to him. >> now, kate, there is the possibility that he is still alive, that he was smuggled out of the consolate to saudi arabia. two jets brought 15 saudis to istanbul that very same day and left back to riyadh that night. it is possible that he does re-emerge in saudi arabia, but, kate, it is not looking good. >> thanks so much for joining us. ac-360 starts now. we have breaking news tonight on two fronts. a cabinet level departure in the white house and a major hurricane heading straight to the panhandle. we will start with hurricane michael. now a cat three storm with winds approaching category four intensity by land fall. there is nothing between it and florida, nothing except the kind of warm water that hurricanes feed on. just a few minutes ago, forecaster got fresh data.

i want to go to tom who joins us with the very latest. >> anderson, the latest advisory keeps it as a powerful cat dweg three, but the pressure has dropped, which means it is getting stronger. they go on to say that it is getting better organized. and something we rarely do but should do more is explain this infrared imagery. when you look at imagery like this, those bright colors, those are the colder and higher cloud tops. for the last several loops we have been watching most of that on the northern and northeast western frank. it's not out of the realm of possibilities that this category three, which is only ten miles away from category four to reach that before land fall. when we talk about this storm, this is significant because this in history now will be the strongest hurricane to ever make

land fall within 40 miles of panama city. when we look at the warnings, they extent well inland. so the wind speed is going to continue to be contained with this. the surge is going to be a big problem. but it is the population alone to the east. we're going to have issues, of course, with this land fall we beginning some time mid to late afternoon tomorrow. the winds moves in. land fall should be between 3:00 and 6:00 p.m. right now the track and the national hurricane center have the land fall as a three, but it is possibly still to have four. we can't worry about three or four because it is bringing with it a major hurricane status that will move by quickly. it will bring more of a punch and more of an impact than florence ever did at land fall. >> yeah. tom, if you could just go back. i just want you to kind of talk again about the storm itself kind of reorganizing itself and

making that circle. >> okay. let me explain it this way. yesterday, anderson, the maximum winds were 40 miles an hour. by yesterday afternoon, they were 85. at this time, this is already a deadly storm. it's taken 13 lives in parts of central america and heavy rain in western cuba. we have been waiting for the intensification to circle the entire center. when that happens, it is like really pulling the cord on a lawnmower engine and all the cylinders are firing up. the water is extremely warm. the rain totals we could see 8, 10 inches. but i think the winds are going to be a big issue with this as well. there is so many factors and every storm is different as we constantly talk about. but i can't stress enough when it is going to be the strongest in history to come to panama city. the track has not changed in the past several advisories. >> you talked about storm surge. what are we looking at?

how dangerous could that be? >> this is the time of king tides, so the highest tides we typically have in our cycle. you already have to consider the water level will be a foot higher than typical because of these king tides. one change we had this afternoon is that the storm surge, the greatest height, has been increased now from 8 to 12 to 9 to 13 feet. that curves all the way around the big bend area. now, i don't want to sound like -- let me put it this way. if you had to pick a spot in the panhandle to have a surge, it will be that big bend area to the north to the east of apalachicola. we would like that to absorb that coastline. but you do have a population in apalachicola. the coastline and then the big bend. this will continue inward. what we may have is some destruction of homes. there is no doubt when this system moves in, we will see

that surge over that one feet to four feet to now nine to 13. that is significant for all the homes in the area, especially the more populated areas towards panama city and slightly east ward. >> i appreciate that update. we will continue to follow this tonight, throughout this hour. i will speak shortly with one of tom's colleagues who has been gathers information on the storm through the air. we will get a live report from one of the areas expected to be hit. but first a big departure. we learned that nikki haley is going to be stepping down which means that less than two years into this presidency, nikki haley will soon be gone. it came as a surprise to some at the white house. why is she leaving? and who's next? there is breaking news on the second question.

the president weighing in late today. jim, the president weighed in on all this on air force one just a short bit ago. what did he say? >> he says he has a list of replacements down to five different kacandidates. he mentioned the former deputy national security adviser over here at the white house, that she is on that short list. he also mentioned that richard grenelt current u.s. ambassador to germany who had been talked to inside the white house, that he is not on that short list. the president wants to keep him at germany. and the speculation was whether ivanka trump might actually get this job. the president talked her up when he was speaking with reporters later today, saying he couldn't think of anybody more competent than his daughter. but she put a stop to that. >> is it clear by nikki haley decided to resign or announced this at least now? >> it is curious because she did

submit that letter of resignation to the president last week. it was dated october 3rd. they chose to announce this today. i am told by a source familiar with all these discussions that part of the kcalculus was she dd not want to announce this last week in the huge firestorm over brett kavanaugh, but she did not want to resign after the midterms. and the reason why is this. they are concerned inside this white house, greatly concerned, that the democrats will take control of the house come this fall and the midterms and potentially the senate as well. and nikki haley, i'm told, did not want to seem like she was jumping ship or abandoning trump in a time when he's pretty vulnerable, if that happens. what's unclear is where she goes next. we had heard speculation that perhaps lindsey graham might come in and take jeff sessions spot as attorney general.

it's been speculated that lindsey graham might leave -- excuse me, jeff sessions might leave after the midterms are over. that would open up nikki haley. she was asked about this early today in the oval office, and here's what she said. >> it has been an honor of a lifetime. you know, i said i am such a lucky girl to have been able to lead the state that raised me and to serve a country i love so very much. it has really been a blessing, and i want to thank you for that. >> and, anderson, one other thing the president said is that she made the job of un ambassador more glamorous. we're not sure what that meant, b . >> jim, thanks very much. more on now who might replace nikki haley. it won't be the president's daughter.

what about his son-in-law. here is what nikki haley had to say about jared kushner. >> jared is such a hidden genius that no one understands. i mean, do re-do the nafta deal the way he did, what i've done working with him on the middle east peace plan, it is so unbelievably well done. >> joining us now white house correspondent, maggie. a lot of fascinating things about this. first of all the whole notion of the timing of this, what do you -- what do you make of it? >> my reporting is similar to what we have heard tonight, is that she did not want to embarrass the president by doing it right after the midterms. she mad it clear she wanted to go. she had to get through the united nations general assembly and the brett kavanaugh nomination. there is some west wing aids that are frustrated they ended up having a couple of good days where they got brett kavanaugh through, they had his swearing

through yesterday and how the sweek wi week ended. i don't think there is something deeper based on my reporting. i do think you are going to see increasingly a number of people, whether they are cabinet level, or whether they are undersecretaries or what have you who will be announcing in the coming weeks they are leaving. it is not being announced right after what could be a difficult election. >> that's not terribly unusual two years into an administrat n administration. >> these jobs are grueling. it is not as if she held it for six months. >> two years in this administration feels very long. >> it feels very long to those covering it, to those serving in it. i don't think this is a huge surprise. i do believe she said this before. she is seen as somebody with a political future in the republican party. she was seen that way before donald trump became the nominee for the republican party. she has been seen that way since. it is striking the way she has played this exit. she's one of the only people that is not getting kicked out

the door. >> in fact, the president wanted to have a side by side with her in front of the press. >> i think they considered it advantageous for both of them, that she's going to campaign for him. no, this is not some prelude to 2020. if president trump decides for whatever reason not to run in 2020, we have no reason to believe that he's not going to, but should that happen, she could always then go then or she could wait until 2024. >> people were making a big deal about ivanka trump today. the president was asked about it. it wasn't like he brought this up in front of reporters. he was asked a question about it, and that's what he responded. >> this is a joke in the west wing. she tweeted earlier that it's not going to be her. but this became a joke among west wing staffers that this could be a way for her to have an exit strategy out of the west wing last year.

that obviously is not what happened. but, yes, the president was asked. to be fair to him, he said i will get accused of nepotism. he of course accused the press. >> the idea of jared kushner or nikki haley praising him, is that possible? >> i don't think so. i think, again, it's the same issue. i also have no indication that jared kushner and ivanka trump want to leave right now. i think they are content where they are in their roles. nikki haley has been aligned with both of them throughout her time in the white house. i think they will be among the voices the president will be hearing from as he looks to who he can replace her with. >> that's not clear yet at this point. >> it's not. we heard deana powell's name mentioned. although, she developed her own relationship with the president. he indicated he has a short list. but that there are other people he is considered. it is really important to remember with him no matter how

many conversations he has, until he had made the offer and announced it, we will be hearing all kinds of contradictory things. >> you can think of stevenson confronts the soviets, during the reagan administration. as a listening post how the rest of the world sees this country. i want to get some additional perspective. within the un, how do you think the united states's position is standing or changed in the two years that ambassador haley has been there? >> the entire duration of the trump administration has re-positioned the united states on the international stage. from a leader and a supporter of alliances and a nation as a super power that stands up for the principles, the bedrock principals of the global world order, which it created and led

and fostered since the end of world war ii to now where it is not viewed as a leader anymore. it is viewed as a country that wants to pull back from the traditional american leadership role. whether it is nikki haley or mike pompeo or whoever it might be, they are in the service of the trump administration where both democratic and republicanic foreign policy analysts have concluded that the united states under this administration is withdrawing from its traditional leadership role and sees the world much more as a set of small or large victories to be had, rather than alliances and a u.s. agenda to be nurtured and put forth. >> it is so interesting because what nikki haley is saying and it echoed what president trump has said is that the u.s. is respected now in a way that it hasn't been before. countries may not like what the u.s. is doing, but they respect the united states. it echoes president trump's line

that where leaders used to be laughing at the u.s., they're not laughing anymore, even though they were literally laughing at the un when he spoke. >> well, they were laughing at the un. we were there together when he said that my administration is the most successful in the history of administrations. and so, people were laughing at him and then with him and it's a pretty unprecedented thing for a president to say on the global stage. however, here is the situation. president trump has set up the united states in the words of one of these foreign policy analysts who came out with one of these books about american leadership as this wounded global giant. it is a view of the united states that very, very few people share because the united states is still the world super power. strongest military, strongest economy, strongest influence around the world, strongest culture it projects around the world. the united states is not what

president trump would phrase it to be. therefore, the united states has not been laughed at in the past and, so, the opposite is not true now, if you see what i'm saying. >> it is interesting nikki haley's role. she has stood out as, i guess, sort of a moderating public voice in comparison to the president. she's been, you know, strong or had harsh words when it came to russia than the president certainly has. she certainly was in lock step with north korea as well as iran. >> she's been more in lock step than otherwise. she had that blip in april of last year when she -- of this past year when she came out and said that, you know, there would be strong sanctions against russia because of the poisonings here in the uk. it's true that this administration did take on assad's use of chemical weapons. that's a good thing. did it twice. it hasn't ended that problem. it's true that right now because

of various issues, the u.s. has managed to get assad and his allies not to do one last push on the rebel stronghold of idlib and cause hundreds of thousands of casualties. we don't know how long that's going to last. but there are all sorts of other things on trade wars and the rest that are still very, very difficult for the u.s. and suggests that this quote, unquote strength will cost the u.s. economic growth and the global economy as well. >> thanks very much. >> thank you. much more ahead tonight, including president trump's incoming supreme court justice. we'll tell you about the cases that came his way and how he is being received. we'll also talk to a hurricane chaser naying into big storms headache this one. he has menty to say sghrchlgts and later the question how bad could it get tomorrow in florida. we'll look back at some of the de

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stronger and could according to the national hurricane isn't r become the most powerful storm to hit the n fl pflorida panhan. we know that because of our next guest. he and his team fly over, into and through them. a flight meteorologistmeteorolo. he just landed. he joins us now by phone. jack, if you could walk us through what you were able to see. >> hello, anderson. our team from the operations center in lakeland flew around several different pat terns around pagemichael.

we dropped 27 total today. took observations, all quadrants around the storm. today's main mission had to do with the sbintensification of michael. and we found some things that would cause the storm to grow, a few that might keep it from growing any faster than it is growing right now. and i just got back on the ground. >> and it seems a lot more organized than it was just a short time ago. >> yes, sir. and michael has fought the odds. we saw plenty of sheer to its north yesterday. we saw some today. and about the only mitigating factor was fairly substantial area of dry air on its west side which seems to be around the south. but near the core, the center of the storm is shielding itself from that dry air intrusion fairly well. so we certainly saw all

indications of a very strong cat four -- i'm sorry, a very strong cat two, and it could make its way up to cat three in that direction before land fall. >> how will you compare this storm to others that you have seen? obviously every storm is different. in florence we saw it was much of a rain or water event. >> yes, sir. this is starting to increase its speed. the energy in this storm is quite close to the center. we expect it to make land fall with a decent forward motion. so for it to loiter inland for all the inland flooding like florence, we will see something i think quite a bit different this time. again, a lot of its energy near the center, so if you are unfortunate enough to be clear t the center, that's where the strongest impacts will be. and the geography of the florida panhandle, that's an area prone

to very large storm surges. i would expect anywhere from panama city over to saint mark's and maybe toward cedar key to be highly impacted by storm surge. >> you said you saw some things that might indicate it could get stronger. you said you saw some things that might keep it from getting stronger. could you quickly summarize both? >> yes, sir. well, any time that the energy starts to close in near the center, this is the -- this is the conservation of angular momentum, this is the ice skater bringing their arms in close to the center, the spin gets faster toward the center. very warm sea temperatures and we did see a decrease on the sheer in the mid side of the storm. dry a bit of dry air over on the west side. some storms are able to shield themselves from that.

florence had a different problem of it slowing down as it made land fall. >> thank you very much. >> well, thank you. >> with this storm intensifying, i want to go next to what, as we just heard, may be a very dangerous place, indeed. what are you seeing around you? how are people preparing? >> anderson, they are preparing by hunkering down and staying in at this point as we are on the eve of the land fall of the storm here. this is the harbor walk. normally on a night like tonight it would be teaming with people. take a look over here. this bar shut down like all the other bars and restaurants. these tables, these heavy tables turned on their sides in anticipation of this storm. i talked to the manager of this place earlier today. he's got to stay close he thinks for at least 24 hours. he hopes to re-open soon after the storm passes. but as you talk to with the storm chaser just a moment ago, this will be a big wibdnd event.

it's going to be bad. but they could withstand it. what they're worried about is the wind in these areas. can businesses like this one and houses around here withstand the winds that will be more powerful than hurricane florence a few weeks ago. it will be a lot of shingles torn off, shutters torn off, things like that. a lot of power outages. people are preparing for that as well. the governor said you have to have three days of supplies because they anticipate at least a million people without pow inner this region, anderson. they're telling people if you are going to stay and hunker down, make sure you have your three days of supplies here because you are going to probably need them. there won't be power for a million people. they are encouraging people not far from where we are to get out. however, their window of getting out, the window for evacuation is just about closed. >> the time people have had to prepare for this, it is much shorter than it was for

florence. >> absolutely. i mean, we first got word that this is going to turn into a hurricane on sunday. the serious storm watchers were watching this before then. but, again, as we have been hearing, you know, it just didn't really seem to gather strength in earnest until basically late sunday. so you didn't have a lot of time to prepare. people around here are kind of used to these storms coming up quickly. but one thing to point out, they haven't had a major hurricane here for 13 years, so there are a lot of people around here who are not used to this and may not take the warning seriously. but officials hearsaying you have got to take it seriously. they say the term mandatory evacuation, but that's a relative term. they can't really make people evacuate. they can't go into their homes and pull them out. but they are strongly suggesting people here in low-lying areas to evacuate. they think they have a good response to that.

normally this town has about 70,000 people here. there are about 13,000 people that live here year-round. i just talked to a mayor. they think they had about 40,000 here sticking around in october. a lot of them have left. but they are worried about the tourists not used to these conditions and maybe not taking this seriously. >> thanks. we will keep an eye on the hurricane. heidi heitkamp voted against brett kavanaugh's nomination to the supreme court. she seems to be in a difficult political race, obviously, and may be political trouble because of that vote. coming up, i will talk to the senator about actions and consequences. jim! you're in! but when you have high blood pressure and need cold medicine that works fast, the choice is simple. coricidin hbp is the #1 brand that gives powerful cold symptom relief without raising your blood pressure. coricidin hbp.

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it was a working day for the newly confirmed supreme court justice brett kavanaugh after his swearing in at the white house. he was on the court asking questions in several different cases. he also exchanged a couple of jokes with brett kavanaugh breaking out into a smile. chief roberts wished justice brett kavanaugh a long and happy career. president trump kept on insisting that some of the protesters against brett kavanaugh were paid to be there and hadn't yet received any money. >> you know, a lot of those were paid protesters. you saw that. they're all unhappy because they haven't been paid yet. that was professionals. that was orchestrated. when you look in the halls of congress and you see screaming like that, and it is like chimes. one goes, the next goes, these

are paid protesters. i don't know that their energy is great. i can tell you the energy on the republican side, i don't think it's ever been greater. >> north dakota senator heidi heitkamp voted against brett kavanaugh. i spoke with her just before air time. >> senator heitkamp, the president called the protesters a mob. he said some were paid professionals who were unhappy because they hadn't been paid. does any of that make sense to you? >> i think one of the most important things we can do now that the nomination process is over is to sit back, reflect and to think about what we need to do in reaction to an outpouring of so many people who have been victims who haven't told their story before and maybe have told their story. i think it is really important that we not diminish that, that we have an appropriate response nationally. and, so, i think it's really now time to kind of have that

conversation and do it in a way that it move this is country forward and unites this country. >> your republican opponent along those lines, congressman kevin kramer, he was recently talked about the me too movement, referring to the women in his own family and he said they cannot understand this movement toward victimization. these are tough people whose parents were tough and great grandparents were tough. i know you talked about your own mother. i wonder what your response is. >> well, i don't understand what he meant. did he mean if you are a victim of sexual assault you shouldn't talk about it? you shouldn't disclose it? you shouldn't report it? which i think would be a horrible message. is the other message that if you are a strong woman you aren't ever going to be victimized because that's the wrong message, too. it has to do with how we

together bring a community to avoid sexual assault. to me i thought -- my reaction was pretty personal, a story that no one in my family has really told publically before. but, you know, it's kind of like, well, my -- my mother, you know, thinks this. and i'm like, here's my mother's story. as a result of my mother's -- what happened to her, she raised five incredibly independent women who all, many of which, are involved in helping victims in involved in helping people recover from these kinds of assaults. so it was just an interesting, i think, reflection. and i don't think it was hopeful or helpful. it wasn't, say, look we're going to have a plan that's going to deal with this as the problem that it is and move this country forward. >> you were obviously a yes vote on brett kavanaugh and then switched your vote to no after you rewatched his testimony without sound off.

i found that interesting. can you explain what you saw with the sound off that made you change your mind? >> well, i think -- first off, it's important to know that i watched it in its entirety. i watched her testimony. i watched their testimony. i listened. and up until the point of this hearing, i was preparing statements saying i was going to be a yes. i watched the hearing. and during the process of listening, i thought, this is a -- this is -- you know, we expect someone to have decorum, we expect someone to have a judicial temperament. and what i saw, i thought, well, it is maybe tainted by what i heard. so i turned off the sound and watched it with the sound off, just his opening comments. and what i saw was someone who was angry, someone who was aggressive, someone who really, i think, challenged everyone in the room and you can understand

that and appreciate that. i mean, of course he was going to be angry. but i think there is a way to express that anger in ways that maybe can communicate anger but maintain judicial decorum. >> you are obviously in the midst of a tough re-election fight, and i know you feel voting the way you did was the right way. do you worry? are you concerned that it may have cost you your senate seat? >> i said all along it is not a political decision. it is not why i came here. i promised people in north dakota i wouldn't make a decision based on what team anyone is on. what i learned applying the facts and also applying judgment. i knew that the easy political vote would have been a yes vote, but i also knew that my parents raised me to do the right thing as i see it and experience the consequences of that, whether it's re-election or not getting re-elected. that to me wasn't the point.

the point is that at the end of the day y'all have to look at yourself in the mirror and think about what your future holds if you compromise something like this based on politics. and i believed a yes vote would have compromised my true belief that this person did not have the temperament to be on the supreme court, and that's a lifetime appointment, far exceeding any of my terms or tenure in the united states senate. >> senator heitkamp, i appreciate your time. >> thank you, anderson. >> the forecast for democrats as a whole this november seems to be much better, if you believe the polls. democrats are well ahead of republicans in a generic ballot matchup with 54% of voters saying they support the democrat in their district and 41% saying they support the republican. we will talk about it with david

chalian. how much of an advantage do democrats seem to have right now heading into the midterm? >> it is a pretty significant advantage. our newest poll is showing a national assessment on a generic congressional ballot. we know these races play out district by district. but this measure has been a telling measure. and the democratic double digit advantage, we haven't seen it this wide for the democrats since dating back to 2006. that's the last time that democrats had this kind of an advantage on this question, and we know in 2006 they won both the house and the senate. >> obviously, the women's vote has been talked a lot about in the wake of the brett kavanaugh hearings and before. i wonder where their support lands now. >> we have seen them a couple different places in their poll. specifically about brett kavanaugh, as you mentioned, we did see women saying they believe the women that made allegations against brett kavanaugh more than they believed brett kavanaugh. that's one place we see women showing up. but in this issue of do you choose the democrat or republican in your district if

the election were today, the numbers are aastounding. democrats are winning female voters by 30 points. republicans are winning male voters by 5 points. that's a 25 point gender gap in the democratic advantage if the democrats win control of the house of representatives in november, anderson, it will be because women delivered that majority to them. >> is there good news for the republicans in the poll as well? >> there is a couple. the president's approval rating is at 41%. last month it was on 36%. he's on the rise a bit. still, not a great number. not where anybody would want their incumbent president to be four weeks out from an election. but they are bevesting the expectations game. >> so, is it possible that this

may have an impact on turnout? do these kind of polls? there is so much talk about democrats being so far in the lead, is there concern among democrats that that may make people complacent or turn out more republicans who are concerned, obviously, about a possible democratic takeover out of the house. >> i remember back in 2016 some hillary clinton names were concerned about the complacency effect because she was running ahead in the polls. there were lots of other factors other than that that went into that final result. what i see in these numbers, anderson, there is no way of any kind of a complacency effect for democrats. they are so super charged on enthusiasm, eager to get out. i feel like they would walk across glass to get to the polls the way these numbers look right now. and republicans are also starting to get into the enthusiasm game. democrats still have a clear advantage, though, and that is an advantage i would imagine they will be able to ride all the way to election day. >> a lot of talk about democrats

retaking the house. the senate, though, does that seem out of reach for them? >> i wouldn't say out of reach, but nearly so. it is two totally different universes this election is playing out on for the house and for the senate. so much of the terrain for the battle of control of the senate is in deep red states, real trump country where democrats are up for re-election. so that's where actually i think the brett kavanaugh effect, that boost that republicans are expecting to get, that's where we may see it the most in trump country in red areas. it may help save the senate. the math is so difficult. democrats would basically have to hold on to everything they have got and run the board on their few pick-up opportunities. >> all right. fascinating. thanks. >> sure. now back to the latest news on hurricane michael. the storm is getting better organized, could strike as a powerful category three storm. just ahead, i will talk with the mayor whose city is directly in the predicted path.

more on hurricane michael. the latest bulletin from the national hurricane center puts sustained winds at 120 miles an hour, now a category three, but could make land fall as a powerful category four. here's the latest on its projected path with the coastline looming ever closer. widespread evacuations have been ordered across the panhandle. i'm joined now by the mayor of

panama city, florida. mr. mayor, can you walk us through the preparations happening now ahead of the storm? >> we have been preparing for this now for the last three days pretty intensively. we're about as prepared as we can be. some of the things that we can't predict are going to be the tornados that spawn off of these storms. right now it looks like we're directly in the path of the storm. >> i know evacuations are still taking place. how are those progressing? it is a mandatory evacuation, obviously people sometimes heed the warnings. sometimes they choose not to. >> we begged. we have asked. we have knocked on doors. it's gotten to the point now where if you are saying, then you better hunker down because we have probably tried to evacuate 120,000 people from our country. at last count we only had about 25,000 that left. in the past, we had a lot of

storms that turned out to be not that big a deal, so people get complacent, but this one we are directly in the path. we have been on the edge of several over the past few years. this one we are right in the path. my advice to the people that are now staying that, you know, once the winds get over 50 miles an hour, our first responders, police, fire, they're not going to be able to get to you. so hopefully you got enough water and food and stuff to take care of yourself. you know, we have done everything we can do to get people to >> and are there shelters in the area that last minute people suddenly decide they need to need where they're leaving they can go to? >> absolutely. there's four different schools. two of them are about full. we do have shelters available. we have 24-hour news coverage, local news coverage, telling people where to go, what to

bring to make sure they've got their medicines because there will not be medicine there. we have special need shelters. we've been through this before. we really don't know what's going to happen until it happens, and hopefully it will not be as bad as we think it's going to be. i'm afraid it may be. >> just finally, your message to anyone in that area in panama city tonight is what? >> well, what they need to do is get in a safe place. wherever you are, hopefully it is a safe place and, you know, we'll see in the morning. we're start to go get wind now. in the morning up to the 40, 50-mile-an-hour range. tomorrow afternoon we might hit 125-mile-an-hour winds. do not leave your home or leave wherever you are. stay inside and don't go out stargazing tonight and don't go out tomorrow looking around. there could be downed power

wires and things being blown around. people could get hurt. our number one priority is to keep people safe. we can keep you safer if you stay home. >> we're told there's going to be a big wind event. it will be fast moving. how concerned are you about storm surge? >> well, storm surge is going to be a big deal f. you're on the coast you need to be off the coast. if you're in a low-lying area, you should have already gotten out of there. there's nothing you can do about rising water. we're supposed to get six to nine feet. in low lying areas that can be life threatening. people need to get off the coast if they're on the coast. if they're not on a high bluff, they'd better expect to have problems. >> mayor brudnicki, i expect you the best and everyone in the area. we'll continue to check in with you. i want to check and see what chris is working on for "cuomo prime time." >> there is no time a journalist wants to be wrong except when it comes to predicting hurricanes.

we totally hope it doesn't have the same strength, it moves right away, it stalls out and makes a turn. this looks like it's going to be bad. there's a good chance you and i won't be in the same location 48 hours from now if they get hit the way they're anticipating. we're going to talk to andrew gillam, the mayor of tallahassee. everywhere from the curve in florida to his own domain. we'll play politics with him about how they got ready this time. the criticism in 2016, was it justified? we'll take people through that. we have a congressman in a district that will be hit. a lot of poverty. are they ready to help? >> that's about eight minutes from now. coming up, the latest on the track of hurricane michael. and we'll look at other powerful storms that have hit the same area over the years, see what could be in store in the days to come.

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again, hurricane michael could be close to category 4 strength when it makes landfall in florida. according to the latest information, the landfall is expected in the big bend or panhandle area, and if it stays a category 3, it would be the strongest storm to directly hit the panhandle in more than a deca decade. randi kaye tonight looks back. watch out for that aluminum. get back. >> reporter: in july 2005, hurricane dennis slammed into the florida panhandle as a dangerous category 3 storm with 120 miles per hour winds. >> this, of course, is the most dangerous time when the winds are this strong. >> reporter: it made landfall causing widespread flooding throughout the area. >> this is highway 98 that goes

along the coast in the florida panhandle. and what's going on here is that the ocean, the gulf of mexico, is breaching the roads. >> reporter: three people died in the aftermath of the storm. >> this is very similar to hurricane opal in '95. opal made it up to 150-mile-an-hour winds. >> reporter: hurricane opal hit the panhandle ten years before dennis making landfall just east of pensacola. the deadly storm hit land as a category 3. more than 100 miles of florida's gulf coast virtually destroyed from the winds and rain. there were at least nine fatalities blamed on the storm. in 2004, four major storms struck the state of florida within the span of six weeks. hurricane charlie, frances, ivan

and jean caused widespread death and destruction throughout the region including the panhandle. >> this is going to be large scale. every shingle on the roof will be gone. >> reporter: frances landed on the east coast of the state as a category 2 in september. and then made a second landfall in the panhandle as a tropical storm. >> the winds have become significantly stronger in this particular area right off the beach. by the way, what you see flying by me is not snow it's foam. >> reporter: hurricane ivan's eye hit gulf shores, alabama, as a cat 3 that same month. the hurricane force winds extended into the florida panhandle causing even more damage to the already battered region. if hurricane michael makes landfall as a category 3 as predicted, it will be the first major storm to directly hit the panhandle in 13 years. randi kaye, cnn, naples, florida. we'll be following it every

step of the way. don't miss our daily interaction newscast on facebook. you get to pick some of the stories we cover week nights 6:25 eastern. the news continues. i want to hand it over to chris for "cuomo prime time." i am chris cuomo. welcome to "prime time." hurricane michael's just hours away from slamming into the florida panhandle, now a category 3 that's stronger than florence. we have new information on what to expect and when. the big question is whether or not florida is ready. there are lots of eyes on tallahassee. mayor andrew gillum. and nikki haley, surprise or not? her staff, bolton, pompeo, all reportedly caught off guard. why did the u.n. ambassador announce her exit weeks before the midterms? we'll dig deeper for you. and if you're watching this show