Hurricane Milton Makes Landfall in Florida

Hurricane Milton has made landfall in the U.S. state of Florida, bringing strong winds and the threat of heavy storm surges.

Transcript

00:00Hurricane Milton makes landfall in Florida, packing howling winds as strong as 205 kilometers

00:09an hour at its peak.

00:13Residents in coastal and low-lying areas were ordered to evacuate as the U.S.'s third most

00:19populous state hunkered down for a night of heavy rain, rising water levels and destruction,

00:26strong winds tearing the roof of a stadium.

00:31Over two million homes and businesses lost power, and deaths were confirmed in an eastern

00:36county, though exact numbers are still unclear.

00:41The storm brought a series of tornadoes to the area before weakening after making landfall.

00:47It destroyed over 120 homes, including this one in Fort Myers.

00:53All this, this happened like instantaneously, like these windows blew out, I was about probably

00:58right here when it happened.

01:01Residents here were still recovering from Hurricane Helene, which hit two weeks ago

01:06and killed over 200 people in six states.

01:10As they race to evacuate, the trauma for many goes deeper than Helene.

01:14They're still reeling from Hurricane Ian that struck two years ago, Florida's costliest

01:20and most catastrophic storm.

01:23You know, everybody's anxiety, got anxiety, like PTSD sinking in from Hurricane Ian,

01:30because we know the aftermath.

01:32I'm tired of prepping, I mean, I'm vaguely running around since like three or four days

01:37constantly and prepping, you know, and it's just exhausting.

01:42As they prepare to deal with the devastation, first responders are also bringing with them

01:47lessons from Hurricane Ian.

01:50So what we have behind me here is a few of our marine assets.

01:52We have our airboat in the county.

01:55This airboat was actually deployed with us on Ian and it proved to be one of the best

01:59resources we had.

02:00Speaking from Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden tells Florida residents he and Vice

02:05President Kamala Harris are with them to rescue, recover and rebuild.

02:10The president also slamming Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for seeking political

02:16gain in a time of crisis.

02:18By falsely saying aid is being diverted from residents.

02:22It's undermining confidence of the people in Florida.

02:25Quite frankly, these lies are un-American.

02:30Though Hurricane Milton has dropped in intensity since making landfall, it remains an extremely

02:35dangerous storm, threatening heavy flooding and strong winds as it continues to move over

02:41Florida.

02:42Alex Chan in Joyston for Taiwan Plus.

02:48For more UN videos visit www.un.org