minutes on "morning joe." >> and baseball. >> hopefully get to baseball, too. >> thank you, everybody. thank you, mike. thank you, everybody, for getting up "way too early" with us on this thursday morning. we'll have complete coverage of hurricane milton this morning on "morning joe," which starts right now. good morning. welcome to "morning joe." it is thursday, october 10th. let's get right to the latest with republican milton, which made landfall last night as a powerful category 3 storm near siesta key, florida, carving a path of destruction after slamming florida's west coast and bringing life-threatening storm surge and flash flooding. right now, milton has been downgraded to a category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of about 85 miles an hour. it'll move off the east coast of florida a short time ago. the hurricane battering the state with dozens of dangerous tornadoes, as well, destroying an estimated 125 homes. in st. lucie county, a tornado was deadly, killing at least two

people in a mobile home retirement community. the sheriff there says his county is in 100% rescue mode. as the reason moved through the region, milton ripped off a portion of the roof of tropicana field, home to the tampa bay rays, used as a shelter for first responders to aid with storm relief. extreme winds also tearing down traffic lights, scattering debris across roadways, and even sending a large crane into a building. more than 3 million homes and businesses now in the dark after power outages have been reported across the state. this hour, we'll be joined by the mayors of sarasota and fort myers, florida, to get a sense of what they're seeing as the sun begins to come up this morning. first, joining us live from fort myers is nbc's jay gray. what's the latest on the ground there? >> reporter: yeah, let's talk where the storm is. we've gotten word from the national hurricane center, the eye of the storm has moved off the eastern coast. that's good news.

this storm is moving through. much calmer here now, obviously, on the west coast. fort myers, it was a rough and tumble night. strong winds, driving rain causing serious problems across the entirety of lee county and really the entire peninsula as this storm moved through. we know there are more than 3 million people without power right now. storm surge, we talked a lot about that before landfall. it did cause problems here in fort myers, pushing water into businesses along the coastline. we'll know more about that as you talk about, when the sun comes up. standing water in downtown four meyers for a significant amount of time, as well. we know there were several high-water rescues in the path of this storm. we know those tornadoes turned deadly on the east coast. more than two dozen tornadoes reported. one here in ft. myers that ripped the roof from a home, damaged several businesses, as well. again, a better assessment when we get some daylight.

right now, we know this storm left significant damage, not only here but across the state. >> jay, we'd worried about tampa taking its first direct hit in more than 100 years. early reports suggesting that perhaps the storm surge not as bad as some expected. not to say there won't be widespread damage as we make up this morning. but what are you hearing from the tampa area? >> reporter: no, i think you're absolutely right. look, for so long, this storm was tracking directly at tampa. that's something that doesn't happen all that often. it did jog just a bit before landfall, and it looks like that may have been a move that really allowed tampa not to get the hit that they were going to see with this storm. yes, there's been some flooding. storm surge is an issue, but not to 15 feet like forecasters feared as the storm was targeting tampa. also, remember, we have issues not only with the storm surge but freshwater flooding.

flash flooding from rain. we've seen rain in some areas, including the tampa area, well over 15 inches with this storm. water still the primary issue. wind has caused problems. you talked about the roof at tropicana field. there are several other areas where wind has done damage. as we always see with these storms, it's the water that is the most significant problem, and it seems to be that way in tampa and in other areas where this storm has moved through. >> nbc's jay gray, we'll let you get out and look around some more. we'll talk a little later. live from fort myers, florida, jay, thanks so much. let's head over to meteorologist angie lassman for a look at where the storm is and where it is headed from here. good morning. >> morning, willie. it's still a category 1 hurricane, but the good news is it is moving offshore. the center of circulation is over the atlantic waters. winds are maintaining 85 miles per hour. this system stayed a hurricane from start to finish across the florida peninsula. we'll continue to see it move

offshore. we're seeing the heavy rain from the outer bands draped across the central and eastern portions of the coast of the state of florida. daytona beach to orlando, that's where we're pinpointing the heaviest of the rain right now. we have ongoing really strong winds, as well. if we zoom in and show you exactly what we're dealing with as far as the rain is concerned, torrential rain from daytona beach, just ending in palm coast. looking along i-94 toward orlando, heavy rain there. we have ongoing water rescues happening from emergency officials there. this will likely be going on another hour or so. again, the system is moving fast. it is going to start to wrap up here, and we'll see better conditions on the way here for the second half of the day, specifically. even by late morning, this system is well out over the atlantic and not causing us much problems when it comes to especially the west coast of florida. we're still dealing with some storm surge. we know we likely got double-digit storm surge values across part of the west coasts of florida. sarasota, venice, we'll see the numbers come in today as we

assess the damage with daylight. we have ongoing storm surge for the east coast. jacksonville to melbourne, we have the winds. on top of that, this has been a big concern, the impressive rainfall across the state that was already saturated, by the way. we still have the flash flood warnings in effect for a good chunk of the central portions of the state. notice the river flood warnings. the peace river, no surprise we have those ongoing moderate to even flood stages happening with all that storm surge that has pushed into places like port charlotte. that'll be one of the shots we'll likely see high amounts, just with the geography of how port charlotte will likely see some of the most impressive storm surges. when it comes to the flash flooding today, the good news, like i said, it'll wind down. we'll still see the potential for it as we get the rain bands working through this morning, but nothing quite as impressive as what we were expecting in

places like, say, st. pete as we went into the overnight hours last night. here's some of the totals already. over 18 inches of rain in st. petersburg. just ridiculous kind of rainfall hourly rates. over 5 inches of rain was falling at one point between 7:00 and 8:00 last night. the flooding concerns will be there. it'll take a little while for the water to recede, as well. of course, we can't forget about the wind. this has been impressive. we've seen gusts over 100 miles per hour for the west coast as the center of the storm came on shore. we're dealing with tropical storm force winds for the east coast of florida. we have hurricane winds, as well. orlando is seeing 72-mile-per-hour winds. we've got daytona beach at 78 miles per hour. the ongoing rain threat and wind threat is still there, and it'll take a little time, willie, for the storm surge also to recede. we have seen it peak with the high tide time coming around 6:00 for places like tampa and points out. >> we were talking to jay about

tampa. there was so much concern. the mayor, mayor castor warned her residents, if you don't leave if you're in one of these zones, you will die. it'll be unsurvivable. do you have a sense from what you've seen, the data you're getting in this morning, of how hard tampa actually was hit? >> tampa escaped the worst of what we feared when it came to the worst of the storm surge. if the center of circulation came on shore just 20 miles to the north at the mouth of tampa bay or even across st. petersburg, we would be talking about a very different scenario for tampa bay. instead, they got a different aspect of the storm that added insult to injury. we had ridiculous rainfall happening. the flooding was widespread across that area. on top of that, we also had the worst of the eyewall work through there. that meant winds over 100 miles per hour. you've seen, likely, the visuals from st. pete with tropicana field, with the roof shredded. we've seen a crane collapse.

as daylight comes, willie, we'll see the wind damage be quite impressive, likely all the trees down. the power outages were quite widespread, as well. that'll just become more evidence, i think. they didn't escape it when it comes to damage, per se, but they did escape the worst of the storm surge. unfortunately for sarasota and points south, we saw the worst of it. again, likely double digit storm surge values by the time this is all said and done. >> we'll get a better sense then the sun comes up. angie lassman, appreciate it. joining us, the mayor of sarasota, florida. liz albert. sarasota is where milton made landfall. siesta key about 8 miles away. we spoke to you 24 hours ago. you were prepared for the worst. what are you seeing this morning? >> well, surprisingly, it's at

least from what we're able to get to, it's not as bad on the mainland. we have not been able to get out to the barrier islands. in sarasota, the bridge going out to the island there, the small bridge that we have, the westbound lanes are compromised so we are not going to be able to use those. the florida department of transportation has to get out and check that out because of the rising water. lots and lots and lots of trees down from what i'm hearing. so our team has been out. a lot of power outages. you can see i've got some lights working, some lights are not. no power in my building. about 76% of the city doesn't have power.

you know, it didn't seem -- i live just right across the street from sarasota bay. you know, it's not the gulf but the bay. water did not come over us-41 where i am. we didn't get any water in our parking lot, but, you know, out on the barrier islands, we fear that there was an awful lot of wind blowing around. it was really a pretty horrific night, and i think once we're able to get out there, you know, we're going to find a whole lot of damage. >> i mentioned milton roared on shore at siesta key, a beautiful island, barrier island there, not too far from where you're sitting. do you have any sense of how many people may have stayed on the island, or did people heed the warnings to evacuate? >> we have not -- what they told me at the emergency operation

center is that we actually had no calls for service. no deaths. you know, no injuries, as nearly as we can tell. you know, that's really unusual, nobody called for rescue. so my sense is they must have evacuated. >> good news. >> madam mayor, a lot of talk ahead of the storm about the risk that disinformation and misinformation posed to residents there, unsure of who to believe or what to do. sometimes being told blatantly untrue things by leading candidates. what effort did you take to sort of combat that, and your level of concern here in the aftermath of the storm as the rebuilding effort begins, that the disinformation could still continue? >> we put a lot of information out on our social media. you know, constant posting. we put stuff on our website. the major way that we've been

communicating to everybody is through social media. to get the word out, you know, to send out regular email updates to our neighborhoods so that they can put it out to, you know, their residents. we've tried really hard to make sure people have the correct information about what was going on and who to contact. we'll be putting out information now, again, as we did after helene, as to how to get disaster assistance and if you need help, where you go and what's going on. >> i understand, mayor alpert, president biden called you directly last night. to the extent you're comfortable, can you share what you two talked about? are you confident that you will have today and the weeks going forward, the support you need from the federal government? >> yes. he was -- it was a surprise.

i was glad i happened to pick up the phone. he just said, you know, "mayor alpert, this is president biden." you know, i was a little shocked. i wasn't expecting that. he just said, you know, "tell me what you need down there. whatever you need, we'll get it to you. just let me know." gave me his phone number. you know, said he was thinking of us. so i thought that was really, really very nice of him. very nice of him to call. >> you're confident you'll have the support you need from the biden administration and from fema? >> absolutely. we have been getting the support. secretary buttigieg called me a couple of days ago. you know, senator scott had called me. the president's administration, the vice president's office has called me.

you know, they have been in touch. fema has been in touch. we are getting what we need from the federal government, yes. >> we are sending our best to you and the citizens of your town. i know you have a long day ahead. we appreciate you stopping through with us this morning. the mayor of sarasota, florida, liz alpert. thank you for your time today. >> thank you, willie. still ahead on "morning joe," we'll be joined by the mayor of fort myers, florida, after a suspected tornado damaged several homes there before hurricane milton made landfall. "morning joe" is coming back in just 90 seconds.

ripped through here. devastating tornado. it took out the red-iron building with our patrol cars underneath it. thankfully, nobody was in there at the time. this thing came through and took this out within a moment. we hear the winds going. we'll step back and go back inside for shelter. again, if you're seeing this video and you're getting these warnings, take cover. take shelter. this is a real storm. this is a dangerous storm. be safe. know we're out here to get ya. >> that is the sheriff of st. lucie county, florida, urging residents to stay inside because of tornadoes in the area yesterday. the building was used to store

patrol cars, vehicles, other equipment used by the sheriff's office. more than 100 tornado warnings were issued across the state. this video shows a tornado touching down near i-75 in broward county along florida's east coast. joining us now from sarasota, senior national correspondent tom llamas. good morning. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: willie, yeah, we just got up now. it's still obviously very dark here in sarasota, florida. this is some of the damage at a marina here. this was a houseboat. some kind of maybe a bait shack. it was obviously turned upside down because of hurricane milton last night. we were up all last night reporting on this storm as it came in. it made landfall just south of us in siesta key. the winds were north of 100 miles per hour. sustained winds for more than two hours last night. we saw the storm surge as it came from nowhere to up to 5 to 6 feet. we're waiting on some of the gauges. a lot of the gauges in this area

weren't working last night pause the storm was so powerful. we're waiting on some of that information right now. hundreds of thousands -- as i walk over here, willie, these are condos and hotels. you'd see them lit up at night. complete darkness. only a few buildings have generator power or emergency lights on. there's 230,000 customers just in sarasota county without power right now. it was a very dangerous and wild night last night. this was an evacuation zone, so hopefully people got out. you know, even when the eye was over us, which is a very calm time, it would actually -- it felt like any summer night when the eye was over us. people started leaving and driving out. suddenly, the back side of the hurricane hit us, and it was the most dangerous part of the night. it was like that 2, 3 hours. it's darkness here and there are so many power outages. once the sun rises, you have a better sense. last night, you couldn't escape the hurricane regardless of where you live in florida. we were on the air anchoring 4,

5 hours last night. we were talking to people in daytona dealing with the threat of tornadoes. west palm beach, st. lucie county. if the hurricane didn't hit you, it was tornadoes hitting you. willie? >> tom, you mentioned the experience of being in it last night. we have video of you and your team reporting really at the height of the storm as it made landfall. having to seek shelter. can you share with our viewers who maybe have never experienced this, what it is like to be in the middle of that? >> reporter: yeah. as i was telling you, willie, you know, we were in the eye. the eye of the storm, basically it's calm. there's no wind. there's not even rain. it's pretty incredible. it's a weather phenomenon that only happens in a hurricane. you can have chaos all around you and, yet, if you're in the eye, it feels like any regular saturday night. people started to come out. they started to get a little reckless. doing donuts in their pickup trucks, that kind of thing. suddenly, the winds changed. it got really dangerous, really fast. if we have the clip here, we can roll that now with the sound.

>> welcome back to live coverage of hurricane milton. the situation in sarasota is turning dire. at first, we had -- oh, we have to go. we have to go. >> reporter: yeah, so, willie, right there, what happened, essentially, we'd come out of a break. the backside of the hurricane had started. i didn't even notice the transformer behind us had exploded, but i could see the reaction on our crew's faces. it was times to go. everybody was okay. we broadcast the entire night from a concrete structure. it goes to show that within minutes, we can go from absolute calm to chaos to that type of danger. that as the storm surge was coming in, as well. >> we appreciate your coverage, tom. you and your team. we'll let you survey the damage this morning. nbc news senior national correspondent tom llamas, thanks. joining us now, mayor kevin anderson of fort myers, florida. thanks for your time this morning. as the sun now begins to come up, what are you seeing and

hearing there? >> well, we're starting to see that the water is receding, especially in the downtown area. haven't been able to really get out and do an assessment of the entire city yet. >> so the accounts last night as the hurricane made landfall in siesta key, moved through to sarasota. hopefully, what we're hearing early, that maybe the storm surge, though large, isn't as large as was expected. what about in fort myers? >> much less than i expected. i had been warning people this was going to be a seriously strong storm with a lot of storm surge. we probably got about the same amount of water in our downtown area that we got during helene. >> mr. mayor, reports of about 3 million customers in florida without power. we note you're sitting there, appears to be in the dark. can you give us an update as to what's happening there, how widespread the power outages are

in your community? >> i can tell you in the city of fort myers, we're looking at a little over 18,000 people being without power. >> and have you had any reports to this point about injuries or people stranded? how has the 911 call volume been? >> the fire department and police department are out there working the backlog and 911 calls. i have not heard of serious injuries or loss of life. >> all right. we certainly hope all of that holds up as you're able to get out and survey this damage. we're sending our best to you, sir. mayor kevin anderson of fort myers, florida. thank you very much. coming up, the former mayor of new orleans, mitch landrieu, is standing by. he took office as the city was recovering from hurricane katrina and in the midst of the bp oil spill. we'll talk about the politics of disaster relief straight ahead on "morning joe."

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he can't keep up with his squad. so now we're his “squad”. what are kevin's plans for the fall? he's going to college. out of state, yeah. -yeah in the fall. change of plans, i've decided to stay local. oh excellent! oh that's great! why would i ever leave this? -aw! we will do anything to get him gaming again. you and kevin need to fix this internet situation. heard my name! i swear to god, kevin! -we told you to wait in the car. everyone in my old squad has xfinity. less lag, better gaming! i'm gonna need to charge you for three people.

in the hours and days ahead, president biden and i and our administration will continue to do everything we can to protect the people who have been in the path of this storm. and once the storm has passed, we will be there to help folks recover and rebuild. as we continue to do for those communities in florida, georgia, north and south carolina, and across the southeast who have been devastated by hurricane helene. >> vice president kamala harris speaking virtually yesterday at the white house ahead of the

arrival of hurricane milton. the administration says president biden was briefed on the situation in florida shortly after hurricane milton made landfall last night. earlier in the day, the president approved an emergency declaration for the state, allowing thousands of federal personnel to be on the ground. that includes search and rescue teams. the president says they've been prepositioned as close to the storm as possible. biden says he's also been in close contact with state and city officials, as we heard just a moment ago. president biden yesterday also called out donald trump and republican congressman marjorie taylor greene of georgia for spreading misinformation. the former president has been lying about the federal response to hurricane helene, while congresswoman greene has been pushing absurd conspiracies online. one, that the federal government can control the weather. >> the last few weeks, there have been reckless, irresponsible, and disinformation and outright lies

about what's going on. it is undermining confidence for the people in florida. and incredible rescue operations and work taken. there are thousands of fellow americans putting their lives at stake, putting it on the line to do the dangerous work that needs to be done now. it's harmful to those who most need the help. quite frankly, these lies are un-american. there is simply no place for them. not now, not ever. former president trump has led this onslaught of lies. assertions have been made that property is being confiscated. that's simply not true. they're saying people impacted by the storms receive $750 in cash and no more. that is simply not true either. they're saying that money needed for these crises are being diverted to migrants. what the heck are they talking about? stop it. it's outrageous. it's just not true. now, the claims are getting even more bizarre.

marjorie taylor greene, the congresswoman from georgia, is now saying the federal government is literally controlling the weather. we're controlling the weather. it's beyond ridiculous. it's so stupid. it's got to stop. >> president biden speaking from the white house yesterday. mike barnicle joins the table. mike, sometimes we have to stop and think about what we're talking about. the president of the united states, from the white house, has to go on tv to address the american people to say, "the government does not control the weather." we have a congressman from carolina had to put out a memo to his residents, citing experts, saying, "no, the government doesn't have the technology to engineer a hurricane that would hit only red states." the $750 donald trump has been talking about ad nauseam, they're only giving $750 to people who need it while we're giving all the money to immigrants, ukraine, and all that. $750 is a new thing the biden administration put in a few

months ago. that's the first step. here's $750 to get you the diapers and the baby formula and clothes to get you back on your feet. there's more coming. we're going to go through more of this this morning. it is -- you expect it from a back bencher conspiracy theorist from georgia. >> do you really, though? >> from her? yes, i do, actually. from her, you expect those conspiracies. but from a leading presidential candidate, it's beyond dangerous. >> this is the leading presidential candidate, and during his term in office, he tried to alter the map of where the hurricane came from because it disappeared. the actual path of it. >> with a sharpie, yeah. >> marjorie taylor greene, what can you say? you have people in this country who actually listen to her. they find some credibility, perhaps, in something she says. there are people like thachlt it is beyond belief. it is beyond description.

it is beyond us talking about it. it's crazy land. >> it's another way of chipping away at american institutions. biden administration officials i spoke to yesterday deeply afraid that the trump supporters, people who listen to trump and his claims, aren't going to heed the calls fromlocal, federal officials. they won't believe them. that i stay and get in harm's way. or they'll refuse to get the aid from the federal government. happened after helene. fears now for florida. >> contrasting the actual damage done by the hurricanes on the ground and the danger it presents to people on the ground, and the damage, the damage that the trump administration, former president himself and people like marjorie taylor greene, the damage they have done to the institutional faith that some people have in the government, that you're going to get your retirement check, that you're going to get your social security, that the government will perform for you. the government will help you in times of need or trouble, as we

are witnessing here in florida. that damage is lasting. >> it is. i guess the good news is, as we've been saying the last few days, the republican leaders in these states where these storms are actually hitting have spoken out and say, "no, the conspiracy theories are not true. you can trust fema. they are here to help." but, as you say, so many people take donald trump's word and run with it. let's bring in national co-chair for the harris-walz campaign, mitch landrieu. he served new orleans when hurricane katrina came through. you lived this. you've been through this. any mayor of new orleans has. what does a mayor do in preparation when they know a storm of this magnitude is about to arrive on your shores? >> thank you for that. i was lieutenant governor when katrina hit. then rita, ike, the oil spill, and a host of other ones when i was mayor of the city. if there was ever a time the

phrase, out of many, we are one, is important, it's at a catastrophic event. people are at their most vulnerable state. they're scared. they need good information. they need to trust what they're hearing. the good responses involve clear command and control, clear communication, and really excellent coordination between whoever the president might be, the governors, the elected officials, ems, fire. all these things have to hit in order for people to do the most important thing, which is to get out of harm's way. it looks like, really, all of the governors across the southern states and, of course, governor desantis in florida did an excellent job of making sure that, in working with the president, working with fema, people got out. so i just heard the mayor of fort myers say he doesn't think there was loss of life. that's critically important. the other side of that, when somebody tries to undermine that, when somebody tries to use whatever agency they have, whatever power they have to turn people's pain against them for their own political purpose, that is not the kind of person

you want holding the wheel when you've got a cat 5 storm barrelling against you. of course, that's the great danger and the pain. all the people in florida right now that are out of power, they don't know what happened to the power. they don't know whether they lost everything that they have. they don't really know how and when they're going to get back. they have to be able to trust the folks on the ground. that's why what marjorie taylor greene said and, of course, what donald trump said, which should not surprise anybody, that's what the guy's character. is he turns everything he touches to dirt. that's the leader we'll have if we put him back in the oval office again. it'll hurt people a lot. >> yeah. mr. mayor, i was thinking about you and katrina and the storms you experienced down there, kind of happened before this age of social media, when conspiracy theories could spread so quickly. now, there certainly within many conspiracy theories about hurricane katrina. we won't give air to those here this morning. but how different is it today than when you were overseeing relief for hurricane katrina? not just that, you now have a

man at the top of the republican party who millions of americans trust and listen to, who is pushing all this bad information. they may get that instead of the truth. >> right. well, a couple -- just very basic things. if someone has bad character and it causes them to make bad choices, and those bad choices equal bad consequences, that's what donald trump has displayed since the day he came down the golden elevate r e. he's just getting better at being bad. of course, you have social media which can be the fuel to make it go faster and harder, and it gets that much worse. i want to cautious, the president of the united states, joe biden, kamala harris and her team with fema, and the governors have done an excellent job of getting people ready. they have to be able to listen to the folks that are on the ground, that know the most, and hope that most of the people will listen to them. it has long-lasting and damage effects. my question to the people of america, why would you want a guy that doesn't tell the truth

as something so serious as a storm, to be the guy that puts his finger on the nuclear button for the rest of the world? to me, it seems to strain credibility. people know who he is. people need to make a decision about what pathway they want to go. the choice from my perspective is clear. >> the question you posed, you have a dual role. you're campaigning across the country for the democratic ticket, for the vice president to win the presidency in november. what do you say when you're confronted by people across the country, good, ordinary people who lost faith in the government, who halfway believe some of the things, as preposterous as they might be. they've come from donald trump or marjorie taylor greene. what do you say to them? >> there are people who are legitimately confused. they don't know who to listen to. this is where the hard work of democracy takes place, person to person. you're going to have to talk to people, convince them, and

re-earn their trust. if you're pushing a rock up a hill, they're on the other side, pushing it down. it's someone who has the best interest of the country at heart or their own selfish interest in heart. to make this as clear as possible, donald trump has always demonstrated that he is for himself. if he has to use other people's pain for his purpose and his power, so he can use it and help some of his wealthy friends, he's demonstrated time and again he'll do that. if he'll do it now, there is nothing he will not do. it's really a damn shame, to be honest with you. but to the credit of the governors in the south, many of them republicans, they stood with joe biden. they stood with kamala harris. they told the people what needed to be done. even though there's catastrophic damage, both from helene and, of course, from milton, we're going to pull ourselves out of this. we can only do it if we do it together. that's the big point. that's the big point here. >> yeah, the lies really are appalling always, but especially in this moment when so many people need so much help.

let me ask you, finally, mayor, just your sort of snapshot, your state of the race. under four weeks to go, what is it important for the harris campaign to be doing to get over the finish line? >> everything everywhere. this will be a very, very close race. it's really not changed over the last eight, ten weeks, even before that. this is a fourth and goal with no time-out left on the clock. it's just going to be about who has the best team, the best message. who has the most money? who has the best ground game, the best organized, the best strategy? we believe we do. it'll be a clos race. the vice president has done a great job in the weeks she's been here, and we'll pull it out. >> co-chair this is right harris-walz campaign, former mayor of new orleans and lieutenant governor of new orleans, great to have your experience and expertise. >> thanks. joining us now, the mayor of tampa, florida, jane castor. thanks for being with us this morning.

the sun is coming up there. there were great fears. you issued some dire warnings about what could happen if people stayed in place in tampa. what are you seeing today? >> well, we're seeing a lot of wind damage. for us, the best-case scenario in a really bad situation. the storm hit south a bit rather than north of us. so we've got a lot of wind damage, about half a million people out of electricity. our first responders are out there clearing roads right now, answering hundreds of calls. we didn't see that massive storm surge that was expected, so very, very fortunate in that falk vor. >> thank goodness. we're getting reports from the tampa fire chief there were more than 100 rescue calls made overnight. you speak to some of those efforts? >> yes. i know that fire responded to several houses with trees on those.

one individual actually sustained a head injury. they were able to safely transport him. tampa police department responded to tree fell on a home where they rescued 15 individuals, including a number of young kids. were able to get them safely to shelter. our first responders are out there doing an amazing job. we just can't have the community out there right now. i'll tell you what, i can't say enough about fema and the federal government, the way they have played in our preparation for this. i just got a text early this morning from administrator criswell saying, "how did you do? what do you need?" thank you to the feds. thank you to the state of florida, what they've done to help us. now, we have to respond to all of the damage that is out there. but we'll get through this. we'll come out even stronger. >> we've been hearing that message about fema and the state

government from mayors up and down the coast this morning. the big fear, as you've been pointing out, for the last several days, mayor castor, was about the potentially historic storm surge. how much storm surge are you seeing today? >> so the rivers and everything are going to crest. right now, and this is very tentative, it was at or below helene. that was 4 to 6 feet. they were talking about the -- predictions were 12 to 15 feet if that storm had gone up to the northern side of the tampa bay. so we'll have storm surge damage but nothing like what it could have been. it could have been catastrophic for tampa bay. >> we're sending our best to you and the people of tampa. we'll let you get out in the city and survey some of the damage. the mayor of tampa, florida. >> getting up in the helicopter right now. thank you. >> all right. we'll talk to you. thank you, mayor. appreciate it. the aftermath of hurricanes

helene and milton has left residents again scrambling for ways to fortify their homes. the cost of doing so, very expensive. correspondent stephanie gosk has details. >> reporter: in the middle of hurricane helene -- >> we saw the water come into the house. we immediately filed the claims. >> reporter: er pediatrician meagan martin was worried about insurance, showing damage to her home on social media. >> now you have milton barrelling in. >> reporter: as an er doctor, when the crisis hits, i go into focus mode. >> reporter: this is what her st. petersburg, florida, neighborhood looks like after helene. >> what have your premiums been like in recent years? >> lived in our house eight years. both homeowners and flood insurance tripled. >> reporter: they pay the highest premiums in the country. $11,000 annually for homeowners. flood insurance is separate, and it is not going to pay for everything. dr. martin says she is covered for $25,000 but facing $75,000

in damage. that's all before milton hits. her neighborhood is facing a complicated thicket of claims. helene was a water event. milton will be a wind and a water event. different insurance covers different things. how are they going to determine what was damaged by which storm? hurricane ian from two years ago may be an indication of what homeowners are up against. after massive damage on florida's west coast, a "washington post" investigation found some policyholders received less than 20% of what they claimed in damages. some insurers have even pulled out of florida all together. the director for the national center for disaster preparedness at columbia university says the insurance market is under pressure due to climate change. >> we're seeing hurricanes intensifying more quickly, carrying more rainfall. unless we get ahead of that, there's really no possibility of creating an insurance market when you're constantly being battered and having to have record payouts.

>> reporter: fixes, he says, includes changing where and how buildings are constructed. but that's not going to help dr. martin now. >> you have to brace yourself for the storm, then you have to brace yourself for higher premiums. >> we'll be pricing ourselves out of this community, unfortunately. >> stephanie gosk reporting there. joining us now, steve rattner, economic analyst, and "the washington post"'s jackie alemany. steve, the estimates are all over the place for how much the combination of helene and milton will cost the state of florida. suffice it to say, it'll be maybe in the $200 billion, something like that. to the point of stephanie gosk's piece there, what does all that mean for insurance premiums, for people who are trying to protect their homes if they want to stay in florida? >> look, we have a general problem with insurance premiums, which have been going up substantially for property and casualty type of insurance. it's because of all these -- and partly because of the abnormal

weather patterns which raised losses. therefore, the insurance companies have to recover those losses. it's a very tough time on insurance. insurance has been going up, even before these two storms. insurance rates, as every homeowner probably knows, have been going up substantially, even in low double digits. this is simply going to exacerbate that problem. >> as the water continues to get warmer from climate change, the storms get faster and more powerful. how do insurance companies look at this? at some point, do they get out of the game? >> i was about to say, they are starting to get out of the game. there are parts of the country where -- that are susceptible to potentially more of these weather events, where insurance companies are pulling back and literally not offering insurance. yeah, it is a tough problem. it's all wrapped up in climate change. it's all wrapped up in all the things we've done to our paying that. yes, homeowners not only will pay higher prices, but in some

places, they'll have trouble getting insurance at all. >> jackie, let's talk about congress' role in responding to the hurricanes. president biden suggested he might call them back to pass this relief fund. give us the latest on the efforts there, and are we going to be looking at a partisan fight over this relief as we're a few weeks away from the election? >> well, lawmakers are staring down a post-helene and milton budgetary shortfall when it comes to fema. fema officials told our colleagues the individual assistance program and short-term things, the way that fema is able to address emergency supplies, things like food, water, baby formula, that program is not facing a shortfall. they can respond to those immediate needs. then in terms of the long-term recovery, that's where the white house has been urging congress to consider returning to pass emergency appropriations. we should be very clear, congress is the only entity here that can actually appropriate

money, despite what republicans are peddling. obviously, congress passed a short-term bill that gave fema $20 billion a few weeks ago, before they left for recess, but it left out the money the white house had been encouraging them to pass for the longer-term recovery efforts. that puts in danger the public assistance program. that is the big problem here. that's when the federal government reimbursed state and local cleanup. lawmakers are not supposed to return to the hill until november 12th, but that seems untenable, given the damages we're already seeing. mike johnson, speaker of the house, has said we need to give states some time to assess just how much damage there is. as you just noted, joe biden is already encouraging lawmakers to consider coming back. they could, without coming back, pass something by unanimous consent. that would require all 535 members agreeing to some appropriations trigger, which is bound to be a political fight.

despite some of the accusations you're seeing republicans throw at democrats over the lack of funding and lack of resources at fema, which is, again, right now, a lot of disinformation that's swirling around. >> steve, on the insurance issue, what happens to potential home buyers in these areas who want to purchase a home. they get a bank loan. the bank wants insurance. what if the companies are saying, we're not insuring you. you're too close to the water or whatever? >> that's a potentially huge problem. we haven't had too much of that problem yet, in the sense that some insurance companies will pull out of an area, then someone else will come in and so on. why does someone else come in when the first guy pulls out? partly because they see an opportunity to charge much higher rates because there's no competition anymore. there's only going to be one insurance company offering coverage in that area. homeowners are looking to buy a house and will find, again, their insurance bills are going to be huge. as i said, they've already been going up in double digits, i

think, over the last couple of years. as insurance companies price into their rates the cost of dealing with disasters like this. it's another huge problem we're facing that really stems from global warming. >> we heard from the florida resident in stephanie gosk's piece saying, we're going to be priced out of this area, out of florida. we can't pay the insurance premiums. another economic question, steve. we were talking about the $750 payment the federal government is giving to people who qualify under hurricane helene and now milton. donald trump has attempted to make some political hay out of that, saying, can you believe they're throwing crumbs at these people? $750. it's a program that was long ag. it's an initial payment to get you back on your feet. explain what the payment is and what could come after that for people suffering. >> yeah, this is obviously completely miscon trued. this is an effort to make fema more able to respond more

quickly and provide assistance to residents much more quickly, by giving them something. as you said earlier in the show, they can simply buy the necessities of life. then fema comes in with a full package of assistance. from everything i've seen, read, heard, and people i've talked to, fema is executing this as well as anything has ever been executed. they're very much on their game. a full package of assistance will be available to all these people. as jackie was talking about, it'll cost a lot of money, but it'll be appropriated. even in a divided congress, we have a long history of aiding people in these disaster areas. it is not something you wish for anybody, to be on fema's assistance. it is not pleasant. but i think you'll see fina responding with full assistance and getting high marks for how they're responding to these problems. >> jackie, fema has been the dangers of disinformation and

misinformation. president biden was sharply critical of donald trump. also, marjorie taylor greene. and congress, we've had a couple republican lawmakers have to put out statements rebutting claims that these storms are engineer bid the federal government and warning residents of their districts to please listen to the federal, local, state officials and their warnings about these storms. speak about the frustration level, of this divide within the republican party. it must be so frustrating that fellow republicans, including the leader of the party, are putting their constituents in danger. >> yeah, u.s. congressman chuck edwards of carolina put out a statement saying the government is not geo-engineering the hurricane. this is extremely frustrating for the republicans on the ground dealing with constituents who are reeling from this disaster. in a time like this, where individuals are so reliant on our institutions, the only thing that really makes things worse

is this disinformation that people are putting out there for political expediency's sake. people like marjorie taylor greene and a raft of these house freedom caucus types who, you know, are continuing a long trend of disinformation. everything from the election to now milton. but i think they're going to have to face a reckoning when it comes to the decision to actually appropriate. as steve said, there is a long history of congress coming together to ultimately pass something. i believe during hurricane katrina, that's the last time congress did come together for a unanimous consent to approve fund, emergency funding right away. again, as an entire entity without returning to congress. i'm not sure that's doable with this congress, given the level of differences that we're seeing from lawmakers and the levels of disinformation we're seeing. but it is going to put members on the spot. john, we discussed this yesterday. people like congresswoman luna,

representing a district right now in a swing district that has been really hurt by the storm. st. petersburg. after she's been attacking fema for the last few weeks, is she really going to vote against appropriating funds for her constituents and having to answer to them? i don't think that is the politically smart move for her. >> or the right thing to do as their representative. "the washington post"'s jackie alemany, thanks so much. steve rattner, thank you, as well. still ahead, we'll continue to bring you live reports from across the state of florida as we're now getting a better sense, a better view of the damage left behind by hurricane milton which now has moved out into the atlantic. "morning joe" is coming right back.

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morning, everyone. it's about 4:30 in the morning. the sheriff's office is responding to calls. our cut teams are cutting trees, trying to open some of the roadways. there are downed power lines and trees everywhere. please stay indoors. we'll let you know when it is safe to come out. >> sheriff of hillsborough county, florida, including tampa, warning rsidents of downed trees and power lines. we begin the power again with hurricane milton which devastated florida's west coast, bringing life-threatening storm surge, flash flooding, and

strong winds. milton is now a category 1 storm, moving off the coast on the east side of florida. the hurricane hit the state with a number of catastrophic tornadoes that destroyed some 125 homes. at least two people were killed as a result. take a look at this video. this is tropicana field, home to the tampa bay rays. you can see, wow, milton blew off a portion of the roof. looks like just about all of it. the stadium was used as a shelter for first responders who were helping with storm relief. my gosh. last hour, we learned in tampa, there are 100 rescue calls overnight. at least 15 people were saved from a single home, including several children. extreme winds also tore down trees, flipped over cars, and blew over a crane into a building in st. petersburg. so far, at least 3 million homes and businesses remain without power across the state of florida. joining us now live from orlando is nbc news correspondent

priscilla thompson. good morning. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: willie, good morning. the rain here has lightened up significantly, as have the wind gusts, but i will tell you that overnight, it was coming down heavy. we clocked winds up to 81 miles per hour in daytona beach. about an hour from where we are. we did hear from orange county officials just a short while ago, that they are out doing water rescues in the winter park/edgewater area of this county. of course, that was the big concern here. it was flooding. we were expecting up to 14 inches of rain. we saw the flooding that came during hurricane ian. this was expected to be far worse. i will tell you, first responders here in orlando tell us that they have not seen any major injuries, which is a good sign so far. the flood watch we were under has expired. the flood warning, excuse me. but we are still under a flood watch right now. watching carefully as the rain continues to come down. as you noted, there is major

damage in other parts of the state. we're talking about we saw the storm surge coming in on the florida coast and those tornadoes that just tore through some areas, killing at least two people in fort pierce, florida. the good news is we have not heard of any reports of fatalities from the storm just yet. of course, as the sun is coming out and rescue crews are able to get out and see how people are doing, that could change. what officials are saying right now is that they know people will want to get out and survey the damage, but stay off the roads. there are still emergency crews that need to get into certain areas. they're working to clear some of these roads. of course, i will point out, the other big issue here is people without power. we're without power where we are. there are more than 3 million people across the state without power. that's certainly going to become an issue as we continue to see what recovery is going to look like moving forward after folk haves a chance to survey what

this damage is looking like. willie. >> the mayor of tampa to us made exactly the point you were making, priscilla. we think we might have done better than we expected, but still stay off the roads so we can get out and check things out. priscilla thompson in orlando for us. thanks. let's head over to meteorologist bill karins for a look at what this storm did and where it is now. hey, bill. >> good morning, willie. the sun is coming up, and we're about to find out when the helicopters get up there how bad the storm surge was. that's the variable we don't know. we had 80 to 100-mile-per-hour winds along the corridor, which is why we have 3 million without power. trees down, we'll see cars, homes, everything like that. ton of rain. the water rescues. 18 inches of rain fell in st. petersburg. one in a thousand year event. we don't know how extreme the storm surge was just south of sarasota toward the landfall. you see pictures like this in

st. petersburg. not sure why the roof didn't survive with 100 mile an hour winds. you'd think it would have been designed better than that. in the atlantic, it is less in daytona beach, new smyrna, heading to the space coast. this will last another hour or two with additional power outages, then it'll be gone. closer look at the radar shows i-4 is starting to dry out. i'm sure it'll take a bit for the water to recede from last night that fell. about a foot of rain in the orlando area. here's titusville, where the storm is exiting into the atlantic. today will be a day of recovery once we start getting these winds down a little bit. anywhere in yellow, still a chance for tropical storm gusts. let's see who has the highest gusts from the last hour. that's still impressive. the space coast, from melbourne, 78 miles per hour. daytona beach at 68. it's still very rough, and everyone should stay indoors along the coast of federal florida. we'll start to see improvements. orlando is at 51.

tampa and st. pete, we'll get out there early, the first responders for anyone who needs help. the winds are dying down quickly on the west side. rainfall totals, this was insane last night. from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m., we had 5 inches of rain fall in st. petersburg. that's a lot of rain anywhere in the world. if you did the math on this, this was a one in one thousand year event there. the rainfall totals in 24 hours almost approaching 20 inches. that's why we had a lot of -- not the surge in ampa bay but flash flood warning. i-4, orlando to daytona beach under flash flood warnings from the heavy rain we had last night. willie, you know, it was a category 3. it wasn't a 4 or a 5. that's why we didn't have the 15 foot storm surge. we did have reports of 10 foot surge. we have yet to see what that damage does. we haven't seen the pictures from the barrier islands, you

know, from sarasota southward, where everyone evacuated. we'll find that out shortly, as the sun is now coming up. we'll see if the homes are destroyed or if they kind of, you know, survived the storm. we'll find out. >> we've heard from the mayors we've spoken to this morning, relatively optimistic, early assessments. the sun isn't up yet. we don't know exactly what's out there. bill, my gosh, these people across florida and the southeast need time to catch their breath. helene less than two weeks ago. all the flooding that came from that. right behind it comes milton. is there any more weather that we should expect coming up here? >> we have at least a week to kind of, you know, assess and get power back on. it'll take probably a week or two in many areas of central florida. i was down there when charlie did and it did something similar with the i-4 corridor. nothing coming in the next week. could something come the week after that? we're in the time of the hurricane season where we get less and less strong storm.

we'll probably deal with another lower-end type storm. i wouldn't be surprised, somewhere between now and the beginning of november. nothing imminent, willie, is the good news. >> you mentioned that this is a one in a thousand year event that occurred. what was the water temperature out there in the gulf coming into tampa bay as opposed to what the water temperature was like ten years or so ago? >> yeah, so speaking specifically about the st. petersburg, the rain they had last night. the one in one thousand year event was just for st. petersburg. by we know there's climate change. the gulf of mexico is the warmest it's ever been. studies were done on helene. that had an additional, anywhere from 20% to 40% more rainfall with it. my friends in north carolina, you experienced it. it was because of the warm water in the gulf. we will have attribution studies done on this storm, to see how much additional rain did we get in st. petersburg, say, because

of climate change and how much warmer the gulf of mexico is? it's never been measured this warm before, mike. you know, compared to maybe 10, 20 years ago, it's likely 2 to 4 degrees water. the extra warmth is the fuel for the storms and, of course, the atmosphere is warmer, too. it can hold more moisture. all this means, all the fancy talk is when we get rain, it'll rain harder because of climate change than it did in the past. >> bill karins, great information. thank you so much. joining us live, the mayor of daytona beach, florida. thank you for joining us this morning. you are clear across the state on the east side of florida. north and east of tampa. what damage are you seeing this morning, sir? >> we have not made any assessment as of yet, but we have had significant winds and obviously torrential rains. we are anticipating concerns as it relates to the water. we don't think the wind damage is as pronounced as it could

have been, so we're feeling fortunate about that. that's where we are this hour. >> can you speak, mr. mayor, to any 911 calls that may have come in, rescues your first responders had to make overnight? >> no. we have had some but, you know, those are still coming in. but for the most part, we're very fortunate because our folks heeded warnings if they were in low-lying areas. most folks have gotten out to shelters, our shelters, several at capacity. we're very happy with that. >> mr. mayor, the storm has weakened but it is still powerful. it's off the east coast of florida, over the atlantic. that's your side of the state. any official reports about storm surge? what concerns do you have there? >> it was sort of substantial, but we haven't had any assessment because it's still dark outside.

there's been no assessment from our emergency management team. >> all right. we'll let you get out and start to survey some of that damage as the sun does come up. daytona beach mayor, derrick henry, thank you for your time this morning. we appreciate it. >> thank you. still ahead on "morning joe," as former president trump promotes disinformation about the federal response to hurricanes milton and helene, some republican lawmakers are pushing back. we'll take a look at how one gop lawmakers is debunking trump's claims. plus, democratic congressman maxwell frost, who represents the orlando area, is standing by. we'll talk about recovery efforts across his state when "morning joe" comes right back.

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...instead of for where you are most of the time? xfinity mobile was designed for where you need it most. xfinity internet customers, ask how to get a free 5g phone and a second unlimited line free for a year. welcome back to "morning joe." we continue with the aftermath of hurricane milton as the sun comes up across jacksonville, florida. we're getting reports from tampa, st. pete, the west coast, assessing the damage this morning. we'll have much more on that in a moment. meanwhile, republican congressman chuck edwards of north carolina is pushing back on the disinformation and conspiracy theories donald trump and his allies continue to spread in the aftermath of hurricane helene and now around

hurricane milton. in an email to constituents yesterday, congressman edwards, who represents western north carolina, ravaged by the flooding after helene, wrote this. quote, "the conspiracy theories, while frustrating, have done more harm than people realize. the spreading of falsehoods has diverted state, local, and federal resewers from helping nc-11 recover toward refuting hearsay and setting the record straight." he wrote, "it is disappointing to write an email about this." meanwhile, a man is identifying himself as anthony called into the dan abrams show on sirius xm, saying his father-in-law in asheville only believes the former president, and it is actually breaking up our family. >> my father-in-law lives just

outside of asheville, north carolina. he was badly damaged by hurricane helene. he had refused all fema help because he's a hard core trumper. he believes, he literally believes that if he accepts anything from fema, they'll take his house. >> i don't understand how so many people are under the spell of this freaking conman. i don't understand it. >> it's absolutely heartbreaking about your father-in-law. so sorry to hear it. i hope -- >> it's hard. it's hard to even imagine it. he's lost almost everything, and he is refusing all help from the federal government and complaining to us that he doesn't have food, that he doesn't have the stuff he needs. yet he won't accept the help! what the hell are we to do? we can't fly across the country and help him. there's people begging us to get him to accept help, and he won't do it.

>> wow. i don't know what to say. >> i guarantee, i'm not the only one. i guarantee you, i'm not the only one. >> i wish there was something i could say as to -- you know, does he have access to any electronics where you could send him some information debunking this, and he might -- >> we've done all of that. we've done all of that. we've sent him all the fema bulletins. we've sent him all the stuff from the fact-checkers. he doesn't believe it. he thinks it's all -- he just believes trump. literally, dan. he just -- it's a cult. he's a cult member. i'm sorry to say it, he's a cult member. and he's my father-in-law. and it sucks. >> just one story there after the storm. joining us now, long-time political strategist, our good friend mike murphy. great to have you here. you've been in the republican political game for a long time. >> we now say racket.

>> i'll let you say it. >> it went from a game to a racket, which is why i'm so infuriated. but go ahead. >> let's talk about the racket then. it used to be the kind of stuff we're hearing from marjorie taylor greene and donald trump was the guy at the end of the bar. had a conspiracy theory he wanted to tell you about, and you could laugh him off. there were dark corners of the internet where it lived. now, it's been elevated to the center of the political discourse. the guy who was president and wants to be again is elevating this. >> we had can cook wing that would bark at the moon. now, they've been encouraged. they've been put on steroids to get front and center. again, the old method was people knew, this was serious business, let alone a hurricane. oh no, we don't do that. now, we have a ringmaster saying, you, step right up. let's hear more about space lasers. that is the fundamental shift, tragically, in our politic politics now. there's no policing, no shame.

it's bring the freak show up, and people believe it. with the internet, you can send anything around for free. you don't need to be responsible to get a job, get stamps, and send a letter. now we have reality show politics. stakes couldn't be higher. the content of it couldn't be more depressing. >> we had the president of the united states from the white house yesterday look down the barrel of the camera and say, the government can't engineer hurricanes, let alone target them to counties or states that support donald trump. >> right. >> the good news, mike, is that the governors and the congressman we heard from there, because of the stakes and how serious this storm is, and the people who are suffering, have stepped into the void. >> there are a few grown-ups left. >> a few. >> yeah, they're outnumbered, but hopefully truth will rise above. the factor in this battle now is absolutely crazy. look, elections are -- one of my favorite quotes, the greatest lies in life are told before the marriage, after the hunt, and during the election.

but this is a hurricane. this is life and death! these games are being played. yeah, it's disgusting, and hopefully people will reject it. >> mike, certainly some republican governors, including desantis, trying to take the politics out of the storm and respond. saying, look, the federal government is giving us what we need. it'll be a backdrop of the campaign. we're under four weeks now until election day. let's get your snapshot as to where you think things stand. the polls are relatively even. there are some in political circles, some sense that trump has momentum, then another poll says harris has this and a billion dollars to spend. >> everybody is a pole junky. we want to relax and know what will happen in the future. polls tell you what happened a week ago. look at the trend lines. nationally, she's moving in the right direction. she's closing the gap by being perceived as able to run the economy. that was joe biden's real problem. he was double digits down on that. she's closed it to single. that's very good for her. she's been perceived as new, you

know, change, which is a hat trick since she's an incumbent. but trump's tone is what a lot of people want to get away from. i think she's on track to win the national vote. the question is the states. last week, there were bad internal polls in michigan. tight senate race. the republican senators are creeping up a little in the competitive races. last week was a scary week, that polling data taken last week. we'll see if her media offensive and flooding the zone, shifting from the candidacy which was don't say anything to the charm offensive. michigan, a state i've worked quite a bit, is the new pennsylvania. there's trouble there. trump is demagoguing the ev issue, and he is lying, by the way. >> just for people not up to speed on what the ev issue is. >> electric vehicles. republicans think it is a left-wing mandate. i drive one, and i'm a

right-wing nut. i don't like paying california gas prices. i love the damn thing. i love to drag race gas vehicles. lifetime average is 3 miles to the gallon. but anyway, the point is, there are 20,000 new ev manufacturing jobs, auto jobs in michigan, and it's on its way to dublin. it's future of the auto industry worldwide. we play or china -- or there will be no american auto industry. we just took a poll on this. i do work in the area. people have no idea that china maybes twice as many cars as we do. they're eating markets around the world. trump rolls in, some of the leadership of the uaw makes it worse and says, evs will wipe out your jobs. she'll make you get rid of gas cars, not true, and it's working. i'm publicly for the harris campaign. i'm one of the romney, bush, mccain republicans.

right-winger like me, we have to stop trump. tell the story. michigan has a great story. this is the biggest boom in georgia, michigan, in manufacturing that we've had in years, yet it's a secret. i'd suggest if they want to win michigan, full offense. none of the defense stuff. don't let trump demagogue it. >> it's jobs the end of the day. >> key to metal-bending states. you know, we'll see. there's time. with early voting, we've got about 12 days here, then significant votes are going to start rolling in. this is a really key window. i will say, in the national poll, all the attributes are going her way, slow but sure. that is a very good sign. but we sure need it in the metal benders. we need it in pennsylvania and michigan. >> mike, let's stick with michigan in terms of the evs. it's not just the auto workers. >> right. >> it's supplementary working industries. >> yeah. >> people who work with their hands. >> yeah. >> they'd benefit from an explosion of ev construction. >> yeah. no, no, first, there's a big

capture expenditure, the charging gear. it's the best thing to happen to electricians in the history since the light bulb. if i wasn't a political bser for a living, i'd be working as an electrician. yeah, there's all the infrastructure going in. there is a supply chain for it. let's put it this way, president of one of the american auto companies told me, it's simple. the future going to be more ev than gas. won't be totally ev. worldwide, mexico, all these places, if we don't compete there, we're toast. my famous auto company may not be here in 15 years. i pay a hell of a lot more than the chinese do. $9 an hour over there. when the market is telling they're buying biden communist

vehicles, you shouldn't buy one, the china are on their way to wipe out the koreans, japanese, and us. we have to compete but get behind this stuff and not demagogue it. you can buy whatever car you want. if you try an ev, you'll want one. they're faster and you don't pay for gas. >> mike, stay with us. i want to continue this conversation. we'll bring in the director of the national hurricane center, michael brennan. director, thanks for being with us this morning. what can you tell us about where milton is right now and where it's headed from here? >> yeah, milton's center is moving off the east coast of florida several miles, 30, 40 miles east of cape canaveral. we still have strong winds, heavy rainfall pulling away from florida. dangerous conditions for cape canaveral, daytona beach. storm surge, heavy rainfall, warnings in effect to the north of orlando this morning. our main concern now will turn to post-storm safety.

we have a dangerous post-storm environment across florida. there's flooded roads, trees, power lines dower, structural damage. not a safe environment. we lose almost as many people to post-storm deaths from the after-effects of the storm as we do to the hurricanes themselves sometimes. >> the mayors we've spoken to this morning said to stay off the roads. stay home so they can get out, clear the roads, and assess the damage. >> yeah. >> milton hit last night as a category 3 storm, a very powerful category 3 storm. siesta key just close to sarasota there. what is your assessment as the sun comes up now of how hard this storm really hit, given the expectations where it'd be a historic storm? >> yeah. you know, we're just waiting to see the pictures just like everybody else. all indications are there was an impactful storm surge from the location southward across much of the southwest coast of florida, down to fort myers and naples. multiple feet of inundation. there's still flooded roads,

flooded areas along the coast. we saw almost 20 inches of rain in the tampa st. petersburg area. wind gusts across the i-4 corridor, metro orlando. it played out as expected. we had the tornado outbreak in southern florida yesterday, as well. there were impacts across much of the state. >> director of the national hurricane center, busy day for you. appreciate you stopping through. michael brennan, thank you very much. mike, let's turn back to the campaign. as you say, even as a republican, supporting kamala harris in the interest of defeating donald trump. if you were advising the harris campaign, you've said what you -- you made the case for michigan, but let's talk nationally. less than four weeks to go. >> yup. >> what's the message? where should she spend her time? >> i like flooding the zone. she doesn't have to sit down with "the new york times" editorial board and discuss world affairs in french, the language of diplomacy. forget that. but earn it, work it. we didn't have a primary. get out there and show that.

i think that's one. every day, you can get a great line going. i'd challenge trump to a debate. what are you afraid of, donald? you can have vance teach you to debate. total cy war there. there are two issues that count. one, she's changed. the one thing we learned from the vp debate, the meters, we hook people up to jumper cables when they watch the debate all over the country and learn something, the campaigns do. people love the civil tone. they like the fact that, my god, they're not toddlers here. she should go ted lasso. let him be voldemort. that works. pound the new tone. they're good at that. full speed ahead. stretch the biden distance as far as you can get away with. it's true but this is a tough business. we're stopping trump. >> she's doing that this week. >> yeah. it's important. the farther she get, the better she'll do. she can apologize later. finally, middle class economics. bread and butter economics. the biggest thing trump has going for him is people think they were better off four years

ago. if it is a referendum on that, she's going to lose this election. the more she can say, i good a new plan, new ideas, i know you're not getting enough out of the government, what you need, a better life. less regulations here, help here. i'll be on your team with new stuff. moving that needle even farther. they've been moving it. that's the way to victory, in my view. >> two points. one, trump reiterated he's not doing another debate. he took an all caps screen on truth social. you can see it there. saying that he just -- it's not going to happen. the question of how harris separates from biden is one she struggled a bit. she was asked on "the view" about it, and she said, well, i can't think of anything. as the show went on, she came back with something and tried later with stephen colbert, slightly better answer, but that's a fundamental dilemma. she hasn't figured out the answer. >> she stumbles. two problem zones. that. also, when they ask her on fracking, she does olympic level flipping around like a

deposition as 3:00 and, you know, 2020. no, no, just say, hey, vice president, you learn a lot because you see a lot. you don't see as much as senator. churchill said, when the facts change, i look at my positions. that's the sign of leadership. she's got to let the air out of that and be authentic. >> on the four years ago question, when you're better off four years ago than you are today, why haven't they reminded americans how many americans were dying four years ago every week from covid? the numbers are there. >> i don't know. i think part of it is, i'm guessing, they probably think any debate about four years ago is playing on trump's field. i like playing on the other guy's field, but i get the argument. in the debate thing when he dug in, i agree, that sets her up, visiting the mcdonald's to say, i wish he'd debate. clearly, he is driven by fear. we have a very scared donald trump here. i'll debate any time. boom. you have two days of him tearing his hair out and screaming, i'm

not afraid of nothing. why won't you debate? pull him into the swamp a little bit. then work the vance thing. for all trump's veneer of happiness, there's only one star in his movie. when vance is the star, it's not good for vance. trump will go debate that. remember, we're playing beat the clock here. every day that goes by where he's not saying you're better off four years ago, and you'll be screwed with more of biden's pr woman here, is a day they're moving up. tie him up. >> finally, mike, this is a question joe, i know, grapples a lot with his republican friends, people he's known and loved his entire life, who still, even after everything we know, are staying with donald trump. people i know you respect and probably have healthy debates with. >> yeah. >> what are they telling you even after he -- the attempted coup, even after everything you hear from him every day, why are they staying with him? >> part is idealogical. you know, they convince themselves. there are plenty of reasons for conservatives to be worried

about kamala harris. every dogwhistle she sent from the convention speech where she got to his right on foreign policy to some of the economic stuff, she's trying to give them a landing pad. it's smart. what i tell them, i'm a right-wing nut but i'd like a responsible right-wing party that can actually govern america. we're going to win the senate. that's a hedge on any loony left stuff. not going to happen. she knows it, too. four years of a republican senate dealing with a probably somewhat exasperating democratic white house is a small price to pay to get a real conservative party that can win back. trump is the biggest loser in the party. he's won one election. ought to name the democratic headquarters after him for the local, senate, and governorships they picked up thanks to this clown. hit the ejector seat. get a reset for four years. we can beat her, but not if we're the toy of a cynic felon from mar-a-lago.

>> political strategist mike murphy, so great to have you here. >> always fun. >> come back soon. thanks. >> thank you. coming up, democratic congressman maxwell frost of florida joins us to discuss what he's hearing from residents across the state of florida and about the federal response to hurricane milton. "morning joe" is coming right back. ♪♪ amazing. jerry, you've got to see this. i've seen it. trust me, after 15 walks, it gets a little old.

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welcome back to "morning joe." the sun now up over tampa.

7:39 in the morning. crews out assessing the damage there. joining us now, democratic congressman of florida, maxwell frost. he represents parts of central florida that includes western orlando. congressman, thanks for being with us this morning. what are you hearing from your district and across the state? as i said, as the sun begins to come up here. >> yeah, thanks so much for having me on. in terms of my district, we're still getting in emails, texts, learning about the damage that's been done. luckily for us, some of the worst impacts of the storm were a little north of where i'm at right now, this is south orlando. we'll be surveying the district just in a couple hours here, driving throughout with our different municipalities to figure out what the damage looks like. now, over on the west coast of florida, st. pete and tampa, sarasota, obviously we saw historic storm surge in the sarasota area. we know that in st. pete and the tampa area, tampa bay rays lost their roof to their stadium.

we saw huge cranes that fell and destroyed parts of buildings. our hope is that the sun is cleared this morning as people do damage assessment, that it is not as bad as maybe we think it is. but we'll have to wait the next couple hours to see what the damage assessment is. the next step here is the governor, after these assessments are done, will request funds from fema to be able to give individual assistance. i don't believe it's been done just yet. we'll have to see what the damage is across the state. >> congressman, obviously, in your district, lots of people live there, employees but also many people visiting the theme parks of orlando. have you heard from those parks? did everything hold up through the storm? >> i haven't heard from the parks yet. in fact, a lot of them were open yesterday until the afternoon or later afternoon. not the best decision in my opinion. thinking about the workers specifically.

but i haven't heard from the theme parks yet. we'll have to see. now, i will say, these parks when we talk about disney, universal, et cetera, they understand that, you know, part of being in florida is experiencing these hurricanes. they are usually building their parks in a resilient way. that way, they can withstand these storms. disney, universal have been through so many of these hurricanes over the last few decades. i'm sure the damage is minimal at the theme parks. >> they do have protocol set up for this. congressman, i'm curious, we've been talking this morning and the last couple days about the misinformation that's been pushed by some of your colleagues in congress. just making up, at the most, extremes, saying the government engineering hurricanes and directs them at red states and red districts. the president of the united states actually had to debunk that from the white house yesterday. on a more granular level, conspiracy theories about what fema is doing there. how hard have you had to work to get truth out to your members, the people who live in your

district? >> my team and i have had to work extremely hard to push back against these rumors. yesterday, i visited shelters, was meeting with constituents as we got ready for the storms, and people asked, you know, about these rumors that we're hearing from former president trump and some of my colleagues about fema and the federal response. not just that. if you go on my official social media, maxwell frost, you'll see we've been making graphics to push out the truth. here's the thing, when the former president and some of my colleagues lie about the federal response and push out the disinformation and misinformation, it can cost human lives. when we talk about emergency management, emergency response, search and rescue, all these different things, every second matters. and we need the people to have faith in their government, municipal, state, and also federal government, so that way, they feel comfortable enough to ask for resources and to help give information on where the

help is needed. the problem is when people are listening to donald trump, or maybe they might not be a trumper but heard it from a friend. during the storms, especially when the power goes out, sometimes ems, first responders can't get to you in a very, you know, very quickly because it's dangerous, word of mouth is how a lot of this information travels throughout our communities. having these lies go around is dangerous because it pushes people to not reach out to fema, to not take advantage of the resources. number one, it means people can die. people can lose more property. there are resources out there on the table for our citizens, for americans, that people are not taking advantage of because they've been lied to. the other thing, too, is it sets our people up to be taken advantage of by scammers. one of the biggest rumors we've had to debunk is here in florida, there was these numbers going around. well, if you send your information to, you know, this number, to this link, you're

going to receive this much money if your power goes out for this amount of time. i had to go on a press conference and say, no, there is no amount of money that's been paid. individual assistance for this hurricane has not been approved yet because the governor hasn't asked for it yet because the storm hasn't happened yet. don't give your sensitive personal information to a random person texting you or an email posing to be fema. this is the issue here when we have politicians who want to use a natural disaster, no matter if you're republican, democrat, independent, whatever. these storms are coming for all of us, especially due to climate crisis. we need our people to have faith in institutions like fema so they can go out and get the help they need. >> it is a disgusting set of lies that's coming from the very top of the republican party right now in the form of donald trump. fema is there to help. don't take our word for it. listen to the republican governors and members of congress telling constituents fema is there and doing its job.

maxwell frost of florida, congressman, thank you for your time. we appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. coming up next, we'll take a quick break from our storm coverage. get you caught up on a dramatic night in major league baseball. it's the playoffs, the mets continue their incredible run through the postseason, moving on to the nlcs on the bat of that man, francisco lindor. "morning joe" is coming right back. back here you go. is there anyway to get a better price on this? have you checked singlecare? whenever my customers ask how to get a better price on their meds, i always tell them about singlecare.

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highest leverage, the most trusted arms. 2-1. lindor, towards right center field. it's back. it is gone! grand slam, and lindor puts the mets on top. >> wow. francisco lindor's sixth-inning grand slam. it was the swing that eventually sent the new york mets to the nlcs for the first time since 2015. the mets eliminating the phillies from the playoffs last night with a 4-1 win in game four of their best-five division series. the mets will open the best of five series on monday with either the padres or the dodgers. this is massive news here in new york city, dominating the tabloids. ain't life grand? and on the back, party citi, talking about citi field there. mike, i say this as a yankee fan. it is so fun considering we won

and i can say this last night p so fun to have both teams in the playoffs, and just the electricity that we're seeing at citi field right now. >> you know, i'm not a native new yorker. i'm here three or four days a week each week. i am stunned at the electricity on the sidewalks and in the stores. >> yep. >> about the mets, and about baseball in general, but specifically about the mets. last night, we were on a text chain, four or five other people during the game texting back and forth. the bases are loaded, and one of the text members, a one-line text. i feel a grand slam from lindor. >> wow. >> and boom. i mean, that's the mets' season, and francisco lindor is symbolic of the mets i think. he's a calming presence. when you hear him interviewed, he's a calming presence at the plate, and you just have a confidence and a joy in what he brings to the game each and every day. >> yeah, and i mean, flee

straight 100-mile-an-hour fastballs. you're not mixing it up, the best guys in the league are going to hit that. there were mets fans. citi field was very quiet. when ds comes in clearly overthrowing and overhyped, brings taillon to the plate, and that magic continues. lindor, he's spectacular. he would be the mvp if it wasn't for shohei ohtani's 50-50 season. >> yeah, and the phillies are actually roster-wise, probably the best team in the playoffs, both american league and national league. >> yeah. >> and look what happens when you get momentum with you. >> every year there's one of these teams. you got the grimace of it all. they have the closed-door team meeting in late may to change things, and then they have been the best team in baseball since june the 1st. big things happening in queens. meanwhile the dodgers and padres now are tied 2-2 in their nlds after l.a.'s shutout win on the road at petco last night.

mookie betts, sorry, guys. home run for the second game in a row. will smith, gavin luxe each had two-run home runs. dodgers beat the padres 8-0. it shifts back to l.a. for a decisive game five between the n.l. west rivals. tomorrow night exactly what the padres did not want. they wanted to finish it out last night, but it wasn't close. over in the american league, the new york yankees, phew, take a one-game lead against the kansas city royals. it was giancarlo stanton breaking a 2-2 tie with a 17-foot show low shot. yankees win game three, 3-2, and now the chance to close out the royals in game four tonight in kansas city. they will throw their ace, gerrit cole. let's just end it right there in k.c. in detroit, the tigers. let's give the tigers the love they deserve. they're one win from the alcs as six pitchers combined to blank

the guardians 3-0 yesterday. that best of five division series tonight in detroit, and john, the tigers can head to the alcs tonight. did not see that coming a few months ago. >> no one did. i mean, they were sellers at the trade deadline. they traded one of their best starting pitchers because they thought they were out of it and they went on a remarkable run and they have these bullpen games. they throw six, seven guys out there, and the guardians would adjust and they have the potential -- if they were to win this at home in game four, then their ace maybe the best pitcher in baseball right now, they could keep from game one of the alcs, and that could be game one in the bronx. >> let me ask you this question. you're the manager of the tigers, okay? tonight, you could put it away tonight. do you start tarek? >> not on two days for us. >> they had the extra day off. the rest is okay, but i wouldn't. i think if you are down 2-1, yes, you would have to.

you're up 2-1. you have two chances to win this series. >> i agree. >> you're in front of your home crowd. throw the staff again. try to save -- you know you have him in game five or ideally game one of next round. >> tigers and mets, two great stories. >> don't forget the underdog yankees too. don't sleep on those spunky kids in the bronx. >> new york is a mets town, willie. sorry. >> we'll see about that. coming up, we'll return to our coverage of the hurricane milton as the sun now rises over florida. that's a live picture from st. petersburg where the roof of the rays' tropicana field last night ripped off last night by high winds there. we'll have a live report there straight ahead on "morning joe." e straight ahead on "morning joe."

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welcome back to "morning joe." it is 8:00 a.m. on the east coast, and we begin with the latest on hurricane milton. at this hour, at least four people are dead in st. lucie county as a result of the storm. a number of dangerous tornadoes also destroyed an estimated 125 homes. according to the sheriff there, a modular home community for residents aged 55 and older felt the impact over a 20-minute period. right now, milton is a category 1 storm and has moved off the east coast of florida. milton slammed the region bringing a life-threatening storm surge, flash flooding, and strong winds beginning on that gulf coast, and we are learning water rescues are under way this

morning. one taking place just a few moments ago in orlando. another rescue in tampa overnight, where at least 15 people were saved from a single home including several children. and look at this video. this is tropicana field, home to the tampa bay rays. you can see milton blew off a portion of the roof, or most of it it looks like. the stadium was being used as a shelter for first responders. let's go straight to st. petersburg where we find nbc news correspondent stephanie gosk outside of tropicana field. steph, good morning. what's the scene there? >> reporter: hey, willie. good morning. you know, the tampa bay rays team according to information from the team, the roof of this stadium was supposed to be able to withstand 115-mile-an-hour winds. the top gust last night was around 10:30 at night. it was 101 miles an hour. clearly too much for the roof. i just spoke to a woman who's here staying with friends. they had a view of it as it happened, and they could hear

it. the noise was really loud as these segments of the roof were tearing away. it was fiberglass with teflon on top. so the ripping they were hearing was that teflon being pulled out. now just a few days ago, governor ron desantis said that this stadium, which is normally a 25,000-capacity major league baseball stadium was going to be used as a base camp for all of the operations in and around the area, whether those were rescue or recovery operations as well as logistics, clearing debris, the teams that were going to be here, to do all of that work, to house and support 10,000 of them. what we don't know this morning, willie s who was actually in there last night. we're trying to get some clarity on that. we do know there were some people. it was not being used as a shelter for residents, through but there were some workers inside. the fire department telling nbc news that people actually took cover in corridors when the roof was being ripped off, and the tampa bay rays this morning

saying that everyone who was inside is accounted for, and thankfully there are no injuries remarkably too, when you look at what it looks like today, and what it must have been like when that roof ripped off. really a stadium that turned into something of a hulking ghost ship overnight, willie. >> yeah, and even this footage we're looking at right now from overhead. you can see those cots set up in the outfield to house so many of the first responders who are working on this storm. so we're happy to hear that no reports of injuries there. steph, we have been talking to mayors up and down the coast, primarily the west coast of florida this morning, who have expressed, we'll call it cautious optimism, but only relative to the expectations of history storm surge, but maybe a little bit better than they thought they'd do in this storm. what are you hearing and seeing on the ground there in st.

petersburg? >> reporter: for people who aren't familiar with the geography, it's a little bit south on the peninsula from tampa bay, and tampa bay is this cul-de-sac of land that surrounds it, and highly populated, and the fear was that the surge was going to be huge, and they were -- it was going to come right into tampa bay, as much as 10 to 15 feet even. that did not happen. the storm path went further south. they did not get the surge to create that kind of catastrophic event that they thought they were going to get. we are still waiting for accounts of where the surge was the worst in places like fort myers and sarasota, and maybe places we haven't been able to reach yet. we know the wind was destructive here. evidence of that in the stadium clearly, and also there was a ton of rain, willie, and a lot of places in this region where i am right now, more than a foot of rain fell, and we just -- trying to drive out here this morning, ran into a number of roads that were flooded and

blocked, and closed off with lots of debris on the ground, but clearly right now, the morning is going to be taking stock of the situation, and at least for tampa, for the city and for tampa bay, i think they're waking up this morning and feeling like they may have dodged a bullet, willie. >> let's hope that's the case. stephanie gosk, live in st. petersburg this morning. let's turn to bill karins for the latest. what are you seeing with the sun up? >> now we're getting the full assessment. we're getting the first responders out there that are trying to get the main roads cleared first. so then they can get to everyone else. so this is a picture of st. petersburg, and i like to see the blue sky in the background here with some clouds. notice the palm trees aren't moving at all. the winds are really calm. across the florida peninsula, this will be coming into central florida and eventually to the east coast of florida where we'll have a full day of, you know, the repair crews getting out there, the power crews making the initial assessments, and trying to get out as fast as

we can. the weather won't hinder that the rest of the day. milton is out into the atlantic and we barely have any rain bands left on the coast. just a few squalls here at the space center and down here in the county, and even though orlando, maybe just a few showers left. this has been historic. it's not your imagiimagination. this has been a pretty wild last decade. this is the tenth major hurricane to make landfall in the u.s. in the last eight years. that's an incredible pace. before this little stretch, we went almost a decade without any major hurricane landfalls. we have been having one after another. five u.s. landfalls this season alone of hurricanes. that's the second most on record, and this was the third landfalling hurricane in florida. now florida's no stranger. it sticks out like a sore thumb into extremely warm water between the gulf and atlantic. this is tied for the most on record here too, so yes. it has been unusually active and as far as the intensity goes too, especially with the two

major hurricanes back to back within two weeks. sarasota was 102. this egmont channel is elevated at 105. this was a category 2-type wind gust, widespread, and now the winds are exiting. we may have additional few power outages, and the winds are coming down in orlando now at 33. daytona beach though, still gusting strong. i'm sure the water is dangerous this morning, 58 for the pierce and 65-mile-per-hour gusts. any time you get above 45 or 50, is when you can get additional power outages, but we have 3 million people without power. there's probably not many people left in that area to additionally lose power, and the rainfall, this was historic, especially in st. petersburg. clearwater beach, tampa had almost a foot of rain too. in the orlando area, it was 5 to 10 inches of rain. numerous rivers are cresting,

and the st. johns river that goes from orlando all the way up to jacksonville. it's one of the few rivers in this country that actually flows from south to north. that one is close to major flooding too. so we have other concerns out there besides just the coastal areas, and here's that stat, will will you, that we have been showing you. that 5 inches of rain in one hour in st. petersburg which does classify that as a 1 in 1,000-year event. the probability of that occurring any time is extremely rare, and shouldn't be in any of our lifetimes again, but of course, as we know with climate change, and how things seem to be rapidly changing, especially with the amount of rainfall we get from these systems, maybe it's not as rare anymore. >> bill, let's stay there in st. pete, and tampa, and talk about what the expectation was here. we had the mayor of tampa saying to her residents, get out or you will die if you are in one of the evacuation areas saying, this is an unsurvivable storm surge. we talked to her a short time ago this morning. she said it does look like it

took a little turn. we got less than we expected. what's your assessment of how tampa did? >> the whole key was did the landfall -- this was tampa bay here. if this had been 20 miles north up here, we would have seen a 10 to possibly, you know, 12-foot storm surge in tampa bay, and we didn't know that, you know, one little wobble or wiggle could have made a huge difference at the end there. so we still don't know how bad the surge was from the venice beach area, northward to sar oe -- sarasota. you look about ten miles south, and that's where they'll be. there's no cell service in that area. we'll have to wait for first responders just to get us images out of there, and once the helicopters go because that's where that storm surge was. tampa bay had actually an anti-surge. the wind was blowing out of the

bay, and at one point, the water level was 5 feet lower in the bay than it should have been because the wind was blowing it out, but the opposite side of that was to the south, willie. so yes, you know, going into this storm, we were saying with tampa bay, they haven't had a direct hit from a major hurricane in 100 years. they did get the wind. they did get the rain, but they did not get the surge. they dodged that bullet once again just like they did with irma. just like they did with ian. just like they did with, you know, helene. it was bad, it was their record with 5 to 6-foot surge, but it wasn't that direct hit that areas to the north got, 10 to 15 feet. tampa has yet to get that incredible storm surge which can devastate the region. they survive the storm. >> we take that as a bit of good news as we assess the damage with the sun now up over florida. thanks so much. we appreciate it. still ahead on "morning joe," as bill mentioned, hurricane milton is the second major storm to hit florida in two weeks. the cleanup costs will be in the

billions of dollars, of course. steve rattner is here to break down the huge price tag associated with these disasters and the impact on insurance. that's when "morning joe" comes right back. that's when "morning joe" comes right back

joining us now, the mayor of sarasota, florida. sarasota is just where hurricane milton made landfall last night.

siesta key, about eight miles away. mayor, it's good to have you back with us. we spoke to you 24 hours ago. you were prepared for the worst. what are you seeing this morning? >> well, surprisingly it's, you know, at least from what we're able to get to, it's not as bad on the mainland. we have not been able to get out to the barrier islands for -- in sarasota, the lito key, the bridge going out to the island there, the small bridge that we have, the westbound lanes are compromised. so we are not going to be able to use those. the florida department of transportation has to get out and check that out because of the rising water. lots and lots and lots of trees down from what i'm hearing. so our first team has been out. a lot of power outages. you can see -- i've got some

lights are working. some lights are not. no power in my building, and about 76% of the city doesn't -- doesn't have power, and, you know, it didn't seem -- i live just right across the street from sarasota bay. it's, you know, not the gulf, but the bay, and water did not come over u.s. 41 where i am. we didn't get any water in our parking lot, but, you know, out on the barrier islands, we fear that there was an awful lot -- a lot of wind blowing around, you know, so it was really a pretty horrific night, and i think once we're able to get out there, you know, we're going to find a whole lot of damage. >> i mentioned milton roared on shore at siesta key, a beautiful island -- barrier island there not too far from where you're

sitting. do you have any sense of how many people may have stayed on the island or did people heed the warnings to evacuate? >> we -- we had not -- they told me at the emergency operations center is that we actually had no calls for service, no deaths, no, you know, no injuries as nearly as we can tell. we have had, you know, that's really unusual, nobody called for rescue. so my sense is they must have evacuated. >> that's good news. >> so madam mayor, a lot of talk ahead of the storm about the ris the disinformation and misinformation posed, those unsure what to believe or what to do, being told flatly untrue things by leading candidates. what effort did you take to a combat that, and your level of concern here in the aftermath of the storm? the rebuilding begins, and that

disinformation could still continue. >> we put a lot of information out on our social media, you know, a lot of, you know, constant posting. we put stuff on our website, but the major way that we have been communicating to everybody is through social media, to get the word out, you know, send out regular email updates to our -- our neighborhoods so that they can put it out to, you know, their residents, and so yeah. we've tried really hard to make sure people had the correct information about what was going on and who to contact. we'll be putting out information now again as we did after helene, as to how to get disaster assistance and if you need help, where you go and what's going on. >> i understand, mayor alpert, that president biden called you directly last night, to the extent you're comfortable.

>> yes. >> can you share what you two talked about, and are you confident that you will have today and the weeks going forward, the support you need from the federal government? >> yes. he was -- it was -- it was a surprise. i was glad i happened to pick up the phone, and he just said, you know, mayor alpert, this is president biden, and -- and, you know, i was a little shocked. i wasn't expecting that, and he just said, you know, tell me what you need down there, whatever you need, we'll, you know, we'll get it to you. just let me know. he gave me his phone number, and, you know, said he was -- he was thinking of us. so i thought that was really, really very nice of him, very nice of him to call. >> and you're confident you'll have that support you need from the biden administration and from fema? >> absolutely. we have been getting the support. secretary buttigieg called me a

couple of days ago, you know, senator scott had called me. the president's administration, the vice president's office has called me. so, you know, they have been in touch. fema has been in touch, and so we are getting what we need from the federal government, yes. >> we are sending our best to you and the citizens of your town. i know you've got a long day ahead. thank you for stopping with us. liz alpert. mayor, thank you for your time today. >> thank you, willie. coming up, the former mayor of new orleans, mitch landrew standing by. he took office as the city was recovering from hurricane katrina in the midst of the bp oil spill. we'll talk about the politics of disaster relief straight ahead on "morning joe." ics of disaster relief straight ahead on "morning joe. before i submit any prescriptions, i always check singlecare first! just go to singlecare.com, search for your prescription and show the coupon to your pharmacist.

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in the hours and days ahead, president biden and i and our administration will continue to

do everything we can to protect the people who have been in the path of this storm, and once the storm has passed, we will be there to help folks recover and rebuild. as we continue to do for those communities in florida, georgia, north and south carolina, and across the southeast who have been devastated by hurricane helene. >> vice president kamala harris speaking virtually yesterday at the white house ahead of the arrival of hurricane milton. the administration says president biden was briefed on the situation in florida shortly after hurricane milton made landfall last night. earlier in the day, the president approved an emergency declaration for the state allowing thousands of federal personnel to be on the ground. that includes search and rescue teams the president says have been prepositioned as close to the storm as possible. biden says he also has been in close contact with state and city officials as we heard just a moment ago. president biden yesterday also called out donald trump and republican congresswoman marjorie taylor greene of

georgia for spreading disinformation. the former president has been lying about the federal response to hurricane helene while congresswoman greene has been pushing absurd conspiracies online like one that the federal government can control the weather. >> over the last few weeks there's been a reckless and irresponsible, and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies of what's going on. it's undermining confidence in the people of florida, and an incredible rescue and recovery work that has been undertaken. literally there are thousands of fellow americans that are putting their lives at stake and putting them on the line to do the dangerous work that needs to be done now, and it's harmful to those who most need the help. quite frankly, these lies are un-american, and there is simply no place for them. not now, not ever. former president trump has led this onslaught of lies.

assertions are being made that property is being confiscated. that's not true. people impacted by these storms received $750 in cash and not more. that is simply not true either. they're saying that the money needed for this crisis is being diverted to migrants. what the heck are they talking about? it's just not true. the claims are getting even more bizarre. marjorie taylor greene, the congresswoman from georgia is now saying the federal government is literally controlling the weather, we're controlling the weather. it's beyond ridiculous. it's so stupid. it's got to stop. >> president biden speaking from the white house yesterday. mike barnicle joins the table. mike, it is -- sometimes you just have to stop and think about what we're talking -- the president of the united states from the white house has to go on tv to address the american the people to say, the government does not control the weather. we had a republican congressman from western carolina, a trump supporter, who had to put out a memo to his residents and say,

no. the government does not have the technology to engineer a hurricane that would hit only red states or any state whatsoever. the $750 thing that donald trump has been talking about at nauseam, they're only giving $750 to people who need it while we're giving all this money to immigrants and ukraine and everything else. $750 is a new thing that the biden administration put in a few months ago. >> yeah. >> that's the first step. here's $750 to get you the diapers and baby formula. there's more coming. we'll go through more of this this morning, but it is -- you expect it from a back-bencher conspiracy theorist from georgia. >> do you really though? >> from her? yes, i do, actually. from her. you expect those conspiracy, but from a leading presidential candidate, it's beyond dangerous. >> the leading presidential candidate and during his term in office, tried to alter the map of where the hurricane came from

because he disagreed because the actual path of the hurricane disagreed -- >> came in with a sharpie. >> yeah. marjorie taylor greene, what can you say about that? what can you say? i mean, you have people in this country who actually listen to her and find some credibility perhaps in some things she says. there are people like that. it's beyond belief. it's beyond description. it's beyond even us talking about it. it's, like, crazyland. >> it's another way of chipping away at american institutions, and i know some biden officials i spoke to yesterday just deeply afraid that the trump supporters who listen to trump and his claims, you know, aren't going to then heed the calls from state and local, federal officials because they're not going to believe them. they might put themselves in harm's way or refuse to get that federal aid from fema and the like. we saw that in western north carolina after helene, and fears it could happen again in florida. >> what you just pointed out, jonathan, gets to contrasting the actual damage done of these hurricanes on the ground, and the danger it presents to people

on the ground and the damage -- the damage that the trump administration -- the former president himself and people like marjorie taylor greene, the damage they have done to the institutional faith that some people have in the government, that you're going to get your retirement check, that you're going to get your social security, that the government will perform for you, that the government will help you in times of need or trouble as we're witnessing here in florida. that damage is lasting. >> it is, and i guess the good news is because we have been saying the last few days, the republican leaders in these states, where these storms are actually hitting, have spoken out and say, no. the conspiracy theories are not true. you can't trust fema. they are here to help, but so many people take donald trump's word and run with it. coming up, we'll speak with congressman jared moskowitz who served as florida's director of emergency management. we'll talk about the hurricane's impact on his state and how the federal government is responding. that conversation just ahead on "morning joe." rsation just ahea "morning joe." at humana, we believe your

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48 individuals have been rescued as of zero 630. national guard center rescue teams have worked overnight and successful breaking into this conversation as florida governor ron desantis is delivering a live briefing from tallahassee. let's listen in. >> the guard continues to work into the morning. i have 31 rescue aircraft operational and hundreds of rescuers active in 26 counties. the state guard has also been engaged in search and rescue assisting with floodwater evacuations as well as damage assessments. there are currently 3.1 million accounts without power. there have been 635,000

restorations since hurricane milton hit florida. the areas that have the most significant outages as of this morning are hillsboro, 75% out, manatee, 82% out, penelis, 62% out, and sarasota, 75% out. of course, there are 50,000-plus linemen that have been prestaged. a lot of what they'll do this morning is likely assess the damage, and then begin restoration operations very quickly, and we appreciate everybody that's in that fight because that's very important for a lot of people. cut and toss have begun at first light by the florida department of transportation. 328 crews are active in the field with over 350 pieces of heavy equipment and trucks. 150 bridge inspectors were dispatched at first light, and have begun performing inspections to open bridges across the impact areas. as i put in my executive order,

residents, you know, have a right to be back into their homes as soon as the roadways are deemed safe. in tampa, the bridges have been inspected, cleared, and are open, and inspections of the sunshine skyway bridge are under way. there is debris on the sunshine skyway as well as the courtney campbell, but once that debris is clear, we anticipate those bridges opening later this morning. other bridges are being opened as soon as the state inspections are completed. the tampa airport is repairing minimal damage and should be open no later than tomorrow. seaports are awaiting coast guard channel surveys to reopen waterside, but as of now, our initial assessment is they will be able to resume operations very quickly. we still have a lot of school closures for today. i think floridians should just keep in contact with their local officials about what that's going to be. i would imagine a lot of the schools that were not necessarily in the direct path of the storm will be open

tomorrow. it may take a few more days for some of the places that were harder hit. now, as you survey damage and clean up, please be cautious of hazards. we have post-storm facilities almost every storm and a lot of these facilities are avoidable. so please be cautious of downed power lines. don't touch them. don't remove tree debris a may be entangled with downed power lines. standing water can conceal downed power lines and other hazards so please be mindful, and never walk through stormwaters. standing storm waters can also carry a bacteria that can lead to fatal infections. this type of infection was responsible for a fatality following hurricane helene. so please avoid wading through standing water. please use proper ladder safety. please use proper generator safety.

do not operate the generator inside your home. it must be outside, a safe distance from doors and windows. places will remain available for those returning to their homes that had to evacuate during their homes and sustained damage, or are in need of other types of shelters. these models will remain available, making the experience easier for users. if traffic lights are out in your area, please drive with caution and treat each light as you would a four-way stop, and also remember if you are going to use a chain saw, be very careful with that. we have mishaps on that after every storm. we are extending the hope florida line for another two weeks. that's 24 hours, 7 days a week. if you need assistance or resources post-storm, you can call 1-833-get-hope.

our disaster arm is a program designed to help people find help following a disaster such as a hurricane. so you can call the hope line. you can also visit the hope bus which will be in some of these areas very soon, and there will be announcements about that. florida commerce and the state emergency response team activated the business damage assessment survey in response to hurricane milton. business owners can self-report physical and economic damage caused by the storm. businesses can complete the survey online at floridadisaster.biz. florida commerce has also activated the small business emergency bridge loan program. we have $50 million available to florida small businesses, and it's zero-interest loan. very flexible repayment options. you can apply for loans of up to $50,000 through the program. loans of up to $100,000 are

available for agriculture and aquaculture small businesses and loans of $150,000 are available for citrus and cattle operations. again, these are short-term-zero-interest loan. you get the cash in your hand. the repayment terms are flexible. you can apply at www.floridajobs.org/ebl. we've also activated the florida disaster fund for those who want to make tax-deductible, charitable contributions. they will be used to help floridians who are in need, and you can go to floridadisasterfund.org. floridadisasterfund.org if you have any questions. we're going to continue to support all remaining rescue missions that are -- that are under way, and that may be needed in the near future. we'll also continue to assess the damage that was done from the storm. we also anticipate that because of the amount of water, you know, you may see flooding

happen not just now, but in the subsequent days, but i think everybody responded very quickly. i'm proud of everybody's hard work. we got more work to do, but we will -- we will absolutely get through this. okay. kevin guthrie. >> good morning, everyone. governor, thank you for your leadership and time again. i know you and the state emergency response team will lead the charge as we respond and recover from this storm. hurricane milton made landfall as you say. the impacts are being felt across north and east central florida even as that last landing train of rain starts to move offshore. especially if you are in the areas -- if you're in those areas of northeast florida, the east space coast, please make sure you're sheltering in place until officials determine it is safe for you to leave.

in the first 72 hours after a storm, there is a parallel effort to search and secure and stabilize the area. as search and rescue missions continue in response to milton, please do not go out and visit the impacted areas. you will be inhibiting first responders by doing so. right now we need those roadways clear for electrical crews, fire crews, ems crews, urban search and rescue crews. we have 20-something urban search and rescue teams that will move into the area and do a door-by-door search. even though you heard the governor say, this was not a worst case scenario, there is damage. please stay off the road. listen to your local authorities for updates on when it is safe to go outside, and when it is safe for you to return to your homes. i know a lot of people evacuated, and we appreciate that. do not be in a hurry. check in with your local emergency management agency, sheriff's offices, and see if

they post anything on if it's safe to return home. please make sure you do that. as the governor said, we'll open up roads and bridges so you can do that. there may be extenuating circumstances at the neighborhood level. please check before you come back home. major flooding continues along the hillsboro, st. johns and other rivers. i want to take a moment and talk about, there is going to be another phase to this particular incident, and that is similar to hurricane ian. we have a lot of rain that has fallen over the central portion of florida. the st. johns river basin that comes down into the county, portions of volusia county, and those headwaters have experienced a lot of rainfall. that river takes about 45 days to completely flush itself out to the atlantic ocean. what we'll be seeing first is impacts down in the seminole county and surrounding county area, and you'll see that move

up, and then on up into st. john's flagler, clay, duval counties. that's going to be a long-term effort when it comes to making sure that people are monitoring the situation on the st. johns river as well as the ones that i mentioned, the hillsboro, and others. some roadways were flooded which is not a safe situation for anyone. please do not attempt to walk or drive through floodwaters. accidents through floodwaters are 100% preventible. all you have to do is turn around. if you sheltered in place or when you return to your home, and you're looking at the damages around your home right now, do one thing for us. take out your phone, take some pictures. inside and outside. all four sides of the house, every room inside the house. what are things that you should be documenting? make sure you're documenting just the physical damages, but then also since this was a flooding event, we want to make sure that you capture those -- what we call high-water marks on your home.

do that inside and outside. for a point of reference outside your home, make sure you get, like, the doorknob of the outdoor house. that will give you a point of reference. if you are on the inside, make sure you have, like, an electrical socket or a light switch or a door handle on the inside of your home in the picture so that we can get some type of reference as to how high that water is coming. if you are beginning the cleanup process, please ensure you're wearing the safety gear. report all of that to your local authorities. do not cut any lines. again, we do not need florida man and florida woman out there cutting random lines as they go. you don't know what is a cable line. you don't know what is an electrical line, and more importantly these days is you don't know what is an fiberoptic line. most of our 911 lines run across

fiberoptic. let the professionals dmom and identify what it is before it's cut. remember, again, some roads are still dangerous due to flooding, debris, and potential downed lines. let our crews get everything back up and running. for assistance after the storm, call state assistance information line. that's information only. 1-800-342-3557. floridadisaster.org for updates and then follow us @flsert on x and instagram and facebook. that is the most trusted and fastest source that we have. we have several people helping us out on posting on social media. so that is going to be the best place and the fastest place to get stuff from us. thank you, governor desantis again as together we will overcome this storm. >> pleasure. >> morning, ladies and

gentlemen, and thank you, governor desantis for re-establishing and resouring this state guard, so we can deliver critical emergency response capabilities right to the point of need. working alongside director guthrie, and the rest of the state agencies, personnel moving rapidly in order to save lives, rescue our citizens, and minimize human suffering. throughout the night and this morning, our special missions unit are search and rescue, k9, paramedic, and swift water rescue teams moved throughout the rescue teams between pasco and sarasota counties. working to provide over water and on land search and rescue and route assessment capabilities. our maritime unit is also engaged with fwc with ten boat teams and high-water vehicle teams in order to expand the capacity of the local counties'

abilities for reconnaissance and search and rescue operations. our aviation unit with blackhawks with livestream and 3d map rendering capabilities will be taking operation today in coastal and inland community areas in order to enable those local authorities to paint the picture and focus their resources. ladies and gentlemen, we are laser focused on search and rescue operations today. >> good morning, everyone, and i would like to also thank governor desantis for his unwavering support during this time of critical need. we are fortunate and blessed where the governor has such support and puts floridians first. i would also thank kevin guthrie for his outstanding leadership and support. and his team for the coordination and communication with all state agencies, making us the lead nation -- leading leaders in the nation for emergency response. we're privileged and honored to be a part of that team. responding to hurricanes and

natural disasters is what we do. we have unique equipment, training, and support from governor esantis and director guthrie to provide support in the wake of hurricanes. this is through the use of specialized equipment such as swamp buggies and other equipment to provide high-water rescues and that's what we're doing right now. we have deployed 135 officers, teamed up with the florida state guard, the division of finance services cut teams, florida ag law, and the tribe law enforcement, and local sheriff's offices up and down the coast and across the state to provide search and rescue efforts to those in greatest need. teams with these specialized equipment are hard at work right now. our search and rescue efforts are ongoing, and so far, this morning, we've reported over 42 rescues in several counties. we have had so far seven land rescues, three water rescues,

several welfare checks. there were two arrested for looting for battery with our teams in the sheriff's office, and 21 rescued from an apartment building. these rescues started yesterday, in the wake of the tornadtornad. we had seven fwc officers respond to an event where they rescued six and evacuated others and conducted 30 welfare checks. in pasco county, operations are ongoing, responding to multiple intersection, clearing trees and debris, allowing emergency vehicles to access storm-damaged areas and responding to calls for service. in hillsboro, county, there are several people assisted from a vehicle in a ditch. one pulled from a flooded vehicle, 100 evacuated from an assisted living facility and another 20 evacuated from a senior living facility in tampa. these efforts are ongoing. there's going to be flooding events across the state in

central and northern florida. if you're in a flood-prone area, be aware of this. again, i want to thank governor desantis for his leadership and support. and fwc is here to work with our partners to make sure floridians are safe during this event. >> so we'll continue with the rescue operations as needed. there's a lot of damage assessments that are going to be going on today. and we're very, obviously, supportive of the power restoration operations. glad all those folks were staged. ensuring that fuel is flowing. hopefully we'll get our big box stores open quickly and just get people back on their feet. that's going to be our focus. any questions? >> -- pinellas county, it's my understanding deputies are restricting access into the

area. do you have any insight into that? >> i don't. we're going to open bridges for traffic, and floridians can use those as they see fit. yep. [ inaudible question ] >> not yet. i know there have been reports. we have not confirmed any. that does not mean there has not been any. there's a process that happens with the state. i know with the tornados, it seems very likely there were some with the tornados. that's the only reports we have received. no confirmations. it's too soon to tell with the west coast and the storm surge and everything. so stay tuned on that. >> -- analysts predicted milton -- $60 billion [ indiscernible ] >> how would a wall street analyst going to know?

it's been dark all day. give me a break on some of this stuff. they're doing damage assessments now. they always say this, that or whatever. what i would say is what i said in the original talkers. we had certain worst case scenarios in tampa bay. a lot of places in pinellas county had negative storm surge, because it sucked the water out of the bay. seeing the entire tampa bay area underwater, that did not happen. the storm surge was most acute in sarasota. i think it was a little more than sarasota got for helene. i don't think it was so much more. i think it was eight to ten feet. helene got to 20 in taylor county. i think the fact that the storm weakened -- i'm not saying there's not going to be damage. there will be. right now the morning after if i

think back to hurricane ian, i don't think you're looking at a similar amount of damage to ian. with helene, there may end up being more overall damage, there may not. i don't know. but definitely the surge did not reach helene levels. i mean helene was producing major surge all across the west part of florida and in big bend it was -- sarasota, charlotte harbor, lee, collier, but compared to what they had with hurricane ian, that is not on the same level. so we'll see. there will be a lot more that will need to be done to assess the extent of the damage. what i think we can say is we have a lot of resources in play here in florida to be able to mitigate and get people back on their feet and get the state

moving again. people want back in their homes. they want to see the roads clear and the bridges reopen. that will be our sole focus as we get back. [ inaudible question ] >> they were relocated. tropicana field is a routine staging area for these things. the roof on that is not rated for -- i think it's rated for 110 miles an hour. so the forecast changes, but as it became clear there was going to be something of that magnitude that was going to be within the distance, they redeployed them out of tropicana. so there were no state assets that were in tropicana field. i think duke also removed all their assets as well. you look and the roof is basically -- it's like a fabric almost. so that was something we understood and acted accordingly.

>> governor ron desantis speaking from the state capital in florida. we'll have much more coverage of hurricane milton straight ahead. ♪♪ what do people want more of? more “oh yeah!” more laughs. more hang outs. more “mmmmm, so good!” yeah, give us more of all of that little stuff that makes life so great. but if you're older or or have certain health conditions, you also have more risk from flu, covid-19 and rsv. but vaccines help keep you from getting really sick. and that, is huge. a chewy order is the on the way for cash, everyone's favorite employee at bill's bodega.

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i know there are people in this country who say i don't live in a battleground state. why does my vote matter? we're choosing new governors. every member of the house of representatives is up for

reelection. there's state races, there's senate races. people are going to be electing attorneys general in country. voting is our opportunity to make our voices heard. we will better understand the extent of the damage as the day progresses. you have people that are out there assessing damage right now. first responders have been working all through the night to help people who are in distress. and what we can say is the storm was significant, but thankfully there was not the worst case scenario. >> that's florida governor ron desantis just moments ago discussing the damage left behind by hurricane milton over night. the sun is now up across florida, and crews are out assessing that damage. welcome to the fourth hour of "morning joe." 6:00 a.m. on the west coast,

9:00 a.m. in the east. there are water rescued under way if florida. firefighters were seen wading through heavy flooding as they checked on residents. in orlando, emergency services used boats to save residents trapped in flood waters. four people are dead in st. lucie county due to the storm. milton ripped off roofs of buildings, blew a ukraine into account and downed trees and power lines. at this hour, more than 3 million homes and businesses remain without power across the state of florida. let's go to fort myers, florida, where we find sam brock. good morning. what are you seeing there? >> good morning. a lot of what you were just saying very apropos to what we are looking at on the ground. in fort myers, like many other

communities, we're just waking up and seeing the damage. tornados, at least one reported right near where i'm standing . this home, the roof was partially ripped off. the gentleman inside was in his den at the time. half of that just sheared right off. you'll see a giant piece of a covering or some type of business here and a piece of his roof just underneath that, indicative that it might have been whirled around in that tornado. follow me across the street as we look at people clearing branches out of their homes. this roof also damaged. the gentleman who lives here was actually taking a nap at the time. his daughter screaming daddy,

daddy. thankfully everyone is okay. you mentioned four confirmed fatalities in st. lucie county. fort pierce with a very striking tornado and the potential for significantly more fatalities. more tornados in this area, north fort myers. there's drone video out this morning showing blocks and blocks of roofs just ripped off. that's the tornado side of things. earlier governor desantis described those 48 rescues. there are just so many crews out right now, 6,500 national guardsmen performing rescues, surveying the damage, trying to reach hard-to-reach communities. pine island, sanibel island, fort myers beach were areas decimated by hurricane ian a

couple of years ago. the national guard has been deployed at this hour. that's our next stop to see whether or not those communities have been cut off or if everyone is getting back and forth. all signs seem to point that people are able to be transported. tampa's mayor jane castor speaking a little while ago and describing half a million people with no power this morning, widespread power outages, downed trees, but no loss of life she is aware of at this time. governor desantis did speak to the fact that there are some 80,000 people that were in shelters. that's a massive number. you're talking about a quarter of the state population of florida asked to leave their homes, mandatory evacuations. in pinellas county where you have st. petersburg, the

tropicana field roof rips right off. you had 10,000 people supposed to be staged there for assistance and now there's no cover. the ukraine as welcoming down in st. petersburg. damage all over the region, but only four confirmed fatalities. 3.4 million customers at last check with no power. that is probably in a range of 6 or 7 million people with no power. 50,000-plus linemen are out there right now doing what they can. obviously the super structure is going to be so damaged that it's not going to be a quick fix. >> governor desantis saying just a few minutes ago it does appear that the worst case scenario did not visit florida, but that doesn't mean there's not a lot of destruction, a lot of people

living without power and a long cleanup ahead. sam brock, thank you so much. let's turn to meteorologist bill karins with more. >> we're two hours now into daylight and we haven't seen destroyed communities. that was the fear going into the storm was not only were we going to see millions evacuating, but would they have homes to come back to? i haven't seen any widespread indication that people won't. they'll have to do repairs. they won't have power, but they should have their homes. so that's great. we don't have to do temporary housing for thousands of people like we did after, say, katrina. that was the fear when we heard 15-feet storm surge was possible in tampa bay. that would mean thousands of homes that people couldn't get back in. it was a 5. it went down to a 3 at landfall. with many of the winds, it was

more acting like a category 2. that 24-hour period of weakening really saved a lot of property. we still have wind damage and everything else to deal with, but being like the historic storm that never happened before, this was, fortunately, like a typical hurricane and the effects you would expect with a category 3 or a category 2. st. petersburg in the clear, blue skies, not even breezy anymore. the storm is pushing off the east coast of florida. they took a pretty good hit on the east coast of florida. i know a lot of people in tampa went to the orlando area and daytona beach to all the hotels there to evacuate. those areas don't have power either. here's a look at the historic implications of all of this. we are in an extremely hyper active period of major

hurricanes making landfall. this is the tenth one in the last eight years. we've had five hurricanes make landfall this year along. near venice beach was where the highest winds were reported. venice beach, the osprey area heading south of sarasota. i have yet to see any pictures of this area of mass destruction. maybe out on the barrier beaches and the little small towns, we haven't seen that yet. so we'll wait and see. but every hour that goes by that we don't see any huge destruction, that's good. we still have a little bit breezy here in st. augustine to daytona beach. things have improved dramatically from west florida through central florida. the rain is starting to subside.

flash flood warning in areas of tampa has been dropped and all the historic rainfall that came with it here. we still have some rivers that have to crest, including the st. johns river. the storm is just about over with weather wise. now it's a matter of waiting to see what exactly the impacts are and how many injuries. with storms like this that it doesn't look like the water was like helene killed a lot of people. it's the aftermath. we get a lot of fatalities after with these storms, chain saws, people using their generators in their garages and things like that. that's probably going to be the messaging as we go throughout the next week or so, be careful with cleaning up downed power lines. >> officials warning people to stay off the street even though the sun is out.

earlier on "morning joe" we spoke to the mayor of tampa jane castor just before she headed out to survey the damage. she described what her city is dealing with. >> worst case scenario, the storm hit south a bit rather than north of us. so we have a lot of wind damage, about half a million people out of electricity. our first responders are out clearing roads right now, answering hundreds of calls, but we didn't get that massive storm surge that was expected. so very, very fortunate in that factor. >> thank goodness from that. we're getting reports from the tampa fire chief that there were more than 100 rescue calls made overnight. can you speak to some of those efforts? >> yes. i know that fire responded to several houses with trees on those. one individual actually sustained a head injury, and

they were able to safely transport him. tampa police department responded to a tree fell on a home where they rescued 15 individuals, including a number of young kids, and were able to get them safely to shelter. our first responders are out there doing an amazing job. we just can't have the community out there right now. i can't say enough about fema and the federal government and the role they have played in our preparations for this. i just got a text early this morning from administrator chris well saying how did you do, what do you need? we have to respond to all of the damage that is out there. so we'll get through this and we'll come out even stronger. >> we've been hearing that message about fema and state

government from mayors up and down the coast. how much storm surge are you seeing today? >> the rivers and everything are going to crest. so right now -- and this is very tentative -- it was at or below helene, and that was four to six feet. the predictions were 12 to 15 feet if that storm had gone up to the northern side of tampa bay. so we'll have storm surge damage, but nothing like what it could have been. it could have been catastrophic for tampa bay. >> part of our conversation this morning with tampa mayor jane castor. coming up on "morning joe," we'll continue to bring the latest on hurricane milton with live reports from florida on the destruction residents are facing as they wake up this morning.

plus, the latest consumer inflation report released just moments ago. andrew ross sorkin and stephanie ruhle join us to break down what those numbers mean for the u.s. economy and the race for president. we'll be right back. e race for president. we'll be right back. like, *loves* fresh air. but fresh air is full of stuff. fleas. ticks. allergens. so her parents use chewy for all her prescriptions. (♪♪) fast delivery means they never miss a dose. and great prices mean more funds... for more fun. for quality meds and great prices. for life with pets, there's chewy.

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back at 16 after the hour with some breaking economic news this morning. the labor department just released the latest inflation numbers for september. the consumer price index rose .2% last month, slightly above expectations, but inflation at its lowest point since february of 2021. joining us, andrew ross sorkin and stephanie ruhle. guys, good morning. andrew, what do we read into this number? >> i'm going to actually say not too much. i think we're getting whipsawed by a lot of this data. we get this number on the employment picture. things look like they're getting

better. this number, marginally worse in that maybe we're going to have a little bit more persistent inflation than we thought. the thing i've been focused on in the last 24 hours has been the minutes from the federal reserve that just came out where you actually get to see inside the conversation the fed's been having about the economy. you see a remarkable divide about where the economy is and how quickly things are going to be getting better. for the most part things have gotten a lot better. we can say that unequivocally. but the new question is do we see the fed cutting rates 25 basis points after the election in november and again in december? do we see them cut it by more? do we see them cut it by less. we're seeing a lot of these numbers get revised up and down over time. based on today's numbers, you'd see, i think, two 25 basis

points. >> steph, what are you seeing in the number? >> i'd say god bless andrew ross sorkin, because i don't want to spend 24 hours going through the minutes from the federal reserve meeting. i'm so glad that you did. he's absolutely right. today's inflation number is slightly worse than we expected. for us, everything is about how the american people feel. while gas prices are down significantly from where they were a year ago, you have a lot of places in the south where gas prices are actually below $3, but things are still expensive. where are they expensive? food costs, housing costs. those are things americans experience day in and day out and it's not good. if you live in florida or any of these states prone to hurricanes, insurance is off-the-charts expensive if you can get it. the economy is definitely good,

but given what the cost of living is, it's still expensive. people don't feel great about it. >> it's another moment where it feels like donald trump is almost rooting against the country. this number posted. within seconds they were on twitter tweeting hotter than expected. they're trying to evoke the nostalgia for the economy under trump. we know the facts don't always agree with them. if you were to do some messaging, steph, what would it be? >> keep on chugging. for a lot of people the economy -- the harris team push on whatever trump says, prove it. he says inflation is terrible, you can't afford your life. great. how are you going to make it better? what she needs to do is push the american people to say, you're damn right life is too

expensive, we're trying to address that. but what this man is offering you significantly worse. donald trump will balloon the deficit $3 billion. she has to push to the american people stop with this, he's a celebrity boss. she needs to say look at his policies, look at his plans. they don't help. earlier this morning on a delta earnings call their ceo was talking about their outlook. there was something i thought was stunning. they're expect around the election a slowdown in travel and people spending money. why is that? because people are anxious. they're nervous about the tension in the country, the rhetoric and what that can bring up. when i read it this morning, i

thought, my god, how un-american that people think i might not go to a concert, a game or get on a plane because people are fired up. >> andrew, given all these data points we've kind of put into the machine here, how are business leaders, how are ceos feeling about the relative strength of the economy right now? >> the answer goes to stephanie's point in terms of asking how this administration or the vice president should be messaging around this. they feel pretty great about all of this. earlier this week the coo of apollo, a private equity company and one of the largest financiers in america, historically a republican, say we shouldn't be cutting rates at all, because the economy is that good. when people ask what do the next four years look like, well, look

at the trend line. inflation has come down. if this continues for the next four years, the line will continue to come down. things will continue to get better. you don't hear that argument really made enough. we're comparing what was the economy like in 2016 to 2020 and 2020 to now. i think you can't be comparing those things. a, you had a pandemic in the middle of a massive supply chain shock. but if we continue the next four years, what does that look like? well, it looks like the last four years as it has continued to get better. >> which is good news for everybody, not for a party or a political candidate. it's good news for the economy. republican congressman chuck edwards of north carolina is pushing back on the disinformation and conspiracy theories donald trump and his allies continue to spread in the

aftermath of hurricane helene and around hurricane milton. in an e-mail to his constituents yesterday, congressman edwards, who represents western north carolina and otherwise has been a supporter of president trump, wrote in part, these conspiracy theories, while certainly frustrating, have done more harm than most people realize. the spreading of falsehoods has diverted, state, local and federal resources from helping his district. the north carolina republican went onto write, it is disappointing to have to send an e-mail dispelling the outlandish rumors being spread online about hurricane helene response and recovery. president biden yesterday called out donald trump by name for lying about the federal response to hurricane helene and republican congresswoman marjorie taylor greene, who's been pushing absurd experiences that the federal government can control the weather. >> over the last few weeks, there's been reckless and irresponsible and relentless

promotion of disinformation and outright lies about what's going on. it's undermining confidence of the people in florida and the incredible rescue recovery work that has been undertaken. there are thousands of fellow americans putting their lives at stake to do the dangerous work that needs to be done now. it's harmful to those who most need the help. quite frankly, these lies are un-american, and there is simply no place for them, not now, not ever. former president trump has led this onslaught of lies. assertions are being made that property is being confiscated. it's simply not sure. people impacted by these storms are receiving $750 in cash and no more, that is simply not true either. they're saying money for the crisis is being diverted to

migrants. stop it. it's just not true. the claims are getting even more bizarre. marjorie taylor greene, the congresswoman from georgia, is saying the federal government is literally controlling the weather. we're controlling the weather. it's beyond ridiculous. it's so stupid. it's got to stop. >> let's bring in the host of msnbc's "inside with jen psaki". >> good morning. >> we've been saying this this morning and you as someone who worked in that press office at the white house, that the president of the united states would have to stand at a lectern at the white house and say to the american people, no, the government does not control the weather and the government does not engineer hurricanes to go to red states that support donald trump. it's a breathtaking moment. sadly, it has to be said

outline. it's not just president biden. it is republican governors and senators who have had to drive this message home that fema is not here to take your land, for example. >> no kidding. and i think it's so important to keep restating this is not normal. i talked with secretary mayorkas about this. he's never seen this level of misinformation during a hurricane response or any emergency response like the ones we're seeing now. he spent many years working in the department of homeland security. when you have that republican member of congress whose district was undoubtedly won by trump by multiples saying this is harming the people in my district, that should be a huge wakeup call. the other thing secretary mayorkas said to me is that people are not applying for programs they're eligible for. they're not, of course, listening to advice about

evacuation. they don't know what's true or not true. people are hurting themselves because of the amount of misinformation out there. i was working for barack obama in 2012 when he was running for reelection during hurricane sandy. chris christie came and traveled on the plane with us. it may have hurt chris christie politically later. the point is that these moments are moments when democrats and republicans, people have stood together to respond to communities in trouble. and donald trump is like lighting a fire at that tradition and also hurting the people who were impacted. >> steph, one of the things the trump campaign has latched onto in terms of disinformation are false claims that seized on the idea of a $750 payment. can you explain to viewers what exactly this is? give us the truth. >> donald trump claiming, if you can get it, joe biden is just

going to give you this 750 bucks as though you got something and there will be absolutely nothing behind it. so if they try to give it to you, refuse that money. because if you take the money, you're basically signing off, i won't take anything else from the government. it's just an outright lie. they don't do any of these things by accident. so it makes you wonder and worry about the political calculation. we can all sit here and talk about how dangerous it is, but many of the people in these areas aren't watching us right now. they don't even have access to national news given what they're going through. in these states where every vote counts, you wonder is it perversely going to help him. >> you have republican governors coming out again and again saying fema is doing its job, the federal government is helping us.

this is not a time for division even though it's coming right from the top in donald trump. we are under four weeks until election day. what is your sense as we sit here now about the state of the race? we were talking to mike murphy a little bit earlier about concern about the state of michigan, some messaging by the trump campaign about electric vehicles, though false, may be cutting through there. >> somebody asked me when i was getting coffee yesterday, what's the state of the race? and don't tell me it's close. well, it's close. what's important for everybody out there to understand right now is not only is it very close, but even as everybody watches donald trump self-combust at times on the stage when he's doing events, be

hard to follow, confusing, the campaign below him is running a far more disciplined effort in terms of the types of paid media they're doing on digital, on local advertising, et cetera. does that mean it's going to be successful? i'm not suggesting that. all i'm suggesting is it shouldn't be underestimated. they are doing things, many of them gross and disgusting and false and misleading, but they are doing some things quite purposefully, this is putting out a great deal of disinformation. their strategy seems to be this. they know he has a low ceiling, that he doesn't have a massive place of expansion. they have not run a campaign as though they are trying to pull more voters into the umbrella. so therefore it is let's take down harris, a brutal, negative type of campaign, which unfortunately in the world we're living in and the level of misinformation and confusion out there, some of that can be

effective. it's not the worst thing for people out there to be a little freaked out that this election is going to be close, because it is. and michigan, there are some troubling spots in michigan. as many people who represent areas there like debbie dingle and others have said, it's going to be close. harris has made up a lot of ground. but people should know and understand when they can early vote and participate in the process, now is the time, and they can't sit on their couches because they could be the difference. i don't think it's always the worst thing for people to be a little freaked. >> i agree with that. i'm curious to get your take on an unusual trump strategy. he's going to some pretty deep blue cases. we know he's heading to aurora,

colorado, where they have suggested migrants have overrun that town when officials there say that's simply not true. he's also scheduled a rally at madison square garden at the end of the month. there's probably a lot of protests. maybe he doesn't mind that image as well. what do you think? >> sometimes he's not always playing three dimensional chess. i can try to explain some of it or what my assessment is. i think he is a person who makes a bet on national media and on social media on how that's going to play less than he does his own role in the local strategy. obviously he hasn't been campaigning as a traditional candidate. he does not have traditional

operations in states which he also didn't have in 2016. i think that's important for people to remember. to me, i think he has a couple of things written down on a piece of paper which are like scare people about the threat of migrants which is absurd and gross, but that's one of his campaign messages. talk about crime. i'm interested in whether that is his message in new york. i don't know, but that was something that had an impact in 2022. i think he makes a bet that when he does these campaign events and rallies that the impact is not necessarily on winning the state. i don't think he necessarily thinks he's going to win new york, but the new york media is there. it will be covered extensively and it's kind of about the ricochet effect after that. sometimes he says odd and weird things that we can't necessarily explain in advance. >> jen psaki, thanks so much. watch "inside with jen psaki"

sundays at noon and mondays at 8:00 p.m. eastern time. coming up, we'll continue to bring the latest on hurricane milton. a live report from st. petersburg amid that destruction at tropicana field. d that destrn at tropicana field (man) mm, hey, honey. looks like my to-do list grew. "paint the bathroom, give baxter a bath, get life insurance," hm.

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back as we continue to follow the aftermath of hurricane milton this morning. this is tropicana field, home to the tampa bay rays of major league baseball. a big chunk of that roof torn off last night as winds in the area reached close to 100 miles an hour. the shelter was used for first responders. governor desantis said they did move those people away before it hit. joining us from outside the stadium in st. petersburg, stephanie gosk.

good morning again. >> reporter: hey, willie. it's a good thing they moved them out of there, isn't it? take a look at that stadium. that is not a place you would want to be in last night. that roof was made of fiberglass and teflon. according to information from the team, it was supposed to withstand 115-mile-an-hour winds. the strongest gust last night in tampa was 101. that came through around 10:30 at night. i just spoke to a resident here who lived in an apartment building right across the street on the third floor. he said he started hearing loud popping sounds and eventually tearing fabric. he went out and saw each panel peel away over the course of a couple of hours. he saw one go and another one go, loud noises ensuing the whole time. as you mentioned, the stadium was supposed to be used as a

staging area, a kind of base camp, according to the governor, for various resources, energy resources, emergency rescue personnel and those teams that have been going around and picking up the debris not just from milton but also from helene. then they realized that roof was likely not going to hold with the wind that was going to come through here and they decided to pull those teams out. we know there were some essential personnel inside, but the fire department tells us they are all accounted for and thankfully everyone is safe, willie. >> good news there. stephanie gosk live from st. petersburg, thank you so much. congressman jared moskowitz took action this week in the wake of hurricane helene introducing a bill that would authorize $8 billion sent to the small business administration for hurricane relief efforts.

congressman, thanks for being here this morning. you obviously have vast experience given your previous work with emergency management in florida in dealing with the aftermath of these hurricanes and the preparation for them. what are you seeing and hearing in your home state today? >> well, thanks for having me. what we're hearing is obviously a lot of people are saying that some of the worst they expected with the storm surge in tampa didn't happen, so some people feel they dodged a bullet. for those areas, maybe they did. but there were other areas of florida that really took a hit. this was really a triple punch. by that i mean, there was storm surge damage in the south, along the coast, port charlotte, in that area. then there's significant wind damage. then there's significant

tornados, 106 tornado warnings, the most in florida history. we have damage on the east coast of florida where there weren't even tropical storm force winds except these dramatic tornados. i know the florida department of emergency management and governor desantis are marshaling all the of the resources they can muster and getting in medical supplies for anyone who needs help. we'll band together and we'll rebuild just like we did after hurricane ian two years ago. >> despite some of the garbage and conspiracy theories we've heard from certain corners of our political world, we are hearing from mayors, we are hearing from governors and officials and some of your colleagues in congress across party lines saying the coordination with fema and state and local officials has been very good.

even this morning the mayors saying they're getting phone calls from president biden himself. how is that going despite the disinformation? >> it's working in florida like it's always worked. the difference is that because of the ridiculous misinformation nonsense, right now people are paying more attention to it. but florida and this administration have a lot of history of working together. you saw that in hurricane ian just two years ago. so fema is on the ground. you have the administrator here in florida in the eoc in tallahassee. that is extremely rare. the fact that she is there means that florida will be able to get what they need from fema even quicker. so, yes, the president is engaged. i know the governor and the president are talking like they did in hurricane ian. everything is working the way it has always worked here in florida. but, yes, when you have people in congress like marjorie taylor greene who's head of the mensa

caucus, talking about a weather machine -- i'm just curious, when donald trump had access to that weather machine, why did he send a hurricane to puerto rico? so this is a silly time we live in, unfortunately. it's very dangerous to do this in the middle of a disaster when people are trying to figure out whether they should leave their home and trust government and listen to government institution who are telling them, please take your family, your pets and leave. and we have people undermining those government institutions. it will get people killed. >> congressman, you have proposed legislation that would spread the risk around with insurance. with how expensive insurance has become in florida, there's concern that some insurance companies have stopped offering insurance there. can you explain your proposal

and an answer to that counter? >> first of all, we subsidize a lot of things in congress. we subsidize the oil industry. we subsidize the corn industry. we do a lot of subsidies. there are some states that are always helping out other states. we live in a country together. that's number one. number two, that's what fema does. fema takes federal money and helps counties discover. some states don't have anywhere near the disasters that a california, a florida or a texas suffer. the bill i propose wouldn't raise the national deficit at all. it wouldn't use any taxpayer money, in fact. i crafted it that way to avoid that conversation. what i'm suggesting is insurance rates in florida and other places are going up 25% because insurance companies are buying the one in 1,000 reinsurance for

this major one in 1,000-year event. that's driving up the cost. when we take that reinsurance off the plate from insurance companies and give that over to government bonds that states can opt into. it's optional. they don't have to do it. through those government bonds, they can call those bonds down to help when we have these one in 1,000-year events. texas has seen hurricane harvey. it's the whole gulf coast and then it's going to go up the east coast and it's going to happen in fire prone areas. this is a national issue. if you don't address it, you're going to see seniors who live on fixed incomes not being able to afford where they live because their insurance is going to go up. >> congressman jared 're sendin

your state. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. governor desantis and administrator criswell just briefed president biden on the hurricane recovery efforts. administrator, thank you for being with us. if you can, share some of the details of the call and what you heard from governor desantis about where they are this morning with the sun now up and who's able to get out and survey some of the damage? >> the sun is now up. while there are some reports of damages from across the state, they're really out in force now inspecting and assessing to determine the level of impact across the state. one of the biggest concerns they're hearing is the impact from the tornados. the state reported 28 tornados that touched down. we've already seen images from significant damage that has occurred in some of the communities.

because of the president's swift approval, we were able to deploy search and rescue teams augmenting the work of the incredible first responders. it wasn't the worst case scenario they were expecting, but they planned for it. >> talking to the mayor of tampa this morning and mayors up and down the west coast of florida who obviously issued dire warnings about getting out of evacuation zones at risk of their own life. it appears that they dodged at least the worst case scenarios in those major population centers. is that fair? >> yeah. what we were planning for was that direct hit and incredible storm surge in the tampa area. the evacuation orders, i believe, saved lives. sarasota and that area did see

the most significant impacts of that surge. the governor was reporting, i think, up to 10 feet. but i also have reports there were over 90,000 people in shelters, which means people listened and actually got out of harm's way. >> what does the next few days look like? and do you have a sense as to is the forecast going to provide that battered state with some calm here? is there assessments about recovery and rebuilding? >> yeah. i mean, this is the third hurricane that has impacted florida in just over two months. we had debbie, then helene and now this one. what we're seeing right that right now more damage from storm surge from helene, but we don't know what the overall impact is yet from milton, and again, a lot of it from the tornadoes out right now assessing. we have over 1,000 people who have been in the state

supporting of the response and recovery efforts and not just from helene, but also the recovery efforts from helene and adelia, and once we know what they need, we can move in more resources to support them. there are rumblings about more in the gulf, but we will help to speed up the recovery to be prepared if there is another storm that heads their way. >> administrator criswell, before we let you go, in the days leading up to the storm, fema has been getting bipartisan praise from senators and governors and congressmen and women for the hard-hit areas for the coordination that you have provided this despite some bad faith malicious efforts by political actors to inject conspiracy theories, and this is one offering the $750 for those

in flood areas in specifically north carolina, as portrayed as offering crumbs and then walking away. can you explain what the $750 payment really is? >> thank you for letting me have this opportunity, because we have a series of financial resources that are available to people who have been impacted, and that initial $750 payment is just that. it is an initial payment to help support immediate needs like replacing medicine, replacing food they lost in their refrigerator, if they needed to buy clothes or other essential supplies because we know they have specific needs in the first few hours, and if they register and they got that money, then they need to understand we are working with them to work on the damage to get financial assistance to repair damages to the homes and lost appliances and vehicles, and if they need a place to stay, and if the home is so damaged that we need to put them in one of the hotels through one of the hotel

programs or a longer term place, and so that is just one of the initial payments to help in the critical first few days and more to come when we understand their individual needs. >> and tens of thousands grateful for that first initial payment. and administrator criswell, thank you for stopping by for a bit. >> thank you. and we will be back with more "morning joe." clinically proven to help reverse the 4 signs of early gum disease a toothpaste from parodontax, the gum experts. protect against rsv with arexvy. arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain,

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highest leverage of the most trusted arms. the 2-1, and lindor toward right center field and this one is back -- it is gone! grand slam and lin dor puts the mets on top. >> the moment that francisco lindor became an icon to mets fans in the decisive game of the nlds.

he hits the grand slam and that is the final, 4-1, and eliminate the philadelphia phillies and move on to the championship series for first time since 2015 and even for a yankees' fan, that is thrilling. >> and people are excited about the mets and i suppose the yankees, too, and lindor is going to be the mvp if not for ohtani, and the met goes on the face either the padres or the dodgers in the nlcs and the mets have grimace on the side. >> and if you don't know the story of grimace, look it up, and he is the reason for the celebration. and today, the tigers and the yankees have a chance to advance to the alcs and we will be watching. that does it for us this morning and we will back here with more as ana cabrera picks it up.

hello, it is 10:00 a.m., and 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm ana cabrera and