-
1
[1] Now start with, the long road to recovery and cleanup is underway from Hurricane Milton in Florida.
-
2
[2] Restoring power is a major challenge. Today, there are down electric lines and transformers like these in Fort Myers that you see throughout the state.
-
3
[3] Some neighborhoods are still underwater. Today, this is video of water rescues from earlier today in Hillsboro County, around Tampa.
-
4
[4] Many people who evacuated are now heading back to their homes. This is what traffic looked like earlier today on Interstate 75, heading north.
-
5
[5] The White House announced that President Biden will travel to Florida on Sunday. This visit will come less than two weeks since he surveyed the damage from Hurricane Helen.
-
6
[6] The president once again blasted the spread of misinformation surrounding the federal response to the storm.
-
7
[7] "I think those who have been spreading these lies to try to undermine the opposition are going to pay a price for it."
-
8
[8] Joining us now, NBC News correspondent Marissa parra in St. Petersburg, and NBC News correspondent Priscilla Thompson, who's in St. Lucie County.
-
9
[9] Marissa, we'll start with you. You've been talking with homeowners in the hard-hit neighborhood where you are right now. What are they saying?
-
10
[10] Well, Kate and Zinhle, what I'm seeing and noticing is it really just depends on what state of survival the homeowners are in.
-
11
[11] I mean, there are people still being actively rescued today, as we speak, those who live closest to some of those rivers that continue to crest as we are talking right now.
-
12
[12] So there's a lot of people that are still in survival mode. But for some homeowners, what I thought was really interesting is that some who didn't have that much destruction are still telling us the same thing, which is it is getting increasingly more difficult to think about the idea of continuing to live here.
-
13
[13] Remember, Florida homeowners continue to pay the highest premiums in the United States. We know that home insurance is something we've been covering for years here. Insurance companies have been scaling back or withdrawing from the state altogether.
-
14
[14] So we've been hearing about those concerns from so many people, even people who maybe didn't have that much damage, but are noticing their insurance premiums continuing to hike.
-
15
[15] But, guys, it's so important to remember, you know, we're just a couple of days since Milton. We have this debris behind me.
-
16
[16] It's not just debris, we're talking about people's belongings, their prized possessions, memories scattered in front of their yards that they have barely started to clean up since Helen.
-
17
[17] Now, just trying to survive after Milton. So it's just a lot at once for people here an increasingly desperate situation. Kate, Zinhle.