Mitch McCann: US Correspondent on the damages from Hurricane Milton

Florida residents are being warned not to visit areas hit by Hurricane Milton as clean up and rescue operations continue.  

There's still flooding in many areas, and NBC is reporting there have been 10 deaths in various parts of the state.  

More than three million properties remain without power.  

US correspondent Mitch McCann in St Augustine, Florida, told Ryan Bridge that in many parts of Florida, it wasn’t as bad as it was forecast to be. 

Some areas have been hit very badly, such as St Petersburg, where a baseball stadium had its roof ripped off, and a crane toppled into and destroyed a building just a few streets over. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's taken a lot of expertise to evacuate some of
those trapped by the floodwaters. We're going to This is
hurricane Milton. Forgive me. I was about to say, Helene,
We're going to Saint Augustine now in Florida, where US
correspondent Mitch McCann is standing by. Mitch, how is.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
It there, Good morning, Ryan.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
It is wet, it is windy, and it is pretty
cold here at the moment, I'm just looking out at
the water where I am, where the hurricane, the back
end of the hurricane pass through last night, and there's
still you know, sort of surges over the top of
the barriers here surface flooding. A number of the businesses
have got their sandbags across their buildings.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
But really here, in many parts of Florida.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
It wasn't as bad as perhaps it was forecast to
be last night.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
How many I think the death toll was at four
at the moment, Lots of people evacuated. Our authorities saying
the worst is over now.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
Well, the latest information that we have in the last
couple of moments is that death toll is now six
and the scale of the damage is really only becoming clear.
So four people died in a retirement community in Saint
Lucy County that was reportedly as a result of tornadoes
that were around before the actual storm hit last night.
A number of people had to be rescued there as well,

(01:19):
and two people now we know have also died in
the city of Saint Petersburg. In terms of rescues, which
you've talked about in Tampa, one hundred and thirty five
people had to be rescued from an assisted living facility
where first responders arrived and they found people up to
their waste and water. In terms of the infrastructure damage, Ryan,
there's some extraordinary pitchures we've seen this morning coming out

(01:40):
of Saint Petersburg, a Major League Baseball stadium called Tropakana Field.
The roof there was pretty much ripped off because of
the hurricane. And just down the road in the same city,
Saint Petersburg, a large crane was blown over, toppled into
a nearby building and caused that building is pretty much
destroyed now.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
So there are some big situations like that that have happened.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
But as I say, you know, as the afternoon goes on,
people are going to go out and find more damage.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
So the entire scale isn't clear just yet.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Metchart's obviously early days, but this stuff always eventually becomes political.
The response to it, that is, how are they being judged?
That is both Trump and Harris at the moment, well.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
This has become really political. Even after a Hurricane Helen
last week. Donald Trump was one of the first candidates
of first politicians I guess to arrive and talk to
people on the scene. Then Kamala Harris has been there,
Joe Biden's been there.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
There's been a bit of.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
A dispute between the governor of Florida, Ronda Santis, and
Kamala Harris because he reportedly refused to pick up her
phone calls. But he said, why is she even calling me?
She's never called before when there's been a hurricane. Donald Trump,
on the other hand, has been accused of blakeant misinformation,
saying things like the money that was supposed to go
to survivors or people in need is actually going to

(02:57):
illegal immigrants, and people are believing these sort of things.
Marjorie Taylor Green, who I know we've probably talked about before,
is a Republican congresswoman who suggested on social media that
these hurricanes might be engineered.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
They might be human.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
Caused hurricanes, which is obviously completely wrong. But you know,
some people in some of these states do believe what
their politicians tell them, so the White House has had
to go on a sort of big campaign to combat misinformation.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
Goodness may that she's talking cloud seeding, isn't she, Mitch,
thank you for that. Mitch mckaann our US correspondent with
US Live from Saint Augustine and Florida. The good news
as well, the sad news is four people six people
now have lost their lives, but not as bad as feared.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
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Speaker 1 (03:42):
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