CNN "The Lead With Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Interview With Florida Senator Marco Rubio

Interview

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TAPPER: All right, Erica Hill in Destin, Florida, thank you so much.

Joining me now on the phone is Florida Senator Marco Rubio.

Senator, now that this storm is moving inward, what's your top concern?

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: Well, you know, the backside of these storms is really problematic. It's -- that wind is still swirling around. It's still going to push more water.

I think my top concern is that somebody is out there hearing that this thing has passed through and now is the time to go back and check it out, and then you get the storm surge come in and kick in on the backside of it.

So, I really think it's important for everybody to kind of just relax, wherever you are right now, and stay in place and wait until authorities say it's safe to go out. And then even then, be very careful. There are going to be downed power lines everywhere. You're going to see them. And some of -- you never know when one of those comes live. And so I just think it's a time of incredible caution. We have --

every time we have these storms, somebody loses their life in the aftermath for a lot of different reasons. And so that remains our concern. And, obviously, this thing is still coming through.

It's moving pretty quickly, which the good news is, it's moved that quickly, and didn't just sit on top of it. But there will be some substantial damage to assess in the days to come.

TAPPER: Senator, when Floridians went to bed last night, it was a Category 2 storm, Hurricane Michael.

They woke up, it was a Category 4, teetering on the precipice of being a Category 5. Too late for many of them to evacuate. In many ways, it seems as though, and I'm certainly not ascribing any blame, but it almost seems as though many people in Florida were caught off-guard by how quickly this storm got worse and became much more devastating.

RUBIO: Yes.

Look, this is a force of nature. I mean, it doesn't behave according to how we want it to behave. It doesn't necessarily going to do what we think it's always going to do. We have gotten better at telling you it's a hurricane. We have gotten better at explaining to people where it's probably going to go.

But, in the end, these things are not things we have a control over or 100 percent understanding of. Our forecasts have gotten significantly better over the last 10 years. But they are still not 100 percent. The deviation in the storm by 50 miles one place vs. another, 10 miles increase in intensity, these are not things that are easy to predict.

And that's why we tell everybody, the Category 2, Category 3, it's a hurricane. That's what you need to know. And it could be life- threatening. And these things can intensify at the end. And they can take a last-minute change in the route.

And suddenly you have got a very different situation. So that's why the caution and the warnings that are put out there are so broad, because you just don't know how it's going to behave until it's happened.

TAPPER: The administrator of FEMA, Brock Long, said earlier today that he's concerned not enough Floridians evacuated. Do you agree?

RUBIO: That's what we hear from some local authorities. Franklin County believes they got most of the people to move. But I personally know a couple people I talked to on the phone this morning in Panama City who felt like, oh, I'm in a strong house and we're elevated.

And I couldn't convince them to get out. And these are smart, important people that have done very well in business that didn't want to move and didn't want to go anywhere.

And, you know, it's their choice to make. I advised them not to do it, because you just don't know what you're going to face. And I hope they're OK. I think they have lost -- the cell phone towers are down. So, I'm sure the phone -- we tried to get to them a little while ago and it didn't work.

[16:40:04]

But we're going to find out soon enough. I think that whether -- I'm sure people stayed behind, there's no doubt, in every storm. And I think you're going to find that some of the areas where people have lived through a few of these, similar to the Florida Keys, you know, there are some folks that just aren't going to go. They're just not going to do it.

TAPPER: Seems to be the worst storm to hit the U.S. and Florida, certainly, since Hurricane Andrew, and the worst storm to hit the Panhandle perhaps ever.

What do you think the next 12 hours are going to look like?

RUBIO: Well, Opal was pretty bad. We will see how this compares to it in terms of intensity of it.

I think the next 12 hours are going to be a time where the effects are still going to be out there for some time. You're still going to have tropical storm winds. You're still going to have things flying around.

That's the thing to remember. Even as I watch some of these reporters on TV, these things -- there's stuff still flying around, coming off rooftops and the like with tropical storm winds. So, I think, by later tonight, certainly by morning, when the sun comes out is when the first damage assessments will happen.

My sense is we're going to start hearing about some rescue operations coming in. People are going to start calling in because they got themselves into some trouble. And then I think the relief efforts begin. And I'm very concerned about I-10.

It's a major -- I talked earlier this afternoon with our transportation secretary, Elaine Chao. And they're keeping a very close eye on that main artery, I-10, because that's what they need in order to get supplies down there and relief efforts and mutual aid when it comes to road clearing and power restoration.

TAPPER: Just for those people who are not familiar with Florida, interstate 10, or I-10, as the senator referred to, it cuts across the state. It's a hugely populated area. You have like St. Petersburg, Tampa/St. Pete on the west and I think it goes to Daytona Beach on the east, is that right?

RUBIO: Yes.

So what we're watching here now with this corridor is, it runs from Pensa -- from Jacksonville across that...

TAPPER: Oh, I'm sorry. I'm thinking of I-4. Go ahead.

RUBIO: Yes. You're thinking about I-4. I apologize. Yes. You're thinking about I-4 that goes down the center of the state.

This runs from Jacksonville through Tallahassee down to Pensacola and on into Louisiana. So it's an east/west corridor. And it's going to be one of the major thoroughfares that's going to be used, for example, to bring in aid across from the east and west. And so we're worried, right, because there are going to be trees down, there are going to be signs down.

There's going to be potential of some damage.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Have you heard reports about the damage to the interstate?

RUBIO: We have got no -- yes, there's no reports in yet. I'm keeping an eye.

There is a DOT web site that kind of keeps people up to date. But that's obviously being updated, based on information they're receiving. My sense is the eye of the storm at about the 4:00 p.m. Eastern time was just approaching I-10.

So I think the damage is ongoing. And then we will see. And the key is not that I-10 is going to collapse, per se. But it is that there will be debris on that roadway that will have to be cleared in order to bring in the supplies and the trucks that are standing by to deliver not just aid and equipment, but also power restoration.

TAPPER: And, of course, the other big concern is Gulf Power and the electricity. Gulf Power serves nearly half a million customers in Florida and says some of the hardest-hit areas might not have power for weeks, if not longer. I assume that's a concern of yours as well.

RUBIO: It is.

And let me tell you, when you lose power, it was one of the things that really made what happened in Puerto Rico so problematic. It just begins to cascade. The sun comes up, it gets hot again, you don't have power and that's where you run into some of these tragedies we saw at a nursing home in South Florida last year.

The gas stations don't work without power. Then you have got to people running generators and they're dying of carbon monoxide poisoning. And then a lot of the vital functions, things, dialysis, a lot of the -- we had a hospital in South Florida a year ago basically run down to five hours of backup fuel before and they would have patients in a very difficult situation. Almost had to evacuate them.

Without power, the other things don't work. So trying to get that going will be a big challenge. And these guys are better at it than they have ever been. But, you know, with water standing and things of this nature, it may take a little longer. And I would imagine we're going to have power outages for some time.

TAPPER: All right. Florida Senator Marco Rubio, thank you so much. If there is anything you hear that we need to know, if there is

anything the state is not getting from the federal government that you need to bring attention to, whatever, we are here. Please let us know.

RUBIO: Well, thank you. I appreciate that.

And I talked to the president earlier today, and I'm confident that FEMA's positioned to provide the assistance the state needs, but this is going to take a while. We have got to wait and see what the damage is, and we're just getting images.

But when we're finally on the ground and get to see it and the assessors get in there and start looking at it, we will know more about what we're dealing with here. Obviously, there will be some people whose lives have been turned upside down after this. And we will make sure the federal government is there to help.

TAPPER: All right, Senator Rubio, thank you so much for your time.

RUBIO: Thank you.

TAPPER: We're really appreciate it.

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