MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Hurricane Milton made landfall last night, bringing heavy rain and winds exceeding 100 mph to Florida's Gulf Coast. Now, as the Hurricane moves out into the Atlantic, residents in Tampa and the surrounding areas are navigating the impact of the storm and what comes next. Joining us now to talk about this is Representative Kathy Castor. She's a Democrat. She's currently just outside the evacuation zone north of Tampa, which is part of the district she represents. Good morning, Congresswoman.
KATHY CASTOR: Hi, Michel.
MARTIN: Could you just start by telling us what you're seeing right now?
CASTOR: The day is dawning on a major catastrophe across Florida. It was a very long night - raging winds, blowing rain, power lines going down. We're now awaiting reports on fatalities. Fortunately, the only saving grace here may be that Hurricane Helene was so destructive that many people had gone. They heeded the evacuation warnings. You know, Helene flooded out about 20,000 of my neighbors, so they didn't have, really, a place to stay there along the coast. And we were just grappling with that recovery, and Milton, this monster spins up in the Gulf. And this is going to have major impacts to our infrastructure, our water, wastewater, roads, bridges. But hopefully, the loss of life will be at the minimum.
MARTIN: I certainly hope so. I think we all certainly hope so. What is your assessment of the federal response in your district so far? I know that the head of FEMA is on the ground in Florida, but what's your assessment?
CASTOR: FEMA has been outstanding, from President Biden to Vice President Harris to FEMA administrator Criswell and all of the agents. We were ensuring that neighbors received disaster assistance in the days before Milton and that aid was arriving, notwithstanding what some of the misinformation is out there. But I think the hard part now is we're living in a new abnormal of storm after storm. These are more intense. The surge is - came in feet above we had ever, ever experienced before because of the extraordinarily hot temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico driven by the warming of the climate.
MARTIN: So, Congresswoman, let me just briefly ask you this, because I know you served on the House Select Committee on Climate, and you came up with recommendations. As briefly as you can, are there things that you could implement immediately that would help address this, at least ameliorate some of this?
CASTOR: We urgently have to reduce climate pollution, the pollution that is warming the seas. And we have to adapt. We really have to build a more resilient community.
MARTIN: That is Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor. She represents Florida's 14th District. That is one of the hardest hit areas in the state right now. Congresswoman, thank you so much for your time. I know you're extremely busy right now.
CASTOR: Thank you, Michel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
