All language subtitles for In.the.Eye.of.the.Storm.S04E02.That.Cars.Flying.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

The force of this hurricane was
unlike anything that

I could have imagined.

I've never seen
anything like it.

It was a terrifying show of

just how powerful nature
can be.

All right, friends,
welcome to the third annual

Cedar Key shark swim.

Whoo!

The weather tried to stop us,
but we would not be denied!

Get set, go!

Here we go, boys!
Whoo!

My name is
Michael Presley Bobbitt.

I live on a little island
called Cedar Key

off the western coast of
Levy County, Florida.

At Cedar Key, it just
feels like old Florida.

It's one of the last remaining
blue-collar working waterfronts

in the state.
And I'm a blue-collar guy.

I grew up in a trailer in
an orange grove,

so these seem
like my kind of people.

There they are coming off
the left side.

Oh!

There are probably
500 of us that live there,

and that's a small enough
number that you feel like

you're absolutely part of
an extended family.

Oh, wow.

The Gulf of Mexico is

the great provider
and the angry god.

Sometimes it comes to
collect a toll.

When it does, sometimes that
toll is everything you have.

Welcome back to
Fox Weather, everyone.

I'm Kelly Costa.

We continue to track
Tropical Storm Idalia.

Yes, still a tropical storm.

You still have
70-mile-per-hour winds.

It hasn't been strengthening
more recently,

but that is going to change.

Over here, we do have people,
slowly but surely,

matriculating their way in
to get sandbags.

My name is Jonathan Petramala.

I'm an independent filmmaker,

and I live and am based in
St. Petersburg, Florida.

I go down to St. Pete Beach.
It's a beautiful day.

It's sunny.
The wind's not too strong.

Idalia's hundreds of miles away
in the Gulf.

When does it change for
you guys from playing tennis to

filling sandbags or boarding
up the house?

- When does that change for you?
- I would say probably, what?

Four or five days beforehand
in Florida.

I think I'm fine until like
the night before.

Yeah.

It's kind of an odd thing here
in Tampa Bay because

Hurricane Charley was scheduled
to come and hit us.

Hurricane Irma was scheduled to
come and hit us,

but it always misses.

Are you thinking that people
maybe are letting their guard

down a little bit right now?
- Oh, absolutely.

What makes you think that?

I think we've had too
many misses.

The impression I get when
I talk to people is that

they believe that this is
gonna be like every

other hurricane.

It's going to miss,
and they've just wasted

their time and money buying

water and boarding
up their windows.

Within the past
hour, Hurricane Idalia has

officially become a hurricane.

It is literally
the calm before the storm.

Water level is already...

at a scary level for my house.

My name is Dr. Tracy Fanara,

and I'm an oceanographer out of
Tampa, Florida.

It's never this high.
It's usually a mud pile...

right there.

On the 29th of August, I'm at
home, and I'm starting to see

the water level already start
to rise.

The neighborhood floods all
the time, but not our house.

OK, so I'm looking at

the Coastal Emergency Risk
Assessment site.

Here, the area in pink is
a storm surge warning.

I'm seeing that the surge
models are giving us

a substantial amount of water.

So let's look at the kind of
numbers we're looking at here.

We were seeing between four
and six feet of surge being

predicted in Tampa Bay.

That's a lot of water,
especially for a place that's

right at sea level.

So we knew that this was going
to be serious.

It's getting a little extreme.

So I go out in the Jeep to
basically see what's going on.

At this point, there's no rain.

This storm, Idalia,
in the Gulf of Mexico,

it's 150 miles away,

but it had so much energy,
that it was just pushing

so much water into Tampa Bay.

I'm just worried that people
aren't taking it seriously.

This could be devastating.

Welcome to my apocalypse.

My name is Joel Silver.

I live in
Hernando Beach, Florida,

um, about 40 miles north
of Tampa.

Oh, my goodness.

We were receiving the warnings
from meteorologists

on the news,

and most people evacuated.

I did not because I stay behind
to help out the people

that didn't evacuate.

And it ended up a lot more
intense than we had expected.

We really did not think that

anything major was gonna happen.

I didn't expect that
these forecasts were actually

going to be accurate.
And that was a mistake.

What you're witnessing is
the beginning of

a very significant
flooding event for

the low-lying beach communities
in Tampa Bay.

Surge rushing in.

The evening of the 29th,
I go down to St. Pete Beach.

I'm seeing water rushing like
it's a raging river,

water rushing into streets,
into people's homes.

You good?
OK.

I know the main impact spot
for Idalia is going to be up in

the Big Bend,
near Cedar Key,

a few hundred miles
to the north.

And the only way to get to
the north are bridges.

Time is running out.
It's time to go.

We have to go at this moment.

I've never seen water crashing
over the Howard Frankland Bridge

like it was with Idalia.

That's just not
something you see.

It's a major bridge.

You do not expect to see waves
crashing over the top.

We're the last car over that
bridge before it's closed.

Idalia, it is now a higher-end
Category 3 storm with max winds

at about 125 miles per hour.
Landfall is imminent.

We've got a significant storm
that's already invading portions

of Cedar Key here.

I walked down to the bottom of
the hill to see how high

the water had gotten.

There was a sense of
impending dread.

That's when it really
crystallized for me that

people's lives were
about to be upended,

and it was--
it was devastating.

When all the streets
in town were underwater,

I knew that this was
a once-a-generation storm.

There was a mandatory
evacuation in place,

but I stayed behind.

The Cedar Key had come to mean
so much to me.

Everyone in their life has to

decide what's important
to 'em.

They draw a line in the sand
and they say,

"Everything beyond this
is mine,"

and to me, it's always been
the island.

Hurricane Idalia came
up the coast and smashed into

Keaton Beach with
Category 3 wind speeds

up to 125 miles an hour.

The last storm of
this magnitude to hit the area

was in 1950.

It's made landfall just on
the Big Bend on a place called

Keaton Beach, which is to
the southeast of a town

called Perry.

The eye wall, of course,
at landfall is the most

dangerous part of the storm.

Perry right now is under
the extreme wind warning.

My name is David Baxter.

I'm from the Denver,
Colorado area,

and I'm a professional
storm chaser.

My chase partner, Michael Koch,
and I, we're trying to get to

Perry as fast as we can.

Trees are snapping
left and right.

- Oh, wow, it's coming down.
- Whoa.

I'm just thinking, trees kill
people all the time

in hurricanes.
It's very scary.

My name is Michael Koch.
I am from New York.

We see a convenience store on
the side of the road.

And at this point, winds were
really starting to pick up.

We noticed some other people.

They were dangerously close to
this building.

As I'm filming, I'm thinking to
myself, "Holy cow,

please don't get hit by
a piece of debris."

They kill people all the time
in hurricanes.

You don't wanna be in
the way of flying debris.

I've seen in the past,
people get killed.

Oh, look at it!

Oh.

Oh, here we go.
Oh, my gosh.

2

At this point,
Hurricane Idalia had made

landfall, and it was zooming in
on the town of Perry.

Winds were in excess of
100 miles an hour.

Pieces of sheet metal
were flying.

And as we're
filming this building,

we notice a couple
of other people.

They were way too close to
this building as it was

being torn apart.

This was a very
dangerous situation.

I'm thinking to myself,

"Please don't let anything major
happen, please."

In that one moment,
I'm thinking, "Oh, my gosh."

But this individual in front of
me, and he didn't get hit

by a piece of debris.

We couldn't believe what
we had just seen.

Wow, that-- that was bad.

My name is Max Olson,
and I'm a storm chaser

from Oklahoma.

My storm chase partner,
Michael Hoynes,

and I, we arrive into Perry,
and there's only one main

highway through Perry.

So we're starting to get
a little concerned about

potentially getting trapped
here because these winds are

only getting stronger.

Idalia is now a formidable
Category 3, and this area

has not seen a storm like that
in a very long time.

We can see on radar that
the eyewall, it's about to

arrive in Perry, and things are
going downhill very fast.

All of these pieces of sheet
metal start flying past us.

Power lines are sending sparks
into the main highway.

It's just a very
intense situation.

Since the Big Bend region is
so sparsely populated,

all of the storm chasers pretty
much congregated in Perry.

Perry, it's a small town.

Usually in an area that's been
hit recently by a hurricane,

a lot of that kind of loose
scrap metal, the trees that are

susceptible, they've been
taken down.

But pretty much everything
was coming apart

in Perry during this storm.

It's right at the edge of that
threshold of where it's safe,

or where it potentially
could be life threatening.

It's not something you wanna
be caught outside in.

Wow, look at this.
Wind is whipping.

My name is Mark Peyton.

Me and my brother, as we're
pulling into the Walmart

parking lot, we are looking for
a good spot

that's not near trees.

Go over there
towards the middle.

And it's not near much debris.

Look at all the chasers
around here.

There are a lot of storm
chasers in Perry.

It made it difficult to find

a good spot for everyone to
ride out this hurricane.

Whoa, OK, I'm getting out at
the worst time.

This is, the eye wall is
literally hitting right now.

The eye wall is hitting
right now.

Oh, my gosh.
Oh, my gosh.

Dude, I can barely open
this door.

Three, two, one.

Ah!

Oh, gosh.

Ah!

Oh.

Oh, my gosh.

Oh!

Ah!

The force of Idalia
was unlike anything that

I could've imagined.

It just took everything I had
to stay on my two feet.

As I'm out there,
I am thinking to myself,

"Something could hit
me at any moment."

Oh!

2
As I'm standing outside,
fighting the wind,

trying to stay on my two feet,

I can see debris actually
getting really close to me.

It was scary.

Bro, I got messed up
out there.

That was crazy.

I-- I remember thinking
to myself,

this is not good.

My brother and I, we looked at
each other and we quickly

realized that we had no idea
what we were doing.

I could have been killed.

We've got a major floor
surge here,

inundating homes in
Cedar Key, Florida.

See large pieces of debris.

There's a septic tank right
there that continues to flow.

And pieces of these condos
across the way have just been

really taking a beating from
this storm surge.

The water just keeps coming.

It's unbelievable.

I walked down to the bottom
of the hill to see

how high the water had gotten.

I've been through some really
bad storms, but never any that

felt like an existential threat
to my life or to my home

or my community,
the people that I cared about.

The Faraway Inn
is an old-school

cottage-style motel.

A lovely young couple had
bought it just a few months

before the storm and sunk
their life savings into it.

Seeing the life's work of
this young couple ruined,

it was more than just a motel
at that point.

It was really a representation
of the soul

of our little island.

It was one of the saddest
things I've ever experienced

in my life.

The town that I loved, my home,
my community,

the people that I cared about,
that it might be gone forever,

you know, it's hard to even
think about.

It was heartbreaking.

Idalia didn't just stop
at Florida.

Idalia is now reaching Georgia
and is projected to move

towards South Carolina.

A lot of the people living
there had never experienced

anything like it.

My name is Malaijha.

I live in Charleston,
South Carolina.

Two, three, go!

Oh, my [bleep]!

So August of 2023, I was five
months pregnant at the time.

As a first-time mom,

I worried a lot in
my pregnancy.

I myself am a worrier,
but this was a different type

of worry
because you never know...

what could-- could--
could happen.

When I first heard about
Hurricane Idalia,

I didn't think that it was
a major threat.

There was a lot of people
saying, "Oh, this is in Florida.

"This would never happen
in Charleston.

We don't get weather like that."

On the 30th of August,
we started to get heavy rain.

I didn't think much of it,
only because we've had warnings

in the past, previous summers,

especially during
hurricane season.

I was working at
City of North Charleston,

and it was about, I'd say,
a 40-minute drive to work.

But after about 20 minutes
into my commute,

I started to lose visibility.

My name is Mason Stewart.

I live in Goose Creek,
South Carolina.

So I was leaving work.

The weather was the most severe
it's been on my drive home.

I mean, the rain, the wind,
I could feel it on the car.

You could hear the rain like
it's almost like

your stereo in the car.

So I pulled over, had to stop.

I noticed everyone
pressing on brakes,

I see a lot of brake lights.

That's when suddenly

it all changed.

2

All I could think about was
if my baby was OK.

I'm crying so hard.

I just couldn't imagine that
my child could have made it out

alive inside of me.

So when my car landed,

I panicked, I tried to get out
as soon as I could.

I crawled through the back
window of the car

because I can't escape
any other way.

And again,
I'm five months pregnant.

So, at the time,
imagine a round belly trying to

squeeze through a back window
over a headrest of a car.

It felt unreal at the time,

but I just know
I had to get out.

Luckily, a good Samaritan
helped me out of the car,

and that's when the ambulance
showed up.

All I could think about was if
my unborn child made it out

alive or if he was dead.

The storm surge from
Hurricane Idalia has literally

shifted the current.

The river is running
the opposite way.

Boats are being knocked loose,

and their masts are slamming
into the bridge.

It's just chaos.

Instead of flowing out to sea
and out to the Gulf,

the river's now flowing inland.

I've never seen anything
like it.

It was a terrifying
show of just how

powerful nature can be.

Fortunately, most people that
lived there,

they had evacuated.

But it could have absolutely
turned out differently for some

people that decided to ride it
out in their house.

I can't believe I'm out
in a hurricane.

The storm, it was getting
progressively worse and worse.

And looking from our second
floor, it looked like all

these houses were basically
floating in the ocean.

Hurricane, and now
the neighbor's house

is burning down.

And there's not much
we can do about it.

Couple feet of water
surrounding the house.

Now, I'll never get to sleep
because I'm afraid that

it's gonna jump house-to-house

and then I have
to swim out of here.

This place is cooking.

The first thing that came to
my mind was,

"Is there anyone in the home?"

I need to make sure no one is
in that house.

I realized I have to go out
into this storm.

Oh, my goodness!

Trying to get to it.

Sinking in my mud here.

I went out into
the flood water.

It was windy, the water was
moving quite rapidly, there was

debris bouncing off my shins
and my knees.

I just needed to get down there

and make sure that there was
nobody in that building

because the smoke was blowing
directly towards me.

I was worried that the fire was
going to spread home-to-home

and burn us all out.
It was pretty terrifying.

2
It was very difficult to fight
the water and the wind to get

down the street.

And when I got down
to the house,

luckily there was no one
in the home.

And luckily, there was no loss
of life involved.

Then as soon as I turned
around, it swept me instantly

back to my house.

And I had to grab
the fence to-- and--

and then make my way back
into the house.

What happened next was...

the water started to recede.

Hardworking men of
our Hernando Beach community.

At that point, my neighbors
and I, we monitored

the burning house until
several hours later.

By that time, the building was
pretty much destroyed.

Idalia displaced most of
our little town.

A lot of the houses had to
be dismantled.

Some people that have lived

there for decades
lost everything.

But as long as you still,
you know, everyone still got

their life, then that's what's
really, truly important.

The car was in terrible shape.

The driver's side was
completely destroyed.

It's miraculous that
I even made it out.

I'm just thinking,
"I hope my baby is OK."

Once arriving to the hospital,
I kind of just wanted to have

an ultrasound
taken immediately.

That felt like the longest
wait ever.

You're just getting in
your head about everything.

And I'm freaking out in
the moment because no one's

having any answers for me.

They finally walked through
the door and let me know,

everything is OK.

And that's when I felt
the biggest relief of my life.

My unborn child was OK.

And luckily, I didn't sustain
any injuries as well,

so this was great.
It felt like a miracle.

My refrigerator and my freezer,
they're still on

the front porch there, floating.

So is there any water
inside your home at all?

- It's gone.
- Oh, it receded?

- It's gone.
- Yeah.

- The house, they're gone.
- Your house is gone?

They're gone.
They're gone, dude.

They're underwater.
They're gone.

Oh, man.

Idalia, all up and down
the west coast of Florida,

brought in more water than any
hurricane in living memory has.

Generations haven't seen
a storm like this,

and Idalia opened up a whole
new can of worms for

the west coast of Florida.

Storm surge, something that
we knew would happen at some

point, we just hadn't seen it.

Look at that.
Crazy.

The legacy of Idalia,

I mean, it was
our wake up call.

People were shocked after
that storm.

I mean, lives were
completely changed.

And people that thought

that they were safe
realized they weren't.

The next morning, it was very
clear that Perry hadn't been

hit by a hurricane in
a long time.

I think Idalia definitely
reminded people in the Big Bend

region that they are
susceptible to hurricanes.

This area isn't safe
or protected by any reason.

It's just luck of the draw that
for a couple of decades,

they had kind of missed out
on an intense hurricane.

This is Third Street
heading toward the market.

The city parking lot here is
four feet deep.

After the storm,
I went out in a kayak,

and to see our little town look
like Venice, Italy,

where all the streets were
water, was incredibly surreal.

It was really just hard to
process, hard to take in,

and it really began to set in
how difficult an ordeal

we had all just
been through together.

Oh, no.

They're pumping water out
of the market.

Oh, no.
They were just about to reopen.

I think some of the lasting
legacies of Idalia, at least

for our little island, um,
we realized that we need to

build a little stronger,
maybe build up

above the water
lines a little more.

This is what Cedar Key
looks like, friends.

Everyone getting together
and making sure everybody's got

food to eat.

After all the destruction we've
seen, this is just beautiful.

But on a more emotional level,
it told me that I need to stop

and take time to be thankful
for what I have.

Welcome back to Cedar Key,
where we highlight businesses

that are reopening after
the great hurricane.

And to love the community that
I'm a part of and to wake up

every day to see what can I do
to make this place better

and what can I do to support
it, because it can all be gone

in an afternoon, in a moment,
in a whisper.

Oh, look at that little face!

You're a little sweetie.

Cutie.

My son was born four months
later after the accident,

and it felt like the greatest
day of my life.

Happy birthday,
dear Braxton.

Happy birthday to you!

It was a miracle, and I just
feel like we're blessed.