Welcome everyone. Thanks for joining me. Im Omar Jimenez in for fredricka whitfield. Were going to start today with Breaking News because yet another Hurricane Threat is facing floridas West Coast. Just moments ago, tropical Storm Milton Florida as a category three storm in just a few days. Now, governor Ron Desantis has declared a State Of Emergency for 51 counties ahead of and it could bring devastating Storm Surge to parts of the state still recovering from Hurricane Helene. Cnns Rafael Romo joins me. Now, Rafael Helene slammed into florida just ten days ago. I know you were on the ground covering some of its devastation. Can you tell us what were learning now ahead of this potential impact here yes, some are high. This is probably going to feel like a onetwo punch for many floridians in addition to we clearing a State Of Emergency and 51 states, florida governor Ron Desantis has ordered Management Sites to be opened 24 7, so that many areas covered by debris after Hurricane Helene
ten special forces operators to land by helicopter near a taliban safe haven in northern afghanistan. they trekked through a mile of waist deep mud, and climbed steep before finally reaching the village that they wanted to reach. there, a night-long battle ensued. andrew and his team fought off wave after wave after wave of enemy fighters. a grenade detonated, and as the taliban began to surround the americans, and afghan forces, andrew ran through the smoke and through the hail of bullets, to rescue an afghan soldier. in the midst of this torrent of gunfire and danger, andrew worked heroically to open a
well, victor, it just compounds things. we ve had these reports from first responders and firefighters and volunteers that they re often wading through waist deep mud. one firefighter earlier in the week saying it took him about five minutes just to walk 50 feet. so this is just going to get more soupy as the recovery effort goes on. it s a vast, vast area about a square mile. this is just going to make these even more difficult today, victor and christi. paul, if they fear it could cause another landslide, what precautions are they taking in their efforts now? reporter: well, they suspended the the recovery effort at one point when they thought it was getting too dangerous. so if for some reason they think this is problematic they will just stop. you can also imagine though you ve got on the other side grieving family members who have this sense of i ve lost one of my loved ones, i want some sort of closure, can you please help me find this person.
arlington, washington. paul, i understand that some water is receding and teams are able to get to some areas that were once inaccessible to possibly even search for, what is it, 90 still missing or unaccounted for? reporter: that s right, fredericka. that s the number that s been given out daily. you were talking about the water receding a little bit but those workers were able to get a little progress and now the river behind me. just downriver from the slide zone. the water is moving fast again. this is just going to compound the effort by the search crews. they talked about wading in waist deep mud. others talking about four hours just to fill four buckets of mud. this has been a very challenging and difficult time. let s take a listen. i believe the crews are finding bodies in the field. it s a very, very slow process. it was miserable to begin with and as you all know it s rained
and that was the answer. so they have the hold onto hope because that s what s driving them here in this small community. these are all their friends, all people they know. they have to hold onto that hope. but at the same time, these are realistic people. they re loggers. they re workers. they re salt of the earth people. they see what it s like out there. they know how heavy that mud is. they re holding out hope but it is dimming as we move into week two. after that moment of silence at 10:37, we re now in the second week of this disaster. have search conditions improved at all? reporter: they ve actually gotten worse. this morning, it was pouring rain. the conditions are beyond miserable. it s not just a comfort thing. it s not even fun to be outside at all here. but in waist-deep mud which is being reactivated and you have to remember the river is running through it. this river behind me is downstream from the mud slide area. it rose considerably and it s