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.
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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.