FEMA administrator on Hurricane Helene, climate change and resources

(CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Deanne Criswell, FEMA Administrator, spoke with Robert Costa on Face the Nation Sunday on Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.

Cleanup is underway after powerful Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc across the U.S. Southeast, killing at least 63 people across multiple states, left hundreds stranded without shelter and more than 2.5 million customers without power from Florida to Ohio.

The storm crashed ashore in Florida's Big Bend area on Thursday night as a dangerous Category 4 storm. Despite weakening to a post-tropical cyclone, Helene was still causing "catastrophic, historic" flooding in the southern Appalachians late Friday night, the National Hurricane Center said.

Helene was expected to hover over the Tennessee Valley on Sunday, the hurricane center said. High wind warnings also covered parts of Tennessee and Ohio.

When asked what she could share about the latest death toll from Hurricane Helene, Criswell said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis "accounted for 11 deaths" in the state, and said she refer to the states for the specific numbers as "they're the ones that are tracking this."

However, Criswell said FEMA is receiving reports of multiple deaths across five states, which includes Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee, as they have been hit the hardest by Hurricane Helene.

During the interview, Costa and Criswell talked about climate change, with the former asking the latter how she can conceptualize Hurricane Helene in the broader question of climate change, to which Criswell said:

"This storm took a while to develop, but once it did, it developed and intensified very rapidly, and that's because of the warm waters in the Gulf and so it's creating more storms that are reaching this major category level than we've seen in the past. It's also creating greater amounts of storm surge in the coastal areas. It's creating greater amounts of rainfall as it moves up north. And so in the past, when we would look at damage from hurricanes, it was primarily wind damage, with some water damage, but now we're seeing so much more water damage, and I think that is a result of the warm waters, which is a result of climate change."

Talks then came to Costa asking Criswell if FEMA has enough resources to help deal with the storm, to which Criswell replied:

"We absolutely have enough resources from across the federal family. FEMA is one part of the team, and we have the ability to bring in all of our team members from many other federal agencies to support this response. As we move into recovery, we can pivot those resources to help support that recovery portion. Recovery can be complicated. These five states are going to have very complicated recoveries, but we will continue to bring those resources in to help them, technical assistance as they're trying to identify the best ways to rebuild."

To watch more of Costa's interview with Criswell, click here.