Tornadoes strike in Florida as Hurricane Milton approaches

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00:00more on the situation there. Let's cross live now to Javier Sarkar-Quiroz, a resident in Miami.

00:06It's good to have you with us on the program this evening, Javier. Firstly, tell us where exactly

00:11you are and how conditions are there. Thank you for having me on today. I am located in the

00:19suburb, western suburb of Miami, called West Kendall, and conditions are pretty moderate.

00:25They're pretty tropical storm, just like they said they would be. There are some broken branches,

00:30breezes, and quick moving storms, tornado warnings, but nothing too terrible. We've

00:35been very fortunate down here. And do you have friends in northern parts of Florida?

00:41Are they safe? Do you know anyone who's been evacuated from their homes?

00:47Absolutely. I think any native of South Florida or Miami is going to have friends who have spread

00:54out all over the states at some point, and I do have friends in Tampa and Fort Myers. I have a

00:59friend in Hudson Beach who already suffered a total loss, and Haylene lost her house. It's still

01:06standing, but everything inside was gone due to the storm surge, and she's had to evacuate to Orlando

01:11with her neighbors. So she's having to ride a second hurricane, and she's the one, like my

01:16friend, who I personally know has had such a loss to such an extent. But there are others I'm in

01:23contact with. I know they've lost power in Tampa Bay. My friend just informed me they have no

01:29data, cellular reception, and I know it's just really windy in Fort Myers, really windy, but

01:35no storms. And your friend who's in Orlando now, she's among thousands of people still

01:41picking up the pieces after Hurricane Haylene. How exactly is she dealing with that?

01:47Well, she's had a rough time. I mean, anyone in her position, I'm sure, I mean, losing all your

01:53possessions. Of course, she's grateful to be alive and her neighbors all coming together. It's the

01:58beautiful thing about these disasters is that people come together to help each other. It can

02:03be a reminder of restoration and faith in humanity. And of course, I'll just disclose, I work with her

02:12in business, and so a lot of our associates got together and we raised a little bit of what we

02:18could before we even knew the second storm was coming, just from the first loss, and, you know,

02:24sent her a nice little care package. We'll have to send another one after this one.

02:28And Florida authorities, they're urging anybody who hasn't yet done so to urgently

02:33seek shelter. What, though, of the people who've decided to stay in their own homes?

02:38Well, that's going to be the vast majority of the people, because a very, very small amount of

02:43people can actually pick up and leave. So for various reasons, whether it's because they're

02:49caring for small ones or older ones. And so the right thing to do, the Florida thing to do, is to

02:57basically prepare and hunker down, is to be ready. You have to do both parts. You have to be ready so

03:04So you have to be ready so you can last comfortably while the emergency services do their work and get

03:10to you and provide relief. Yeah, because that's the thing, it's very hard to know exactly what's

03:14going to happen. People in Florida, I guess they're kind of used to being hit by hurricanes

03:18and very bad weather. But how exactly do you prepare for something like this?

03:25All year round. There's really no way to prepare for this other than just kind of

03:30always have a little bit of your food packed up in your pantry. And that's just the Florida way.

03:35It's part of the risk of living here. I believe over 120 hurricanes have struck Florida compared

03:42to the other states in the US. I think the other one, the other highest, second highest, 62. So

03:47that's almost twice as many hurricanes. So I know there's a lot of newer inhabitants due to the last

03:53few years of activity. A lot of other people moved from other states to Florida. And I think that

03:58might have a factor to why so many people are not as prepared. They're becoming Floridians,

04:04they're not quite there yet, maybe. Javier, we'll have to leave it there for now. Thank you so much

04:09for your time on the programme. That is Javier Sarkar-Quiroz. Best of luck also to your friend

04:14who's recently moved to Orlando. Stay safe. Thank you. Well, let's turn now to the Middle

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