Ian death toll climbs to at least 68, Brazil goes to a runoff election: 5 Things podcast
On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Hurricane Ian death toll climbs to at least 68 as thousands rescued
The storm devastated Florida's Gulf Coast. Plus, reporter Jordan Mendoza looks at how Hurricane Ian compares with past U.S. hurricanes, reporter Cady Stanton gives an update on Hurricane Orlene, Brazil goes to a runoff election and there's a new top-ranked team in college football.
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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 Monday, the 3rd of October, 2022. Today, a rising death toll from Ian with another hurricane on the way, plus Brazil votes, and more.
Here are some of the top headlines:
At least 125 people are dead after a crush set off by police tear gas following an Indonesian soccer match. At least 18 officers are being investigated in one of the world's deadliest disasters ever at a sporting event.
Russia has withdrawn troops from the eastern Ukrainian city of Lyman. It's the latest victory in Ukraine's counter offensive.
The Atlanta Braves are now just a win away from clenching the National League East. They needed to sweep the New York Mets this weekend to take control of the division and now lead by two games with three left to play.
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The death toll from Hurricane Ian has risen to at least 68. That includes 61 in Florida, four in North Carolina and three in Cuba. FEMA and Coast Guard officials said some 4,000 people have been rescued by local, state and federal authorities. Governor Ron DeSantis.
Ron DeSantis:
This is such a big storm. It brought so much water that you're having basically what's been a 500 year flood event here in DeSoto County and in some of the neighboring counties. FEMA has approved individual assistance for all the affected counties basically that we've asked for.
Taylor Wilson:
Many of those rescued rode out the storm on barrier islands where some of the worst damage has been seen. Sanibel and Pine Islands were made inaccessible by land with parts of a causeway and bridge destroyed. Pine Island resident Joe Conforti remembered the horror.
Joe Conforti:
When the storm started, it was pretty rough. The winds picked up, but the problem really was when the water started to come over and the Gulf met the canals and the water was at least eight to 10 feet high for sure, and it was four foot waves in the streets. The water just kept pounding the house and we watched boats, houses, we watched everything just go flying by. We've lost so much at this point.
Taylor Wilson:
Florida Power & Light said it restored electricity to nearly 1.7 million homes and businesses, including all hospitals in its service area as of last night. More than 20,000 workers worked on restoration efforts. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden and First Lady, Jill Biden will visit Florida this week.
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Hurricane Ian was one of the strongest ever to hit the US mainland. Producer PJ Elliott spoke with reporter Jordan Mendoza to find out where it ranks with others over the years.
Jordan Mendoza:
Yeah, so actually it was one of the most powerful hurricanes to ever hit the United States in the Atlantic, specifically when it comes to wind speed. So when Hurricane Ian made landfall, sustainable wind speeds were at 150 miles per hour, and that ranks in the top five of most powerful tropical storms off the Atlantic since the ones that have been recorded in time. So really you can see the devastation was immediately going to happen the moment it made it to Florida.
PJ Elliott:
So Jordan, what are some of the other metrics that go into determining a hurricane strength?
Jordan Mendoza:
Yeah, I mean, wind speed is the biggest factor. There's also storm surges, which we've seen are one of the most devastating effects of a hurricane. There are so many things that go into ... you can look at wind speeds, you can look at storm surges. You can look at so many different types of things to determine the exact impact of it. But really when you're talking about Hurricane Ian, I mean just all across the board, everything was so massively devastating and you can see that this ranks as probably one of the biggest hurricanes to cause so much damage in the United States in quite some time.
PJ Elliott:
You said that Ian was in the top five. What were some of the other ones listed?
Jordan Mendoza:
Yeah. I mean, there's actually a lot of hurricanes. Technically, Ian is tied for fifth place in the most powerful hurricanes in terms of wind speed. Hurricane Ida last year also with 150 miles per hour when it touched in Louisiana. Looking at the other ones, so there was Hurricane Michael in 2018. It was at 155 miles per hour when it hit in Florida. In 1992 there was Hurricane Andrew, which was at 165 when it hit Florida. And then we had Hurricane Camille in 1969, which was at 175 in Mississippi. The most powerful hurricane we've ever been able to record was actually the Labor Day hurricane of 1935. So this actually happened before we actually even named hurricanes by after names. And when that hit Florida in 1935, it was at 185 miles per hour. So while Hurricane Ian, it wasn't the most powerful hurricane we've ever had, that doesn't discredit the fact that it was absolutely devastating for Florida and many states to many communities out there in the Atlantic.
Taylor Wilson:
You can find a link to Jordan's full story in today's episode description.
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Meanwhile, off the coast of Mexico, another hurricane is about to make landfall. Reporter Cady Stanton tells PJ Elliott the latest on Hurricane Orlene.
Cady Stanton:
Hurricane Orlene, which is now a category 3 storm, is prime to hit the Pacific coast of Mexico likely sometime on Monday, either in the daytime or the evening. At one point it upgraded to a category 4 hurricane and had maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour. But by midday Sunday it had started to weaken down to a category 3 storm with some winds up to 115 miles per hour. But despite the fact that it is beginning to weaken before it makes landfall onto the coast of Mexico, it's still expected to remain a hurricane when it does hit land. And that could lead to a lot of really bad repercussions for the area, including severe rain, some storm surge, as well as flash flooding and the dangerous aspects that can come from that, including mudslides, rising river and stream levels, and just general flooding in a lot of low lying areas.
PJ Elliott:
Cady, can you talk about how common hurricanes are on the West coast and the misconception that they only happen on the east?
Cady Stanton:
Yeah, so there's actually a good number of hurricanes in the Pacific area. For Orlene, for example, it's the ninth Eastern Pacific hurricane of the Year and the 16th named storm of the East Pacific hurricane season. So while they don't get as much attention as the hurricanes that occur in the Atlantic or on the other side of the continent, there is a good number of storms that occur in those regions as well just given how many have happened so far in 2022.
PJ Elliott:
Obviously this past week has been focused on Hurricane Ian and the destruction it did to Florida. Can you compare or lean to Ian as far as potential strength when it does finally make landfall?
Cady Stanton:
This Hurricane Orlene is a lot more compact. So thinking about the extent of the diameter of the winds, the hurricane force winds for this storm extend out about 15 miles from the center, and the tropical storm force winds extend about 70 miles. Whereas for Ian, those numbers were 90 miles for the hurricane force winds and 350 miles for the tropical storm force winds. So this storm on the coast of Mexico could still be incredibly damaging and cause similar flooding to Ian, but in terms of its physical size, it's a lot more compact than the one that hit Florida.
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Taylor Wilson:
Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva got the most votes in Brazil's presidential election yesterday, but not enough to avoid a runoff against far right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. With 97% of votes counted, da Silva had 47.9% and Bolsonaro 43.6%. Since neither candidate received more than 50%, a second round is now scheduled for October 30th. Opinion polls had given da Silva a significant lead. The latest Datafolha survey published Saturday found a 50 to 36% advantage for da Silva, but the election itself was tighter than expected. Bolsonaro's administration has been marked by his testing of democratic institutions, his widely criticized handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and mass deforestation in the Amazon. But Bolsonaro has built a devoted base and he says he's protecting the country from leftist policies that hurt personal liberties and bring economic turmoil. Still, 33 million Brazilians go hungry and the country is dealing with severe high inflation. Brazil is considering a shift to the political left and da Silva is credited with building an extensive social welfare program there in his 2003 to 2010 tenure helping to lift tens of millions into the middle class.
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Top five teams avoided upsets in college football this weekend, but the number one position in the latest USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches poll has changed hands. Alabama and Georgia switch spots at 1 and 2 after Georgia was nearly upset by unranked Missouri on Saturday. The defending national champions held on to win 26 to 22, but it was enough for some coaches to lose some confidence. Meanwhile, Ole Miss jumps up two spots into the top 10 at number 9, and Kansas jumps 10 spots to number 17. The unbeaten Jayhawks are ranked for the first time since 2009. ESPN's College Game Day is making its first ever trip to Lawrence, Kansas this weekend.
Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us seven days a week on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or whatever your favorite podcast app is. Thanks to PJ Elliott for his great work on the show, and I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ian fatalities at least 68, new leader in college football: 5 Things podcast