but we are hearing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life. i have spoken with governors and the mayors and the commissioners, i've been on the phone with the governor this morning. i spoke with the commissioners and mayors and they are -- they are worried but every one of them are telling me what an incredible job is being done to save their cities, their towns, their counties, their ports, their bridges, etc. and in the face of serious danger, search-and-rescue operations got underway before dawn this morning for people stranded and who are in desperate shape. water rescue is critical. coast guard deployed 16 rescue helicopters, six fixed wing aircraft and 18 rescue boats and crews. that's just one element of the many search and rescue teams that are prestaged in florida

and the governor talked how impressed with what the coast guard was doing this morning. these are dangerous missions, and grateful for the brave women and men, and one team risking their lives to save others and we are going to learn a lot more in the coming hours. many families are hurting, many, many are hurting today, and our entire country hurts with them. it's all over the country, so many crisis, but in florida today is the epicenter. we are continuing to see deadly rainfall, catastrophic storm surges, roads and homes flooded. we are seeing millions of people without power and thousands hunkered down in schools and community centers. they are wondering what's going to be left, what's going to be left when they get to go home "home," or even if they have a home to go to. some of the folks have been through this before, but that does not make it easier, makes

the anxiety higher in my view. my message to the people of florida, the country, is at times like this, america comes together. we are going to pull together as one team, as one america. first thing this morning i talked to governor desantis and again, offered the fullest federal support. earlier this week i approved his request for the prelandfall emergency declaration to provide direct federal assistance in the state, for emergency protective measures to save lives, including search and rescue and shelter and food. early this morning approved the governor's most recent request for expedited major disaster declaration. that means the federal government will cover 100% of the cost to clear debris and for all the costs of the state has to engage in and expend to save lives. the federal government will also cover the majority of cost of rebuilding public buildings like schools and fire stations, and

folks in florida who have destroyed or damaged homes, you don't have enough insurance, it means the federal government will provide individual assistance of $37,900 for home repairs and another 37,900 for lost property. everything from automobile to a lost wedding ring. that's what we mean by lost property. i've also spoken with mayors across the state, both republicans and democrat, and i've told them the same thing. we are here, whether you need and whatever you needy indicated to call me directly at the white house. they know how to do that. we are going to do everything we can to provide whatever they need. we have dispatched over 1,000 fema personnel, and prepositioned major federal capacities and capabilities and supplies. that includes millions of liters of water, millions of meals, and hundreds of generators. deployed dozens of search and rescue teams, along with high

water vehicles and rescue helicopters to help get survivors to safety. thousands, thousands of national guard members have been activated. and on my direction, the department of defense is providing search capacity on multiple fronts in support of fema's efforts. also want to say again to everyone in ian's path, the danger is real, to state the obvious. please obey all warnings and directions from the emergency officials. and while the water is receding, don't go outside unless you absolutely have to. it's risky for you. and impedes first responders from doing their job. i also want to say again to the oil and gas executives, do not, do not, do not use this storm as an excuse to raise gasoline prices or gouge the american public. the price of oil has dropped in recent weeks. price of oil should go down as

rapidly, it's not. my experts informed me the production of only about 160,000 barrels a day is impacted by the storm. that's less than 2% of our country's daily production. it's small and temporary impact on oil production, provides no excuse, no excuse for price increases at the pump, period. if a gas station company tries to use the storm to raise prices i'm going to ask officials to look into whether or not price gouging is going on. america's watching and the industry should do the right thing. i expect them to do the right thing. and while we are seeing the devastating images in florida, i want to be clear. to the people of puerto rico, we are not gone away, i am committed to you and the recovery of the island. we'll stand by you for however long it takes to get it done. i know the folks here at fema and across the federal

government are working nonstop around the clock. that's why, that's why finally i want to thank the first responders, the national guard, coast guard service members and the search and rescue personnel for working to get people to safety and restore power, water and phone lines and thank everyone here at fema and other federal personnel. i've seen you in action across the country, from the west coast to the northwest to the northeast, down in louisiana, all across this country, and just in the last two weeks you've been working 24/7, no matter what and when emergencies happen, fema is always there. you deserve the nation's gratitude and full support. and right now if you are in the national guard and you get called up, you can still keep your job, but fema reserve is not the case. early this morning i signed into

law the bipartisan crew act, championed by gary peters and rob portman, and also in the house, and we signed it. that law will ensure that fema reservists have job protection just like military reservists. just like military reservists. so when you are called up to help with the disaster, you can now focus on that mission without worrying you might lose your job, your day job, and receive some other penalty at work because of this national service. that's what the crew act guarantees. it's going to help people become more civilian, gain more civilian reservists out there, and going to make fema stronger, it's going to make america stronger. that's who we are. every time disaster strikes, emergency crews from all over the country, all over the country, from across the federal government show up to help like they are doing right now in florida. that's america. the country of women and men

willing to serve, willing to leave their own families to help a stranger's family. everyone hard at work in florida right now deserves our thanks. and when the conditions allow it, i'm going to go to florida to thank them personally so we don't get in the way. we are going to do our best to build florida back as quickly as possible. we are not going to leave them, we are going to build it back with the state and local government. however long it takes we are going to be there. i want to turn it over to secretary mayorkas. >> puerto rico as well? >> my intention. >> thank you very much, mr. president. our hearts go out to the people in the affected areas. at dhs, our highest priority is preservation of life and safety. dhs is working with our federal, state, local and nongovernmental partners to support the needs of

the areas that are and may be impacted by hurricane ian. i want to thank the president for his leadership in signing the major disaster declaration that unlocks critical assistance to help jump start impacted floridians' hurricane ian to minimize impacts to maritime commerce, assure public safety and position ourselves for a rapid response. currently the coast guard has aircraft, cutters, flood response assets, and response personnel staged throughout florida ready for immediate deployment. fema has teams in place who are ready to help those who need it most. we have thousands of our personnel deployed throughout the department of homeland

security, not only from fema and the united states coast guard, but also from our cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency and from tsa. today i will be activating the dhs surge capacity force so that we can bring to bear additional personnel from across the department to support disaster survivors in florida. when a catastrophic event hits, dhs approaches response and recovery work with the full expanse of our resources and our capabilities. our work and support continue in the days, weeks, and months to come. this is not just a here today and gone tomorrow. we are here as the president has articulated throughout the need for full recovery. in that regard, with respect to puerto rico, as the president mentioned yesterday, i approved

temporary and targeted jones act waiver to ensure that the people of puerto rico have sufficient diesel to run generators needed for electricity and the functioning of critical facilities as they recover from hurricane fiona. we are in it for the long haul. now it's my pleasure to turn it over to administrator dee anne chriswell of fema. >> thank you, mr. secretary. i would first like to again, begin by thanking the president for being here in fema's national response coordination center. this is the heartbeat of what we do right here. this is where we bring the federal family together. these are some amazing public servants. i would also like to thank the president for signing the crew act earlier this morning. mr. president, behind us here are dedicated public servants from across -- >> john: all right, there you see president biden along with officials from dhs and fema as

he's giving the briefing from the fema headquarters here in washington, d.c. saying the federal government is standing with florida and will stand with florida as long as it takes to rebuild. welcome to "america reports." >> it's insane. mind blowing to see that nature could do that. >> yes, kind of scared for my children -- >> the town is completely devastated. really wasn't prepared for it. >> john: harrowing images from hurricane ian after the storm

roared ashore in southwest florida as a category 4 hurricane. today search and rescue efforts in full effect to help those who did not get out in time. more than 2.6 million people still without electricity at this hour, and now we are learning the tropical storm is expected to regain strength as it heads northeast with its sights set on south carolina. hello, i'm john roberts in d.c., and this is "america reports." good afternoon to you. >> gillian: good afternoon to you. the storm is setting sights on the south carolina coast where life-threatening flooding and storm surge and high winds are expected yet to come the national hurricane center, expect ian to restrengthen to a the category 1 today before it makes landfall along the south carolina coast tomorrow. we have fox team coverage, to florida and georgia now. >> john: steve bender on the projected path as it leaves the east coast of florida. >> as you have just mentioned, spilled out into the atlantic

and so right now as of the latest advisory at 11:00 a.m., sustained winds at 70 miles per hour. if it gets to 75, it will be the cat 1 strength as it veers off towards georgia and the carolina. talk about what happened in southwest florida, you saw the harrowing images and the recovery and search and rescue efforts are underway, so here is the wind readings as of yesterday morning. you'll watch as this moves in, storm surge, 95% of it is driven by the wind itself. you'll know the wind here in naples already starting to pick up by 10:00 a.m., 61 mile per hour gust pushing the water inland. areas to the north like venice, notice the winds coming the other direction, the water is starting to recede, that happened in tampa bay as well, as this continued to push on shore and made landfall, you'll see that hurricane force wind push this in. notice we have no readings anymore. all of these stations were knocked off because of the power

of the wind but you'll notice the winds bar showing you all the water, like fort myers beach, sanibel island, the causeway, the only access point crumbled. fort myers, 15 miles inland along the river, inundation because of the pushed in. so, that was the concern and why it's very difficult for those recovery efforts moving forward. something else that we'll talk about is the rain that they saw in this area just north where the eyewall went through, you are looking at the stripe of pink. that comes up, a foot and a half to two feet of rain on the northern side of the system where they took the brunt of the wind and the rain, but it is really south of there where they had all of that inundation moving through, and just to kind of show you that on shore flow, this continues and as we move up, we have been seeing those alerts climb from central florida, you look at orlando, i-4 towards daytona beach,

jacksonville, st. augustine, they are going through a storm surge right now, and counterclockwise, the wind pumps the waters into the shores. an event that will carry into tomorrow and the weekend as it climbs north towards georgia and south carolina. this is something that it will still be active because of the warm waters of the atlantic and tracking it all weekend long here on fox weather. john, back to you. >> john: steve, thank you. gillian. >> gillian: scary new video san video from one of the resorts on the shores' edge. the gulf of mexico rising up over the hotel's railings and spilling on to the pool deck.

sanibel is completely cut off from the rest of the mainland after ian destroyed parts of the only bridge to and from the island. >> john: take a long time to put that back together again. fema describing it as catastrophic, neighborhoods have been flattened. and steve dramatic scenes yesterday when it was coming in, what does it look like now in the aftermath. >> if you look at the after here, sometimes it's squares, foundations where houses used to be. go down the street, house after house, either complete destruction or missing roofs, missing windows, people just really staggering around, trying to pick up important papers or anything that they might have left. we saw some drone footage in from the drone pilot, lance craig, shows you an overview of some of this destruction here. i talked to one man who asked if that was his house, he said

yeah, used to be my house. a sense of total loss among a lot of people here. we have seen people carrying belongings in garbage pails through the water. 100% of the power is out, and communication, 2.6 million people without power and the people we have been talking to want the basics. they want water and they want shelter. some of the people here with their houses destroyed are moving in with those who have still most of their houses left. as far as rescue go, we have heard helicopters overhead, a sheriff going from door to door, we are beginning to hear the sounds of chain saws and sirens, so help slowly is on the way. john. >> john: steve, a contrast here in terms of the structures and their ability to withstand a storm. after hurricane andrew in 1992, florida changed building codes across the state. so, anything that was a permanent structure was built to withstand heavy winds, you know, above 100 miles an hour, and

maybe to a cat 5. but the mobile home parks there, they remain particularly vulnerable to the strength of these storms. >> it is certainly sad as you look around behind me. in the distance you probably can't see behind the boat yard, condominiums lost sheets off of their sides, bits of their roofs, their railings, but really are intact. some of the people here in the double wides rented rooms overnight in the expensive condominiums nearby, b and bs, for $300 a night. left their $25,000 double wides to go to a b and b for $300 just to survive, and many of them did just that. you can see in the distance, a woman walking through that destruction and rubble. you know, and when you start talking to people here, a lot of times they just start crying. it's a very emotional period when you look at what you have, what you had, and everything is gone. and now you are just with a bucket or a trash can trying to,

on your own, trying to save what you can. >> gillian: steve, this is gillian with john here. the sheriff said on television this morning, he was concerned a lot of folks in the county had not heeded the evacuation orders and had holed up and tried to ride out the storm from home. does that reflect what you are seeing on the ground there? >> i think in this mobile home park, a lot of people were cautious, some waited until almost the last minute, but i think most of them did leave. we have seen a sheriff really go door to door to try to check on casualties. we have not heard any reports of casualties. but you know, they are not dead but they are certainly devastations. people have lost everything they have here, and what we are seeing is people on their own in the wreckage, basically asking for water and asking for food and asking for shelter. and in these early hours of the rescue, the rescue which is, of

course, tremendous and more than 35 states and you know, helicopters and everybody pouring in here, there are gaps and we are in a gap here where people are still fending for themselves after this real body blow of a storm. >> john: steven, as we look at the two people making their way through the rubble toward you there, you have to wonder how much time it's going to take before they could potentially return back to where they were living, the emergency crews, first responders affecting rescues right now, they are clearing the streets. but in the hierarchy of what you have to look at first and priorities here, where are they going to come in all of there? >> yeah. you know, i think there is a ar

back here. so they have lost their home, lost their neighbors, and there is not a sense that ok, let's rebuild, let's make it better, no. let's leave. let's go somewhere else we won't be destroyed. >> john: steve, let's keep chatting as they make their way toward you, possibly you can pull them aside and get a couple of words from them. gillian. >> gillian: for the folks you see coming back to the area to try and assess the damage done to their homes and their property, just from your eyes on the ground, what is the biggest challenge, thepeople's safety r? >> i think the real immediate threat is shelter. a lot of these people have nowhere to go, and nowhere to get to and you see people moving by foot, either because their cars are destroyed or can't get through the road and what a challenge it is to get aid and help to these people, when you see all that metal and all that

plywood and the downed trees to simply reach people is a real challenge. so i think the weather is good today, it's not raining, but these people, they need to get bussed out of here, they need shelter and they are asking us for water. so -- that's a pretty basic need and no one is right where we are right now to meet that need. >> john: it is pretty fortunate some of them were able to get rooms in the condominium building over on the other side from where you are standing, but 300 bucks a night, i'm sure they can't stay there too long. >> no, that's tough to pay when your home cost $25,000 and they made sure to tell me, i'll walk over and see if i can -- it's always tricky with gear when i move it might go out, i'll try and talk to this lady. no, you don't want to talk to me? how about you, ma'am? i understand. ma'am, how about you? no, what's that you are carrying? >> a long two days.

>> i totally understand. how did your house make out? >> she's upset, i won't talk to her. >> i understand. how about you, ma'am? >> how about, how did your house do? >> my house did not fare so well either. >> fare so well? >> no. >> you don't live here? >> i live in north port. >> you are helping her out? >> yeah, she stayed at my house last night because she had to evacuate. >> she had to evacuate, and stayed at a neighbor's house, we are seeing a lot of that, it's relying on each other, relying on friends, relying on people out of the direct path of the storm to try and give you shelter for a night or two. it's informal, people helping family or people helping friends. i'll toss it back to you guys. >> and you can understand, steve the emotion she's feeling, the place she's been living for who knows how long has been wiped out, she's now bunking in with a friend, her future uncertain, and your heart goes out to her

and all of the other folks who suffered so terribly as the storm came ashore. steve, thanks. we'll get back to you. chris mcgrath, spokesperson for florida power and light. 2.6 million in the state of florida without power. how will you attack the job to get power back as quick as possible? >> sure, it's obviously a long road to recover and some of the reporting you just brought the country, really shines a spotlight on the absolute devastation that's unfolding in southwest florida. these are our neighbors, this is our family, our fellow floridians and our heart is broken alongside with them, and so we have a large restoration workforce, nearly 21,000 men and women, includes mutual assistance from 30 states from the country, and out in full force.

in terms of power outage numbers, restored power to more than 700,000 customers, that's across our service territory in the state of florida. we have 1.2 million customers without power and that's where the focus is right now. we worked overnight, through this morning and will be working 24/7 to get the lights back on safely and as quickly as possible. >> gillian: sir, what are you looking at in terms of, i don't know if you have a figure you can share, but what are you looking at so far in terms of the estimated cost for repairing all these downed lines? >> sure. it is way too early to talk about any cost. there will be plenty of time to talk about that after the storm. but in terms of the damage we are seeing, from all accounts as the sun came up this morning, we are seeing what you are seeing. it is -- communities leveled, they have been decimated and we are doing damage assessment of the actual infrastructure, and we anticipate that in some parts

of southwest florida which took a direct hit from one of the most powerful storms our state has ever seen, we will be rebuilding parts of the infrastructure, not just simply repairing it. so the road ahead will be long. we have a lot of experience when it comes to hurricane restoration, and we'll be putting that experience into good work out in the field to get folks back on their feet as quick as we can. >> fortunately and unfortunately you have a lot of experience in hurricane restoration because of the number of storms there. i remember back to hurricane andrew, such a powerful storm that hit the east coast, not just lines were down. lines are pretty easy to put back up, you had a lot of transformers that went out, you have the same thing there. but the fact that entire swaths of power poles came down. are you seeing that in this area that was hit by ian, and i know there's a generating station in charlotte county. is that operational or has that

gone down? >> we are actively looking into the questions right now. one of the most critical aspects is damage assessment, to get the right crews, the right equipment, the right resources into the right place to begin restoring power or if it needed rebuilding the system. the big message for folks watching right now in southwest florida, and across the state, because ian continues to cut through and ravage the central and the northern part of florida is safety. most people die in hurricanes after a storm goes through, so we know folks are curious. but flooded water hides debris, flooded water hides downed power lines, and we want to make sure they keep safety top of mind. >> gillian: chris, to your point about rebuilding, the governor said the electrical grid is going to have to be rebuilt. parts of the state are effectively permanently off the

grid in terms of the grid as it existed. talk to me about how long an effort like that might take. are we talking months, years? >> that's something we are actively looking to determine right now. today is a big day in terms of damage assessment so we have crews on the ground, roads are flooded, there is trees, debris everywhere. also deployed drone teams so we can fly over and get a sense of the damage, and we'll be working to provide that information just as soon as we can. >> john: we'll let you get back to it. thanks, appreciate it. >> thank you. >> john: if i know anything from having lived in florida for a time, fpl gets on it quickly, so as quick as they can get the infrastructure back up and running and electricity and people reconnected, but it's going to take some time.

>> gillian: an effort. >> in future rick, had to replace almost every power pole. >> john: and a lot of the new neighborhoods in florida, the power cables are buried, so not up on a pole, so reconnecting neighborhoods will be the task. but you know, you've got power lines that run crisscross across the state and i'm sure a lot of those big ones came down in the storm and those things are really difficult to put back up, it will take a long time. but from what i know, the history of this company, they'll get it up as fast as they can. >> gillian: and the meantime, floridians are trying to get back home to assess the damage and they face as chris laid out, danger from not just debris that could physically hurt them, but the electric infrastructure. >> john: and yesterday dramatic pictures of a power line down and arcing away, it still had power to it. be very, very careful out there

in the neighborhoods. you can help people affected by hurricane ian by donating to the american red cross, go online at red cross.org/donate, or call 800-help now. or you can even donate through your alexa, say hey alexa, i want to donate to the red cross. alexa is always listening, you know that. >> gillian: her track record, though. >> john: we'll be right back after this. think he's posting about all that ancient roman coinage? no, he's seizing the moment with merrill. moving his money into his investment account in real time and that's... how you collect coins. your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term

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[ sleep app ] and the end. you have now reached the end of the sleep app. you're the first person to actually do that. now i want to say congratulations, but it's also disappointing. what do you mean? that's it? i've got nothing left. hey if i were you, i'd try warm milk.

enough out of you! hi! oh go.. is this really helping? good days start with good nights, so you may want to talk to your doctor about both. [ sleep app ] i'm still here. oh boy. >> that's our pool. that's our deck. and that was my house. my house is gone. >> gillian: after leaving a path of destruction across southwest florida, ian, a tropical storm, is packing a punch as it makes its way north. jonathan joins us from atlantic

beach, florida. what are you seeing out there this hour? >> hi, gillian. well, we have been keeping a close watch on this berm over here. what you see is what normally would be a pedestrian walkway, a sand walkway in between two natural dunes, but yesterday they brought in heavy equipment to shore it up with sand, trying to keep the heavy surf from spilling over. but periodically see a large wave come and a small amount of water, a relatively small amount of water spill over the berm. not enough to create flooding in this coastal community yet, but it gives you a sense of why local officials are keeping a nervous eye on the shoreline. as the latest path, the projected path of the storm looks like it's going to carry it out a little further into the atlantic. local officials believe that the threat of flooding from rain is

a little bit less than it was earlier, but their main concern is going to be storm surge. the winds driving in water from the atlantic ocean and spilling over in these coastal communities. i am in duvall county, no mandatory evacuations in duvall county. however, the jacksonville mayor is urging people in low-lying areas, that includes coastal communities such as the one i'm in right now, and also communities along the st. johns river, that includes portions of downtown jacksonville which flooded five years ago during hurricane irma, urging residents in these low-lying areas to take voluntary action to protect themselves, saying in many cases that may mean evacuating, even though there are no mandatory evacuations, saying it's probably the most prudent thing to do to protect yourself.

as you see behind me, the trees, the palm trees are blowing around in the wind. we have managed to keep power, it went out a couple times overnight but at least where we are, we still have electricity and as you can see there is still a lot of traffic going on. but as the brunt of the storm approaches us, we anticipate the conditions are going to continue to deteriorate. gillian, back to you. >> gillian: jonathan, what are you seeing in terms of foot traffic? any people out and about, either emerging or returning to their homes? >> no, most people are -- we actually -- we are seeing a tiny bit of foot traffic and just in this area. it's tourists who are curious and they want to go to the beach, but then as soon as lifeguards spot them, they very politely turn them and and say it's too dangerous, you need to go back. other than that, people are

driving around in their cars, it's just getting, with all the rain and wind, most people don't want to be out in the elements but they are still driving around, those who have business to take care of, making last-minute preparations, getting a last-minute bite to eat before they have to hunker down for the brunt of the storm. >> gillian: safe to say no one is getting a tan today. stand by, we'll bring you back as warranted. for continueous coverage of tropical storm ian, download the fox app and weather, 24/7. >> john: the storm also taking a heavy toll on florida businesses. many owners are assessing the damage after hurricane ian's powerful winds and heavy rain dest destroyed buildings and ruined inventory. john, owner of a tree farm, 60 miles east of sarasota, below

wauchula. what was the situation as it crossed the peninsula there? >> well, it came through yesterday evening and so most of the worst of the storm took place after sunset. we were in cross hairs again, we were hit first in 2004 by charley and then irma got us, so we are beginning to wonder if the weather gods have something in for us. so, we have been established since 1988, we are well established business, and have a good deal of our inventory that remained intact. but that's primarily the palm trees. the woodies, which would include oaks and magnolias, and japanese privets, hollys of various varieties, those were all hit very, very hard. the pictures that i submitted show trees that are no longer

vertical, and those with exposed root systems, we will not have enough time to right before they try out. we suffer from chronic labor shortages and even if we did have an adequate staff, ordinarily the amount of work that has to be done is so tremendous that we would have a lot of difficulty getting all of that material righted again. we got the full brunt, and i think it was cat 3 when it hit us. we got, i think in excess of 16 inches of rain, which compounded the problem because the wet, loose soil allows trees to topple when they would ordinarily remain upright if they were in a dryer setting. >> gillian: john, this is gillian turner. i want to ask you about some of the other challenges you are going to face now. how might it impact the business

that you might not be able to ship anything for a while ups and usps will deliver as permitted across florida. i'm guessing that's not happening where you are for a while. >> i don't know what their plans are. we would depend on them only for incidentals. our shipments are all -- well, not entirely on semis, but most of the shipments that we make, because of our remote location, are large orders of trees and they go in fairly large quantities when shipped. so, and they are quite heavy, so the carriers that you mentioned would not be a part of the equation for us. >> john: nobody is mailing any royal palms at this point. let me ask you this question, you think you have lost a lot of inventory. could you put a dollar figure on it yet? >> i wouldn't be surprised if

the direct and collateral damage -- in all probability could reach or exceed 2 million. >> gillian: wow, do you feel like you got adequate warnings and preparation, john, from the federal government, but i guess more specifically and importantly from governor's office there? how did governor desantis's office -- >> they did everything they could, given the limitations of the science. it's sometimes a bit speculative, but the warning certainly started taking place in plenty of time for us to make all the preparations which we could, and it was a function of all hands on deck for the days preceding the event, and we got everything done that could practically be done, but there are just limitations to the

amount that you can do to protect a perishable inventory. >> john: sure, and when you have 325 acres of trees, that's an awful lot of material. >> a lot of bushes. >> john: so, how many people do you employ there, and i assume that you are insured and that you'll be able to at some point recoup your losses? >> no, we are not insured. we have self-insured over the years. the cost of crop insurance was prohibitive for many years, and so it became a calculated risk. do you want to pay what seemed to me to be an exorbitant rate for insurance or do you amortize that over a period of time and then self-insure. as i alluded to earlier, we are a well established firm and so we can probably get things put

back together, you know, help is always welcome, but we feel like the way that the insurance programs were structured were not beneficial. i understand there has been some restructuring there, but we have chosen not to do that. we may look at that in the future but we have just always self-insured, so it's all on us. it's a function of the rugged individualism that is a tree farmer. >> john: no question about that. but i guess when you are doing that risk analysis, though, you don't think that you are going to get hit with two category 4 storms in a total of three storms over the course of 16 years. hey, john. thank you so much for joining us. >> yeah, it becomes a function of probability, i suppose. but in closing, i will say there is no crying in tree farming. >> john: even if it helps water

the trees. >> there you go. >> john: john, thank you so much. we wish you well. >> excellent, thank you. >> john: appreciate it, good luck to you. >> gillian: president biden's visiting fema headquarters here in washington but in florida's disaster zone, residents tell us fema spotty track record responding to major hurricanes is not inspiring a lot of confidence. aishah hasnie joins us from capitol hill. aishah, how bad are the issues the lawmakers are looking at now? >> hey, gillian. good afternoon to you. bad enough that florida congresswoman val demings is tracking the response in florida right now. this is fresh off her official visit to puerto rico which is where a u.s. civil rights commission found fema did not do a great job in serving the poor and disabled after hurricane maria, demings who chairs the committee with direct oversight over fema wrote this, our fellow americans puerto rico deserve the response and rebuilding they

did not receive after hurricane maria. we cannot repeat the mistakes of the past. that's not all, gillian. i actually got to catch up with mayor nick hunter of lake charles in louisiana who says his town really suffered a humanitarian crisis after lrn laura in 2020. he said he applauds fema for responding immediately to the crisis, bringing in temporary trailers for displaced residents who live there, but took nearly a year for that agency to even figure out where to put the trailers. he also told me that fema's approval process for repairs are so cumbersome that work on buildings like city hall were delayed for 12 to 18 months. he thinks the agency is trying to do its best but for the sake of floridians watching the images we are sharing with you, he's praying that fema has worked out its issues. >> we have city buildings that we know need to be demolished,

that we know need to be rebuilt over two years later. we still are waiting on that money from fema. and perhaps they might have a little better experience than we had here in southwest louisiana. >> now, senator marco rubio of florida says fema's coordination in florida with this hurricane is "the best it's ever been." and we are still waiting on a response from the federal agency. they did get back to me saying they are working on a response but are extremely busy with, of course, hurricane ian. gillian. >> gillian: aishah hasnie joining us from capitol hill this afternoon, john. >> john: as we look at a live picture of the coast still battered by waves and winds, we are expecting in the next few minutes for governor desantis to take to the podium in the shot you saw, the empty room where the fellow was ducking in front of the camera, to give us an update. he is going to be in punta gorda, in charlotte county, one

of the hardest hit areas. this picture of st. augustine, florida on the left as ian exits the florida peninsula and moves on towards its next ground 0, if you will, which looks like it could be charleston, kiowa island at this point. we will continue to monitor its track and tell you where it goes. we know these things move. jacqui heinrich is live at the white house, the president back from his briefing at fema headquarters. what's the white house saying about everything that's going on in florida. >> president biden painted a pretty bleak picture when we might learn in the coming days, referencing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life, he said he will go to florida as soon as conditions allow and said he's been coordinating closely with governor ron desantis, talked to him 4 or 5 times over the last few days and he was just asked moments ago about how their relationship is going. listen.

>> he complimented me, thanked me for the immediate response we had, told me how much he appreciated it, extremely happy when what was going on. this is not about anything having to do with our disagreements politically. this is about saving people's lives, homes and businesses. >> 100% of the cost of clearing debris and majority for schools and fire departments. he has dispatched personnel, high water vehicles, search and rescue, millions of meals and hundreds of generators. and the third time this week, biden warned oil and gas companies not to use the storm for their own gain, keeping the prices high even when the price of crude oil drops. >> i want to say again to the oil and gas executives, do not, do not, do not use this storm as an excuse to raise gasoline

prices or gouge the american public. the price of oil has dropped in recent weeks. the price of gas should be going down as rapidly. >> the american petroleum institute fired back when the president said the same thing yesterday, telling fox gasoline prices are determined by market forces, not individual companies, and claims that the price at the pump is anything but a function of supply and demand are false. industry heads have repeatedly blamed the biden administration's hostility toward fossil fuels as the reason for high gas prices at times. back to you guys. >> john: jacqui at the white house. and now florida and governor desantis. >> able to go out and tour some of the areas in charlotte county and inspect some of the damage. from the wee hours of the morning, there have been people that have descended on southwest florida to be able to offer assistance, and so we have seen a number of efforts on the

barrier islands to bring people to safety, particularly in lee county, but also in charlotte and in naples and collier county. you have people -- electrical, the power, they are all here, we have eric from florida power and light which will, he'll give an you have date what they are doing. from the minute they could get in here, they have been in here working on being able to get people connected again. we are also, i talked to two of the major ceos for the telecom companies about their restoration services, and fortunately, you know, some of their infrastructure has been ok. they do more -- our dem is putting mobile cell phone towers to help restore communications and in ordinant amount of food and water either here or is very close on the way. life safety of course is critical. anyone stranded on one of the

barrier islands, make sure that they are safe, and i know here in charlotte any of the neighborhoods that experienced a lot of wind or water damage, these folks are there, they are working to make sure people are safe and that is true in lee and collier county as well. so that's really, really important. we also have to stabilize the area with the key services and so we have a huge amount of resources that have been brought to bear to be able to do that, and we are going to continue doing it, it's a 24/7 operation because we realize how important it is. we also understand a lot of people have asked what they can do to help the people of the state of florida, particularly down in this region and the first lady will talk in a minute. but we have a fund florida disaster, you text disaster to 20222, and we have supplies prestaged being used and that's important. we don't necessarily need people to send us stuff.

what we need is help those relief organizations, help the folks, i mean, there is obviously -- we are surveying the damage right now. some people that evacuated will go back and look at their homes and see, is there flood damage, wind damage, is it habitable, so all those things we will get a clearer picture of some of the unique needs that individuals in that region may have, and so your financial contribution can make a world of difference, and so we are happy that so many people -- i think we are over $2 million already in less than 24 hours, i know many more people want to do. but i'm really impressed with the resiliency that we are seeing here in charlotte county. this is not anything anyone wanted to deal with. you go back 72 hours before landfall, most of southwest florida was not even in the cone, and then you have a situation where you are dealing, staring down the barrel of a hurricane making landfall at 155 miles an hour. so the response here and the way

people have reacted is very, very impressive and we understand it's just the beginning. there is a lot more that needs to be done and the state of florida will be good partners with the folks here at the local level. i'm going to let the first lady talk about relief efforts and then we'll have kevin and then eric from fp and l will give an update. >> so proud of the people of southwest florida, resiliency and courage and strength you are exhibiting, the people here at the emergency operations center and frankly, people across the state of florida. we could not be not more proud of what you have done to support your fellow floridians, and also the people across the country. so, the governor mentioned a second ago the disaster recovery fund, you can donate there, 501c3. why that's important is because we can take those resources and microtarget them and get them directly to the ground as quickly and efficiently as

possible. this morning, we are going to cut through red tape and bureaucracy, we know people need the funds and they need help so we are committed to making sure we do that. the other thing is you can text disaster to 20222, those funds will obviously go to the same spot, and we'll be able to deploy those resources very quickly. but again, on behalf of the state of florida, the governor, myself, all the people, first responders, eoc, thank you to the people across the state and country for stepping up big. we are at $1.6 million, less than 24 hours after we launched the fund, at 8:00 a.m. this morning. well over $2 million as of a little while ago. and i think we are going to have even more funds at the end of the day and that goes to the people in southwest florida and across the state. god bless you. >> and some of the responders who were ready, the storm has to

go, and some are coming across alligator alley at midnight, knocking on the door of the tropical storm to help people. so the teams from miami-dade, thank them, thank the national guard, thanks the coast guard. they have been able to do a lot of successful missions already, and it's really been great to see everybody working together. part of the reason that happens is because of the coordination at the state level, under kevin guthrie, the emergency management director will provide an update. >> thank you, governor. so, i got here first thing with the governor obviously, talked to the sheriff, the fire chief, emergency management director. everyone thankful of the resources provided. there were a couple handful of missions that have just come up in the last couple of minutes. i'm proud to report we are already mobilizing personnel for

those missions, and also providing the resources. one of those is a generator, so that has already been the source and mobilized so we hope to have that here by midnight tonight on the generator at a minimum, mechanic for the generator in question having some issues is already only 30 minutes out. so, i'm very, very proud of the men and women in the logistic section, they have been very, very flexible and very, very responsive and for exceeding our expectations in the normal disaster like this. so to have the mechanic 30 minutes away is fantastic. that comes from great leadership, starts with the governor, appreciate that, thank you, sir. >> part of the preparations for the storm to have as many resources prestaged to help with critical infrastructure like power, and we were able to go meet with some of the linemen and up in lake city and north florida, and thank them.

these are people from all over the country. coming from louisiana, alabama, texas, and we had over 42,000 at landfall, i'm sure there's more in the state right now, and we are going back to tallahassee from lake city. you saw truck after truck after truck on i-10 eastbound coming in to help respond to this, and part of the reason we were able to do that, we have a lot of utilities that this is not their first rodeo, they take this very seriously, they learned from past storms and they put that knowledge to good use. so, florida power and light has the biggest footprint of personnel brought into the state to help get everybody back and eric is here, the president of fpl, update on their efforts. >> thank you, governor. we have deployed about 20,000 crews across the state of florida just to remind you, the storm is it still battering northeast part of the state.

daytona is being hit right now. we have 1.2 million customers out of power, but we have been able to restore over 700,000 customers before the storm has left the state and we are going to continue to work 24/7 to do so. i'm actually pleased with the systems i've seen further to the west of here is in good shape. at fpl, we did not lose one transmission tower, so backbone is up and operational, and now looking at the substations with flying debris into them and get them back online. there are essentials of the territory along the barrier islands that will require rebuilding. some areas cannot be repaired and they have to be rebuilt. and unfortunately, also homes and businesses will not be able to take the power once it's ready. but the 20,000 plus men and women who are already here are staging tt