Mileanhour winds leaving so much devastation in its wake. In our drive this morning from a little further west, we saw downed power lines, downed trees. Some of these power lines were so low it was tough to get through. Entire neighborhoods would be wiped out and almost seemed like a tornado had gone through. The most damage is mexico beach. Brooke baldwin joins us now from what is ground zero. Erica, i am here in mexico beach. There is devastation. The word is its gone, gone. We were able to get a helicopter, thanks to our pilot alex, who happened to be in town from the grand canyon. It was just that kind of day. We were lucky enough to get into mexico beach to show you the destruction firsthand. I want to bring in two guys here on the ground, scott and iggy, both from miami fire and rescue. Guys, get a little closer. I want to first begin with what we know about on the ground, search and rescue. You guys have been going door to door. Do you even have a death toll yet . No. Currently the operation is going door to door, trying to identify any individuals that stayed and sheltered in place. If they need medical attention, were getting them evacuated, getting the assistance they need and if there was anybody deceased were identifying and getting the word back up to the straight. Reporter what words do you use to describe what it looks like to people . Like we said, this is unimaginable. You can see the difficulty getting in here. Our focus now is coordinating efforts and getting help to everyone that stayed as quickly as possible. Reporter you were telling me about a family who rode out the storm back there, who they havent left their home. Can you give me a status check on them . Currently wooe were able to convince them to leave the devastated area. It was a mother father, an 8yearold and 3yearold and then an aunt and uncle. Their house was destroyed. Its best for them to get out of here now. Reporter guys, thanks so much. I appreciate everything youre doing. Appreciate it. As you can see, just all of the pieces of homes and lives behind me over this canal. Scott, come on over here, sir. Gingerly. I know you are injured from the storm. You have a home. Are you saying have . Well, its in pieces. The roofs over there, and the structures over there underneath another house. Reporter you got banged up . Yeah. The flooding occurred and it was much more than the initial report of six to nine feet. It was 9 to 12 easy. It was outside my bedroom window upstairs. It started flooding downstairs. I told my mother, who is 72 years old, come upstairs and we hid in a closet. The storm started sinking away from us. The roof truss fell on the floor and i couldnt get out of the closet. God gave me the strength to get the door open, get on the door we were putting open. The sheet metal wedged on my head so i can protect her from the wind. She has a bad gash. I hope my sister is okay and the rest of my family is okay. Reporter have you been able to talk to them . No. Reporter when you talk about your mom, you get really emotional. Shes been through a hard surgery. She tries to take care of everybody. Shes a good christian woman. She thought she could get through this because the house did fine during opal, the statistics were basically the same. I wasnt here then and i took her word for it. By the time i realized we were in a big mess, but by then it was too late. I knew if we tried to drive out, we would have got caught by the water. We had to do what we did. Reporter the only way to get around is walking. Ive just been walking and walking and walking as far as i can. I saw a home that was carried from the waters edge, i was talking to someone because he knows where the home was, 150 yards and landed upside down, like the wizard of oz. That was 150 feet across an empty street and that was aseri . The whole bottom floor is probably underneath there. Reporter have you been able to did you take anything . When the water started coming, all i cared about is my mom. Her medicine thats there. We had all our money, anything youre supposed to have in case you have to evacuate the home. I wasnt planning on evacuating through the side of the house as the wall basically just fell apart. Reporter where do you go from here . How do you i just want to get my mom to the hospital. After that, im not worried about right now. God will take care of all that. I just want to get her. Shes got a real bad gash on her foot a foot, and every time she walks on it, starts hurting. Reporter let me see your hand. Are you getting medication . Oh, yes. There was a man who came and bandaged my mom, and fema who came through, gave us ant eibi c antibiotic. We have water, mres. Femas been excellent. Its incredible who have been able to come here. So many people havent been able to get in just because of the roads. Theyve been impassable. I dont know anything about that way. I just figured its impossible. As far as i can see, i see road, thats it. Everything else is debris. If theres anything ellike my road reporter ive seen other peoples furniture and other peoples homes thrown across highway 98. One man was counting the homes gone by looking at how many toilets and refrigerators have flown around. Well, i guess that would be a good way. The home that we were allowed to stay in, it had some broken glass a little bit, but otherwise its held up really well. A few of them they didnt, but it looks like they were lifted off the foundation. The foundation held. Reporter mexico beach has been referred to as ground zero of this hurricane. I figured the way the winds were whipping around. Reporter what did it sound like . What did it feel like . I just told my mom to keep her eyes shut. We had sand, gravel, you have flat roofs here. I knew that sheet metal would hold up to everything coming up behind me it wouldnt be able to hit her in the face. Thats all i was concerned about. I knew we were going to get cuts. The important thing is limit the depth and severity of it. Reporter just last question, for people who have never heard of mexico beach, florida, what do you want them to know about yall . Were tough. Most of us were smart enough to get out, but the ones who stuck by i mean, im from the south. I always think im tougher than i probably am or the situation. Reporter you wish youd left . I wish i would have got her out. None of this is about me. Its all about her. I stayed because of her. I wish i would have got out because of her. I want to get her to the hospital. Reporter thank you very much. Were going to make sure we get you tended to medically. That is just the beginning of some of the stories were hearing here in mexico beach. National guard, ive seen black hawk choppers. A lot of different folks are here on the ground trying to help out. This is not just days and weeks, this is months and months ahead. I met one woman today who came upon where her house was for the very first time, erica, and tears all around. Tears all around. Reporter it is. It is samazing. The pictures tell the story, but to hear from that gentleman about his experience and how he wishes hed gotten his mother out, really something. Reporter thank you. We are also going to speak to senator marco rubio, who is making his way to florida. He left a meeting with fema, wanted to see what was happening with the damage firsthand. Well check in with him. Lets turn it over to dana bash in washington. Reporter thank you very much for the extraordinary work youre doing down there. Coming up, from here in washington, a serene scene in the oval office. If he dont look good, we dont look good. 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Awardwinning rapper kanye westawes west and jim brown met with President Trump in the oval office. The president had the least to say. You got to watch it to believe it. It gives me power in a way. You know, my dad and my mom separated, so i didnt have a lot of male energy in my home. And also, im married to a family that, you know, not a lot of male energy going on. Its beautiful, though. But theres times where theres something about, you know, i love hillary, i love everyone, right, but the campaign with her just didnt make me feel as a guy that didnt get to see my dad all the time like a guy that could play catch with his son. There was something about when i put this hat on, it made me feel like superman. You made a superman cape. As a guy that looks up to you and american industry guys, not political, no bull [ bleep ]. Put the bleep on it, however you want do, it fivesecond delay. Just gets it done. I brought a gift with me. This right here is the iplane one. This is what you should be flying on. What i need saturday night live live or the liberals to get on board with, this is the president. He has to have the flyest airports. Were putting people in positions to have do illegal things to end up in the cheapest factory ever, the prison system. Ill tell you what, that was pretty impressive, folks. I want to bring in cnn political reporter nia henderson. Were watching the oval office. Historically there has been a reverence for it, which weve seen from president s of both parties. He certainly was speaking bluntly and he went full kanye. What else would we have expected from kanye west. Theres some context here that he often talks about. He has suffered even though in this conversation he said he didnt suffer from bipolar, he said he had a sleep disorder. Culturally, it quite an evolution for kanye west. It was brought up that he was very critical of george bush, saying he didnt care about black people. Hes from a pretty activist family. For him to be in the white house and really, i think, almost seeming to worship the president , saying that he loves him, saying that the hat gives him power and makes him tefeel like a man, it was so odd. I think it also speaks to the lack of seriousness that the president looks at africanamerican issues. It was supposed to be about criminal justice reform, about opportunity zones, africanamerican employment and revitalizing some of these communities. With that you would think you would want policy experts, people who know about those issues. Instead youve got jim brown, who was basically silent in that whole display from kanye west and then kanye west, who isnt an expert in any of those things and doesnt speak to the diversity and broad experience of 40 million black people. Even though at times he did suggest he did there. It was odd to see that. I want to follow up. I want to, though, go right now down to florida. Erica hill is down there in panama city with a special guest. Reporter thank you. Joining us on the phone, senator marco rubio. As i understand it, you are driving through northwest florida. Give us a sense, what are you seeing . We had to fly into pensacola to make sure we could get west over the damages because there were a lot of closures on the east. I was talking to fema headquarters and we were watching some of the drone imagery, some of the first imagery we got of what was on the ground and clearly complete devastation in terms of mexico beach. Kind of an old historic florida town. Just a couple of structures here and there but a lot of foundation. Then i had gotten a call last night where they said mexico beach was gone. Now i know what they meant. And extensive damage in panama city, where i believe you are. One of the most important things to be focused on early on is the safety and security of the community, but then how do you sustain life . Electricity, food, telecommunication. Verizon is down, at t service. So that community, mexico beach hit very hard but panama city has a long road ahead. Were just in the early stages of trying to recover. Brooke baldwin is in mexico beach. She son tis on the ground and w to ask you a question. Reporter hey, senator. Its Brooke Baldwin on mexico beach. Its a bit of a delay where i am. I just wanted to, hey, its still really slow in early goings here at mexico beach. I know the National Guard is here really trying to help the folks so far but its gone. We dont have a death total yet, we dont have an injury count. For the people who are watching who have absolutely been gutted and lost their homes, what do you want to tell the people here . It heas heart breaking. You can always rebuild structure. Loss of life is hopefully something that didnt happen. To think about sort of the unique character of that part of our state, its not something thats well none. People go there and make great memories, but it not sort of a marquis place, and they like it that way. You just worry that you recover from storms [ no audionau [ no audio ] and these are places where the business that allows people to live there and work, theyre gone. Theyre not going to be functioning for quite a bit of time. Its going to be a long time before we see visitors returning as far as the mexico beach perspective. There wouldnt be places for them to stay if they came. What about people who work there . They dont have a job next week. So theres things underneath the surface were going to be dealing with for some time. Yeah, its going to be months and months and months for people here in mexico beach. We have you covering the aftermath of hurricane michael. It was a category four. Winds clocked at 154 miles per hour. This is the result of that wind speed and storm surge of up to 13 feet. I saw it myself. I saw the marks inside of peoples homes, how high the water level came, it swept homes, obliterated homes, tossed homes upside down and everything in between. Im Brooke Baldwin in mexico beach, erica hill in panama city beach. Our special coverage continues on cnn right after this. Opportunity is everywhere. Like here. And here. See . Opportunity. Hi cinturones por favor. Gracias. Everywhere. About to be parents. Its doing a lot of kicking down there. Meeting the parents. Its gonna be fine. And this driver, logging out to watch his kid hit one out of the. Go dani, go opportunity is everywhere. All you have to do to find it is get out. Here. Our new, hot, fresh breakfast will get you the readiest. buzzer sound holiday inn express. Be the readiest. I guess you know i love you. I dont want you put you in that spot. Im standing in that spot. I love this guy. Let me give you a hug. I love this guy right here. Come here. Thats really nice. And thats from the heart. I didnt want to put you in that position. Thats from the heart. Special guy. We want to talk more about that surreal scene at the white house earlier. Niamalika henderson is still here. Also with me is s. E. Cupp. Kanye said it himself when he said trump is on his heros journey right now. He might not have thought hed have a crazy motherblanker like me. All jokes aside, i thought that was really sad. I think you had there a man whos clearly not okay and a president whos willing to exploit that. And worse, to exploit that under the auspicious of Race Relations and black communities, joblessness, mental health, all the things that ended up in this bucket of issues that were sort of addressed in this free for all. I dont know that any of them were very well served by this circus. And in many ways they are they are the same person, right . They are both very ego driven and desperate for attention. So they give it to one another. They are using each other for that end goal. I dont have a problem with kanye west being a fan of the president. I dont have a problem with the president using celebrities to expose important issues, but the problem is i dont think any of that happened today because today was bonkers. It was crazy. It was off the rails. How could anything be accomplished in that kind of environment with that little seriousness paid to those very important issues. Okay, theres that point, and its also the fact, nia, that this is juxtaposed with an entire pocket of florida gone, an entire area of florida gone and real, real devastation. The president himself was talking about the fact that he got heat for going to a political rally last night. This was today supposed to be, as you said, as leafs wt least auspices of having a conversation about race. We dont know whats going to happen. Kanye west rambling from one talking to another, talking about a plane, about adidas, about kanye west ideation cen r centers from chicago. It was a hot mess until the end. And it took up the president s time. If you think about whats most valuable to the president , its his time. You have ten minutes of air and then this meeting that was supposed to be about really serious issues. But i think again it shows the president s thirst for attention and adulation, particularly from famous people and the lack of seriousness of africanamerican people. If this were an issue important to his base, i dont think he would have chosen two famous white people to talk about any number of issues, and thats essentially what he did here. And when you bring a celebrity or when you are a celebrity, you know that the cameras go on you and you have a white hot spotlight on you. Kim kardashian used that for good and helped get somebody out of prison who was unjustly in prison for way too long, for decades. The question is, thats the spectacle we saw in the oval office. Could he be talking about Colin Kaepernick privately with the president , trying to change his view on things like that . Im just trying to give the devils advocate view here, if there is one. The devils advocate view that addressing things like prison reform, those are important stories. The idea or at least the premise of the idea was an okay one, but if we have not learned from history both recent and past why you dont p