♪ geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. tonight on "pbs news weekend"... after the storm -- we get the latest on the ground in florida, where people in the path of hurricane ian are putting their homes and lives back together. then... the revoluti generation -- we look at how the protests in iran, over the killing of a woman in police custody, are being driven by gen z. >> today, men and women in iran are united in wanting to destroy the islamic republic forever. geoff: and... a grand adventure -- we talk to a grandmother and grandson about their goal of visiting every national park in the united states. those stories and the day's headlines on tonight's "pbs news weekend." ♪

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by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: good evening, it's good to be with you. tonight, the remnants of hurricane ian are making their way inland across north carolina and virginia. in the wake of this massive storm, at least 30 people are confirmed dead, mostly in florida, and that number is expected to increase. damage estimates are also growing, and ian is thought to be one of the costliest storms in u.s. history. john yang has this report from florida. john: people ventured back to fort myers any way they could -- by kayak, by bicycle, and gingerly by foot over the widespread wreckage. the city is barely recognizae after being pummeled by ian in a near direct hit.

tammy clementine rode out the storm by clinging to her roof. she lost everything except her dogs. tammy: it was scary as hell, it was like twister. it was scary. i mean everything was just falling in the house. the refrigeratortv's, all brand new stuff. brand new living room set, just got it. no insurance. john: the sheer power of the storm slammed a large boat into this fort myers apartment complex. 25-year-old anthony rivera helped his loved ones to safety. anthony: to see a boat literally right next to myrtment as i'm trying to pull my grandmother and my girlfriend out. that's the scariest thing in the world because i can't stop no boat. you know, i'm not superman. john: 79-year-old stevie scuderi had to swim to an empty second-floor unit for safety. her apartment is ruined. stevie: i just told myself i feel like i want to sit in the corner and cry. i don't know what else to do.

i just don't know. john: over sanibel island, the u.s. coast guard has been on search and rescue missions, hoisting people to safety from the waterlogged island, which is completely cut off. >> how deep is this now? >> at least 2.5, two feet, and it gets deeper as we go that way. john: scott thinnes lives in venice, where the initial storm flooding had receded. but now new flooding from the overwhelmed myakka river is taking over. he took us to his house by boat. this morning, the river was at a record 12.73 feet -- two feet above majoflood stage -- and still rising. neighbor alan pomerleau and his daughter carley stood in waist-deep water helping scott and his wife shannon. shannon: we renovated in 2014 and we put things in the house to be much higher than the highest flood we've ever had so we could sustain things like this without any damage.

and it's gone over our hot water heater, our water system, all of our plugs, so everything we've done to accommodate the river, it's just a record high, so we've gone underwater. john: it's not just humans who are suffering in ian's wake -- animals have paid a price, too. at the wildlife center of southwest florida in venice, they rescue and rehabilitate animals native to the state. pamela defouw is the executive director. pamela: we've seen a lot of birds of prey with fractured wings and a lot of that has to do with the obvious high rate of wind that came through knocking them out of trees. same with the squirrels. you know, they blow out of their nests and then they're laying on the ground for 10 to 12 hours because the storm was so long. john: and the far reaching effects of ian aren't over -- the storm continued its march up the east coast, hitting the carolinas with rains and high winds. and the storm surge knocked out piers along the coast. in florida this afternoon, fema

administrator deanne criswell acknowledged the long road to recovery. ms. criswell: we have already started the planning efforts for what it's gonna take to rebuild these communities and recover from this storm, but also recover in a way that makes them more resilient against some of the impacts from these storms in the future. anthony: this was scary. it was my first ever hurricane experience, it was scary. and i just hope it gets better. john: but for many in southwest florida and beyond, full recovery is still weeks, if not months, away. another distinctive feature about this storm, offials say it caused more water damage than wind damage in florida. you can see theun seekers have returned to the beaches of southwestern florida, that in the days ahead, theris a lot of hard work for a lot of people. geoff: what do we know about the cost of recovery in florida and

elsewhere resulting from hurricane ian? john: some estimates that this could be the most costly storm in u.s. history. by one estimate, up to $100 billion, billion with a b. but a lot of this can't be quantified. i think back to the people we met earlier today in venice, florida, having to use boats to get in and out of their neighborhood, totally inundated by several feet of standing water. in their homes, their mailboxes underwater. none of them lost roofs or a wall and thank goodness none of them lost their lives, but they have water just sitting in their homes. furniture and carpeting can be replaced, but some may have lost family mementos, and you could not put a price tag on that. geoff: john, our thanks to you.

in today's other headlines... russian forces are retreating from the city of lyman to avoid being encircled by ukraine's army. the city is in the eastern donetsk region of ukraine, and is considered a strategic transportation hub. ukrainian forces could be seen today raising their flag over the city. ssia's withdrawal comes just a day after russian president vladimir putin illegally declared donetsk and three other regions as part of russia. ukraine is accusing russia of attacking civilians in the northeast who were trying to evacuate today. 20 people are dead, including children. just yesterday, 30 more civilians were killed in a russian missile attack in zaporizhzhia. russia also detained the head of the nuclear power plant there, saying he's being "held for questioning." the plant is the largest in europe, and has been under russian control for months. the biden administration secured a rare prisoner swap today, freeing seven americans who were imprisoned in venezuela.

the swap includes five american oil executives who were among the so-called citgo 6 held hostage in venezuela for nearly five years. in exchange, the u.s. will release two nephews of president nicholas maduro's wife, who had been jailed in the u.s. on drug smuggling convictions. it marks the largest trade of detained citizens during the biden administration. and a somber anniversary of note -- five years ago today, a lone gunman in a las vegas hotel opened fire on a crowd of tens of thousands attending a country music festival. 60 americans were killed; hundreds more were injured. president biden in a statement today said he and the first lady "mourn with all those who lost a piece of their soul on that day." the massacre remains the deadliest mass shooting in modern u.s. history. and former president jimmy carter -- the oldest living u.s. president -- turns 98 today. a spokesperson says president

carter will celebrate quietly at home today with his family, and watch his favorite major league baseball team, the atlanta braves, on television. happy birthday to him. still to come on "pbs news weekend"... how gen z helped ignite the ongoing protests in iran... and and grandmother and grandson take on the national parks. >> this is "pbs news weekend" from weta studios in washington, home of the "pbs newshour," weeknights on pbs. geoff: we're going to take a look now at the financial markets. the third quarter has come to an end and many investors are wishing it good riddance. the dow jones industrial average saw its worst september since 2002 and its worst monthly drop since march 2020. and the s&p 500 and nasdaq are on track to experience their first three quarter losing streaks since 2009. here to help us make sense of

the markets is roben farzad, host of public radio's full disclosure podcast. roben, it's great to have you with us. around the world, you've got markets reeling. the values of currencies are plunging. oil and other commodities are getting hammered. what is happening? roben: everything, geoff, is ultimately hard wired to the united states' main interest rate that the federal reserve controls. and we've gotten use over decades that just really low interest rate policy in times of crisis. in times of crisis we take interest rates to zero and it's a free for all for real estate and risk asset holders and stocks and nft's and crypto. the problem this time is there's this broadening idea that the fed doesn't have a handle on inflation and it could be so out of its control that it has to keep hiking rate. and so no one knows. they're kind of selling first and asking questions later, whether you talk about the brits, asset markets across the world, emerging markets, corporate debt, junk bonds in the united states, it's really such an overdue reckoning.

and people for years have been saying the 40 year bull market in bonds is over, the 30 year bull market bonds is over. and there's this idea right now that it's finally caught up to us. geoff: and there have been few places for investors to hide because as you mentioned, there's so much volatility. and in the bond market, i mean, what are some of the best practices? what are what are people supposed to do?

-- time was you could look at campbell soupr things that were staid. but i've looked all across. i mean, grocery companies are getting hit because, again, we don't have an institutional memory of of pernicious, persistent inflation. it's something that i often say my dad talks to me about when i was a little kid and he'd showed me the passbook savings accounts and he'd tell me about the price of milk. but in our adulthood, geoff, you know, in my investing lifetime, i haven't had to we really haven't had to deal with inflation. geoff: roben, for people who don't study the markets as closely as you do, but who really only see their retirement accounts plummeting, is a bear market the same as being on the precipice of a recession, or are those two sort of different things? roben: they don't necessarily go into lockstep. we've had so many bear markets just even since the crash of 1987 or the early eighties as a part of a broader kind of broad increase in the s&p 500 and the dow.

but bear markets hurt. p40e that it's taken a 25% haircut. but to answer another question, there is a silver lining. you can finally get yid. you know, let's not underestimate this. with inflation up there, it's keeping the fixed income markets and the dividend markets a little more honest. you could get something like a 3.5% yield on a shorter term treasury or a ten year treasury. certificates of deposits, the banks finally have to pay up after a long period not giving you anything. so there is real yield out there, but it's coldly comforting at a time when we don't know if the fed's going to have to stop at 5%, at 6%, at 7%. what is the cry uncle point? and so again, everyone is selling first and asking questions later. geoff: roben farzad, host of the full disclosure podcast, thanks as always for your insights, friend. roben: my pleasure. thank you, geoff. ♪

geoff: the islamic republic of iran is no stranger to popular uprisings. the regime cracked down on protests in 2009, and again ten years later. but the demonstrations sweeping the country today are different. they're being led by young people, and are playing out both in the streets, and online. ali: after two weeks of protests, and brutal government backlash -- [explosion] iranian activists, predominantly young women, remain defiant. the protests started earlier this year over high prices, but erupted in mid-september after the death of 22-year-old mahsa amini. she died in police custody after being arrested by iran's morality police, who said she was wearing her hijab improperly. [chanting] since demonstrations began, more than 80 people have been killed. >> down with terrorist regime!

ali: and protests have spread to other countries, from the u.s. to turkey, where an iranian woman cut her hair -- a popular act of resistance. nasibe: today, men and women in iran are united in wanting to destroy the islamic republic forever. when women are liberated then the whole society will be liberated. >> hello tiktok. this is me talking from iran. ali: but with social media the preferred battlefield for this generation of protesters, even those iranian women staying inside are finding ways to speak out. >> to help us better understand iran's gen z protesters, i'm joined by holly dagres. she's a fellow with the atlantic council, a washington based think tank, where she is also the editor of the iran sauce blog. -- iran source blog. holly, thank you for joining us. you've previously said that the 2009 green revolution, which was kind of called the social media revolution in iran, is not really the best example of how

social media revolutions in iran can go and that this one actually is much more deserving of that moniker. why is that? and who are these protesters? holly: well, these protesters are led by iranian gen z with women at the forefront. and what's been key here is that iranian gen z, like gen z everywhere, is online. they're on social media. they're on talk instagram. -- they are on tiktok and instagram. and they use social media to express themselves and for their voices to be heard. and what we've been seeing is that they've used this and expressed themselves through lyrics. shervin hajipur, a singer that's based in new zealand, actually used the tweets from actual iranians as part of his lyrics, and some of the needs and wants included the ability to kiss their lover in the streets, to dance in the streets, and for freedom. unfortunately hajipur was arrested by security forces. ali: and security forces are

indeed cracking down very hard. they'resing different censorship means to prevent iranians from getting those messages out. is that going to be something that impedes these protesters's progress or the ability to achieve their goals? or are they finding ways around the regimes crackdowns? holly: since the 2009 post-election protests known as the green movement, the islamic republic has viewed internet and social media as a national security threat. so they've been cracking down hard on the internet over the years. so with much of the world's most popular websites, 35% of the world's websites have been blocked by iran. and the iranians use circumvention tools like virtual private networks to get by. right now, we've been hearing from iranians on the ground. they have to go through dozens of vpns in order to get these messages out to the world. ali: it's truly incredible when you think of the efforts that they have to go to. i want to ask you also about the age difference between the regime, the clerics who run it and these protesters. how is that generational gap

playing into what we're seeing on the ground? holly: well, iranian gen z is under the age of 25. much of the clerical establishment at the top are geriatric, in their own words, of gen z. they have nothing really in common with them. a lot of gen z because they spend time online, do a lot of the same things that gen zers the west do. they make deepfakes, they make memes. and so for exale, there's ageism memes about this cleric by the name of ayatollah jannati. and ayatollah jannati is 95 years old. he's the chairman of the influential guardian council, which is a vetting body. and they actually refer to him as a dinosaur and a t-rex. and so they actually show this in memes that they make. and that should just give you a sense of how disconnected they are with the government in the islamic republic. ali: finally, holly, i want to get your sense of what the biden administration is doing. how do you think that they've responded to these protests so far? holly: well, they've been a

little behind, but they finally caught up in may. it took a while for the biden administration to react toprote. it took about nine days for the u.s. state department spokesperson ned price to actually issue a statement. meanwhile, the state department's persian langge instagram account was posting about soulcycle and crossfit, and so they've definitely done a 180. we now hear condemnation from all levels of government, and that's been very important. we've also seen that they've issued a general license that would be important for internet freedom. and that was something that has been called for for years, even since the trump administration. and now we're finally seeing that done, whether it's going to rely help with things on the ground, that's the question. ali: holly, thank you so much for your time. holly: thank you. ♪ geoff: 92-year-old joy ryan and

her grandson brad have spent the last seven years crisscrossing the u.s. with the goal of visiting every national park. grandma enjoys road trip, as they -- grandma joy's road trip as they call it, started because she said she'd never seen amount before. they join us now. great to see you. brad, you had the idea of the quest in october 2015, and since then, you've been steadily chipping away, visiting every one of the 63 national parks. what prompted this idea? brad: there is this innate desire i had to make sure the sunset of her life was filled with as many memories as we could pack in. because she had a willing spirit and showed she still had a lot of adventure left to live, when we went on that first trip,

climbing mountains and camping, and all the things that blew me away, i did not see a reason to stop. geoff: when your grandson suggested the trip, what was your response? joy: i said yeah, i'm ready to go. [laughter] geoff: did you know it involved camping outside and kayaking and mountain climbing and the holding? joy: yeah, but i am willing to try anything once. brad: we did not know what we were getting into until we were thrown into it. we arrived at a campground in the smokies at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning, it was pouring down rain. we ate a lot of ramen noodles on a budget when we did our 2018 camping, but it was nothing but joyful honestly. geoff: how is it changed your relationship? brad: i tell folks, i think every family has good and bad, and it is helpful and healing to

be able to work all of that out through conversation. everything comes to the surface eventually and you just work it out, and at the end of the day, nature is that equalizer. geoff: ms. ryan, which of the parks has been your favorite? joy: i had never seen a whale in my whole life except on a picture. when we went to the islands in california, one jumped right in frt of me and it was miraculous. geoff: i also saw a picture of you, i think it was in alaska, in a helicopter. and you could see glaciers in the distance. joy: yeah, it was an exciting trip, i can tell you that. we had a good time. thank heavens the pilot knew what he was doing. [laughter] geoff: how has all of this traveling changed your

perspective and changed you as a person? joy: i have lived in the same district, the same house for 57 years. it is hard to imagine the beautiful and wonderful things you find outside. it has just been miraculous. i have enjoyed every minute of it. it will give me something when i get old to sit and talk about. [laughter] geoff: yes ma'am. it has been a joy to speak to you both. after your trip to american samoa, i hope you will tell us about it. brad: thank you. joy: thank you. ♪ geoff: and that's our program for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. for all of us at "pbs news weekend," thanks for spending part of your saturday with us. >> major funding for "pbs news weekend" has been provided by -- ♪

d with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions -- ♪ this proam was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

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