[Tapper:] In our national lead: entire neighborhoods have been turned in a debris after catastrophic Hurricane Michael leveled parts of the Florida panhandle and has now killed six people. Homes and businesses practically erased from the map in Mexico Beach, Florida. This is the spot federal officials are calling the ground zero of Hurricane Michael's destructive past. And up the coast in Panama City, the Jinx Middle School which recently enrolled students who were displaced last year by Hurricane Maria is now reduced to twisted metal in a stack of bricks. CNN's Erica Hill is live at Panama City Beach, Florida. And, Erica, you've been speaking with residents who are seeing this image for the first time, what are they telling you? How horrific is this for them?
[Erica Hill, Cnn Correspondent:] Jake, a lot of them are speechless. This is definitely a case where the pictures truly do tell the story. They are coming home in some cases to find their neighborhoods gone. One woman who I spoke with lives just to the right of where I am right now, and she said when she tried to come home from the shelter she had to walk because there was no other way to get there. But the real damage, as you pointed out, is ground zero in Mexico Beach.
[Hill:] From the air, a first look at a beach town almost completely wiped out.
[Scott Boutwell, Mexico Beach, Florida Resident:] Our lives are gone here.
[Hill:] Daylight exposing the force of Hurricane Michael. This category 4 storm made landfall near Mexico Beach, packing winds of nearly 150 miles per hour.
[Boutwell:] We had furniture in our house that wasn't even our furniture.
[Hill:] Getting into Mexico Beach, a challenge in itself. Roads clogged with downed power lines, trees and debris.
[Boutwell:] All the stores, all the restaurants, everything, there's nothing left here anymore, you know. All the homes on this side of the road at the beach, they're all gone.
[Hill:] The need extends far beyond Mexico Beach. In Panama City, neighborhoods reduced to rubble.
[Kathleen Labarron, Panama City Beach Resident:] Oh, my God, Panama City, there's nothing there, nothing. I've never seen nothing like it.
[Hill:] This middle school nearly flattened. The gym's roof torn off.
[Britt Smit, Jinks Middle School Principal:] It was heart wrenching. I know what the school means to our our kids and our community and to see that type of devastation on their school and realizing that that devastation in the only is there at their school and also with their homes, because kids live nearby.
[Hill:] In Panama City Beach, a massive boat storage facility at this marina now a twisted cage for the vessels stored inside. The damage resembling the work of a strong tornado, especially when seen from the sky. As the reality of what's left behind sets in, many people here still trying to make sense of what happened.
[Boutwell:] Where do we start now? I mean, what do we do? There's nothing left here.
[Hill:] And that is the case in so many areas. The hard part here, Jake, what's happening now is simply trying to assess the damage, to get into some of those areas that were hardest hit because just getting to a place like Mexico Beach where Brooke Baldwin was able to take a helicopter is nearly impossible because of the roads, 2,500 National Guard troops activated here in Florida and 1,500 in Georgia. It's a start, but this is definitely a long, long road ahead, Jake.
[Tapper:] All right. Erica Hill, thank you so much. I want to show you more from the panhandle. This was a convenience store in Springfield, Florida. That's what you're looking at right now. The storm ripped the roof right off the building. Some shelves there have been ripped to shreds. Obviously, a dangerous scene as people are trying to rummage through what little is left and get flood and supplies. In Mexico Beach, Florida, where Hurricane Michael made landfall, that's rescuers trying to sift through toppled homes. They're obviously looking for any survivors, anyone trapped inside. Let's show you one more, that's a utility pole that sliced right through a waffle house in Calloway, Florida. Joining me now is Democratic Senator Bill Nelson of Florida. And, Senator, I just want to start with your reaction to what you're seeing on the ground. We've seen blocks and blocks of homes leveled, businesses destroyed. What are you hearing from your constituents?
[Sen. Bill Nelson , Florida:] Just exactly what you've been reporting. It's devastation and as you go east of Panama City, that's where the the right side of the hurricane, the most ferocious winds were and Mexico Beach. I imagine when we finally get into the next town which is Port St. Joe, I think you're going to find devastation, particularly Mexico Beach, because there's no barrier island outside of it. So it was getting the full force of the wind and the water. Further east, Port St. Joe is a natural harbor with a cape around it, cape sandblast. It would have had some protection, but no doubt it's going to be like not anything we've seen since Hurricane Andrew in 1992 down south of Miami. It's going to be like that over there in those small little populated areas. They will be flattened completely.
[Tapper:] And what's your number one concern right now, Senator?
[Nelson:] Well, that's why I'm here. I'm here to make sure that the federal government is sending all of the resources that it needs, and it's going to need a lot.
[Tapper:] Governor Scott says that the top focus right now is search and rescue. Have you heard of any areas where people might be trapped, where there is not an effort being made that needs to be made?
[Nelson:] In the woods to the west, all along the shore here, I suspect that there are people who decided to hunker down, and we're going to find people hopefully alive back in those dwellings.
[Tapper:] What's your message to residents who might say, hey, the storm is over, I'm going to get in my car and check on my home, head back into these hard-hit areas like the one you're in right now?
[Nelson:] As a matter of fact, a lot of people are doing that. You should have seen I had to come all the way on the interstate and then south, and there were cars lined up for miles wanting to get back, and that's what they are doing. They want to get back, clean up. You can see the weather is great here. That's simply unusual for a hurricane because it's usually range and still blowing. This hurricane moved so fast it's up north Georgia, South Carolina by now.
[Tapper:] President Trump has declared a major disaster area in Florida. I know you and Senator Rubio asked for this to happen. Are you getting the support you need from the federal government and the White House?
[Nelson:] Yes, and we will get it, and Senator Rubio is on his way to join me, and the two of us are going to be here on the ground. We'll make sure that this area gets exactly what it needs.
[Tapper:] All right. Senator, if you don't get what you need, if there's more you need from Tallahassee or from Washington, D.C., and you're not getting, it let us know here at CNN, and we'll bring attention to it.
[Nelson:] Thanks, Jake.
[Tapper:] All right. Thank you, Senator. How did a Saudi journalist simply vanish? The Trump White House on the case, but will the answer further complicate the president's relationship with a key ally? Stay with us.