Hurricane Isaias Floods the Panhandle, A Russian Oil Deal, ICE Shooting in New York

Hurricane Isaiyes came ashore last night and flooded the Florida panhandle. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost power and now the storm is moving inland. I'm Aisha Roska. And I'm Scott Simon and this is a first from NPR News. So far it's been a quiet season for hurricanes. Isaiyes is the first to hit the Gulf states in over two years with a bang. Diesel fuel from Russia may start to flow at gas pumps in the US for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine. President Trump says it's a way to lower gas prices. And a New York man shot by ice while driving his five-year-old son home from school has rattled the city. So please stay with us, we've got the news you need to start your weekend. Residents along the Northern Gulf coast are waking up today to assess the damage from Hurricane Isaiyes. Now the remnants of the storm are drenching the southeast. It may landfall Friday near Destin, Florida as a category to Hurricane. And here's Debbie Elliott is nearby in Christfew, Florida. And joins us. Debbie, thanks for being with us. Oh, good to be with you, Scott. What was it like? Well, you know, I'm just north of where it came ashore. I'm about 30 miles inland close to Interstate 10 here in the Florida Panhandle. Rain and wind gusts started picking up late yesterday afternoon. Most of the businesses all around here were long closed by then, including the waffle house I might add, which is famous for staying open in all kinds of circumstances. By nightfall, the pine trees outside my hotel window were just swaying with the wind gusts and they started whacking against the building. Sheets of rain were pounding the window like a fire hose. Wind gusts here topped 70 miles an hour. It almost sounded like there were waves lapping against the side of the building. I recorded a little bit of it. So you can imagine if it was that intense here, it had to be much worse down on the coast. And what have you been able to learn about what happened there? Well, the National Hurricane Center says East Isis came ashore with 105 mile an hour winds, higher gusts in some places. You know, that's enough to snap trees and power lines, knock down street signs and rip awnings from buildings. And some of the early morning images we're seeing show just that some big huge oak trees just uprooted. Power outages. Last time I checked this morning, more than 800,000 customers are without electricity. Mostly in Florida and Alabama, but also over in Georgia. According to Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis crews headed out pre-dawn. They're going to get to work clearing down trees and debris from the roadways so that lineman and search and rescue teams can get out and get working. He says people should be patient and let the emergency responders do their job today. Just make sure you stay safe during this period of time. You can't unring the bell if you mess around with the down power cord. You can't unring the bell if you end up driving in flooded waters and get into a wreck. And so just make sure you're safe. This is going to pass. Things are going to get back. We're going to get that done. Some wind shear did now knock the storm back just before it made landfall. At one point, it was a category three hurricane over the Gulf. And Debbie, what other effects are people feeling from the hurricane? You know, some problems like boil water notices in some communities. People officials have said they were not able to respond to emergency calls in the height of the storm because it wasn't safe to be on the roads. And it might remain so until all the downed power lines are cleared. Some good news is the storm surge ended up being less devastating than originally forecast. It was as much as five feet near where the hurricane made landfall. You know, that definitely caused coastal flooding. But it didn't, you know, wash away entire structures or anything. The area hit was under an evacuation order. So hopefully people escape the worst. We'll know more later today as officials start checking out the damage. I should add that President Trump did approve disaster declarations for Alabama and Florida. That frees up federal resources to help in the response. Storm is no longer a hurricane, but it's still a threat as it moves inland. What's the risk now? You know, it moved very quickly up into the southeast, forecasters say, you know, expect power outages, flash flooding, possibly some mudslides in the mountains and tornadoes over Florida's big bin region, Alabama, Georgia. The Caroline is even the Tennessee Valley are at risk. A lot of college football fans are hoping it moves quickly and won't disrupt this evening's kickoff at the Alabama, Georgia football game in Tuscaloosa. President Trump was planning to go to that, but he canceled his trip yesterday as the hurricane was bearing down and ESPN moved its morning college game day program indoors just to be safe. But so far, it looks like the game's on. Hey, here's Debbie Elliott on the job in Christfew, Florida. Thanks so much. You're welcome. President Trump says the U.S. will begin to import Russian diesel and an attempt to drive down prices at gas pumps before the midterms. The U.S. had banned Russian diesel to limit their revenue amid the war in Ukraine. Joining us from Moscow to talk about this reversal is NPRES, Russia correspondent Charles Maynes. Charles, thanks for being with us. Morning, Scott. And tell us please about the president's announcement. I gather it was on social media. Yeah, that's right. Trump revealed the news on his truth social platform. He wrote that he had a highly successful discussion with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, whereby Putin agreed to immediately supply over 300,000 tons of diesel fuel to the U.S. and global markets with more to follow. Trump said this meant diesel prices for Americans and for the rest of the world would be coming down in his words in record numbers and fast that was in all caps. And he said he did this with certain constituencies in mind, saying farmers, ranchers and truckers were as great as priority, those, of course, some of the groups who have been unhappy about the rise in diesel prices and who Trump will need to turn out in the midterms. If Republicans are going to hold the house, much less the Senate. It is an election year. Politics might be driving U.S. economic policy abroad. That's right. At least for now, the U.S. formally placed sanctions on Russia and Russian diesel shortly after the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022. And it just took minutes after Trump's announcement for the Treasury Department to issue a six-month waiver to those trade restrictions. Charles, how would a deal actually work? Oddly enough, this requires Russia to first lift its own diesel export ban. The Kremlin put that restriction in place in response to gas shortages that it hit Russia over the summer due to sustained Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy facilities. That crisis is basically eased a bit, so this deal comes at a moment really when industry experts here were already calling for the lifting of this ban on exports to other parts of the world. St. Russia was basically losing out on profit, and this U.S. deal to lift sanctions certainly helps them do this just quicker, maybe than some thought. And how are the leaders of Russia talking about the deal? Well, the Kremlin issued a more general statement than Trump saying it was ready to supply diesel to the U.S. and global markets, a kind of full stop. But clearly, part of the story behind this deal is the warm relationship between Trump and Putin, a Kremlin advisor, Yuri Shakolv, later described a journalist the atmosphere of this call saying Trump had wished Putin a happy birthday, Putin turned 74 this week, and said even that neither side wanted to put down the phone despite taking a call for an hour and a half. Here's what Shakolv's saying. He hoped Trump wouldn't mind if he quoted him, but that the U.S. president had told Putin he was ready to talk more today, to more tonight, or any day after. So these guys really seem to like each other. And how much will importing Russian oil actually affect prices in the U.S.? Well, the Russian contribution to the global diesel needs in the short term isn't that much. And the industry experts say actually it isn't likely to have the immediate impact that Trump says, or is promising for diesel prices at the pump. How that impacts voters' decisions in November, of course, we'll have to see. But the other interest here for Trump is Ukraine. You know, Trump has actually blamed Ukraine for driving a crisis at the pump through its attacks on Russian energy facilities. Even though most experts would say that, while that may be a factor, the real cause has been Iran's blockage of the state of Hormuz. Be that as it may, Trump has been pressuring Ukraine to unilaterally halt its attacks on Russia to help with these gas prices. Something Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky is thus far refused to do without a reciprocal move by Moscow. How has President Zelensky reacted to news that Russia and the U.S. are striking this deal? Clearly doesn't like it, he said that the White House's decision prolongs the war by replenishing Russia's war chest. Here's Zelensky speaking in a voice message to reporters last night. So here's Zelensky says the deal means more money for this war and more money to inflict suffering on Ukrainians, adding it only feeds Putin's ability to keep fighting. You know, and left unsaid, this deal gives Trump even more incentive to pressure Kiev to halt its attacks on Russian energy, even as Putin continues his attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, you know, on homes, on heating, electrical power stations, as we enter into the winter months with Ukraine's air defenses depleted. And here's Russia correspondent Charles Mange, thanks so much. Thank you. Federal Immigration agents shot a man in New York City earlier this week. Oscar Bellgall, a 28-year-old from the Dominican Republic survived and is now in ice custody while the courts wrangle over what happens next. His five-year-old child was in the backseat of the car at the time of the shooting, but was unharmed. Reporter Steve Kastinbaum joins us. Steve, thanks for being with us. My pleasure, thank you. The mayor of New York and the governor of demanded that ice release video footage from the body cameras that were worn by agents in the shooting, which has not happened, but New York police did release body cam footage. What does it show? Well, we see that they pulled up to a chaotic scene right after this shooting. We see an ice agent wearing a yellow construction vest. He's holding a rifle, Bellgall is on the ground. In handcuffs, he's bleeding from the neck. People are yelling at the ice agents. NYPD officers called for an ambulance to be rushed to the scene, but then they decided to put the shooting victim in their car, and then they raced to a nearby hospital. We also got to see how this started. A second video came out. It was from a security camera that was on a building, and it captured the moment when ice agents approached Bellgall in his car and he sped off. There was a hearing at Federal Court in Manhattan yesterday afternoon, and Bellgall's attorneys argued for his immediate release. What came out of the hearing? Well, the judge issued an emergency order prohibiting immigration authorities from deporting Oscar Bellgall while this issue is pending. Federal agents took him from the hospital on Thursday evening, just a few hours after he was brought in. He still had a bullet fragment in his neck, the family and immigrant advocates thought that he was still in New York, but attorney Howard Solis said they were surprised to learn that hearing that he was actually taken to New Jersey and not to a medical facility. Obviously he's afraid. He's deeply concerned about his five-year-old son. It was the first thing he asked me as whether his son is okay. The judge ordered that Bellgall has to be kept at a federal detention facility either in New York or New Jersey while this plays out in the court here. Leaders in New York were very quick to call for ice to end its activities in the city and just leave New York. Homeland Security officials responded by saying New York's sanctuary policies make the city less safe. What have they been saying? Well, state law here prohibits police from aiding federal agents in enforcing immigration policy in any way. They're only allowed to help with law enforcement. Homeland Security, Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen spoke at a briefing in Washington and he said that this man had a criminal conviction, several arrests. They claimed he was associated with a gang and they asked New York police to hold on to him. This individual is a threat to our community. As you heard, we had a tanner on him. He was on probation. The state of New York knew he was illegal and they chose to release him back into the streets and into the community. And one of the reasons they wanted this man is because they said he may have information about the shooting of an off-duty customs and border patrol agent that took place here last year. Steve, we saw an ice protest around the courthouse yesterday. What's ahead? Well, the judge has to make a decision on the petition to release the man and local officials are conducting their own reviews here. Reporter Steve Kastin, Bob in New York. Thanks so much. Thanks for having me. And that's up first for Saturday, October 10th, 2026. I'm Scott Simon. And I'm A. Sharasco. Dave Mistage produced today's podcast along with Michael Radcliffe and Gabe O'Connor. Our editor was Diana Douglas. She worked with Anna Yukananon, Jennifer Portman, Martin Patience, and Ruth Shurlock. In the control room is our director, Elena Twork, and our technical director, David Greenberg. They're so ably assisted by Zovengan Hoven, Simon Laslow-Janson, and J.S. Our deputy-managed editor is Giselle Grayson, our executive producer is Evie Stone, and our senior supervising editor Is Shannon Rhodes, the rock paper, and scissors of a first. Tomorrow, on the Sunday story, we investigate an enormous women's prison in California where guards use their position to assault and abuse incarcerated women. Thank you for listening to us. And for supporting your local NPR station, and if you would like to find yours, get Nintendo and radio receiver and start jerting the dial in search of electromagnetic energy. Oh, are you sure? You can go to stations.mpr.org. It's up to you, yeah. It's up to you, you know, but the old ways also work, right? You can get a radio. Absolutely. We're always there. [MUSIC]