up printed signs saying, you know, Mass Deportations do, you know do you think that is feasible . Do these realistic . I dont know. Balance obs is just terrible. He says terrible stuff. He has terrible ideas that the reality is, he is if theres a Border Crisis now, its Donald Trumps fault because it could have been fixed in a bipartisan way. And Donald Trump through Banana Peels on the Sidewalk Walk marbles on the stairs, and made sure america couldnt respond. And it was a biden harris regime that steps up board until we got to get something done about it. And now you have lower Border Crossings, then you had under Donald Trump. And so she should be happy. Shes ever shoulders back she got it done Donald Trump tried to Trip America down the stairs to make sure we could couldnt fix a problem. They got it done anyway and should be proud of it now, thats thats just the benefit of our saying that it is its actually the truth. Its the truth, and its not this crazy stuff. And Donald Trump but then at The End of the debate between them down on trumps sort of finally got around to align which was probably workshopped ahead of time and he just neglected to actually get to it until The End of the debate, which was, you know, what, why didnt you do it . You know, what even over the last three years on The Border are essentially thats the pushback from their publics. It took it took them too long. It took them too long. They didnt take it seriously enough. That is true. But then when they tried to get everybody together to fix it down, Trump Wouldnt let them and they got it done anyway, all Thats Trope and shes just one i understand its worse than that. Its not that it took them too long. Its that they actively work to undo everything Donald Trump had done during his time in office on the first day they rescinded all of Donald Trumps border Executive Orders. The floodgates opened. All these people come rushing across. Then it becomes a political problem now he ended the election. They want to blame it on Donald Trump for her entire career. She is wanted a more Permissive Immigration Structure when she ran for president before she wanted to decriminalize Border Crossings in her heart and her heart of hearts. She wants a more liberal, Permissive Immigration Structure. And in his heart of hearts, Donald Trump wants to crack down on The Border thats why when you look at the Cnn Polling this Week Trump is far more trusted on immigration and harris, that is not going to change because of this Visit Today or anything. She says today, The Die Is Cast on this issue. If i were her, id want to bury this issue, not make it more prominent, but hey, if she wants to have border events, i think republicans will rejoice because itll increase the prominence of this issue for the light last month of the campaign gretchen it is that can drive know. I do not voters are Vice President harris is coming out lets lets, lets listen good courage, please believe please have a seat, everyone. Thank you. Its good to be back in arizona thank you so very much you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. I just wanted for a moment speak about teresa we have some time together backstage and you know, i think that in moments of crisis such as the Fentanyl Crisis there are people who through their suffering and their Pain Rise with courage in such a selfless way. To be a voice for others with the anticipation and the hope and the hard work of hoping that their story will be the reason other people dont have that story and you sharing your story about jacob and your advocacy on why we have to stop this scourge is so incredibly important. And again, i applaud to resign. I know we all do our need to stop this issues. One of the reason that were all here together today. I also want to thank the extraordinary elected officials who are here. Senator Mark Kelly came with had his extraordinary life. Gabby giffords traveled with me from Washington Dc to be here and Senator Kelly has been talking with me for quite some time about the importance of this visit. And so i thank you in front of all of our friends for your work that feed will try to get that back to you the panel, i think is still with us obviously, gretchen, you know, one of the things that this administration is trying to the Harris Campaign is true brian, to do is chip into the lead that former President Trump has on this issue. Scott was saying he doesnt think thats possible. Do you think it is i mean, if you look at the polls about where trump was against biden on this, he was up 22 points on immigration. Hes now up six to eight to ten depending on what poll you look at. So shes already had a massive victory in direction that started certain. I see shes back. Let me go back to if Vice President harris we want to say a few words about Hurricane Helene i spoke this morning with our Fema Administrator Criswell and President Biden and i of course, will continue to monitor the situation closely. We have mobilized more than 1,500 federal personnel just support those communities that have been impacted. We have food, water in generators that are ready for deployment and we are working to restore power for millions of people who currently are experiencing outages and i just want to stress and for the press that is here to those who are watching the storm continues to be dangerous and deadly and lives have been lost and the risk of flooding still remains high. So i continue to urge everyone to please continue to follow guidance from your local officials until we get past this moment. So thank you all. And now ill speak about in particular the people who are here today and why we are gathered here together today. So arizona, i think you all know and this is why you are here. There are consequential issues at stake in this election. And what is the security of our border . The united states is a sovereign nation and i believe we have a duty to set rules at our border and to enforce them and i take that responsibility very seriously we are also a nation of immigrants the united states has been enriched by generations of people who have come from every corner of the world to contribute to our country and to become part of The American story so we must reform our Immigration System to ensure that it works in an orderly way. That it is humane and that it makes our country stronger from visiting The Border in the Port Of Entry in douglas. I spoke with dedicated agents from Border Patrol and Customs Officers who every day see the overflow of commercial traffic through the port these men and women who work there and at other places along our southern Border Help keep our nation secure. And they need more resources to do their jobs which is why we have and are in the process of investing half 1 to modernize and expand the Port Of Entry here in douglas and why last december, i helped raise the rate of Overtime Pay for Border Agents and also why i strongly supported the comprehensive Border Security Bill written last year, written last year, as you know, by a bipartisan group of senators, including one of the most conservative members of the united states congress. That bill would have hired 1,500 more Border Agents and officers. It would have paid for 100 Inspection Machines to detect fentanyl that is killing tens of thousands of americans every year it would have allowed us to more quickly and effectively remove those who come here illegally and it would have increased the number of Immigration Judges and Asylum Officers it was the strongest Border Security Bill we have seen in decades it was endorsed by the Border Patrol union and it should be in Effect Today producing results in real time right now for our country it he picked up the phone and call some friends in congress and said stop the bill because you see he prefers to run on a problem instead of 50 a problem and The American people deserve a president who cares more about Border Security than playing political games. And theyre personal political future Donald Trump tried to sabotage the Border Security Bill, it is my pledge to you that is president of the united states. I will bring it back up and proudly sign it into law let me say, the issue of Border Security is not a new issue to me. I was Attorney General of a Border State for two terms i saw the Violence And Chaos that transnational Criminal Organizations cause, and the Heartbreak And Loss from the spread of their illicit drugs i walked through tunnels that traffickers used to smuggle contraband into the united states. Ive seen tunnels with walz as smooth as the walls of your Living Room . Complete with Lighting And Air conditioning, making very clear that it is a about an enterprise that is making a whole lot of money in the trafficking of guns, drugs, and Human Beings and my knowledge on how they work comes for the fact that i have prosecuted transnational Criminal Organizations who traffic in guns, drugs, and Human Beings my team and i broke up a Heroin Trafficking Ring in the Bay Area with ties to mexican cartels. We took down again working with the Sinaloa Cartel to Traffic Methamphetamine into the united states we seized millions of Dollars Worth of cocaine from the guadalajara cartel, cartel, and broke up a drunk, a drug trafficking operation, including pill mills. And socalled Recovery Centers that were pushing opioids with deadly results as Attorney General of california it was ten years ago that i brought a bipartisan group of American Attorneys General and led that group to travel to Mexico City to meet with mexican Attorneys General to address this issue. And in particular, to increase Intelligence Sharing on Gang Activity all of which allowed us to prosecute more Human Traffickers and i started as Attorney General the first comprehensive report in the state of california analyzing transnational Criminal Organizations and the threats they pose to public safety and to the economy so stopping transnational Criminal Organizations and strengthening our border is not new to me, and it is a longstanding priority of mine. I have done that work and i will continue to treat it as a priority when i am elected. President of the united states you, understanding how solutions get formed that i will reach across the aisle and i will embrace Common Sense approaches and new technologies to get the job done because i know transnational gangs coming across the Border Trafficking in guns, drugs, and Human Beings could care less who somebody voted for in the last election they could care less. Theyve got one goal in mind and it is therefore critically important that anybody who calls themselves a leader would work with other leaders for Common Sense solutions understanding the pain and the suffering that americans are experiencing. If we dont work together to fix these problems and look transnational gangs. One of the things i know about them, they are always innovating so to disrupt them, we must do the same. And that means again, Working Together In Real Time grounded on finding Common Sense approaches. Not just about some rhetoric at a rally, but actually doing the work of fixing a Problem President , i wont only bring back the Border Security Bill that Donald Trump tanked. I will do more secure our border to reduce illegal Border Crossings. I will take further action to keep The Border closed between ports of entry those who cross our borders unlawfully will be apprehended and removed and barred from reentering for five years. We will pursue more severe criminal charges against repeat violators. And if someone does not make an Asylum Request at a legal Point Of Entry and instead crosses our border unlawfully. They will be barred from receiving asylum while we understand that many people are desperate to migrate to the united states our system must be orderly and secure and that is my goal and that is michael securing our border also means addressing the flow of fentanyl into our Communities Fentanyl is a scorch on our country. The nature of it as a drug is such that it is highly addictive. And it is highly lethal so much so that using it one time only can be fatal i have met far too many families, parents, Loved Ones who have lost. A family member, a child to fentanyl and their grief is heartbreaking and the devastation caused by fentanyl is being felt from rural communities to big cities. Its impacting communities across our country regardless of where they are geographically, politically or any of the democratic you choose to talk about. Its a scorch in our country and we have to take it seriously. And as president , i will make it a top priority to disrupt the flow of fentanyl coming into the united States Everyone here understands that most of the fentanyl in america comes from two cartels based in mexico most often they are smuggling it through vehicles at legal ports of entry, like the one i visited today the fact is Border Officers dont have enough resources and are only able to search a fraction of the vehicles that pass through. There checkpoints this is unacceptable they need the resources to do their jobs and as we could have done with that Border Security Bill, i will surge support to Law Enforcement agencies on the front lines, more personnel, more training, and more technology, including 100 new oh Inspection Systems that can detect fentanyl hidden in vehicles. And we will make sure that our ports of entry, including airports and seaports have additional state of the Art Technology to detect fentanyl and the chemical tools used to make it i will also double the resources for the Department Of Justice to extradite and prosecute transnational Criminal Organizations. And the cartels i will ensure that we target the entire global Fentanyl Supply Chain because we must materially and sustainably disrupt the flow of illicit fentanyl coming into our country my approach takes into account also that the Precursor Chemicals used to make fentanyl are byinlarge, made in china and then shipped to mexican cartels and trafficked right here into the united states our administration demanded that China Crack down on the companies that make those chemicals and it has started to happen. But they need to do more and as president , i will hold them to their commitment to significantly reduce the flow of Precursor Chemicals coming from china this to say we must tackle this issue from every angle because our highest charge must be to protect the lives of our people it must be to understand the pain and to have the courage to know that solutions are at hand. If we focus on fixing a problem instead of running on a problem large, we must ensure that our country remains strong and competitive which includes fixing our broken Immigration System and let me be clear. I reject the false choice. I reject the false choice. Thats suggest we must either choose between securing our border or creating a system of immigration that is safe, orderly, and humane. We can and we must do both clear legal pathways. For people seeking to come into our country and we must make our current System Work better for example, it can take years for Asylum Claims to be decided. Well, this is a problem we can solve including by hiring more Asylum Officers and expanding Processing Centers in peoples home countries and as president , i will work with congress to create, at long last a pathway to citizenship for hardworking immigrants who have been here for years deserve to have a system that works i also have in mind for dreamers, i have dreamers throughout my career. They live grownup in the united states were educated here, pay taxes here serve in our military and contribute to our communities every day. They are american in every way but still they do not have an earned pathway to citizenship and this problem has gone unsolved at this point now for decades the same goes for Farm Workers who ensure that we have food on our tables and who sustain our agricultural industry and they to have been in legal limbo for years because politicians have refused to come together to fix our broken Immigration System well, as president , i will put politics aside to fix our Immigration System and find solutions solutions to problems which have persisted for far too long for far too long, we have all known this is not working as it can and as it should and so as i said at the beginning, these issues are highly consequential foreign nation and the contrast in this election is clear it is a choice between Common Sense solutions and the same old political games in the four years that Donald Trump was president , he did nothing to fix our broken Immigration System he did not solve the shortage of Immigration Judges. He did not solve the shortage of Border Agents he did not create lawful pathways into our nation he did nothing to address an outdated Asylum System and did not work with other governments in our hemisphere to deal with what clearly is also a regional challenge during his presidency he fought to slash funding for the fight against fentanyl and what did he do instead well, lets talk about that. He separated families he ripped toddlers out of their mothers arms put children in cages and tried to end protections for dreamers he made the challenges at The Border worse and he is still and he is still fanning the flames of Fear And Division and let me be clear that is not the work of a leader that is not the work of a leader. And that is in fact, i think we all believe an abdication of leadership across our nation who want to see these problems solved i say, we cannot accept Donald Trumps failure to lead. We should not permit scapegoating instead of solutions and lets see whats happening. Lets not permit scapegoating instead of solutions or rhetoric. Instead of results as your president , i will protect our Nations Sovereignty secure our. Border and work to fix our broken, broken system of immigration and i will partner with democrats republicans and independents to do it. It is time for us to turn the page on the ugly battles that have characterized our politics and it is time to move forward together to achieve real solutions that make our country stronger and i know we can get this done. I know we have the will. I know we have the courage i know the solutions are at hand, and i know we are ready and so with all of that, i say, thank you may god bless you and may god bless the united states Kamala Harris became douglas, arizona after visiting The Border, taking a gamble dont say some going to The Border of focusing attention on her record on The Border on the biden Administrations Record on The Border, but clearly believing it was worth it to try to distance herself somewhat from what President Biden has done charting her own course, moving forward. And what would be a harrison . Its administration if shes elected van, what do you make of what she just said bravo. Bravo. I thought that was extraordinary speed for recoveries. And first of all thats the common errors that i know she was. Would you talk about prosecuting folks and putting folks in jail for heroin . Thats what she was known for hearing oh, for you. And you can have confidence that she will take that forward she also acknowledged the Asylum System being gamed and ripped off and messed up by people who want to come up here and break the rules. Shes going to do something about that. But what i like about it is you can be tough on The Border without being terrible to people. You can be tough on The Border without scapegoating people who can be tough on The Border without lying about people eating cats and dogs. So if you want mature leadership proven bipartisan leadership, proven prosecutorial leadership on this issue. Calm harris just gave you somebody to vote for gretchen, what she is saying is only the only Asylum Claims will be heard at legal Border Crossings. Nothing inbetween, which is a shift from what weve seen over the last several years as i said at the top, shes going to be tougher than biden in an effort to separate herself. But let me be blunt about this speech anderson. This was for independence and undecideds. Thats what this speech was about including somebody like me as an independent she used buzzwords and phrases like, im going to reach across the aisle. These are Common Sense approaches im putting politics aside. Im going to find solutions. These are things that people who want to bridge the gap of our Hyper Political Environment want to hear. So were in the weeds in this kind of stuff. You and i and van and scott, we studied this stuff on a daily basis every day, but for the average voter out there, if theyre only hearing this speech tonight. And theyre undecided there thinking to themselves, wow, she wants solutions on this, and i would know something about this having passed to bipartisan bills on The Hill in the last two years, lots of people want to come together. So this speech was for independence. And i think it was successful in that right . Scott knows surprise. She blasted former President Trump for killing this bipartisan Border Deal that as she pointed out was drafted in part by lankford, very conservative republican. What did you make of her . What she says she wants to do on The Border . Well, first of all, i think you have to understand his speeches are not taken in a Vacuum Independent of Everything Else, you know, and Everything Else voters know, independents or otherwise about the Biden Harris Administration is that they dont like what theyve done on immigration and Everything Else we know about harris prior to this moment is that she has favored a more Permissive Immigration Structures. She wanted to decriminalize border crossing. She wants compared Ice Agents to the kkk. She tried to Scapegoat Border guards by claiming there were whipping people on horseback at The Border, which turned out to be false. And so when you hear a speech like this, and then you take it into account, Everything Else you know about harris and everything, you know what Biden And Harris did together. You might be saying yourself, is this just another politician whos coming along and telling me something i wanted to hear in the shadow of an election, how can i trust that . So actually follow through on it as after they get elected. So if youre an immigration Focus Voter and you think its broken, who do you actually believe will be tougher . Trump or harris . Most people would tell you definitely trump. And i dont think this speech, despite trying to separate herself from biden, is going to change that. I dont think 100 speeches would change it van do you think it gets her i mean, to gretchens point about independence undecided voters, do you think it gives permission for some of those voters to say, you know what . I have some confidence in her on this . Yeah. I think i think so in for a couple of reasons, its got exactly right. And gretchens right. People arent following this every day when you get closer to the electric, people start listening and what shes saying, actually does make sense this system has been broken for a very long time. Trump did not fix it. Everybody keeps bragging on Donald Trump. He didnt fix it and then if things were kind of good during the pandemic, The Border was closed. Pandemics over, people come rushing up here. The Biden Harris Administration did not respond early enough appropriately enough, but then they did and now they have so you dont have to wonder. I wonder if Kamala Harris dont do something about The Border, she literally just did. We have lost who are Border Crossings right now that we had under Donald Trump. And so this question of can you trust her, et cetera, she was she was tough when she was here as our Attorney General in california. Shes tough in this speech and the Biden Ministration right now is tough on The Border, but theyre not scapegoating people. There not being nasty to people. They arent making up now constant coming out with racist lies about people eating dogs and cats. You can be tough on The Border without being terrible. The people, and thats Kamala Harris. All right van jones, gretchen carlson, Scott Jennings. Thank you very much. Were going to return to our Storm Coverage after the break in here from Michael Bobbitt who saw the island he lives on. He says devastated also with israeli airstrikes into continuing what they say are hezbollah targets In Beirut will get a live report from the region powered by ameritrade, giving traders even more ways to sharpen their skills with tailored education get an expanding library filled with new online videos, webcasts, articles, courses, and more all crafted just for traders. 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Theyre comfortable casual, stylish, but sketches is take them and made them even better because now becoming Handsfree Schedule slipping, just slipping and go with no Bend Sa deserve the comfort of a great Night Sleep im Shimon Prokupecz outside New York federal plaza and this is cnn the Death Toll from Hurricane Helene has been climbing all the evening, even as the immediate danger continues, in places like asheville, North Carolina, Take A Look at the Cities River arts districts. Thats either a rooftop or an entire house. Its hard to say floating downstream as we reported at the top, asheville is now under a curfew in a moment, well speak with a top Fire Official there, but first cnns carlos suarez with more of the totality of the damage done this building. A common refrain along much of floridas west coast. Now theres nothing just some sticks this is the worst probably weve seen in our area in 100 years. I know. Ive been in sarasota for 22 years and ive never seen anything like that Heavy Rain bringing historic flooding, forcing water rescues. A Holy Cow that Storm Surge the whole lower level of my home is still with water. I ended up hopping on to one of my little kayaks to float around in my Living Room. This has been just a heck of a Storm Surge. Its wiped out all my neighbors. I see just the destruction going on down the road boats thrown about, Power Lines Down Homes and businesses, destroyed some of its outside, some of its in here. This is by far the worst ive ever had. And even amidst the flooding, massive fires, rescuers pass a burning home youre using their resources instead to search for survivors. Boyds devastating ive never seen something like this. I have known people that lived there 20 years. I said theyve never seen anything like it after slashing Florida Helene pushed north battering georgia, and the carolinas also leaving Lifethreatening Flooding in atlanta. Communities, left underwater as helene held its strength as a hurricane until halfway through the state of georgia this is the worst ive ever seen. Ive seen the scene that Creek High right up to the bottom of the bridge, but nothing like this but it wasnt finished yet. Helenes massive size spread the Rain And Misery into North Carolina, where a relentless deluge caused historic flooding in asheville just one day after a one in one Thousandyear Rainfall saturating the region. This is one of the worst storms and modern history for parts of western North Carolina and helene continues to move now into tennessee, bringing rising water and dangerous flooding in irwin at tennessee, more than 50 people were stranded on the roof of a hospital surrounded by raging floods helicopters were sent to save them, are currently taking patients and staff off of the roof of the hospital and then transported them back into the city of are one in this is a serious situation that would dare to say this is a Life And Death situation. Joins us now from gulfport, florida. So what are you hearing from people about the frequency in size of these storms and what kind of help theyre getting right now from authorities folks out here really are resigned to the threat of a hurricane. This is my third a storm in as many years that has threatened Pinellas County and its never been a direct hit. And yet this time around, the damage was more significant, just about everyone that we talked to out here readily he admits that these hurricanes are growing in number or their larger in size, and theyre just as more powerful as the one that came before it. And yet, all of them tell us that they plan on staying put. They plan on rebuilding and moving forward with their lives as for what happens next out here and the help that these folks are getting the national guard is already on the ground. How did they got here earlier today . Theyre the ones that are organizing the Safety And Recovery effort moving forward, theyre the ones that had to figure out how theyre going to remove the nearly half a Dozen Sail boats that crashed ashore yesterday, including the one by behind Me Anderson carlos suarez. Thanks very much. We intended to speak with the Asheville Assistant fire chief, Jeremy Knighten right now, but hes been called away from Emergency Response Briefing lets go to Keaton Beach, florida earlier today, florida governor Ron Desantis toured the area and said that the vast majority of home, if were just its droid all because a massive Storm Surge, cnns Ivan Rodriguez is there tonight. What are you seeing just 24 hours ago, communities like this one prolonged floridas big ben, were getting hit by Hurricane Helene feeling those impacts and now were here standing in this field of debris to my left used to be a Gas Station and to my right here behind im market. Now you can see parts of shelving a Cash Register or microwave refrigerator, and really just destruction here all across this area of Keaton Beach. I want to show you a birds Eye View to get a better sense of where we are this actually also used to be a neighborhood in anderson. I spoke with one person who lives here in this area and they told me that theres one home Still Standing the couple who live there was able to evacuate early, but the rest of the homes that were surrounding the home Still Standing. They are now gone and its hard to even picture exactly where those homes used to stand because it just now a field of debris and on top of all this devastation, a lot of floridas Big Bend still dealing with Power Outages here where we are in Taylor County 99 of the county still here without power to my left is a highway to get in here to Keaton Beach, florida. Its been heavily trafficked all day long. Power lines were moved off to the side so that first firstresponders and crews could get in. I spoke with the deputy as well a couple of hours ago and he mentioned listen to me that before the storm, residents here were actually given permits to then be able to return a little bit easier and the people who ive spoken with so far, anderson, many of them and as you can imagine heartbroken seeing images like these telling us that they really have nothing left. Everything that they have is now gone. And this is just just one picture of that widespread devastation were seeing here. And Keaton Beach and are i mean, are there rescue teams out there working overnight . There are needed for that. Whats whats happening at this hour of crews are were beginning to see leaving like this vehicle you see behind me here. During the early afternoon hours, we did see a lot of Search And Rescue crews going in, as well as different. First responders from across the state of Florida National Guard also had a presence here flying helicopters over Keaton Beach for right now though its so dark, its Pitch Black anywhere. You really travel, conditions are pretty dangerous. A lot of that traffic, as i mentioned down, moving outward the recovery, as you can imagine, will resume again tomorrow alright, Ivan Rodriguez, thanks very much. Want to go back to florida and some we met last night, Michael Bobbitt, who lives in hardhit Cedar Key. He told us he stayed behind to help as many elderly neighbors who refused to leave michael. Im glad, first of all, youre ok. Tell us what you have been seeing their house the last 24 for hours been thank you for having Me Anderson as bad as we thought the storm was when we fought it during the night. These images that youre seeing here when we woke up to the morning, it was so much worse than we could have ever imagined, just our little island is largely just gone. There are no commercial buildings of any note left the vast majority of our homes were completely inundated with Water Streets where we know hows this should be. There would just be missing houses sometimes like this image that youre seeing here. This health as opposed to be in another part of town . And then we would see just blank spaces where buildings used to be the power of this storm was just, i mean magnificent and terrible. Ive never seen anything like it where just totally gobsmacked with the level of destruction here on the island. Were situated three miles out into the Gulf Of Maine thats the coast, were totally exposed and so were really at the whims of the gulf here. And when the water started to rise, they closed in on all sides and they dont just trickle in like a like a gentle creek. There are raging torrents with the force of a locomotive its just the most powerful, humbling, terrifying force ive ever seen these images that you took or theyre just the nighttime winter, it just terrifying you know, you were staying behind part your house is i think a little bit higher ground you have boats, you had people who, you know, you were wanted to check on others who werent leaving, staying behind to help them if they need it, have you been able to check in with your neighbors . As is everyone doing . Okay . We were in fact, we were able to get two elderly residents out of their low Lying House in the middle of the storm before the floodwaters got their home. And i brought them to my house and they spent the night my Front Bedroom until just a few hours ago, we had two folks missing here on the island, but thankfully, Theyve Ben accounted for. So it looks like weve had no loss of Life Weve had a few injuries. But you can see from these images are Post Office has gone our Hardware Store has gone the bank has gone, our market, our little the lifeblood of the town are a little Mom And Pop supermarket is just doesnt exist anymore this recovery is going to be measured in years and years, not months so right now, i mean, are there are authorities on the Ground Recovery services on the ground. Whats whats happening there, right. So the government sure. The governor just left. We have the national guard here. We have the army here the folks that wisely evacuated have not been allowed back on the island yet. We need another full day to get the island secured. Were going to welcome them back on tomorrow. So ive spent the day taking photos of 75 different home lets people who werent allowed back on the island, but just terrified about how their home might be in those 75 homes 60 of the photos and the messages and calls i made where to deliver the worst news. Those people had ever heard in their lives that their home was just totally destroyed. There were very few happy, happy Stories Today our island is just totally devastated glad youre there and helping out with people and getting people worried about their homes. But i mean, 60 out of some 70 him, thats just awful. Michael bobbitt i really appreciate talking to you. Thank you. Godspeed. Cedar key. Thank you. Anderson you took care of theres more Breaking News this busy night. This is live video from beirut, more explosions there as you see some extensive fire is burning as well. This is, we await confirmation whether the leader of hezbollah was killed in a massive strike earlier today. And israeli officials for him to cnn that Hassan Nasrallah was in fact the intended target. You see the explosion there, multiple Jeremy Diamond joins us from Tel Aviv along with retired lieutenant general Mark Hertling and Ben Wedeman In Beirut. Ben, what are you seeing In Beirut and what can you tell us about this intended target of Hassan Nasrallah we understand from israeli sources that that was the target, but we dont know anything from hezbollah ive tried to contact them throughout the evening, but they do not respond to Phone Calls or messages. But what happened . Was that that strike was massive, apparently using 2000 pound bombs buster, a Bunker Busters provided by the united states and as far as we know at this point, according to the ministry of health, six people killed, 91 injured, but was six buildings flattened in that strike. And we assume that the Death Toll will rise as they can recover bodies from underneath. But what weve seen anderson in the last threeandahalf hours is well over a dozen strikes. What you can see in that other pictures were putting out from here are some of the fires left from those strikes . Now, whats interesting is that the arabic spokesman for the israeli military has been putting out tweets with specific locations warning people to leave those that specific building and get away as much as 500 meters. But we noticed, for instance, one of those warnings came out at the top of this hour and 12 minutes later, there were airstrikes and there on an area. Barrage name which is a palestinian Refugee Camp and wider area, which is one of the most densely populated parts of beirut, home to palestinian refugees syrian Migrant Workers and workers from South Asia and africa, probably the most deprived people in this country who dont have the means to evacuate, even if they wanted to. But what weve seen is that thousands perhaps tens of thousands of people have streamed out of the southern suburbs of beirut basically camping out on the sidewalks in other parts of town. Desperate to get away from this series of israeli airstrikes. It is rocked beirut for the last threeandahalf hours anderson jeremy, what do you know about why israel ultimately decided to launch a strike anderson, over the course of the last weekandahalf, israeli government and the military have been steadily escalating this Conflict And Theyve been doing so very intentionally, effectively, the israeli government made a decision that they believe it is now necessary to go and strike hezbollah even harder in order to try and get hezbollah to stop Firing Rockets into northern israel. In tonights certainly marked the most significant escalation that we have seen over the course of the last weekandahalf and it appears to have been born out of a target of opportunity we saw the israeli prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approving that strike while he was in New York attending the united nations general assembly, the israeli military then came out and talked about hitting this central headquarters of hezbollah underground. I then confirmed with an israeli source that Hassan Nasrallah was indeed the target. But so far we dont know that this strategy of deescalation through escalation as israeli officials have called it is showing any signs of working so far. Has bella has shown that it is also willing to escalate on its side as well, firing deeper into it. Israel over the course of the last week, Anderson General Hertling in terms of nasrallah as a target, why is he so important the, leader of hezbollah in lebanon of course, if youre seeing pictures of prime Minister Netanyahu approving a strike. What the military would call a timesensitive targeting. It means that they have very good intelligence on a direct location of where this rally is. Over the last week after the Beeper Walkietalkie Chaos today incurred within hezbollah, i think weve seen a lot of turmoil in that terrorist organization. Theyve been attempting to find other ways to communicate when they do that, they give up positions of some of their key targets. And what weve seen over the last couple of days is multiple leaders hezbollah organizations from area commanders to Missile Strike commanders, to rocket commanders, to the chief of hezbollah, becomrg