Morning Joe - Morning Joe 9/29/22

Episode Date: September 29, 2022

Hurricane Ian downgraded to tropical storm as it continues to batter Florida

This is storm surge. This is the ocean coming into Naples. There is no delineation anymore between the Gulf of Mexico and Naples at this point. There's the wind speed as I'm standing next to a building, which is somewhat protected. So I'll take a knee. We both had to take a knee out there. You know, signs are blowing over, debris flying around. About 90% of our city is without power now. The winds are extremely high and the water's rising. Some of the scenes as Hurricane Ian made landfall in southwestern Florida as a strong Category 4 storm, leaving a huge path of destruction and millions in the

dark this morning. We'll have a live report in just a moment. Meanwhile, rescue crews have been busy trying to get people who decided to ride out the storm to try and save them. They're stranded now by rising floodwaters, and we're still tracking in as it slows, slowly makes its way across Florida at this hour. It still has more to go. Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It's Thursday, September 29th. Joe is off this morning along with Willie and me. We have the host of way too early White House fair chief at Politico, Jonathan Lemire.

Willie, with so many out without power this morning, first light this morning will begin to show the damage in Florida. That's right. That's when we're going to start to see the story of what happened last night, what happened overnight. Tropical storm now, Ian, downgraded from a Category 1 hurricane in just the last hour, but still wreaking havoc across Florida after it made landfall yesterday as a massive Category 4 storm. There's widespread

flooding and damage as the powerful storm batters Florida with torrential rain and winds. More than two million people are without power across Florida right now. In Naples, authorities say more than half of the streets were not passable. This video released by the Naples Fire Department shows a power line bursting into flames as the hurricane tore through that city. There also was this video from Tampa, near Tampa, when a tree fell onto a house. We're told the family was able to get out of the way just in time. Thank goodness. Ian has grown steadily weaker as it's moved toward the central part of the state, but officials do say it's still dangerous and life-threatening. The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning

from Daytona Beach to Cape Canaveral. Some areas of Fort Myers under three to four feet of water. Over the course of the day, Ian caused record-breaking storm surge of about two feet, submerging cars, knocking over homes and causing significant damage. Emergency workers rescued hundreds of people from flooded houses and cars. All this as Governor Ron DeSantis once again urging residents to stay indoors. We know that this has been a big storm and it's done a lot of damage. We know that there are folks who are in the really high risk zone A evacuation zones who did not evacuate. Some have called in and those people are being logged and there will be a response. But it's likely going to take a little time for this storm to move forward so that it's safe for the first responders to be able to do.

Officials say Ian is among the most powerful storms to strike the United States in decades. Let's go straight to MSNBC's Jose Diaz-Balart. He is in Bradenton, Florida for us. Jose, the sun not up yet there, but you've been out and about. What does it look like there? Willie, good morning.

The sun's going to come up in about an hour 20. And of course, we will all be able to see just how devastating Hurricane Ian was to this part of Florida. We were just battered by winds all through the night and that horizontal going rain. I would say maybe about an hour ago is when things started to to to lower intensity here in the Bradenton, Sarasota area. There's still some gusts, but some amazing statistics. Like we're just hearing that the Manatee River, which is here in the Bradenton area, normal water level is six feet. Just overnight, it got to 17 feet. Really a major flood. The wind gusts here were at about 85 miles an hour at one time. But the and, you know, we just heard from the governor talking about now

what happens afterwards when people come out and and survey their land and what happened to their homes, etc. This is, Willie, probably the most dangerous time after the storm passes because a lot of power lines are down. Those power lines that are down are covered by debris and grass and trees and so branches. And so when people come out of their home, if they don't have power, and they come out of their home to see what's going on, they don't even know that there is a power line, a downed power line where they're stepping because it's been covered by leaves and debris. And when that power gets reconnected,

you know, that's where you get a lot of dangerous situations occurring. We are right here in front of Sarasota Bay. Behind us is the Gulf of Mexico. And Sarasota is just to my left. And I see a lot of light in the Sarasota area. Some parts of Bradenton did not lose power. But I've got to tell you, as you said, Willie, 2.5 million people are still without power at this time here in Florida. Just to orient people, obviously, Jose Bradenton is a little bit south of St. Pete, but still in that Tampa Bay area. The mayor there on Monday said,

get out now, issuing that evacuation order. Is it your sense covering the story for the last couple of days that most people did in fact leave and then hopefully the loss of life might be reduced because of it? Yeah, I don't know if if enough people did. I know a lot of people did. We were coming up here and well, you're so right. I mean, if you go from Tampa to St. Pete, St. Pete Beach, and you start going down from the coastline, you're going to get to Bradenton and then to Sarasota. And we were coming in here where we are, which is in the Bradenton area, just out maybe 10 blocks from where we are is a large and lovely mobile home park. And I've got to tell you, yesterday when we were surveying before the most intense part of the storm hit,

there were a lot of people in those homes. And, you know, my concern is, well, how did those homes do? Because 85-mile-an-hour winds will have an impact. And so, you know, I've been thinking about those folks a lot and we'll be seeing just a little over an hour how they did. Yeah, let's hope they're safe. Jose, we'll be back to you as the sun comes up. We'll let you get out and look around a little bit and check back in with you. Jose Diaz-Balart in Bradenton, Florida. Thanks so much, Jose. Mika. All right. We want to bring in meteorologist Michelle Grossman for the latest on

where Hurricane Ian stands now. Michelle, what do you have? Hi there, Mika. Well, everything came together in the worst way yesterday. We had a very strong Category 4 storm, 155 mile-per-hour winds, practically a Category 5 storm. It was huge and also moving very, very slow. So we saw that storm surge. We saw really heavy rainfall and really gusty winds. I want to show you one thing because this is what we warned you about yesterday. Roads turning into rivers. This is out of Fort Myers, a time lapse of these roads just being filled. We saw Ali Velchi yesterday doing such a great job hour after hour showing the parking lot that he was standing in just filling up with water. So many scenes like this. People are going to come back to their neighborhoods once that sun does

rise and we're going to see a different story. Homes being washed into the ocean and also lots of damage out there. Neighborhoods are going to be changed for many. All right, let's take a look at the latest because we are looking at a strong tropical storm. Look at some of the winds as we saw yesterday, over 100 miles per hour in so many spots. Cape Coral, 140 miles per hour, certainly causing some damage. Naples, too, at 112. It wasn't just the wind. It was the rain as well, nearly 20 inches in some spots in Punta Gorda. We're going to see nearly two and a half feet of rain today once it's all said and done. Could be in Orlando as we go throughout the afternoon because we are just seeing heavy bands continuing to move onshore. This is what

radar looks like right now. The heaviest rain are the darker colors, the brighter colors, the reds, the oranges, the yellows. And you can see it just swirling over that same spot over and over again. The grounds are saturated. September is a wet month for them. So we're adding to that. We're adding feet of rain in some spots. The latest 65 mile per hour winds. That is a wet month for them, so we're adding to that. We're adding feet of rain in some spots. The latest, 65-mile-per-hour winds. That is a tropical storm, but it's a strong tropical storm. We're looking at winds gusting higher than that near hurricane force winds, so we're still seeing some damage.

And just keep in mind, this was over land for 13 hours, 14 hours, maintaining that hurricane strength. So that tells you the strength of the storm, really just weakening an hour ago to 65 miles per hour. It is 40 miles southeast of Orlando, Florida, moving at eight miles per hour. Luckily, it did not slow down to that three to four miles that we thought it would. That's that walking pace. It's double walking pace right now. Still slow, but not as slow. But we're seeing that heavy rainfall. Plenty of tropical alerts once again this morning stretching from central Florida into now portions of Georgia, South Carolina. We haven't even started here, so Ene will be a story not only today, but tomorrow, Saturday, and also Sunday

with the potential of more flooding rains. Doppler radar showing us where the heaviest rain is falling. You can see that swirl right here coming off the ocean, seeing some lightning as well. That's telling you the energy that's associated with this storm, and that's really enhancing these rain bands. So we've been following Jesse all morning long, our friends on NBC, with early today, and we're just watching the water rise where he is standing. We're looking at winds gusting near 62 miles per hour. That will be a concern, and we'll end it here because this is the biggest story for today. A flash flood warning in Orlando, a flood watch from Charleston all the way down to portions of Florida. We could see life threatening flash flooding as we go throughout the day. Back to you. Meteorologist Michelle Grossman, thank you very much for your coverage.

We'll talk to you once again soon. President Biden will visit FEMA headquarters in Washington today. He'll receive a briefing on the storm's impact, along with the ongoing federal response efforts. The White House confirmed yesterday that President Biden, quote, made separate calls to the mayors of Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Sarasota and the chair of Charlotte County, Florida, to let them know that their communities have the full force of the federal government behind them. During an event yesterday, President Biden warned of the storm's danger and also warned oil and gasoline companies against trying to take advantage of the situation.

The storm is incredibly dangerous to state the obvious. It's life threatening. You should obey all warnings and directions from emergency officials. Don't take anything for granted. Use their judgment, not yours. Evacuate when ordered. Be prepared. Storm warnings are real. The evacuation notices are real. The danger is real. And when the storm passes, the federal government is going to be there to help you recover. And if you'll forgive me, I want to add one more warning. That's warning to the oil and gas industry executives. Do not, let me repeat, do not, do not use this as an excuse to raise gasoline prices or gouge the American people. Joining us now, the mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida, Mayor Ken Welch. He spoke with President

Biden as the storm was bearing down. We'll talk about that in a moment, Mr. Mayor Ken Welch. He spoke with President Biden as the storm was bearing down. We'll talk about that in a moment, Mr. Mayor. But first of all, tell us how your city's doing. How high were the winds? How much water did you get? Fatalities, injuries? What do you know? Good morning, Mika. We were spared in Pinellas County. As you know, a couple of days ago, we were the target of this hurricane, and we were expecting a storm surge from 10 to 15 feet and 10 to 15 inches of rain, which would have been overwhelming. I think what this storm showed us, again, is that these storms are very powerful, but also the track was actually accurate if you looked at the entire potential track and not just the single point of the forecast. And these storms are known to take a turn, as Charlie did back in 2004.

That's exactly what happened here. So we were spared. We've got about 190,000 power outages. And our focus at about 720 at sunrise is to get our teams out for a first push to clear our roadways and allow Duke Energy to come in and start restoring power. But certainly to our neighbors in Lee County and Charlotte, they bore the brunt of this storm. Yeah. What are you hearing in terms of how how bad that was, the brunt of this storm, and in terms of your conversation with President Biden, water damage, getting the power back online, do you have what you need? We were very reassured to hear from the president back on Tuesday, along with

FEMA Secretary Criswell, and they just reassured us that they had the assets on standby, and basically anything we needed, they were there to us that they had the assets on standby and basically anything we needed they were there to support us and the good thing Mika and I watch the show every day we saw something I think we should see all the time and that was folks from both sides of the aisle whether it was Governor DeSantis or Charlie Crist all calling saying that they supported us and they were ready to do that that's the way that we should work all the time in our government. And it was good to see that happen this time. But, you know, we were the other big thing is that the infrastructure bill has dollars in it that we need to shore up our infrastructure. No water system in the state of Florida could withstand

10 feet of storm surge. And we would have had to shut down some of our systems if that storm had hit us directly. And so this really shows us what we need to do to be resilient moving forward with the strength of these storms. Mayor Welch, good morning. Amen to your comments about bipartisanship there. It's nice to see once in a while. And I'm glad to hear that you were spared the worst of this storm that your city was. Hopefully there's no major damage or fatalities there. But to your larger point there at the end, as the mayor of a city, a coastal city like St. Petersburg in Florida, who knows that there are going to be bigger and more ferocious storms coming in the years and decades ahead? What kind of long-term thinking, what kind of preparation do you have to undertake as the mayor? Well, you know, we've got the research and the

data, Willie, and now it's time to put that into action. St. Pete has an integrated sustainability action plan that shows the investments we need to make to be resilient, but also needs to impact our planning, where we build, how we build going forward. Climate change is a reality, and St. Petersburg and Pinellas County is a peninsula within a peninsula, one of the most vulnerable areas in the nation for sea level rise. And so we've got to put that information into our planning, into our capital spending going forward, or we will just set ourselves up for failure going forward as we face these kind of storms. And Mr. Mayor, good morning. I just want to touch on climate change there. I was hoping

you could detail a little bit how you've seen things change in your city over the decades. Are the storms getting worse? Are the seas rising higher? Tell us the impact of climate change and how concerned you are for the future. We're seeing flooding just from a normal thunderstorm in parts of the city and county that we've never seen before. And so that blue sky event is becoming the norm in our city and all across the state of Florida on the East Coast. Miami has had that saltwater intrusion happening for some time now. So our climate is changing. I think we've gotten past that argument of whether that's happening or not. And now we need to really apply those smart planning concepts going forward and not set ourselves up for continued impacts from saltwater intrusion, from storms of this type that bring

record levels of water inland. And our systems are old infrastructure systems that haven't been kept up. Now's the time to make that investment going forward. We see the impact of climate change in Florida and throughout the nation. All right, Mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida, Ken Welch, thank you so much for joining us this morning. We want to give you now a firsthand look from a family trapped by floodwaters inside a home in Fort Myers Beach, who spoke with our affiliate in Fort Myers. Water was up to the second floor and was rising quickly. Can you show me how far the water, how high it is up? Can anyone get up on the furniture too as well? Okay, so you're already up on, you have everything up high. Do you have a way to get into the roof? Go to the roof,

don't go in the attic. Don't go in the attic. Do you have a way to get on the roof? Yeah, we're going to have to find out a way here soon. And the rest of the neighborhood is underwater as well? Yeah, I had to swim out of my house. My house was in the boat. My house is pretty much gone. So you're a neighbor across the street? Yeah, my neighbor does. My neighbor, she has a more recent house built up, so we walked over here, or I had to swim over here.

You know, just like in the middle of it. Glad I did, because now my house is underwater. Your house is underwater. Oh, I'm so sorry. Is everyone out of your house? Yeah, everyone's out of there. We've got to make a little decision here, because this is getting worse by the second. Okay, what? Don't, I don't think it's safe to go outside. He doesn't have a choice. He has to be ready to get on his roof. Okay, you need to be ready to get on top of the roof and grab some float,

something that will help you stay afloat. The most intense hurricane force winds are starting to pull off into the north of where you are. So the worst of the winds will start to relax over the next hour or so, but it's going to remain onshore for several more hours. So the water levels are likely only going to be rising over the next few hours. So it will likely get deeper from where you are right now. So you need to make your decisions as soon as possible, but expect the water levels to continue rising from where they are right now.

Because even though the winds won't be as strong, they're still pushing water on shore. So whatever you can do that would something like a life jacket or something that would be able to float is what you want to keep with you as close as possible. So many homes in Fort Myers like that underwater. The news team there reports that the call dropped before the family could get to a safe location. We're hoping they're OK. There have been numerous reports of residents being stranded on rooftops in Lee County at the height of the storm. County officials said it was too dangerous for crews to respond, but said they were coordinating with search and rescue units using boats, helicopters and high water vehicles to rescue those they could.

More than 75 percent of residents have lost power. Officials in Lee County say their community is decimated and willy. This is what I fear we're going to see as the sun comes up today the impact of the amount of water that these cities and towns across Florida and even over Orlando now as the storm goes down to a category one. It's the amount of water that could cause death and destruction. Yeah, it's the storm surge everyone's really worried about. We've got about an hour before the sun comes up and we'll get some pictures to show everyone what it looks like from the storm overnight. Obviously, a storm of this size and impact is making news across the country. Here's a look at how some of the papers are covering Ian. The Chicago Tribune shows the view from a parking garage in Punta Gorda as Category 4 crashed into southwest Florida.

The Los Angeles Times has this photograph of a meteorology student at Mississippi State University measuring wind gusts in Sarasota. In Florida, the Miami Herald leads with this image of flooded streets in downtown Fort Myers. And the Tampa Bay Times features this photo of a displaced sailboat sitting beside a roadway. The headline reads Hurricane Ian drenches Tampa Bay, pounds Fort Myers with historic fury. And as we're covering what some are calling the storm of a lifetime, The Washington Post has a feature on why Florida is more prone to hurricanes. And it's got a lot to do with the state's unique geography. As the paper points out, more than 41 percent of hurricanes in the United States

have made some sort of landfall in Florida. The state juts into warm tropical waters directly in the paths of storms barreling through the Caribbean. Florida also suffers some of the highest financial damage from hurricanes. That's due in part to the rapid coastal development where roughly 76 percent of the state's population lives by the water, according to the Post. Quote, while storm frequency has not trended upward, research shows hurricanes in the Atlantic have become more intense, partly driven by higher sea surface temperatures linked to human caused climate change. We have a lot more ahead here on Morning Joe. More on the impact from what now is a tropical storm, Ian,

but still a lot of water coming down over Orlando. We'll get live reports from across Florida all morning. The head of FEMA will join us. We'll discuss recovery efforts with the vice president of the disaster programs for the American Red Cross as well. Plus, we'll have a look at other stories making headlines this morning, including the latest legal drama between Donald Trump's legal team and the special master they helped appoint. And the January 6th committee is about to interview someone they've been wanting to

talk to for months. That's all straight ahead on Morning Joe. So obviously, we're following the latest developments with Hurricane Ian, who is over Orlando right now. It's downgraded to a Category 1, but there's going to be major issues with the amount of water that's going to come down over the city in Orlando. And of course, throughout the show, we'll be getting a first look at the destruction left by the storm across the west coast of Florida. It'll be the first look since the hurricane hit. And at its peak, it was practically a category five. The amount of wind and rain and water and reverse storm surge. We'll get to all of that and also get a sense from city officials and from the head of FEMA as to what the extent of the damage was, at least a first sense of that.

So we'll get back to all of our storm coverage in just a moment. But first, a little bit of politics for you with the midterms less than six weeks away. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appears to have a greater degree of optimism about his party's, the Republican Party's, chances in November. Take a look. Do you still stand by your comments about candidate quality or has your outlook changed in every election every year this year, past years? It's great to have terrific candidates. We're in a bunch of close races. I think we have a 50 50 shot of getting the Senate back.

It's going to be really, really close either way, in my view. OK, Jonathan Lemire, what do you make of Mitch McConnell's assessment? Yeah, it's a slight change in tone from McConnell, who a few weeks back let it be known that he was pretty unhappy with some of the Republican candidates running for Senate. He's been sharply critical of the process in which former President Trump more or less handpicked Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania, Hershel Walker in Georgia, candidates that McConnell thinks are weaker. And the Republicans, of course, had a really rough August. We saw the poll numbers drop there.

They feel a little better now, people close to McConnell. But this is a toss-up. I mean, first of all, he's not going to say, hey, we're going to lose. This is going to be close. Both strategists on both sides think it's a handful of states, remarkably all of them close. Georgia, Pennsylvania, we just mentioned. Nevada stands to be really close. Democrats have got a bit of a lead in Arizona.

They feel good about that. New Hampshire as well. North Carolina looks close. The fact that Ohio is in play speaks to the fact that Democrats are feeling pretty good. That's become a red state in recent cycles. But we've still got six weeks to go. And as we have learned anything in the last handful of cycles, Willie, politics can change in recent cycles. But we've still got six weeks to go. And as we have learned anything in the last handful of cycles, Willie, politics can change in a moment. We still have whatever

October surprise may be in store for us. What we're talking about today is not what we're going to be talking about in a week. There's time for these races to change. And also, some key debates. There's some question whether debates really matter that much anymore. In a couple of these races, they will. I think a lot of people want to see Fetterman and Oz debate. They're just going to do it one time. They want to see Warnock and Oz debate. They're just going to do it one time. They want to see Warnock and Walker debate. They're just going to do it once. Some votes may come down to that. Yeah. And as bad as some of those candidates are, as Mitch McConnell has acknowledged, those races are still very, very close within the margin of error. Less than a month now into

the special master process, attorneys for former President Donald Trump are pushing back against Judge Raymond Deary, the same person they had pitched for that position. Trump's lawyers now are resisting Judge Deary's order to submit a sworn declaration on whether they believe the government's list of property taken from Mar-a-Lago during the FBI search in August is accurate. According to a letter publicly filed by Trump's lawyers yesterday, the former president's legal team stated, does not believe the special master has the authority to require them to make such a filing. At the same time, Trump's legal team also is arguing it has not been able to retain a vendor to digitize the documents to be handed over to Judge Deary for review because there are just

too many files and too tight of a deadline. In the filing, Trump's team stated it needs until mid-October to get the job done. As the special master, Judge Geary is tasked with reviewing the materials taken during the search of the Florida property in August when the FBI retrieved about 11,000 documents that Trump had taken with him from the White House after leaving office. So, John, it's fair to say this special master process is not going the way the Trump team thought it might. They thought they might have an edge. We like this Judge Deary guy. Government agrees to him. And now they're being exposed effectively and having to reveal everything that was taken from the White House to Mar-a-Lago.

The Trump team picked the umpire and is now complaining when the umpire called them out. Right. That's what happened here. And they this is one of the two names they put forth. DOJ said, ago? The Trump team picked the umpire and is now complaining when the umpire called them out. That's what happened here. And this is one of the two names they put forth. DOJ said, sure, he's a respected individual. Those in the legal world have said, look, he's a no-nonsense judge. He's going to be a straight shooter. To this point, he has. Now, he even accelerated the timetable. He's asking for the review to be completed before, faster than DOJ even proposed. It's possible that he'll grant that and say, look, you can have a couple more weeks to get this done because no one anticipates there really being any major ruling until after the midterms anyway. But this goes to show there's

another effort by the Trump team to try to game the system. It's not working. Yeah. I mean, he's pushed them back on almost everything they've asked to have done. Meanwhile, Ginny Thomas is expected to talk to the January 6th committee either today or tomorrow. Yesterday, committee chairman Benny Thompson would only confirm to reporters the panel will speak to her, quote, later in the week. Thomas is the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The committee has evidence she exchanged emails with John Eastman, the Trump lawyer who led efforts to overturn the election. She also texted with Trump's then chief of staff, Mark Meadows, after the election, pressing him not to concede to Joe Biden. A little bit of history in baseball last night in Toronto.

And the 3-2. Joe deep to left field. This could be it. See ya. He's done it. Number ya. He's done it. Number 61. He's been chasing history, and now he makes it. He and Roger Maris are tied with 61 home runs.

The most anybody has ever hit in a single season in American League history. Aaron Judge did it after a bit of a slump that had some people tense. He hits home run 61, tying Roger Marris' all-time American League single season record. Roger Marris Jr., Aaron Judge's mother, were front row for the record-tying home run. You saw him there a second ago. Judge had been stuck on number 60 for seven games. He now has seven more games to get to 62 and break the record. Yankees off today, back in the Bronx tomorrow

for a three-game series with Baltimore, then four more in Texas if he needs it. Jonathan Lemire, here are the New York tabloids. Daily News, All Rise, and the New York Post has it as Roger That, a reference to Roger Maris. Pretty cool moment even for a Red Sox fan. Willie, I, as usual, I'm going to take the high road. There you go.

And just say that was pretty cool. I mean, Aaron Judge, 61, it's history. I do believe that we should be honoring the major league record at 73. We can say Barry Bonds used PEDs. He did. So did Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa. But that's in the record book. And even Aaron Judge himself has said 73 is the major league record.

But he just tied the American League record. And that's remarkable. In 61, they come home for three days. Obviously, it would be quite the scene if he were to do it at Yankee Stadium. And we should also mention this. He currently has the American League triple crown. He leads in batting average, RBIs, and home runs. It is a remarkable season. So much focus on the home runs, rightly so. But you're right. He's leading the American League in hitting right now. He's leading them to RBIs by a wide margin. Also walks on base percentage, slugging all those statistics. He's putting together one of the greatest seasons of all time.

Counterpoint, Roger Maris Jr. last night said the record is 61 and that Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire should not be included in that list. So it's a healthy baseball debate. Mika, Rod, a big night last night. Even I know if Joe were here, he'd be forcing you to appreciate what Aaron Judge has done this season. He would, and I would not relent. No, actually, it looked great. We're going to jump back to the storm coverage here on Morning Joe.

Coming up, Hurricane Ian is downgraded now to a tropical storm. It's over Orlando, Florida, but it is drenching the area, central Florida, right now. And that will be a big issue as well. Straight ahead, we'll be looking at what is next for Hurricane Ian. Could it regain strength as it churns north? We'll be looking at power outages and also how are hospitals holding up through this? And what about the people who decided to stick it out? We'll have all those questions straight ahead on Morning Joe.

It is 40 past the hour and we are right now tracking what is now Tropical Storm Ian over Orlando. We'll be getting to NBC's Blaine Alexander in just a moment. The big question right now is what is next for Hurricane Ian? Could it regain strength as it heads north? How long does it hover over Orlando and other parts of central Florida? There are some reports it will be most of the day for sure. Power outages up to two million people without power and state officials are saying that number is expected to grow. There will be big questions as to how long it will take to get the infrastructure back on track

and get the power back on. Another big question is how hospitals are holding up. A lot of hospitals put out advisories saying we cannot shelter people, but we will stay operational for our patients. How theyared during this hurricane, especially on the west coast of Florida. The forecast is for severe rain and wind all over the state of Florida. Then it will move north. Some cities on the western side of the state got up to a foot of rain in a very short amount of time. Airports in the area canceled everything and shut down.

There's reports of flooding in major airports. We fear what we will see today as the sun comes up. There are reports, for example, out of Naples, Florida, where half the streets in Naples are completely impassable. Things like that cause consequences. People who can't get the help they need, people stranded, people whose homes may have been flooded up to the roofs like we saw with one family in Fort Myers and heard reports of that all over Fort Myers. So today we'll reveal a lot of answers as to just how epic Hurricane Ian was on the western coast of Florida.

Let's bring in NBC News correspondent Blaine Alexander, who's live now from Orlando, which is seeing the brunt of this tropical storm. Blaine, what can you tell us? Well, Mika, right here in Orlando, really the big concern, even though you see it's very windy where I'm standing right now, every now or then we'll get a big gust of wind that kind of knocks me off balance. But really the big concern here is the rain and the flooding. So you can see it is raining here and it has been raining here constantly for hours. In fact, they've seen about 12 inches of rain here in parts of Orlando overnight. That's double the amount that they typically see in the entire month of September. So we're talking about a tremendous amount of water and it's going to be continuing until at least noon. That means that the thing

that officials are warning about is really flooding here. In fact, just as we were driving to our live shot this morning, Mika, we actually came across some flooded roads and that's only expected to get worse as this continues. The other thing, of course, that we're watching and that we're looking at is the fact that, you know, we've got a number of theme parks here. We've got Disney theme parks. We've got Universal. All of those are closed, at least through the end of today. But there were a number of families that already made the trip down here to Florida.

Those areas, those families have actually been asked to shelter in place if they're staying at Disney resorts. So we're also looking at a number of people who have either evacuated from areas that are closer to the coast or people who came down here just for vacation. Now, we're expecting to hear from the mayor later today at about 1130 this morning, Mika. But one other thing that officials are really warning as if flooding concerns weren't enough, they're also warning people to stay away from floodwaters at all costs. That's because they're concerned, quite frankly, about alligators, about snakes, about other creatures that people don't want to be around. Coming up and coming into those floodwaters,

it's something that they see very often here, and so they're warning people to stay away. But again, we're constantly hearing flood alerts, flash flood warnings. That's what this area is under right now. And the rain, as it continues, is only going to make things worse, at least through noon. And mine is so difficult for those that need help. What are we hearing about power outages, about people that decided to stay? Was this area under an evacuation order? And how concerned are officials that there are people out there who are stranded and there's no way to get to them. Okay, we lost. No problem. No problem at all, Blaine. Thank you very much for your great work.

We'll get back to NBC's Blaine Alexander, of course, is in Orlando, which the big question, as she pointed out, and the big concern is water, Willie. The storm has slowed down. It's a tropical storm and it's moving slowly and causing more and more of a concern of massive flooding, power outages. And of course, people staying in hotels who are cooped up and trying to ride it out. That's the big concern. How to get to them if anybody needs help. Willing? Absolutely. Let's bring into the conversation Admiral James Stavridis. Admiral,

good to see you this morning. We want to talk about Russia in just a moment, but you're a native Floridian. You've got a lot of experience with this. You've got family up in North Florida right now as we speak, as that storm makes a turn north and swings back out toward the Atlantic. I'm curious what you make of what you've seen and what you know in your experience about what the military can do, deployments that can be made, aid that can be offered at a time like this. Yeah, thanks, Willie. First and foremost, yeah, I've got skin in the game here. My wife, Laura, and my basset hound, Penelope, are in Jacksonville, Florida. So I breathe a sigh of relief as I saw that storm kind of jog out to

sea. But obviously, we all ought to be thinking about particularly southwest Florida, my native state this morning. And, you know, Mika just said, we'll know more when the sun rises. I'll give you a guarantee something you'll see when the sun rises. It'll be first responders, Coast Guard, Florida Guard, military surging into that area. We're lucky to live in a country that has those kind of resources. So you'll see particularly the on the ground response from the Florida State Guard, the National Guard, the Coast Guard. And then if this thing really is a major once in a century event, you could see Navy come in. You could see Air Force flying relief. You could see Army deployed. All those capabilities are there. So we'll know a lot more this morning, but look for those first responders and those military folks to be out there. And it really is a massive

and I have to say impressive operation. Governor DeSantis was talking about it yesterday. The state knows how to do this. Yeah, this was a historic storm, is a historic storm. But just behind the scenes, what goes in? OK, you see this storm coming on the radar a week out. What begins to happen in a place like Florida? Yeah, again, so much of the response is is in the binder

on the shelf. And so Governor DeSantis and his team are working off a script that's been honed for a century. And we're pretty good at this. But at the end of the day, when you see one of these massive storms come in and you know more are coming, You know we're going to be dealing with this as a nation going into the future if we can't get climate under control. But in terms of behind the scenes, it's a combination of feds, you know, the FEMA crowd alongside our state responders, alongside first responders, local municipalities. I was so impressed with the mayor of St. Petersburg gone a few minutes ago. That's the kind of quality leadership we have

to deal with this in the state of Florida. And we're going to talk to many more of those leaders and reporters here in just a moment. Do want to ask you about Russia, though, Admiral. We just got some news into us. Russia now confirming it formally will annex parts of occupied Ukraine after those stage referendums, something the West announced as illegal and rigged. So this was the game. Hold the sham elections, get 99 percent saying, yes, we want to be annexed.

And now make this formal announcement that Russia is going to, in fact, bring them back in to Russia. Putin's going to make a speech, have a big celebration, he says, in Red Square tomorrow. All the theatrics so that they can claim some kind of victory here. Yeah, you've you've nailed it. What Putin wants is to pull some kind of prop out of the middle of this tragic stage play he's put on that he can then turn to the people of Russia and say, look, it's all worth it. The 80,000 dead and killed, the 300,000 who are being mobilized, who are going to be used as cannon fodder. All of that is right out of we talked a moment ago about pulling the binder off the shelf. This is Russian binder number one, annex Crimea. Now they're going to say, oh, now that land bridge between Crimea and Mother Russia are also part of Russia. And Putin will then, Willie, to conclude here, Putin will then

really rattle that nuclear saber and say, if you attack Donetsk or Luhansk or Kyrgyzstan, that's part of Russia. I reserve the right to use even more. So this is entering a pretty dangerous phase. So, Admiral, U.S. officials I spoke to yesterday say to this point anyway, they haven't seen Russia change its nuclear posture. We've had Putin's saber rattle before, but not follow through. At least so far, they're not seeing that either. But I wanted to ask, you mentioned the mobilization, 300,000 reservists being called up. But we're seeing images of protests, men refusing to go,

thronging towards the borders or hopping on airplanes to get out of the country, even committing acts of violence at some military recruitment centers because they don't want to go. What does that tell you right now about the state of the Russian military and how much longer Putin can keep this offensive going? First and foremost, Jonathan, we can look at this and see a military that doesn't work. And we know that from seven months ago when they tried to invade and they couldn't put together simple logistics, combined arms operations, the ability to keep their soldiers warm and secure and fed on the front lines, let alone supplied with ammunition. So we continue to see a failing,

flailing military in front of us. And that extends to the home front here in the United States. If we called up the reserves or if the Israelis called up the reserves or the Swiss or the Finns, there's a well-ordered path that brings them forward. They're equipped, they're trained, they're ready. That is not what's happening in Russia. This is like pulling a bunch of bartenders off of Fifth Avenue and sending them out to the front lines. It's not going to work and it's going to only provide more fatalities and grievous wounds to these individuals. So I think Putin has his hands full not only in a failing effort in Ukraine, but also in his own nation. I know a lot of those bartenders. You want those men and women on the front lines. Trust me. We've got some more news into us, Admiral. Sweden just announced the Coast Guard. They've

discovered a fourth gas leak in the Nord Stream pipeline. So four massive leaks now. Leaks, I'll let you characterize it the way you want to. But Russia going so far as saying, yes, these explosions or these leaks are occurring in American controlled, Western controlled areas, suggesting some kind of sabotage from the West. What is Putin up to here? Yeah, I think it's pretty clear that what's happening is not a coincidence, not an accident. And, you know, QE bonus, who who gains Putin gains. So I think you can pretty well use Occam's razor. The simplest answer is the right one to say that at the end of the day, what's happening here is Russian sabotage.

I don't know that with certainty. I'm sure our intelligence agencies will pull this apart working with the Europeans. What Putin is up to is threatening the Europeans. He's saying, you know, I could go after your offshore oil and gas rigs, Norway. I can go after your critical infrastructure on the high seas. I could go after pipelines ashore or underway. I could go after undersea cables that carry the entire Internet. Only about 300 globally carry the Internet. He's just trying to show us he's got more cards to play because his conventional war in Ukraine is failing. He's looking for unconventional ways to shift this conflict. Admiral James DeVrita is covering a ton of ground for us this morning. Admiral, thanks so much.

Hope your wife and young Penelope are doing well back home. The greatest basset hound ever. Thanks, Admiral. Mika. All right. Thank you, Admiral. We're going to turn back to Hurricane Ian. Many people chose not to evacuate ahead of the storm, leading to some rescues, while others in need may have to wait it out. And that could be a while. Crews have been rescuing residents who chose to ignore evacuation orders or some just couldn't leave throughout the entire storm. This video shows the Coast Guard saving seven people who were out on a boat in Key West. In hard hit Charlotte County, all law enforcement and emergency response has been suspended. And this is the real worry

for people in need. Residents in need of assistance can still call 9-1-1, but help will be triaged and responders will assist as soon as weather allows them. And that could be ours. Any residents who chose to stay on Marco Island will not be able to leave. Officials there said all roads and bridges were impassable. Look at this. As of three thirty yesterday afternoon, all residents there will have to shelter in place. And in some cases, who knows where that is? It might be a rooftop. Joining us now, Vice President of the Disaster Programs for the American Red Cross, Jennifer Pippa.

Jennifer, thank you so much for joining us this morning. What are you hearing about where the greatest need is? I'm assuming you'll be hearing a lot more as the day progresses. Thank you for having me. Yeah. Right now you have to think of this response kind of as a play in three acts. The first act is that Southwest, uh, coast of Florida where there's massive flooding and, and we know that there's going to be an immense, immense amount of need there as the sun comes up today, as first responders get in and do their rescues. After that, the second act is what we're in right now in central Florida and northeast

Florida. We're going to have massive flooding. There are going to be major impacts here as well to communities and families and individuals. And then the third act, which yet to be written, is once the hurricane Ian goes off the coast and potentially makes a second landfall, there will be additional needs from communities that are going to be impacted in Georgia, South Carolina and even potentially North Carolina. So we're going to see a massive amount of folks and communities that are going to need the Red Cross help for the coming weeks and months, to be quite honest with you. How how possible is it, Jennifer, to have people on the ground to help, or how exactly are you staging this? So we did this in kind of think about it as two waves. Prior to the storm coming on, we pre-deployed hundreds of Red Cross volunteers

that are in those pre-landfall evacuation centers now. As the storm started to move, we started to bring in additional volunteers through Miami. And as the storm clears and as emergency officials tell us it's safe, we will then begin to set up shelters near the most highly impacted areas so we can provide comfort and care for those families who understand at this point in time now that they might not have a home to return to. Vice President of Disaster Programs for the American Red Cross, Jennifer Pippa, thank you very much. And up next on Morning Joe, we will stay in Florida for life reports on the damage caused by Hurricane Ian. What will daylight reveal and what is next for

the area still in the storm's path? Morning Joe is back in a moment.