Residents in Florida’s Big Bend region begin recovery after Hurricane Idalia

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• William Brangham:

  From Florida's Big Bend, to Southern Georgia, to the Carolina coast, residents in hard-hit Perry, Florida, just off the Gulf Coast, were taking stock of the devastation this morning.

  Oh, so this whole thing fell on the house.

• Patricia Gross, Perry, Florida, Resident:

  Yes, the whole thing fell over, yes. Mm-hmm.

• William Brangham:

  And you were inside when that happened?

• Patricia Gross:

  We were inside, yes. We were inside.

• William Brangham:

  What did that — that must have been terrifying.

  (laughter)

• Patricia Gross:

  It was terrifying. It definitely was terrifying.

• William Brangham:

  Retired school custodian Patricia Gross has lived here for 23 years. The storm uprooted a centuries-old oak tree and sent it crashing into the bedroom, where her son and grandson had been sleeping.

• Patricia Gross:

  I thought we were going to be OK, honestly. We didn't evacuate. We have been here before, but nothing like this. This one was really the worse.

• William Brangham:

  Looking back on it now, would you choose to evacuate?

• Patricia Gross:

  Yes, definitely, so, yes.

  The tree hit there.

• William Brangham:

  The holes in her roof let in the rain, ruining all their belongings. But her family is safe.

• Patricia Gross:

  You don't ever want to lose your things, but we're just thankful we're alive. I mean, the things can be replaced. Lives can't.

• William Brangham:

  Seawater from Idalia's storm surge pushed inland for miles, flooding small, low-lying communities and submerging streets and cars.

  Much of the Big Bend landscape was left littered with debris and the remnants of homes.

  Belond , Perry, Florida, Resident: The top of the roof just came slap in on me and my three kids and my grandson. My daughter is pregnant. She's five months pregnant, so she was laying on the side of the bed where the roof was coming in.

  And it fell on her, but she was — I was able to pull her out of it.

• William Brangham:

  The storm knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of customers throughout the region, ripping electrical poles out of the ground and tearing down lines.

• Woman:

  What matters is what I'm holding right here. It's just material stuff. It's material. We're going to rebuild. It's going to be fine.

• William Brangham:

  A massive recovery effort is now under way. Florida deployed more than 5,000 National Guardsman, and some 30,000 utility workers descended on the area.

  Idalia made landfall at Florida's Keaton Beach Wednesday morning as a strong Category 3 hurricane with winds up to 125 miles per hour. It then moved quickly north, reaching the Carolinas this morning, still with winds around 60 miles per hour on its way out to the Atlantic. It could threaten Bermuda early next week.

  In South Carolina, the storm, coupled with high tides, sent water over sand dunes and onto beachfront streets. The surge even topped a seawall protecting downtown Charleston. Swells were expected to continue through the Labor Day weekend, causing life-threatening surf and dangerous rip currents.

  Still, back in Florida, officials expressed some relief that Idalia was less destructive than they first feared. Heavily populated areas like Tampa Bay avoided a direct blow from the storm, though parts of the city did see serious flooding.

  Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Presidential Candidate: Wow. That's a lot of water.

• William Brangham:

  Governor Ron DeSantis, who toured the worst-hit areas today, compared Idalia to Hurricane Ian, which barreled through the Fort Myers area last September, killing almost 150 people.

• Gov. Ron DeSantis:

  Fortunately, we have not had the same type of loss of life that we have had with something like a Hurricane Ian. Part of that is because people really make good decisions, protected themselves.

  I have seen a lot of really heartbreaking damage, I think, when people lose a church, when they lose their home, when they lose a business. But we will get everyone back on their feet.

• William Brangham:

  President Biden signed a major disaster declaration for Idalia, pledging federal resources for the recovery.

  Joe Biden, President of the United States: To the people of Florida and throughout the Southeast, I'm here to make clear that our nation has your back, and we are not going to — we're not going to walk away. We're not going to give up. We're not going to slow down.

• William Brangham:

  In the meantime, groups like the Salvation Army are working to get food and supplies to residents of more remote areas.

  And Idalia has already led some residents, like Perry's Patricia Gross, to reconsider her future here.

  Do you think this changes your desire to stick around here? Or do you want to…

• Patricia Gross:

  It does change it, yes. I'm pretty sure I'm going to leave now.

• William Brangham:

  That sentiment from Ms. Gross that she has had it with Florida is not unanimous.

  I mean, we have talked with a lot of people here who said, despite what they have been through, they want to rebuild and they want to stay.

  Geoff Bennett And, William, we spoke with the mayor of Tallahassee on this program last night. He said his city was lucky.

  And, as we heard in your report, it really seems like Florida officials think they escaped the worst of Idalia. Is that right?

• William Brangham:

  On a large, statewide level, yes, that is what they feel.

  I mean, if you think back to a year ago, Hurricane Ian hit this state. It was a bigger storm and it hit in a much denser area. And because of those two factors, it became the costliest storm that has hit Florida, I believe ever.

  This hurricane was very different. It was a little bit smaller, and it hit a much more rural area, so much less damage. For the people that we have talked to that were actually directly impacted by this hurricane, it doesn't feel that way at all. They feel like they took a direct blow.

  They kept saying to us that they didn't know that hurricanes could come to this area. They're very, very rare in this stretch of Florida. So they didn't evacuate. Some people said it was too costly to evacuate even when they heard that order.

  And so, while this is a very tight-knit — tight-knit community, and we see people cooking for each other and lending chain saws, there is still a great deal of suffering going on.

  Geoff Bennett President Biden has declared a disaster emergency. He's headed to the state this weekend.

  The governor has pledged as much help as is needed. Still, though, to your point, it sounds like a very long and arduous recovery and rebuilding process awaits.

• William Brangham:

  No, that's exactly right. I mean, no matter how much federal and state help that comes here, there is an overarching, looming issue here, and that's the issue of homeowners insurance.

  Floridians pay more homeowners insurance, I think it's four times more than the average American in other states. The costs have been going up by 10, 20 30, even 40 percent recently. The uninsured rate here in Florida for homeowners is twice the national average.

  So that is a lot of people who are suffering damage to their homes, and they have no protection from that. I met one young couple today who were in line waiting for some food assistance, two cute young kids in the back seat of the car. They owned their home.

  Idalia came in, tore their roof off. What belongings of theirs were not destroyed were scattered all over their neighborhood. And so they have nothing left. They were literally living in their car, taking meals that they could go eat in the parking lot.

  And I asked them, so what are you going to do at this point? And the mom kind of just shrugged her shoulders and said: "I don't know." And they drove off.

  Geoff Bennett William Brangham and our team tracking Idalia's path, reporting for us from Cross City, Florida tonight.

  William, thank you.

• William Brangham:

  Thanks, Geoff.