Storm surge and flood damage in Hurricane Milton aftermath

AccuWeather

AccuWeather's Bill Wadell reports from Sarasota, Florida, where Hurricane Milton left behind wind, storm surge and flood damage after making landfall in the region overnight.

Transcript

00:00Bill, I know you have been through it. The sun is up. What kind of damage are

00:06you seeing first? Are you, or is Steph, is everyone on your team okay? And what are

00:11you seeing now that the sun is coming up? Hey, good morning Bree and Bernie. We're

00:17doing all right. Everybody's doing just fine with our crew and you can see the

00:21emergency first responders. They are heading out trying to check on people

00:24throughout this Sarasota area. Now that we have the sunlight, we're dealing with

00:28the damage assessments. We saw a Sarasota police out a short time ago

00:32with a tethered drone up in the air. Again, they're searching for boats that

00:35may have been submerged or getting those rapid damage assessments. Now the sun is

00:39up right here. You can see this is one of the roadblocks to the bridges. This

00:43is to get to the barrier islands like City Island and Longboat Key. At this

00:47point, they're only letting first responders onto those barrier islands

00:51for these damage checks and assessments. And of course, to check on people who

00:55may not have left and evacuated before that storm surge poured in. You could see

00:59from the video of the conditions we encountered last night here in Sarasota.

01:03I was telling Bernie earlier this morning, this was one of those situations.

01:08Every single hurricane is unique. The front end of Hurricane Milton

01:13was not all that impressive and it was eerily quiet in the eye. Sarasota ended

01:18up being right in the eye of this Category 3 hurricane. And then as

01:21as Hurricane Milton was pushing inland, we were just absolutely slammed on the

01:25back end with all of the storm surge pouring in from different directions.

01:28You could see just how much water flooded into the streets of downtown

01:32Sarasota within a matter of minutes. We were at a hotel, sturdy hurricane rated

01:37hotel with a parking garage downtown. We had multiple plans and exit strategies

01:42again, just about four blocks away. And you could see just how quickly that

01:46water came pouring in from all different directions. It wasn't all that

01:50bad right at the harbor and merino level. But again, when you have storm

01:54surge pouring in like that, it can come from all sorts of places again. The

01:57damage assessments are underway this morning. We hope to get more information

02:01about the barrier islands were very concerned about folks who decided not

02:05to follow those evacuation orders on the barrier islands again. We don't

02:08have a drone in the air just yet because we know first responders have

02:11drones in the air. We cannot interfere with that. We need to make sure they

02:14get the search and rescue check on those damage assessments and we will be

02:17reporting back throughout the morning. But again here did see some cars sold

02:21out in the water left behind and we'll be getting more reports from confirmed

02:24reports from authorities throughout the day. Bill, I have to ask you before you

02:28go. You went from polar opposites. You were in the eye. You told me how eerie

02:35it was. Then what? Half an hour later, that storm surge, I guess the best way

02:39to describe it was fast and furious.

02:42Mhm.

02:44Violent bernie. I'll tell you violent again. First responders out here on

02:48quads now trying to get through some of the damage here to check on people.

02:51Yeah, it was violent. I mean it came in from different directions, rocking the

02:56sides of the car. You saw from, I'm not sure if you've seen it yet. We had a

03:00live hit last night on our live wall to wall coverage on Accuweather. A news

03:03van from the Orlando market came in and when that crew finally made it through

03:08that water, barely made it in with the engine sputtering again. These are

03:10folks who have been in florida for decades, covered storms for decades.

03:13They said that big, heavy loaded van, they could feel the back end starting

03:17to float. So we're talking about very powerful water. That's why we urge

03:21people. It happens fast and furious. Do not let your guard down even in the eye

03:25of the storm. So we know some people were telling us this storm isn't all

03:27that bad. What hurricane Milton? Then the back end came through and we got

03:31smacked.

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