Transcripts For MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports 20241010

Coast in a few hours. Tonight, milton expected to bring a mix of Storm Surge, high winds and Power Outages to communities across florida. More than 1 Million people are under Evacuation Orders with local officials urging people in vulnerable zones to get to safety now. If you were as blunt as we have seen a public official be. If people stay in the Evacuation Zones and try to ride it out, they will die. Is that still your message this morning . Wherever that Storm Surge comes, if its 10 to 15 feet and people are trying to ride this out in singlestory structures, theres no place to go. At any moment we expect to hear from President Biden and Vice President harris on the federal response. Al roker is here joining me with the latest on Miltons Path. Our Reporting Team is bringing us the latest from the ground. President biden speaking with Netanyahu Today for the first time in nearly seven weeks. Expecting to learn more about israels plans for targeting iran. Again, trying to prevent escalation into a regional war. Good day, everyone. Im Andrea Mitchell in New York. One of the ten most powerful storms to ever develop in the atlantic is just hours from slamming into the Gulf Coast of florida. Hurricane milton is expected to double in size before making landfall tonight. Its strength unprecedented for a storm so late in the hurricane season. The Eye Wall should make landfall between 10 00 p. M. And 2 00 a. M. Local time, an earlier estimate, near sarasota, as coastal waters there near High Tide. This is a combination, a nightmare scenario. Storm alerts are intensifying. Up through georgia, across Central Florida, this is going to be destructive. The hurricanes outer bands are spawning tornadoes. Residents try to evacuate. For some, the time has passed. Tampas Skyway Bridge is closed. Thats a key access over the southern portion of Tampa Bay. President Biden And Vice president harris are about to be briefed on the latest preparations and the panel of milton as well as the ongoing recovery from helene. The president warning this storm will not be survivable. We are as prepared as we can be. Its going to get really nasty and really dangerous to be outside. You dont have to leave the state. You dont have to cross the state. Just get out the E Va Evac zones. There will be trees down. There will be Power Lines down. This is a punch to the face. We begin with Al Roker and jesse kirsch. Al, you are the expect. You have seen storms for decades. I Cant Recall these kinds of warnings. I will tell you, they are very stark. Part of the reason is because this system so rapidly it was extreme rapid intensification going over 100 miles per hour in increase in speed in less than 24 hours. It is really dangerous. Lets show you what we have going on right now. 175 Miles Southwest of tampa, florida. The winds down a little from this morning to 145 miles per hour. Make no mistake, this is still an extremely dangerous storm. The forward speed, a little more rapid now, moving northeast at 17 miles per hour. As we have been talking about, tornado watches from Central Florida All The Way down to the keys. We have numerous Tornado Warnings now going on. Reports of tornadoes on the ground. This is not uncommon to be on that right side, the Northeast Flank of the storm. Thats where the most volatility is. Thats why we see the tornadoes. Here is what we are looking at as far as the path. We are probably going to see landfall late tonight, early Tomorrow Morning, 10 00, 11 00 tonight to 1 00 to 2 00 Tomorrow Morning as a category 3. This is still a very, very dangerous storm. Depending on how this path moves, thats going to determine where the Storm Surge is going to be greatest. If it keeps on this path, the winds push the water toward the coast. If theres any bay, those waves and that water will pile up. The wind in this scenario, it pushes the water away from tampa and st. Pete out of the bay. I have been in tampa when thats happened. You can literally watch the bay sink. Water flows out. Lets say this system makes its way to the north a little bit more. We are talking a wobble of 10, 15 miles. It would become a historic surge likely for Tampa Bay and sarasota. If it moves to the south, all of a sudden less of a problem for Tampa Bay and sarasota but more for ft. Myers down to naples. We just are going to monitor which way this path is going to be moving. Once it passes through, it will move through quickly. Here is the Storm Surge, from sarasota, tampa and st. Pete, 10 to 15 feet. This will stay a hurricane across the central part of florida. On the Back Side of it, three to fivefoot surge for the eastern coast of florida. The wind speeds, gusts going to cause Power Outages. 109 mile per Hour Wind gusts for sarasota. Ft. Myers, 55. Orlando, 69. With that, Power Outages are a problem that will probably last for weeks from sarasota and tampa, orlando, All The Way to the beach. We have seen a lot of rain this past week for Central Florida and northern florida. Now we are going to be looking at 18 inches of rain or more in some parts. Theres a high risk of flooding. As you can see, this is a catastrophic Flash Flooding for rivers and streets. As we showed you, tornadoes. This is going to be very, very volatile. In fact, over the next six hours, strong tornadoes possibly ef2 or stronger happening. We are talking about the storms that are rain wrapped, so harder to see. We have so many scenarios that are going on at the same time that makes this such a lifethreatening storm. Is it still expanding . Yes. As it weakens, we are going to see the Wind Field itself start to expand. Right now, Tropical Force Winds extend out 200 miles from the center of the storm. They could extend out 400 miles or more by the time it makes landfall tonight. Thats what makes this even even if it does weaken we are not talking about from a 3 to a 1. We are talking about a strong 3 or weak 4 that that impact between the Storm Surge, winds and the tornadoes and heavy rain, infrastructure is not going to really be able to withstand all of this. For folks who have not left, you are going to be on your own. Roads are washed out, power is going to be out. At that point, it is almost a Suicide Mission for first responders to go out to do that. They are not going to. They said that. Not put themselves in Harms Way. Will it stay around or move quickly . The good news is, it will move through quickly. Its affects will last a long time. Once it exits the other side of the state, that Return Flow is going to bring a three to fivefoot Storm Surge. That makes this along the West Coast so dangerous. When it comes in, High Tide will be on its way up. You are going to put another couple of feet of water coming onshore. We will show you what this means and why its so dangerous. Al roker, you have it all. Thank you. Thank you very much. Jesse, sarasota is facing a threat. You are right in the path. Yeah. With Everything Al was talking about, i can tell you, we are seeing the impact of Hurricane Milton. We are hours from what is expected to be the worst window here. Im seeing a Storm Drain thats overwhelmed. This rain is not going to stop. This is before the Storm Surge. Behind me, you can see these Palm Trees are blowing and the wind. Beyond the buildings, thats sarasota bay. We are expecting 10 to 15 feet of Storm Surge here. Thats not survivable. Officials have repeatedly reiterated and we hear this morning is time is running out for evacuations. There are spaces at shelters. For anyone watching who lives in these areas, i implore you to find a place inland away from all of this. Conditions are going to be deteriorating rapidly. We are talking first responders will stop being able to go out. Thats around the 35, 40, 45 mile per Hour Wind range. We are expecting more than double that in the overnight hours. This is looking like a catastrophic situation. I also want to bring up, we are just past the twoyear anniversary of Hurricane Ian, another deadly storm that hit the Gulf Coast of florida. I spoke yesterday with a family that i met during that storm. They told me they still have not been able to move back into their home because of theism the impact of that storm. When we talk about Hurricane Milton, its hard to think about all the lives that are going to be changed, not to mention the lives that could be lost if people are not heeding warnings. Thank you very much. Be safe. Joining me now is the Emergency Management Chief of sarasota county, florida. Thanks for being with us. I know you have your hands full. Is it too late to get out . There isnt much time left. The winds have started to pick up. If you go within the next hour or so and you want to get to an Evacuation Center or stay with a Friend Or Family outside of the levels, thats still a better option than trying to weather this storm, especially if you are in a level a or Level B in the county. We call for Level C so people living in manufactured homes, the winds will be extreme. We dont want anyone to weather the storm in an unsafe location. To that point, im told some of your county Evacuation Centers are inside an evacuation zone. Is that changing . We do have some elevated Evacuation Centers. We worked closely with the national Hurricane Center to evacuate the risk to the Storm Surge for those locations. Across southwest florida, we are at a shelter deficit. We only have 30,000 spaces. Our county holds 400,000 people. We also want to make sure we have enough space for people. We have pet friendly locations. We evaluated that. We are confident shelters from a Flooding Perspective should be fine. Your county had to call off crews that were collecting debris from Hurricane Helene. We have seen the roads that are lined with debris, which are potential projectiles. How worried are you about that . We are concerned. Normally, when we have an event like a large hurricane that creates this storm debris, like we just had with Hurricane Helene, that was days ago. Normally, you would have months to clean up that debris. In a couple of days, you can only do so much. The county tried, we had workers out to try to get things moved to the landfill. We had neighbors jumping in to move debris out of the way. We know theres a lot of areas with debris. Its going to become projection times. It will become more to clean up after the event. We heard jesse talking about a couple that he had met two years ago with Hurricane Ian, they are still not back in their home. What about the emotional impact going through helene and now this and people still recovering from ian . In sarasota county, we did get hit with impacts from ian up here. Not as bad as our neighbors to the south. It has been an intense couple of years. This year, we had three hurricanes since august in sarasota county. People are weary. They are tired of hurricanes. Thats one of the things that you choose to contend with if you live in florida. The one thing about our residents is that we are resilient. We have a great network of emergency managers, partners, local, state, regional and federal partners through fema and others. We feel very prepared to be able to jump in and do our best to respond and recover from the storm as quickly as possible. It will take time. We have been messaging that to residents so they are aware it will take a long time to recover. No complaints about the federal response . We had fema here in our eoc since Hurricane Helene. They have been great partners with us. Set up a disaster recovery center. We had that up since hurricane debbie, our first hurricane of the season. We transferred that into a Hurricane Helene site. Now we will be continuing that partnership as we move into the recover efforts from this storm. We enjoy working with fema when they are with us shoulder to shoulder, sending in teams to the community and helping everybody. Thank you so much for taking the time. I know you are burdened. Best of luck to you and your friends there. Thank you very much. In 90 seconds, how the Hurricane Barrelling Down On Florida Plus the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and the federal response are impacting the race for the White House. You are watching Andrea Mitchell reports. This is msnbc. Lps relieve six digestive symptoms to help you feel better. Six digestive symptoms. The power of nature. Iberogast. Leo [whistling] ever since we introduced him to the farmers dog, its changed his quality of life. Leos number 2s are really getting better. Better poo, better you thats a good boy, leo i had 20 years of experience as an hr professional and i had reached a ceiling, so i enrolled in umgc. I would not be the person that i am today had it not been for the partnership with umgc. At the White House, President Biden and Vice President harris are being briefed on preparations for Hurricane Milton. It races towards floridas Gulf Coast with landfall expected about 10 00 and on. Monica alba joining us. How is the administration working with State Officials . I saw the note that the president was saying that County Officials or local leaders should reach out directly to him. Reporter exactly. He is saying he is giving out his personal Contact Information for those kinds of officials or Governor Desantis should there be any request that they feel arent being met. This is something thats very sadly on the heels of the devastation of Hurricane Helene. They have been through this over the last couple of days and more than a week now in terms of preparations and trying to really convey the seriousness of this storm, of milton, and to ask people to heed the warnings and listen to fema. Thats part of the reason President Biden said yesterday that he canceled and postponed his overseas travel to germany and to angola so he could stay here in washington and be completely focused on this as the storm is getting ready to hit. We know, for instance, that President Biden has been in touch with some of those local officials and will continue to be throughout the day. He is expected to speak hours from now as we get a sense of the trajectory and reiterate that. It was notable that it was the Vice President , Kamala Harris, who issued a statement some time ago talking specifically about the issue of potential Price Gouging for floridians who are trying to evacuate. She said that there will be consequences for anybody that essentially tried to rip off people at the pump with fuel Price Gouging or at an airport or hotel. Shes the one messaging and leading that in terms of her campaign platform. Thats something she said shes going to try to go after if shes elected president in november. That was her message. Shes on this briefing, usa as you mentioned. We expect to hear from them and the administration as they not just take on the physical cleanup but also the Information Cleanup that we saw after helene which we are expecting they will have to tackle from a Fact Check Perspective for Hurricane Milton as well. Do we know whether the Vice President will keep her Travel Commitments . As of now, her schedule is intact. Shes supposed to leave for las vegas, nevada, in the next couple of hours. Shes supposed to be participating in a Town Hall Tomorrow Evening And Campaigning in arizona on friday. We saw how quickly plans can change and things can be upended. For now, thats the course. Thank you. Joining us now, New York times reporter jeremy peters, and brendan buck. The Fema Administrator says the Hurricane Misinformation is the worst shes seen. False statements like Donald Trumps incorrect claim that Fema Funding for Disaster Relief was going to migrants and that the federal government is not helping republican areas of north carolina. Thats not true either. Last night, Kamala Harris had this to say. What just upsets me so is the idea that any politician would play political games with these folks, with people who are in the midst of such suffering, loss of life, loss of their homes, loss of normalcy, and then for the sake of political gain tell these lies. Have you no empathy, man . The suffering of other people. Being a leader means lifting people up in a time of need. [ applause ] not manipulating them. Very favorable audience there as well for that. How else is the Harris Campaign trying to counter this disinformation . I think you have seen especially with Hurricane Milton both the Harris Campaign and the White House really get out in front in the days ahead, making clear everything they are doing to make sure florida has what it needs. It had come out that Ron Desantis had not taken calls from President Biden and Vice President harris who had called to offer help. Then we know that President Biden did eventually connect with Governor Desantis. What happened in the wake of helene, the White House was reactive and making clear everything they were doing. They were not withholding aid or help. They are putting out calls with local officials, urging people to evacuate. This time they are trying to make sure they can get ahead of any misinformation that might come out. Also making headlines was her answer to a question, would she have done anything differently over the past four years than President Biden . This was on The View yesterday. Would you have done something differently than President Biden during the past four years . Theres not a thing that comes to mind in terms of ive been a part of most of the decisions that have had impact. Donald trump jumped on that, the trump campaign. Shes trying to portray herself as change. There was another way to have phrased that. Sure. Right . Even though poll, including our New York times poll shows more people are seeing kamala as the change candidate, theres still this Core Question of competence. Donald trump has been hammering this. This was Joe Bidens Advantage in 2020. He was able to portray himself as the competent, Effective Leader who could take over for all of trumps mismanagement. Now, thats flipped. You have the people saying that the Economy Isnt in great shape. You have the mismanagement of the withdrawal from afghanistan. Republicans have been able to successfully argue that this shows the democratic administration has not done great managing the country. She probably could have picked any number of things to gently disagree with President Biden on. She did miss that opportunity. Without seeming disloyal. Right. To the president that she served with. Of course, immigration, another big issue that they are taking advantage of and where she has a hard time explaining it. Brendan, Kamala Harris laid into Donald Trump for sending Covid Test machines to vladimir putin, according to the new book by Bob Woodward. Trump is denying that reporting. Hasnt specifically denied woodwards account that trump has kept close contact with putin since leaving office, as many as seven calls according to woodwards sources. Do you think that will have an impact with voters . It reminds people of who Donald Trump is and the type of leader that he admires. He has had this weird infatuation not just with putin but any authoritarian leader. I think its important reminder about the type of things that he values being in power, which is power itself. They can dispute Bob Woodward all they want. A lot of us have worked with Bob Woodward. There are few more diligent people out there. I certainly trust that if he is reporting thats what happened, it is true. What Donald Trump has projected that its good to be a close ally of putin, i think we have seen obviously in ukraine, that is not something you want to be bragging about. He doesnt seem to care about that, he doesnt seem to understand that. He values that strength over anything else rather than sort of the moral failings of putin that dont resonate with him. Its about strength, power and authoritarianism. The New York times reported in his first year in office, Donald Trump in his first meeting in germany with vladimir putin, having been briefed by his then Secretary Of State on how tough to be with putin in that meeting, that in that meeting a year before the notorious meeting the summit that they had in helsinki, he asked vladimir putin, according to the New York times, should i be arming ukraine . Putin said, no, i dont think thats a good idea. Tillerson came out and told the other advisors standings there, we have a real problem. Theres a pattern here of conversations when he was president , certainly in helsinki. Of course, since. Very unusual for these conversations to be going on with a major adversary. According to anybody who has covered national security. Thanks to all of you. Next, we will turn back to tampa. One of floridas biggest cities prepares for Hurricane Milton. You are watching Andrea Mitchell reports on msnbc. An. 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Thats why Mark Farrell is endorsing Prop D. Because we need to tackle our Drug And Homelessness crisis just like mark did as our interim mayor. Mark farrell endorsing prop d, to bring the changes we need for the city we love. San Franciscos Leadership is failing us. Thats why Mark Farrell is endorsing Prop D. Because we need to tackle our Drug And Homelessness crisis just like mark did as our interim mayor. Mark farrell endorsing prop d, to bring the changes we need for the city we love. Back to our Breaking News from florida. With hours before learn milton comes ashore on floridas Gulf Coast, officials are warning its growing bigger. The mayor of tampa is urging residents who have not evacuated to move to higher ground right away and get to a shelter. Wherever that Storm Surge comes, if its 10 to 15 feet and people are trying to ride this out in singlestory structures, theres no place to go. Once the winds get up to hurricane speed, theres nobody to come and get you. Joining me now from tampa is nbc News Correspondent Marissa para. Its coming down to the wire. Are people getting out of town . Reporter it really is. We are starting to see Bridges Closing that connect the area. Thats something we knew would happen. We are going getting down to the wire here. I can tell you right now, we are starting to see the outer bands of Milton Rolling in. We are slight wind gusts. We are seeing rain coming down. Behind what is normally a bustling shopping center, its a ghost town. This is what officials want to see. It means theres less of a chance of people are in Harms Way. It was less than two weeks ago that helene showed the power a Storm Surge can do to the area around here. This was a storm that was 100 miles offshore. We have so many videos and images of the destruction that that Storm Surge caused. Many of the deaths here in florida, most of them were people who did not evacuate, the zone a mandatory evacuation areas. We dont know why they didnt evacuate. Most were elderly. Most of them drowned. That was a Wakeup Call to a lot of people. I talked to first responders who told me about the hundreds of mandatory evacuations they have been performing. They said this time they faced less pushback because people had their eyes opened to how destructive this can be, he is faced with the possibility that milton could be worse than what we saw with helene. An eye opener. One big thing we have been talking about the debris. The Debris Left by helene, they didnt get a chance to clear all of it. They did their best. They did 50 removal. That 50 still left over as milton makes landfall here. Marissa, thank you. Next, we will stay focused on the florida coast. More from the Tampa Area as local leaders brace for milton. This is Andrea Mitchell reports. You are watching msnbc. With wegovy®, i lost 35 pounds. And some lost over 46 pounds. And im keeping the weight off. Wegovy® helps you lose weight and keep it off. 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Subject 5 when your kid is hurting and theres nothing you can do about it, thats the worst feeling in the world. Announcer 1 in 5 children diagnosed with cancer in the us will not survive. Subject 6 those that donate to st. Jude, i hope that you will continue to give. They have done so much for me and my family. Announcer join with your Debit Or Credit card now, and well send you this st. Jude tshirt that you can proudly wear. [speaking spanish] subject 7 are you ready to go have some fun . Subject 8 yeah subject 7 Yay Subject 9 when we came here, we didnt know what tomorrow would hold. St. Jude showed us that tomorrow theres hope for our Little Girl to survive. Announcer lets Cure Childhood Cancer together. Please donate now. Back to the Breaking News from florida where mandatory Evacuation Orders are underway for more than a dozen counties. That includs clearwater and st. Petersburg. At Trop Tropi Tropicana Fiel they have set up. What would you like anyone left to know . What do they do . Right now, we are running out of time for people to get to a safe place. Anybody who is under the mandatory Evacuation Order needs to get to a safe shelter. Outside of the evacuation area, we have 10 to 15 feet of Storm Surge predicted. This is the biggest storm that our area has ever seen as a direct hit. Its expected to be catastrophic. How well prepared can your responders be given the Storm Surge that is predicted and the high winds . Our first responders and our teams they are tired. They have been working for two weeks now. We had helene affect us. It wasnt a direct hit, but we had several people lost their life and a lot of damage on our coastal areas. We had a lot of first responders there. Everybody is ready. We are ready to respond to the storm. The biggest thing right now is for people to get out of Harms Way so that they are not in a position where in the middle of the Night Tonight they are calling 911 needing to be rescued. Theres a certain point when its impossible for Rescue Teams to get out because of the conditions. Thats why its so important right now for people to get where they need to go, outside of the evacuation zone. Its the worst possible time for it to be hitting, overnight, in the middle of the night when its dark. It makes it harder to rescue people. We have been told by county after county that they are not going to good in if the winds are that high. Its a Suicide Mission for the rescuers. What more can anyone do to help you, the federal government, the State Government . We have seen a lot of partnership on the federal and state level. Since helene, we were working closely with fema, with the Florida Department of Emergency Management to get relief to people who were affected by helene. Now we are having to shift into Preparedness Mode again. Like i said, people are tired out. Still ready to work together on this. I think the biggest thing right now is, we want to make sure people understand what to expect. There will be help available. With a storm this size, things are going to be different in the morning. Theres a high likelihood we will have a widespread power outage, a lot of flooded roads. Some of the bridges have closed and may remain closed for a while due to storm damage. Its going to be a long process. Tonight the biggest thing is life safety. We dont want anybody else to lose their life with this storm. We know how big it is, how impactful it can be, how deadly it can be. There are ways there are means for people to get to a safe place, even over the next couple of hours. What about your family . Are you set . My family some have evacuated the area, left the state. Some of them i have family members, some who were in the A Zone and they have left that area to go to a safer shelter. Honestly, All Of Us here working the Emergency Response have friends and family that are out there. Most of them are where they need to be. They heard it from us personally. This is something thats affecting All Of Us, even us who are working the storm. We are one community. We are being affected by this. We are just trying to check on Each Other and make sure that all of our friends and family are out of Harms Way. We are all thinking about you, wishing you the best as you do this incredible Public Service for all the people down there. Thank you. Next, we go to Tel Aviv and the White House. Israels Prime Minister briefed President Biden for first time in weeks about his plans against iran. You are watching Andrea Mitchell reports on msnbc. E ro. Xiidra was made for that, so relief is lasting. Xiidra treats the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. Dont use if allergic to xiidra and seek medical help if needed. Common Side Effects include eye irritation, discomfort, blurred vision, and unusual taste sensation. Dont touch Container Tip to your eye or any surface. Before using xiidra, Remove Contact Lenses and wait fifteen minutes before reinserting. Dry eye over and over . Its time for xiidra. Like a relentless weed, moderate to severe Ulcerative Colitis symptoms can keep coming back. Start to break away from uc with tremfya. President biden talking about the storm. I urge everyone in hurricane Miltons Path to follow all Safety Instructions as we head into the next 24 hours. Its a matter of life and death. Second, for the last week, my team has done everything possible to prepare for this storm. I immediately approved Emergency Declarations in florida. I also surged Search And Rescue teams to the region. At my direction, the administrator will be in the emergency Operations Center Tonight in florida. Kamala and i will keep pressure on the companies so prices stay stable on gasoline, flights and goods people need. Finally, we are teaming up with state and local officials to support impacted communities. I spoke with the florida Governor Desantis. With the mayor of tampa, clearwater mayor. I offered them everything we have, everything they need. I made it clear to them to reach out if Theres Anything more they need. I gave them my personal Phone Number here at the White House to contact me directly if thats necessary. Let me close with this. I want to thank the governors of the affected areas over the last couple of weeks, florida, north carolina, South Carolina, georgia, tennessee, virginia. We have been in constant contact. They have been thankful and appreciative of the help the federal government is providing. Im appreciative of all they are doing as well. I told them to contact me with anything else they need. We made available a number of assets to deal with this crisis. We will continue to do so until the job is done. Now i want to be clear about something. Over the last few weeks theres been a reckless, irresponsible and relentless promotion of disinformation and lies that are disturbing people. Its undermining confidence in the Rescue And Recovery work thats been taken and will continue to be taken. Its harmful to those who need help the most. There is no place for this to happen. Former President Trump has led the onslout of lies, assertions have been made at properties confiscated that simply is not true. They are saying people impacted by the storms will receive 750 in cash and no more. Thats simply not true. They are saying the money is needed for this crisis is being diverted to migrants. What a ridiculous thing to say. Its not true. The claims are getting more bizarre. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is saying the federal government is literally controlling the weather. We are controlling the weather. Its beyond ridiculous. Its got to stop. Moments like this, there are no red or blue states. One united states of america. Neighbors are helping neighbors. Volunteers and first responders are risking everything, including their lives, to help their fellow americans. State and local and federal officials are standing Side By side. Let me repeat, No One should make the american people question whether their government will make sure this disaster when it strikes they will be there. We will. All of us. Im going to turn it over to Vice President harris if thats okay with you. Thank you. Madam Vice President . Thank you, mr. President. Liz, thank you for the work you have been doing. As the president said, we have been working around the clock to prepare more Hurricane Milton and ensure people are safe. Including ensuring federal, state and local resources are being coordinated in a smart and efficient and effective way. We have been in constant contact with the leaders in florida to make sure we are cutting any Red Tape that might get in the way of getting relief to folks to make sure that communities receive the resources and the support that they need as quickly as possible. Already we have sent more than 1,000 federal personnel to be on the ground in florida to assist with what needs to happen in the state to prepare for this hurricane and we will continue to scale up those efforts. To the people of florida and in particular the people of the tampa region, we urge you to take this storm seriously. As has been said before, this is a storm thats expected to be of historic proportion. Many of you i know are tough and you have ridden out the hurricanes before. This one is going to be different. We ask you that by every measure understand its going to be more dangerous, more deadly and more catastrophic. Please listen to your local officials. They know what they are talking about. They know what theyre doing. If you are told to evacuate, please evacuate immediately. Do not wait until it is too late. In the hours and days ahead, President Biden and i and our administration will continue to do everything we can to protect the people who have been in the path of this storm and once the storm has passed, we will be there to help folks recover and rebuild. As we continue to do for those communities in florida, georgia, north and South Carolina and across the southeast who have been devastated by Hurricane Helene. Finally, as the president mentioned, to any company that or individual that might use this crisis to exploit people who are desperate for help through illegal fraud or Price Gouging, whether it be at the gas pump, the airport, or the hotel counter, know that we are monitoring these behaviors and the situation on the ground very closely. Anyone taking advantage of consumers will be held accountable. The Bottom Line is this hurricane poses an extreme danger. We urge everyone in florida to take extreme caution. We are with you. We will get through this together. With that, i will hand it over to Homeland Security Advisor liz sherwood randall. Thank you, madam Vice President. Mr. President, madam Vice President , you will receive ara. Thank you, madam Vice President , mr. President, madam Vice President , you will now receive a briefing on the latest forecast for Hurricane Milton and actions weve taken to prepare for it and be ready to respond to hear from, youll hear from the astraighter of fema, mike brennan, the director of the national Weather Service ken graham, secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro mayorkas, and linda fagan. Well begin with miss criswell. Over to you, dion. Thank you, mr. President, madam Vice President , i want to assure you, we are taking this storm very seriously. As you will hear from dr. Brennan shortly, milton is currently a category 4 storm and will remain a hurricane as it crosses over florida. At your direction, mr. President, i will be traveling down to Tallahassee Tonight to embed with the ceoc to meet with my team and our partners and i will be there to assess the damages and impacts immediately following the storm, working in close association with the state to make sure they have everything they need to support their priorities. As you have always directed me to do, i am leaning forward to make sure were strategically placing our teams to respond in florida. There are currently over 1,000 federal personnel on the ground in florida, supporting the efforts from Hurricane Helene. As well as the previous storms that have happened over the last few years. And i have directed, at your direction, an additional 1200 Search And Rescue personnel from fema, the Coast Guard and the department of defense, to stage in florida, so they are ready to take action as soon as mitten makes landfall. This also includes 30 highwater vehicles, helicopters, as well as boats, to be able to go in and support the counties and the states as needed. Ive also moved over 500 ambulances to help assist with the response, six Incident Management Assistance teams into, one, specifically, into tampa, and others throughout the region. Multiple Power Assessment teams, and dozens of medical Facility Assessment teams, so they can go in and check on the health and medical facilities as soon as the storm passes. And mr. President, and Madz Dam Vice President , ive also moves millions of meals and liters of water into florida to be able to support any of these immediate needs. I really appreciate, mr. President, and madam Vice President , your continuous effort to help lift up the warnings and the guidance you just gave about what people need to do in the path of Hurricane Milton. This is an extremely dangerous storm, and we need all of the residents that are in the path of the storm to listen to their local officials. They will tell you if theres still time to evacuate. Or what you need to do, if you are still where youre at. They will give you the right information about what you need to do to protect yourself, where you are at right now. Sometimes, just traveling a few miles inland can mean the difference between life and death, and nobody has to lose their life as a result of this storm. So in short, mr. President and madam Vice President , i assure you, we are taking the storm extremely seriously, we are focused and we are ready to support the florida. Dion, youre doing a hell of a job, you always have. We went through a lot of this together, all three of you, me and the Vice President. I have one question right now, though, what are you most worried about today and into tomorrow . And what messaging can we do to help people, in the hours before it makes landfall . Mr. President, the biggest concern is making sure people have gotten out of Harms Way. Over the next 24 hours, we are going to see significant winds. We are going to see Storm Surge. We are going to see flooding from the rain. People need to be able to take this storm seriously. They need to move if they still have time to move out of Harms Way. And we are prepared to support florida with additional Search And Rescue assets to help Save Lives. Thats our immediate concern, mr. President, saving lives over the next 24 hours. Have you ever seen a storm like this one, since youve been in charge . I think this is going to be one of the biggest ones we have seen after it makes landfall. We saw a lot of impact from Hurricane Ian. But this one is different. This one just looks different. And i think well have a lot of impacts and people that are going to need our help, sir. Thank you very much. Administrator criswell yes, maam. Are we concerned about any Disinformation Or Misinformation regarding evacuations that we have to clear up at this point. Theres been a lot of misinformation out there, madam Vice President , thats for sure. But i have not heard anything specific to the evacuations. I think the local officials, State Officials have been stronger in getting people to move and getting them to move out of Harms Way. I was in florida monday, i met with the mayor and of tampa and st. Petersburg, and they are listening to their local officials and that is encouraging. Thats great, thank you. I think well move, thank you Administrator Criswell. Well move to Director Brennan from the national Hurricane Center. Thank you, liz, mr. President, madam Vice President , good afternoon. As Administrator Criswell mentioned were just hours away from a catastrophic landfall in the West Coast of florida with the center of milton expected to cross the coast late this evening or early Tomorrow Morning. Its a powerful major hurricane and a large hurricane at that. Were seeing multiple lifethreatening hazards playing out. We have multiple Tornado Effects across south florida. Heavy rainfall increasing, heavy rainfall across much of the state. The conditions are going to rapidly deteriorate over the next few hours, especially where landfall is going to accumulate. Thats where were expecting that devastate Storm Surge 10 to 15 feet aboveground level from Tampa Bay region, southward to Port Charlotte with significant Storm Surge hundreds of miles, farther south, to Fort Myers and naples area. Thats why weve had support of so much evacuations to get people away from that devastating Storm Surge. Time is running out for people to leave along the West Coast before conditions deteriorate further. Additionally, mitten is going to be a powerful hurricane when it makes Landfall And Move quickly across the state and remain at Hurricane Intensity as it moves across Florida Tonight and enters the Western Atlantic Durgts the day tomorrow. Hurricane warnings in effect from Fort Myers up through tampa, to cedar key, all the West Coast All The Way through the i4 corridor, across orlando, to daytona beach, and Port St. Lucie. Devastating wind impacts, widespread Power Outages, structural damage, and that could lead to very unsafe environment where we tend to see poststorm fatalities in the dangerous environment thats left. Additionally, were expecting very heavy rainfall, 6 to 12 inches, amounts as high as 18 inches from heavily populated corridor from orlando to daytona beach. Which could lead to widespread and Flash Flooding and urban Flooding Tonight into thursday in that area. Thats an area where we lost 16 people to Hurricane Ian with tremendous flooding. Theres a tremendous risk to Life And Property there. I do want to thank the administrator of fema for her team and coordination. And final my, i want to thank the Noaa And Hurricane hunters flying into milton for days now providing tremendously valuable direct data that has saved the forecast and warnings, thank you, mr. President. Mike i know youre tired of hearing me say it, but i appreciate your Constant Input youre giving me and letting me know whats going on. What more can you tell us about how the location of this stock is going to affect the Storm Surge in florida . I mean, is that pretty consequential, right . The surge, thats what youre focusing on . Yes, mr. President. Just a shift of a few miles in Landfall Location will make a big difference in what area sees that very worst Storm Surge. So a track to the center, north of Tampa Bay would push the highest Storm Surge into Tampa Bay itself. Attract five or ten or 20 miles south would push that higher Storm Surge, say, to Port Charlotte area. Even as close as we are to landfall, its not possible to tell exactly where that Storm Surge will occur. Its one wobble away from shifting 10 or 20 miles so thats why we convey that risk across such a large area to help support the evacuation across that central part of florida. But Tampa Bay is directly vulnerable, correct . Correct, mr. President. Its one of the most vulnerable locations use the whole coast because water gets funneled up into the bay. You could see Storm Surge twice as high as when it saw it with helene. Potentially 8 to 10 feet in this event. Thanks, a lot, mike. I appreciate it. Hey, mike, good to see you again, and thank you for all your work. For the folks who have been living in florida a long time and experienced these storms many times, how are you talking with them about how thi