clear, what kind of surge are we talking about into a populated area? he was saying 4-5 feet, but alert that a i just got says 15 feet. these communities in northport were already nodded flooded. he said the houses weren t flooded, but they couldn t get in and out of their houses. add an additional 15 feet of water, people now are going to be climbing up to their rooftops if they re still there. so this is going to turn into continuing to airboats. northport police, i know, are working hard too, but you only have so many airboats and boats, and there s so much traffic in the avenue they were trying to go in and out of. so as of last night, they were actually able to stay in their holmes, but their streets were flooded. now with this type of surge, we re going to be rescuing off rooftops. will: my indication you said you spoke to the sheriff last night, any indication how much progress was made last might? he had hoped that the majority of the people by this
northport, people were trapped in their homes. so the sheriff was able to get some airboats down there, and they were moving people in these neighborhoods from their homes, which the homes weren t flooded at that a point in time, but the streets were completely underwater, taking them by boat to the interstate, that spot that s now overflooded, to get them out to safety, is how they were doing it as of last night when i spoke with him at, like, 7:00 last night. so now the focus is hopefully they ve been able to get the majority of those people out, and they re going to have to reroute how they re rescuing these individuals. but this levee has broken, which it seems like it has if the water s over the interstate, you re going to be rescuing people from the rooftop. so is, hopefully, we can get to them by boat. if not, the sarasota sheriff s office has helicopters, hopefully we can bring down some of the national guard helicopters pete: could you be rescuing from cars as well if peop
their own boats, airboats and other vehicles to try to help people out. finally, some relief, but just as soon as cases of water show up, they very quickly end. just as soon as those boxes that are filled with mres, they re picked up. we re told it will take another hour before they can get another shipment of food and water to this site. boris? nadia romero reporting from arcadia, florida. it underscores the tremendous amount of need, not just where you are but all over the state of florida, as far south as ft. myers beach, into naples, and orlando, and obviously into the carolinas. we want to take you to naples right now, though, because that s where we find cnn s brian todd. he s been tracking the storm since shortly after it made landfall and has been giving us a closer look at some of the damage on the ground. brian, behind you, it looks like a neighborhood that was turned
the latest. we seen remarkable response with over 1 million accounts restored with 42000 linemen on the ground but what damage are you seeing on the ground? how is it residents dealing with the impact of the storm? rescue one after another, we are seeing recovery groups about to go out and airboats, some people coming out under their own power. a man on surfboard, others walking. we seen progress the past 24 hours. mailboxes used to be underwater. too much client to walk and now we see people walking in their own power, of about west waist deep chest deep yesterday. people were needing to get out quickly yesterday. the houses surrounded. a few people on oxygen tanks and wheelchairs who needed emergency help. we ve seen a mix of public and private the past 48 hours. state forces mobilized but also people with their own vehicles you can see colorful vehicles
interstate has been completely shut down this between northport and venn initiation and i just got venice, and i just got an alert of a possible levee valley are in the my yak cavalli, and it says potential 15 feet of flood water, residents are urged to shelter in place. when we spoke last night, he said as the water rose it was very likely that dam was not going to be able to hold. this tells me that that has occurred, andso this whole area that they were moving individuals out of is now probably completely underwater, so he s probably very busy trying to get either airboats, air assets or boats many there for the people that haven t gotten out. they had hoped late last night that they were going to get the majority of the people in these areas out because they had been doing that for the last 24-48 hours. will: congressman, tell us about that area, northport. we ve been told or we ve heard