The Current - Floridians flee second monster storm in weeks

Episode Date: October 9, 2024

Hurricane Milton is bearing down on Florida, just weeks after the destruction of Hurricane Helene. Jaina Thatch has already been evacuated. She says facing two monster storms back-to-back is unimaginable, she just hopes she’ll have a home to go back to. 

In 2017, it felt like drugs were everywhere in the news, so I started a podcast called On Drugs. We covered a lot of ground over two seasons, but there are still so many more stories to tell. I'm Jeff Turner, and I'm back with Season 3 of On Drugs. And this time, it's going to get personal. I don't know who Sober Jeff is. I don't even know if I like that guy.

On Drugs is available now wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC Podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is The Current Podcast. There's enough sand for everybody. Relax and back up. A police officer directs traffic in St. Petersburg, Florida, as people line up to fill up sandbags. They are preparing for Hurricane Milton. The storm is projected to make landfall right around the Tampa-St. Petersburg area overnight into Thursday, and the mayor of Tampa is not taking any chances.

I can say without any dramatization whatsoever, if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you're going to die. Even weather forecasters are getting choked up. It's just an incredible, incredible, incredible hurricane. It has dropped, it has dropped 50 millibars in 10 hours. I apologize. This is just horrific. Just a week and a half ago, Hurricane Helene had already wreaked havoc with a storm surges that flooded communities, leaving debris and destruction in their wake. And that storm didn't even make a direct hit on Tampa. Jaina Thatch lives in Davis Islands.

It's a community south of downtown Tampa. She's already evacuated along with her family and her pets. She is in Atlanta. Jaina,ch lives in Davis Islands. It's a community south of downtown Tampa. She's already evacuated along with her family and her pets. She is in Atlanta. Jaina, good morning. Good morning. At what point did you decide you got to get out? You need to leave Tampa and head for higher ground. We decided to leave as soon as we realized that the impact was going to be directly into our area.

We weren't taking any chances after Helene hit us about two weeks ago. I've seen some of the images of just clogged up expressways. There is talk of shortage of gas as well. What was it like getting out for you? It was absolutely a nightmare. It took what normally is about a six- a half hour drive from Tampa to Atlanta. It took us well into 11 hours. There is about 30 miles of traffic just getting outside of Tampa.

That took alone about three hours. But everyone was patient and moving. They opened up the left lane, the left shoulder lane, to allow for another lane of traffic to pass through. It was just, it was almost apocalyptic. You know, everyone just trying to get out of town and get to safety. I mentioned this is just a week and a half after Helene. And as you said, I mean, it didn't even hit directly downtown Tampa. What happened to your neighborhood during that storm?

During Helene, we were expecting a surge later around in the early evening, around 10 o'clock at night. We didn't see anything. And then within 20 minutes later, our town was underwater. It was kind of like a river just came through and rushed in within a matter of minutes. That's what your son told you, right? That there was a river outside or something? Yeah, we were all kind of going to bed for the night. We looked outside around 9.45 and thought, okay, we kind of missed it.

And I was putting my younger son to bed and my older son came running into the room and said, Mom, you have to come outside. There's a river. So we went outside to monitor the situation, and I thought, okay, well, maybe this is the height of it all. I went back inside, and five minutes later, he came to get me again and said, it's up to the garage now. How much damage was there because of that high water? garage now. Wow. How much damage was there because of that high water? The street that we live on, on Davis Island, I think we got about, I want to say about eight feet of water. We were very lucky. We're one of the elevated homes. All of our neighbors have single level homes, so they were completely flooded. We had neighbors wading through the water about midnight

trying to get into our house. We were helping rescue neighbors and their pets. Tampa Fire Rescue came through around 1 a.m. and were evacuating other people in the area as well. It was just a nightmare. Neighbors calling each other, you know, what do I do? Where do I go? It was just very unexpected. And so having gone through that, you know, what do I do? Where do I go? It was just very unexpected. And so having gone through that, I mean, what were the conversations that you had with your kids this time around when you knew that the storm was coming and you had to get out? With my kids, I, you know, Helene was such an eye-opener and they were all awake and witnessed everything going on. So they just knew that safety came first and we were doing the right thing and we were doing the smart thing and we weren't going to take any chances this time.

And as lightly as you can say that as a parent without obviously being scared yourself, isn't that easy? But that's a big thing, right? Because your kids will see how you're reacting. And if you're calm, they're going to be calm. If you're nervous and freaked out, they're going to internalize that as well. Um, every, it's just, the water's going to go down soon. Um, so he seemed to just kind of take my lead and relax, which is what I wanted at the, at that moment so that I could focus on, you know, helping my neighbors and making sure that we were getting stuff off the ground and getting things unplugged downstairs. What did you take this time knowing that the storm is coming, you know, the senses it's

going to slam into the Tampa area sooner rather than later. What did you take with you? I just took birth certificates and a few documents that I could, a few pictures, but, you know, everyone's precious lives were more important and making sure that they had their needs. I have three pets and I have four children, so, needs. I have three pets and I have four children and just a small SUV, so there really wasn't much I could. I could get into the car. I just told myself and the kids that if anything were to happen, everything else could be easily replaced and what matters the most is in the car right now. But it's only stuff. It's only stuff. And Helene made that quite evident.

So what do you do now? I don't know whether you're watching the weather or not watching the weather. How are you kind of dealing with what's coming? We are watching the weather. We're monitoring everything closely. We're in close communication on many forums with our neighbors and our friends and everyone in the community. And right now we're just racing for impact. It seems to be a category four that's going to be hitting directly into the area. And we're just saying prayers and hoping that it's not as bad, that there is a home to go back to. I know this is going to be a life-changing storm for the Tampa Bay area,

no matter what. It's kind of hard to just, it's unimaginable, given what we went through two weeks ago, that we have to prepare for another one coming so shortly. I'm glad you got out, and I wish you the very best. Take care of yourself, and thanks for talking to us. Thank you so much. Jaina Thatch is a resident of Davis Islands in Tampa, Florida. She's currently staying in Atlanta, Georgia. Carol Whitmore has also picked up and moved to a safer spot. She lives on Anna Maria Island, which is a barrier island south of Tampa and St. Petersburg.

She's in Orlando this morning. Carol, good morning to you. Good morning. You've lived in your community for a long time. Tell me a little bit about the damage that you got from Helene and whether you'd ever seen anything like that before. Yes, I've lived on the island since 1969, and I've never had damage. Maybe in 1972, I remember flooding into an apartment when I was young. We were renting and seeing my shoes float by. But it was nothing like this.

I wasn't really prepared. I was always prepared for surges. I've been through hurricanes my entire life, but nothing like this. What happened to your house? Well, I have an older home, but then I also have, I added years ago, an addition that's elevated. So I lost the entire living downstairs of my home. And you hadn't left, you didn't evacuate. So how did you manage to get out once the water moved in? Well, once the water moved in, I heard something. I thought, oh, I hear like a faucet downstairs.

And I went to the top of my stairs and I could see water gushing through my stairs into my home. I knew there was nothing I could see water gushing through my stairs into my home. I knew there was nothing I could do. I wasn't going to take any risks. So I just stayed upstairs, went to bed, woke up, and I looked down. The water had floated into my part of the house. Oh, my goodness. And so there was a boat that came and rescued you.

Is that right? Yes. I also lost water lines and other things like that. So my daughter had her friends come and get me by boat the next day. That's a lot. I'm sorry. That's a lot to go through. Um, and so no surprise. I mean, this time you did decide to go. Um, what are you thinking about as you watch the storm get closer and closer? You know, I'm hoping for the best. I've been through many, many storms. You know, I've been an elected official in Manatee County for almost 30 years, so

I know what the process, what they're doing now. They're battening everything down for everybody's safety, and I'm just praying that my house is there when I get home. I have withstood 92 mile an hour winds in my house before. So I'm just hoping that happens this time. Can I ask you just a little bit about, I mean, you know, as you mentioned, you've been working in elected office for a long time. There's a lot of work that has to be done to clean up from Helene. There was a storm just a week and a half ago that was, up from Helene. There was a storm just a week and a half ago that was, as we just heard, created all sorts of chaos and damage. How big of a job is it to deal with back-to-back storms like this? Well, the governor, you know, has in order to get all the help he could get to our areas to clean up the mess. And actually, I heard a media that, um, in on my street, they had actually picked up the large debris.

That's going to help when the storm surge comes so that it doesn't go out into our waterways, into the Bay, into the community in Bradenton. So. Cause the belief is if there was all of that, you know, the remnants of somebody's house would just be swept back out. Exactly. Exactly. So they did get that cleaned up, but I mean, there's really nothing else they can take besides my house, the storm, you know, because I've taken everything else. There's a lot of talk and attention on FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. How well do you think they've done in the face of this? Well, I applied for emergency FEMA disaster right away within three days.

Believe it or not, an inspector came out, called me on a Sunday night, came last Monday. I actually got a check in my checking account a few days ago. Wow. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough that I could probably buy appliances. I was totally shocked on how fast they reacted. So I got a different story than maybe a lot of other people, but I applied online and I never really, you know, and it was very easy. How are you doing in all of this? I mean, this has been a crazy few weeks for you. Yeah, I'm just feeling displaced. I've always helped other people and now I'm having to rely

on people helping me, which is not in my genetics. But, you know, there's nothing we can do. We've been lucky. I think Hurricane Donna was the last direct hit that our coast in my area was hit, which was in the early 60s. So I'm just praying that we get through this. I know we will. I don't plan on leaving. I've lived there since I was 13.

That's what I was going to ask. I mean, do you ever think about moving somewhere else where a hurricane would be less of a threat? No. In Florida, that's the risk you have to assume. But again, my roots and my family are rooted in Manatee County. So I will stay there. Carol, stay safe. And thanks for talking to us. Take care of yourself.

Thank you very much. Carol Whitmore is a former mayor of Holmes Beach on Anna Maria Island and a former Manatee County commissioner. She is waiting out the hurricane in Orlando, Florida. In 2017, it felt like drugs were everywhere in the news, so I started a podcast called On Drugs. We covered a lot of ground over two seasons, but there are still so many more stories to tell.

I'm Jeff Turner, and I'm back with season three of On Drugs. And this time, it's going to get personal. I don't know who Sober Jeff is. I don't even know if I like that guy. On Drugs is available now wherever you get your podcasts. Athena Masson goes by the name the Weather Goddess on social media. She is a meteorologist specializing in hurricanes and extreme weather, and she's in St. Augustine, Florida this morning. Athena, good morning to you.

Good morning. What's it like in St. Augustine? Right now we do have an extreme outer band that is moving through the area, but we have been experiencing rain all week long. And that's a little bit of a bad omen because of all of this rain, all of the saturated soils. When we do get the intense amounts of rain from Milton, that's just going to be adding to our flood threat. And throughout the day today, we're going to be seeing conditions deteriorate pretty rapidly, especially as we head into the evening and overnight hours.

And so are you going to stick around as this continues? Yes, I will be sticking around St. Augustine, located in northeast Florida. But even though we're very far away from the center of Milton, and we're not expected to go through the center of Milton, is that we are still under evacuation orders here beginning at 8 a.m. today. And that's because Northeast Florida, especially the city of St. Augustine, it's a very coastal community. Even during a bad weather day, the downtown area will flood. So emergency managers, they are imploring people to leave because that flood threat is still real, even though we're on the completely opposite coast of where Milton will be making landfall. I describe this storm as a monster. Can you, as a meteorologist, can you explain to me why this is such an historic hurricane? What scale and strength we're talking about here?

It is very rare for hurricanes in general to reach Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale. So at that point, you're looking at wind speeds of 252 kilometers per hour, anything above that. In order for a hurricane to get to Category 5 status, but to maintain it, you have to have the right conditions, the right sea surface temperatures, and the right wind shear conditions. And Milton has just found the perfect spot in the Gulf of Mexico in order to situate and go at a decent speed in order to maintain that strength. It's not just the category though,

is that I always tell people, look outside of the category because that's only looking at the wind speeds. It's also where it is located. The Gulf of Mexico is uniquely shaped. It's an inlet. It's almost like you are in a bathtub. So if you are sloshing about within the bathtub back and forth, you're going to generate some waves. And those waves, as they hit either side of the bathtub, just like either side of the Gulf of Mexico, all that water just rushes on up because that water has nowhere else to go but inland. So any hurricane, but especially a very strong hurricane like Milton that is just situated and aiming towards the west coast of Florida, that's a monster, as you say, for the record books right there. You do not want to be in that situation

with all this storm surge entering into the area. We heard earlier that little clip, and it's made news all around the world, of John Morales, the meteorologist for NBC6 in South Florida, becoming really emotional when he was describing it. Do you understand where the emotion comes from as you've just kind of laid it out? I do. And as a meteorologist and hurricane specialist, to see this happen so frequently from 2016 onward, we have been seeing major hurricanes that have been impacting Florida, and it doesn't really seem to be stopping. So it's disheartening every time to be seen a community in Florida. You're people that are always tuning in to listen to you, that you work with your family, your friends, anyone in the community having to deal with this year after year. But now to be experiencing these strong storms that are getting more frequent,

it really is disheartening. I do not blame that some meteorologists are breaking down. You point the finger at climate change for that? I would point the... We cannot say that one storm is linked to climate change. But we can say that the fact that we're seeing so many tropical cyclones, but especially major tropical cyclones that are forming year after year, we have to point to something. And we know that sea surface temperatures are increasing. We need warm sea surface temperatures in order for tropical cyclones to grow and evolve. We have been seeing this consistently. We have been seeing minimal vertical wind shear in the atmosphere. And we've been seeing this increase in tropical cyclones,

not only since 1995, but especially with major hurricanes since 2016. Yes, we have to assume at this point that climate change does play a vital role in keeping these hurricanes around for such a long period of time and getting them stronger. When this slams into the Tampa Bay area, they're talking of a storm surge of around 10 to 15 feet. Help me understand that. What would that mean for infrastructure, for the buildings, but also people who live in that area? For those who have evacuated, you chose the right path, For those who have evacuated, you chose the right path, you chose and made the right decision. 10 to 15 feet, you're looking at first floor of any typical home underwater, even going up towards the second story floor.

Vehicles will be washed away. Vehicles can easily be washed away in just five to six feet of storm surge. This is a situation that you can be in this area and not have power or any sort of help for possibly days, maybe even a week, because especially the St. Petersburg area, that you need bridges in order to access these regions. These bridges will also be underwater, especially along the Tampa Bay area. It's not someplace that you would want to be, that you would want to stay and risk your life. And you still have another month and a half or so of hurricane season, is that right? Yes, it's been a long one. Hurricane season runs from June 1st to November 30th every single year.

So we do have another month and a half of this, and we can't rule out, maybe we will see a late season hurricane that even goes into the December months. It's not uncommon to see that. Take care of yourself. I mean, as you said, you're on the other side of the state, but you're already feeling the effects of this. Athena, thank you and be well. Thank you. Athena Masson is a meteorologist in St. Augustine, Florida. Goes by the handle on social media, The Weather Goddess. As an update, Milton has just been downgraded to a Category 4 hurricane. For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.