Richard Arnold: US Correspondent on Hurricane Milton becoming one of the strongest Atlantic storms ever recorded

People in Florida are urged to evacuate before Hurricane Milton hits.  

US President Joe Biden has warned it could be the worst storm in a century.  

It comes just two weeks after Hurricane Helene killed around 200 people and caused damage in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.  

US correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking that last night, it gained strength so fast it became one of the strongest Atlantic storms ever recorded.  

He says some Florida weather forecasters were in tears on air because of what they were seeing. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right outside Richard morning. What they seem to have done
all they can and they're just waiting. Well, we'll find
out whether they've done all they can. Certainly a lot
of people are heading out of town right now. But
let's start with this. Hurricanes are unpredictable, but this latest
Hurricane Milton is grabbing a lot of attention because last
night again strength so fast. It became one of the

(00:20):
strongest Atlantic storms ever recorded. That had some Florida weather
forecasters in tears on air, literally tearing up at what
they were seeing with the numbers coming through. Here's John
Morales of NBC Miami.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
It has dropped.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
He's choken up here.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
He has dropped fifty millibars in ten hours. I apologize,
this is just.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Horrific. Yeah, what happened is that it went from a
Category one storm to a Cat five with top wind
speeds of get this, two hundred and ninety kilometers an
hour in just a short period, Morales warns, just gaining.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Strength in the Gulf of Mexico, where you can imagine
the winds, I mean, the seas are just so incredibly
incredibly hot, a record hot as you might imagine. You
know what's driving that I don't need to tell you
global warming climate change.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, since then, the storm has eased to a category
four and this is what typically happens. These hurricanes weaken
through what is called eyewall replacement. That's when the wall
of new thunderstorms forms right around the eye, so choking
off some of the new moisture coming in, but creating
in the process a much larger hurricane. As it nears land,
which is expected by early Thursday or time, it can

(01:38):
either strengthen again or week can we seen both in
the past. The other fact of this time is that
it seems to be headed towards Tampa Bay and Florida.
This place is specially vulnerable. It has a shallow seabed
which can send storm surges well on shore at maybe
four and a half meters high. Unsurvivable, warns Tampa's Mere
Jane Caster of this potential situation.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
She says, if you choose to stay in one of
those evacuation areas, you're going to die.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
That's the kind of warning that has more than a
million Floridians hitting the roads at the minute. Petrol stations
are running out of fuel. Traffic time surrendous, says one
driver who took eight hours, so doublely usual to get
out of town.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
It is bumper to bumper to the point where we
were standstill, not moving for an hour at a time.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
Of course, this is just two weeks since Hurricane Helene
hit in six states, especially North Carolina, one of the
least likely places, with more than two hundred people now
registered as killed and untold damages. The worst in recent
times because with Katrina in O five, thirteen hundred and
ninety two people died in that storm, damages of around
two hundred and four billion dollars New Zealand this time.

(02:46):
President Biden has canceled a foreign trip to Germany and Angolas,
saying this new storm could be the worst in the
region in a century. While the White House is unite
the slamming Trump for criticizing the Federal Emergency Services FEMA.
But we will see what happens. Where's the storm on Thursday?
Watching Wait meantime, Bob wood Wood's back. Yep, this country's
leading political reporter is about to come out with a
new book with some bomb shows right on the eve

(03:08):
of the elections. Folks talking about Woodward, who along with
Carl Bernstein, did the core reporting that forced Richard Nixon
from power during Watergoat. Of course, since then, Woodwoud has shown,
with a series of best selling political books and with
his time at The Washington Post that he has the
best high level political sources of anyone in the country.
His new book was called War and It comes out
next week. In it, he reveals that Trump secretly stayed

(03:30):
in touch with Russia's Putin after leaving office. It describes
a scene just this year at mare Lago, Trump's place
in Florida, when Trump ordered an eight out of his
office so he could speak with the Russian dictator. The
book indicates that these two have spoken at least seven times.
In one conversation during the height of COVID in twenty twenty,
when Trump still was in office, he agreed to send

(03:51):
Putin when they were rare Abbot COVID tests for the
Russian leader's personal use. Putin said to be particularly anxious
about being infected at the time. The book has part
of one conversation verbatim in it. Putin says, of the
COVID test quote, please don't tell anybody you sent these
to me. Trump replies, I don't care, fine, Putin, no, no,

(04:11):
I don't want you to tell anybody because people will
get mad at you, not me. They don't care about me,
so Putin, suggesting he cares what people think about Donald Trump.
Random ask good on you might't catch up soon. Rick
Judaranold's stateside, No, no, don't tell them.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
These people run the world. Hard to believe, isn't it.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
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Speaker 2 (04:33):
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