we are carrying out search and rescues across the state. there have been at least 700 rescues confirmed as of thursday. first responders are doing targeted searches. going home by home, checking to see if people are okay. there will be many more rescues that are added. the absolutely expect to have from the surrogate. so far, at least 19 people are confirmed dead. there was a significant number of people that remained on the island during the catastrophic weather event. right now, it is important for us to go ahead and say, are you okay? it will take a few days to get to all of the places that have reports continue to to get them coming in. the scope of the overall destruction is coming in. areas cut off by rubble. look at this mess. we met they were left without power in central florida. falling debris, tornadoes, life-threatening storm surge. in some cases, we need to rebuild rather than simply repair. reporter: cruz look to restore power. floodwaters contin
at 19, a number that is almost certain to rise in the days ahead. the u.s. president warming up thursday poll of a lot of loss of life as one official sank likely the biggest natural disaster disaster the state s ever seen. that s the biggest disaster in florida s history. tens of thousands of emergency workers and deployed statewide. now 2 million homes and businesses stay with the electricity. large parts of the state are underwater. instead it s a one in 1000-year rainfall. the governor ron desantis decided describe the storm surge is biblical. some of the damage was almost under scribe-able to see a house just sitting in the middle of a sterile bay. you must be flown because of the massive wind speed and storm surge and deposited in a body of water. there were cars floating in the middle of the water. some of the homes were total losses. he is expected to hit south carolina and coincide with high tide on friday, greatly to increasing the potential for flooding. the go
it s the top of the hour on cnn newsroom. i m alisyn camerota. i m victor blackwell. two presidents accused of mishandling classified documents and two special counsel investigations. there were no answers at today s white house briefing about why the biden team delayed for months to tell you why documents were found. we are learning that the documents from biden s team included briefing memos about foreign leaders. the justice department is still questioning if he has any of his files on his properties. the fbi got more than 300 from trump s possession after he resisted requests to return those. we re joined by phil mattingly and cnn s senior crime and justice reporter, katelyn pol polantz. phil, did we learn more today? reporter: we learned that if you have any questions, you should refer them to the white house counsel s office and the justice department or the special counsel at this point in time, and i say that somewhat in jest, but i think that s the reality
and we celebrate a0 years of christmas classic, the snowman, and its iconic soundtrack, walking in the air. good morning. it s christmas eve. our top story. around 250 million people in the us and canada are under severe weather warnings, as an unprecedented winter storm sweeps across north america. from alaska to texas, bone chilling temperatures, blizzards and icy winds have caused widespread disruption and left more than a million homes and businesses without power. at least 12 deaths have been linked to the conditions. tom brada reports. once ina once in a generation whether out of the worst possible time. ice, wind, rain and extreme cold are wreaking havocin rain and extreme cold are wreaking havoc in the build up to christmas. trees have been ripped from the ground and power lines have been knocked out across the country. from maine to texas, more than i million people are without electricity. people are very frustrated because we pay our bills. all day it has been goin