'Terrifying storm surge' rushes through Sarasota streets in just a matter of minutes

"I've never seen anything like this," veteran AccuWeather reporter Bill Wadell said as Milton's floodwaters turned Sarasota streets into rivers.

Transcript

00:00The storm is still tenacious and we want to head out now to Bill Waddell live in Sarasota, Florida.

00:05Bill, we've seen some very impressive wind gusts reported in Sarasota.

00:08What's it actually like? What are you experiencing?

00:12Jeff, flat out terrifying storm surge. I cannot understate this enough. I mean,

00:19this is just unbelievable, the situation that we just found ourselves in in Sarasota. We

00:24were talking with Bernie Rayno not that long ago saying it was eerily quiet.

00:28There was barely anything going on. We barely saw the water rise.

00:31Take a look at this. Walk with us just within a matter of minutes. This is the storm surge.

00:36These are the streets in downtown Sarasota. Parts of downtown Sarasota are underwater.

00:41And Steph, if you could take a pan quick over this way. This is our hotel that we're in. This

00:44is a sturdy, safe, elevated hotel. You can see the water coming in, coming up to the stairs.

00:49But we are talking about at least three, four, potentially five feet now of water in these

00:56streets. Jeff, it is unbelievable. In a matter of minutes, it went from entirely calm conditions

01:01and then the backside of the storm moving through Sarasota. The city is underwater.

01:06It is terrifying. And I got to tell you, Jeff, we saw some cars out on the road 10 minutes ago.

01:13It was a very close call for us. We know how quick storm surge can be. We knew it was coming.

01:18We got out in time. We wanted to show people the pictures of the harbor, what it was looking like.

01:23The water in the streets here rose so incredibly fast, Jeff. And we know that there may still be

01:27some people out in the streets trying to get around. Steph, if you can, let's come with us.

01:31We got a vehicle right here. This is what drivers are dealing with. And I'm not sure if we're going

01:36to be able to make it through. But just incredible how fast the water came up here in Sarasota.

01:41And it looks like drivers are getting stuck in these conditions.

01:45Horrifying because I think people may have gotten a little complacent thinking that,

01:50OK, this is manageable. This is manageable. We're partway through the storm. And this is why

01:56no one should be out in this, even if you think things are OK at the moment.

02:00Bill, you've covered a lot of storms over the past 10 years or so. Have you seen anything like

02:05this on a personal level? You're always cool and collected. I know that I can tell just because I

02:10know you, you're a little rattled by this. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. All right. They made it out.

02:19Are you good? OK, so they made it out. We do have some vehicles making it out here.

02:22That was another media crew. Jeff, I've never seen anything like this in person in my life.

02:28We knew the threat of storm surge. We know how fast it moves. I think some people were caught

02:32off guard because of barely any impacts when Milton was coming through. It was so calm during

02:40the eye. And then the back side of this storm just absolutely slamming Sarasota.

02:45If you can just zoom in. These are downtown streets. Look at this. This looks like a raging

02:50river. This is unbelievable. This is downtown Sarasota. And we're worried that there may be

02:55people still out in the roads, still out on their cars. Not many. Most people heeded the

02:59warnings. But I can tell you this came up incredibly fast. Bill, it's incredible. That's

03:05a large news van. You know that there are sedans out there, people who are not doing as well.

03:10They barely made it out there. And God help anybody out there who's stuck in a place where

03:17they have, again, lower profile vehicles. Bill, stay safe. We're going to check back

03:20in with you in a little bit.