1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,360
Speaker 1: It's taken a lot of expertise to evacuate some of

2
00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:07,160
Speaker 1: those trapped by the floodwaters. We're going to This is

3
00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:12,119
Speaker 1: hurricane Milton. Forgive me. I was about to say, Helene,

4
00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:15,560
Speaker 1: We're going to Saint Augustine now in Florida, where US

5
00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:18,600
Speaker 1: correspondent Mitch McCann is standing by. Mitch, how is.

6
00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:21,720
Speaker 2: It there, Good morning, Ryan.

7
00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:25,160
Speaker 3: It is wet, it is windy, and it is pretty

8
00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:27,240
Speaker 3: cold here at the moment, I'm just looking out at

9
00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:29,920
Speaker 3: the water where I am, where the hurricane, the back

10
00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:32,080
Speaker 3: end of the hurricane pass through last night, and there's

11
00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:35,040
Speaker 3: still you know, sort of surges over the top of

12
00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:38,120
Speaker 3: the barriers here surface flooding. A number of the businesses

13
00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:41,440
Speaker 3: have got their sandbags across their buildings.

14
00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,040
Speaker 2: But really here, in many parts of Florida.

15
00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:47,879
Speaker 3: It wasn't as bad as perhaps it was forecast to

16
00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:48,560
Speaker 3: be last night.

17
00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:51,240
Speaker 1: How many I think the death toll was at four

18
00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:55,000
Speaker 1: at the moment, Lots of people evacuated. Our authorities saying

19
00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:56,160
Speaker 1: the worst is over now.

20
00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:00,360
Speaker 3: Well, the latest information that we have in the last

21
00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,000
Speaker 3: couple of moments is that death toll is now six

22
00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:06,320
Speaker 3: and the scale of the damage is really only becoming clear.

23
00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:09,640
Speaker 3: So four people died in a retirement community in Saint

24
00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:13,160
Speaker 3: Lucy County that was reportedly as a result of tornadoes

25
00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:16,640
Speaker 3: that were around before the actual storm hit last night.

26
00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:19,160
Speaker 3: A number of people had to be rescued there as well,

27
00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:21,679
Speaker 3: and two people now we know have also died in

28
00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:24,600
Speaker 3: the city of Saint Petersburg. In terms of rescues, which

29
00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:28,240
Speaker 3: you've talked about in Tampa, one hundred and thirty five

30
00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:31,440
Speaker 3: people had to be rescued from an assisted living facility

31
00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:34,319
Speaker 3: where first responders arrived and they found people up to

32
00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:38,199
Speaker 3: their waste and water. In terms of the infrastructure damage, Ryan,

33
00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:40,840
Speaker 3: there's some extraordinary pitchures we've seen this morning coming out

34
00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:45,520
Speaker 3: of Saint Petersburg, a Major League Baseball stadium called Tropakana Field.

35
00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:48,680
Speaker 3: The roof there was pretty much ripped off because of

36
00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:51,559
Speaker 3: the hurricane. And just down the road in the same city,

37
00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:55,840
Speaker 3: Saint Petersburg, a large crane was blown over, toppled into

38
00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:59,240
Speaker 3: a nearby building and caused that building is pretty much

39
00:01:59,280 --> 00:01:59,960
Speaker 3: destroyed now.

40
00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:03,720
Speaker 2: So there are some big situations like that that have happened.

41
00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:06,000
Speaker 3: But as I say, you know, as the afternoon goes on,

42
00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:08,000
Speaker 3: people are going to go out and find more damage.

43
00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:11,200
Speaker 2: So the entire scale isn't clear just yet.

44
00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:15,480
Speaker 1: Metchart's obviously early days, but this stuff always eventually becomes political.

45
00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:18,680
Speaker 1: The response to it, that is, how are they being judged?

46
00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:22,400
Speaker 1: That is both Trump and Harris at the moment, well.

47
00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:25,800
Speaker 3: This has become really political. Even after a Hurricane Helen

48
00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:28,040
Speaker 3: last week. Donald Trump was one of the first candidates

49
00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:30,920
Speaker 3: of first politicians I guess to arrive and talk to

50
00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:33,480
Speaker 3: people on the scene. Then Kamala Harris has been there,

51
00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:34,560
Speaker 3: Joe Biden's been there.

52
00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:35,320
Speaker 2: There's been a bit of.

53
00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:38,720
Speaker 3: A dispute between the governor of Florida, Ronda Santis, and

54
00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:42,560
Speaker 3: Kamala Harris because he reportedly refused to pick up her

55
00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:45,840
Speaker 3: phone calls. But he said, why is she even calling me?

56
00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:48,640
Speaker 3: She's never called before when there's been a hurricane. Donald Trump,

57
00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:51,560
Speaker 3: on the other hand, has been accused of blakeant misinformation,

58
00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:54,280
Speaker 3: saying things like the money that was supposed to go

59
00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:56,840
Speaker 3: to survivors or people in need is actually going to

60
00:02:57,040 --> 00:02:59,920
Speaker 3: illegal immigrants, and people are believing these sort of things.

61
00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,320
Speaker 3: Marjorie Taylor Green, who I know we've probably talked about before,

62
00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:06,720
Speaker 3: is a Republican congresswoman who suggested on social media that

63
00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:08,600
Speaker 3: these hurricanes might be engineered.

64
00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:09,880
Speaker 2: They might be human.

65
00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:15,040
Speaker 3: Caused hurricanes, which is obviously completely wrong. But you know,

66
00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:17,040
Speaker 3: some people in some of these states do believe what

67
00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:19,560
Speaker 3: their politicians tell them, so the White House has had

68
00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:22,800
Speaker 3: to go on a sort of big campaign to combat misinformation.

69
00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:25,919
Speaker 1: Goodness may that she's talking cloud seeding, isn't she, Mitch,

70
00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:28,720
Speaker 1: thank you for that. Mitch mckaann our US correspondent with

71
00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:31,720
Speaker 1: US Live from Saint Augustine and Florida. The good news

72
00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:33,919
Speaker 1: as well, the sad news is four people six people

73
00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:37,160
Speaker 1: now have lost their lives, but not as bad as feared.

74
00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:40,520
Speaker 2: For more from news Talks, there'd be listen live on

75
00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:41,880
Speaker 2: air or online and

76
00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:44,400
Speaker 1: Keep our shows with you wherever you go with our

77
00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:46,160
Speaker 1: podcasts on iart Radio