Hurricane Ian leaves millions without power, Aaron Judge makes history: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Hurricane Ian leaves millions without power

The storm was one of the strongest ever to make U.S. landfall. Plus, hear how Floridians prepare for hurricanes, reporter Natalie Neysa Alund tells us what Waffle House can say about a storm's severity, reporter Jordan Mendoza explains how hurricanes are named and Aaron Judge makes history with his 61st home run of the season.

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Thursday, the 29th of September, 2022. Today, Hurricane Ian leaves millions stranded and without power. Plus what Waffle House can tell us about a storm's strength, and more.

Here are some of the top headlines:

1. The search continues for an escaped Nevada prisoner convicted of murder in the 2007 Luxor bombing in Las Vegas. It's been at least five days since Porfirio Duarte-Herrera was accounted for.

2. Vice President Kamala Harris wrapped up her Asia trip today. She stopped by the demilitarized zone, which divides the Korean peninsula.

3. And Coolio has died. The rapper and record producer best known for hits like Gangsters Paradise was 59.

♦

Hurricane Ian hit Florida's southwestern coast yesterday as one of the most powerful storms in US history. Ian made landfall near Cayo Costa as a category four hurricane with maximum sustained winds hitting 150 miles per hour. That's only seven miles an hour slower than a maximum category 5. The hurricane then moved north up the state and was downgraded to a category 1 last night. Just before midnight, it was located 70 miles south of Orlando, and is next expected to keep moving north through Georgia and South Carolina. The storm strength at landfall makes it tied for the fifth strongest hurricane, by wind speed, to ever hit the US. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said yesterday that first responders were working to help people in impacted areas.

Governor Ron DeSantis:

So we know that there are folks who are in the really high risk Zone A evacuation zones who did not evacuate. Some have called in, and those people are being logged, and there will be a response, but it's likely going to take a little time for this storm to move forward so that it's safe for the first responders to be able to do.

Taylor Wilson:

Wind gusts, though, have knocked out some 911 emergency call centers, even as calls are coming in of people trapped in their homes. In the coastal city of Naples, the Sheriff's Department said it received a slew of calls about people trapped at home, and that officials would prioritize immediate life threatening injuries. At least two million Floridians are also without power, a number that's expected to continue growing. And Florida Power and Light told CNN that it might have to do a complete rebuild along parts of the state's west coast, which may take days or weeks.

Meanwhile, Cuba is working to also recover from the storm, which hit the island before Florida. The entire country lost power at one point. Havana resident Yayina Gonzales.

Taylor Wilson translating for Yavina Gonzales

"This blackout is not easy, because one has food for small children, and with this heat it is not easy."

Taylor Wilson:

Cuban officials said they had begun restoring some power yesterday. The US Coast Guard, though, is also searching for more than 20 people missing after their boat sank yesterday. Four Cuban people from the boat reached Stock Island near Key West, and reported that their boat sank because of bad weather.

♦

So how does a Florida resident prepare for a hurricane? Practice, practice, practice. USA TODAY'S James Brown explains.

James Brown:

As Hurricane Ian bombarded the Sunshine State Wednesday, all my colleague Héctor García De León could do was wait.

Héctor García De León:

Well, the first thing that goes through my mind, let's see. I would definitely say like, "Oh, here we go. It's go time," because it's definitely something that all Floridians are used to.

James Brown:

He lives in Kissimmee, Florida, just south of Orlando, right smack in the middle of the state. He's in the path of the category 4 hurricane. It reached landfall Wednesday with winds reaching 150 miles per hour. De León, who grew up in northern Florida, says long time residents know when to fear and when not to. And in times like these, people are racing for supplies.

Héctor García De León:

It's kind of hectic. People can get really protective over their waters, but making sure you have enough water, have enough canned goods, making sure you have flashlights, lanterns, anything that's battery powered when the power goes out. Making sure you have gas if you're in a home, so you can light the stove so you can cook something. Sandbags, making sure you have enough sandbags so that the water doesn't get into your house if you're on a first floor. Those are all a lot of things that sometimes people don't take into consideration, but that are important.

James Brown:

He lives in a second story apartment, which he says helps in some ways. It also makes some efforts to prepare impossible.

Héctor García De León:

You can't really board up your windows as you would in a house. So I would just close my blinds, making sure I have nothing in my balcony that would fly away. Trying to move things away from windows as possible, just in case anything comes through a window, none of your own property gets damaged. I would just say keep things in a tight space, away from windows and anything that would fly in.

James Brown:

When hurricane winds this size approach, De León says things change emotionally, too.

Héctor García De León:

I do feel a change in the atmosphere, both physically outside, and personally. Because just yesterday it was blue skies. Blue skies, white clouds, it looked like any normal day here in Florida. And then today, of course, it is gray skies, strong winds. So definitely you feel it and you see it. You see the effects of Hurricane Ian outside. A week ago we didn't have a hurricane planned, and nobody was really checking in. But now you have family, you have friends checking in, making sure that you're safe, making sure that you're okay, and have everything you need. So having that support system from friends and family is also really helpful in these times as well.

James Brown:

We'll have an update on Héctor in the coming days. James Brown, USA TODAY.

♦

Taylor Wilson:

As we said, Hurricane Ian's wind speeds have been some of the most severe in US history, but there's another way to know when a storm is bad. Is Waffle House open? Producer PJ Elliott spoke with reporter Natalie Neysa Alund to find out more.

Natalie Neysa Alund:

They've been monitoring Hurricane Ian since it was named a storm, from what I was told by the Vice President of Public Relations. They closed the restaurants in the mandatory evacuation zones as a precaution, and they said that they are working with local authorities to monitor when they can open them. So far, 21 locations were closed across the state from Naples along the Gulf Coast all the way up to Bradenton, which is in Manatee County. It's about 120 miles north. I actually used to work down in the Tampa Bay area, I've covered extensive hurricanes over my two decades as a journalist, and I can't recall a time that I've covered a hurricane where there's been a Waffle House that closed. I mean they always were open with at least a burger. I mean, it's a very limited menu, but you at least got that burger. You didn't get your smothered, covered, and junked hash brown, but you got your burger when you were running around trying to report on all the craziness going on down there. I mean, when Waffle House closes, you know it's going to be bad.

PJ Elliott:

So what is the Waffle House Index and how does it work?

Natalie Neysa Alund:

The Waffle House Storm Center is a team that mobilizes during extreme weather, and it's been monitoring the storm's pass since, again, it became named a storm. Ian became named a storm. And the index is something that actually FEMA monitors. It's a color coded indicator of what restaurants are open, closed, or offering a limited menu, and it gauges how well an area is going to recover from a hurricane, tornado, or other natural disaster. I read a blog that was from back in 2011 that FEMA wrote and it said something along the lines of that the Waffle House test just doesn't tell FEMA how quickly a business might rebound. It also tells how the larger community is faring. And if you can tell by some of these Twitter posts that I've included in our story on the Waffle House closures, people are like, "Wait, what? Waffle House is closed? We need to get the crap out of here." And I used to live in Florida, and I remember when hurricanes were coming in, if they were a one, two, three, it's like, "Ah, oh everybody, welcome to Florida." If you're a newbie, ain't no thing. But now it's on the brink, when Waffle House closes, of some serious danger. So the Waffle House Index is definitely an indicator that things are bad.

♦

Taylor Wilson:

Peak hurricane season is here, and with the arrival of Hurricane Ian, named storms could still form off the coast of the US until December. For more on why and how storms are named, PJ Elliott spoke with reporter Jordan Mendoza.

Jordan Mendoza:

Yeah, so I mean the names, they're decided by the World Meteorological Organization based in Geneva. And originally storms were called... They were named after something that they did. So for example, if a storm damaged a stadium, the storm would be known as the stadium storm or something like that. And really, that's hard for people to know what's going to be happening in the storm in the future. Because all they know is that it damaged this one building, and that gets confusing, especially if that building gets damaged again in another storm. It creates a lot of confusion. So they decided that using names will probably be the best way to just track these. That way it's a very distinctive name, and it's easier to follow. And also in some cases, too, you could have two storms going on at the same time in completely different areas, and that can also confuse a bunch people as well, too.

PJ Elliott:

So Jordan, what goes into determining whether a hurricane's name gets retired?

Jordan Mendoza:

So there's not really a threshold of how much damage it's supposed to cause, but it's one of those, if the damage was just so extensive, caused massive catastrophe, that's when they retire their names. And it's mostly done out of, want to be sensitive to people that had to deal with these storms. So I mean, you're not going to see a hurricane be named Katrina ever again. You're not going to see an Ida be used ever again. So really once one of these storms, and we're seeing with Ian here, if Hurricane Ian really caused a lot of destruction that it's projected to, it probably will be the last time the name's ever used as well too.

PJ Elliott:

So what happens if all the names get used that they have scheduled for the year?

Jordan Mendoza:

Yeah, so I can't think of a time where we've had to go into, we've used all the names, but if all the names get used, there's a backup list. And originally they use Greek letters for that because they only had the original set of names. And then the same thing happened with the Greek letters, it was like, if you have two Hurricane Alphas, you don't know which hurricane you're talking about. And so there's a backup list of names. It follows the same order, so A, B, C, D, and they're just, they're supplementary names for the hurricane season.

♦

Taylor Wilson:

Aaron Judge has made history. The New York Yankees slugger hit his 61st home run of the season last night in Toronto to pass Babe Ruth and tie Roger Maris, who set the single season franchise record in 1961. And Roger Maris Jr. was in attendance last night. Bergen Record New York Yankees beat writer, Pete Caldera, has more from New York.

Pete Caldera:

It's a season that manager Aaron Boone called one for the ages. Babe Ruth's 1927, 60 homer season became almost mythical, aligning with his enormous following as baseball's original home run king. That record lasted only 34 years, until Roger Maris came along and withstood enormous pressure, and powered his way to 61 home runs in 1961. And now 61 years later, the single season franchise and American League Home Run record belongs to Aaron Judge, whose incredible 2022 season goes beyond the home run totals. He's taken aim at an American League triple crown, something only Lou Gehrig and Mickey Mantle have achieved as Yankees. And as Judge sees it, his season won't be complete unless there's a parade through the canyon of heroes. With all this comes the looming matter of his free agency, and whether these may be Judge's last swings in pin stripes.

Taylor Wilson:

For more on Judge's historic season, stay with northjersey.com, and follow along as the baseball playoffs start next week, with USA TODAY Sports.

And you can find 5 Things every morning of the week right here, wherever you're listening right now. Thanks to PJ Elliott, James Brown, and all of our great reporters for their work on the show. I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ian batters Florida, Aaron Judge homers No. 61: 5 Things podcast