this is don lemon tonight, you're watching our coverage of in, making its way up the florida peninsula. we have all the news coverage this evening, it is dumping rain on this entire area. lots of water. but also the wind, pushing the wind all across the state of florida. our crews are out in the field, we're covering it all for you. we've got bill weir, bill is joining us from punta gorda florida, also brian todd is in -- is in derek van damme is in breaking tin for us. i want to other meteorologist, our expert, mr. tom seders in the weather center. tom, i am getting so much rain, lots of rain that have been dumped on me for the last hour. and it seemed to come in on cue, we're watching the radar, the rain came right in. it's just sitting on top of us, not going anywhere. >> in fact that northern periphery of the storm system

in the last couple of model runs in the last couple of days really has been showing that that northern periphery is where we're gonna have that heavy rainfall. already, we have seen as much as 12 to even 19 inches of rain. that's 2 to 3 months worth of rain that is falling. we've got flash flood emergency across the area from arcadia up toward orlando, it won't be long we're gonna be in the clearing back in areas of fort myers, dry air to the south, rain totals will be much less. but again, look at the loop we're gonna find out better about the totals of the surge, how high did it get, we know close to a foot in some areas. the gauge broke, in naples after hit seven feet. but again, the storm continues to move up now passing just north of sebring. but again, the winds were so strong it knocked out a lot of our weather instruments in this area. again, we're not exactly gonna know how strong the winds are in every area, but cape coral 140 miles per hour, sustained winds were quite strong for sometimes. even around venice where again, they were in that northern nine.

now we're looking at this band. this is that rainfall. 2 to 3 months worth of rain, it's already a very saturated ground, because the rainy season coming to an end. and here's our emergency that we're going to be watching very closely. but there will be water rescues in this area, there's no doubt, there's been many already throughout the entire region. we've been watching, of course, the surge didn't get up to 18, we just don't know. so they're gonna assess this, don, of course, the crews will be out tomorrow they're gonna be looking at this for weeks and weeks and weeks. however, the surge has come to an end, now that it's on sure it's going to take a while for some of the waters to recede and other areas it's moving out quickly. the worst is gonna be the ponding of water this gonna be around for many, many, days. >> yeah, watching the ponding of water here. i gotta ask you some of the stuff. listen, we have not seen being protected by the building. but we really haven't seen the wind. the wind hasn't hit us too hard here. i'm wondering forget that, just

as i said, we are getting just sheets and sheets of rain. and usually these bands, as you know, when we cover these things, bands of rain they come in the go. this one come as it has gone, tom? >> no, you're in the circulation right now, and that northern part of the heavier bands of rainfall. in fact, it's gonna continue to be quite heavy until the system moves out near the back edge. but because it continues to circulate, counterclockwise, don, we're gonna be looking at heavy amounts of rain continuing to move in, and you haven't seen the worst of it yet. it's much heavier just to your south in areas to the southwest. so, this is what they've been putting up with, this 12 to 19 inches which is over 20 in some cases, and that was the fear growing in towards central areas of north central areas of florida, that this heavy rain band was gonna be an event all by itself, even without the real landfall occurring. crazy situation. >> the you, it is a crazy situation. let's go to gordon now, my colleague bill weir is there now. i want you to help me talk to

him, because we were watching bill today really get the strong winds. i haven't seen the winds that bill has seen. so bill is joining us now. bill, i understand that you are under a curfew i don't understand what the conditions are where you are right now. i can't see, but what's up? >> actually, it's much better, don. it's both the radar and the evidence in the sky above us here, is that the worst of the event has passed punta gorda thank holy. it has been a marathon of buffeting winds and intense rain which you are tasting now. the good news is we haven't seen the storm surge in the 15 17 nine foot teen foot rain that we are worried about this morning. >> so bill, the curfew that you're under right now, and i'm wondering, i'm hoping that people are abiding by the curfew which as you said, the worst avigan is behind you. people start to come out and they say that's the worst thing you can do obviously, especially at night, especially

when they're downed power lines and there are other dangers, quite frankly, critters here in the state of florida that you can see, snakes and alligators and such that have been driven from their homes. that's serious stuff. and debris, let's not forget the debris. >> absolutely. look, i'm not diminishing the danger saying that the winds have died down here a bit when the sun comes up tomorrow people have to be very careful when it comes to venturing out to check property and proof of life and those sorts of things, because yes, downed power lines standing water, these are all hazards in some places the water was so intense from below that it would pop a manhole cover, you don't want to drive into that hole. there's all kinds of hazards. so caution is the watch word tomorrow. i'm really worried about communities like naples where the flooding we've already seen, is just going to be catastrophic for folks. your heart breaks when you realize that just as the storm

passes it's just the beginning of their sort of personal nightmare. as they wrestle with this, the scope of this so many lives will be affected by this. and i just watched this great documentary about the katrina degeneration, the kids who live through that storm in new orleans. and it affected them for the rest of their lives. you gotta wonder if it'll be an in generation, we don't know yet. we don't know the full extent but a lot of it will depend on response, frankly. and you know, quick disasters i found pull communities together. when we all go through something like this dramatic it's hashtag we will rebuild, hashtag we are strong. but as it drags out over months and years where communities are trying to heal in running into red tape or for whatever reasons, that's when things begin to pull apart. so, you know, the next few days, few weeks will be vital in just terms of how much damage the storm does to people long term, don. >> i remember in katrina there

are cities along the east coast that people moved to my hometown of baton rouge, the infrastructure could not support them who moved out of new orleans. so you do have the generation of those coming up after the storms who are displaced from their homes. standby, bill, i want to get to derek van damme. derek, i understand that you're seeing some issues right now. i gotta tell you guys, your meteorologist, tom your medulla just as well, this rain is really coming down. i have not really experienced this much rainfall i would say, so consistently from a hurricane that i can remember. derek, take it away. >> yeah, you know, you're talking i heard tom say something about 12 to 19 inches of rain being reported, up to 20 inches in some instances. that is 2 to 3 months worth of rain for the central portions of florida. that is just incredible, copious amounts of moisture.

and it's not done yet. guess what, don, it's headed your way, you know that right? we are on our number 12 of, at the minimum, tropical storm force winds. we have had a solid six hours today in bridington where i'm located, of hurricane-force winds, and that caused power outages, were part of the 2 million customers or so in florida that are without power. they are plunged into darkness tonight, they have to ride out the storm. and in tomorrow, at first light, seeing the devastation that hurricane ian left behind, just incredible. the national hurricane center acting director talk to our colleague, anderson cooper, early this evening, saying that storm surge rose five feet in a matter of minutes. this storm is literally rewriting the history books here. we saw debris getting lifted into the air with some of these hurricane-force gusts here in bridington, just -- lighting up as they sparked and plunged into darkness as well here. this is a dangerous storm as we know, but the threats do not

stop at the coast. it is a slow march inland across the interior. and one thing that i feel like we've missed, that is so important, gone. is that the potential of this storm to reemerge into the atlantic is there. remember, we've already have a supply chain issue across the united states. think about what happens when they deploy resources to florida and then we have another hurricane strike in south carolina or georgia. it's on the table. >> yeah, it is. have you noticed anything? hang on one second. sorry. i wanna get to brian todd, there comes a point where there's so much rain that the rain gear doesn't matter. because i'm getting soaked, even through all the rain gear that i'm wearing. my boots are becoming filled with water. brian todd, you've been able to assess the damage in the region where you are. tell us what you're seeing and you're experiencing right now.

? we >> well, don, i heard you guys talking about the dangers of venturing back to property that's been damaged. this is a place where the damage is really acute tonight. this is the property in largo, florida. we talk to the owner's short time ago. his family has had this house for 50 years, he just inherited the property. he returned to it to try and start renovations on it, and this is what happened today. our photojournalist took us in there well we just look at some of the incredible damage, this was the result of a fire today at the height of the storm. we were told by a neighbor who filmed it and gave us some video of the fire when it's at its height, that the fire started when a power lines snapped right off of a transformer across the street and then look at this damage. throughout this house. and we talked about dangers, downed power lines, debris all over the place, broken glass, protruding objects like metal and wood. all over this place. it's not safe to go into this place, the owner said it's fully insured, he's probably gonna try to recover some of this. and what's interesting is, when

we pulled up to this property to get a tip at about this fire, we pulled up to this property, and it looked almost intact from the front. maybe a blown out window, but then i looked around to the side here, and we saw this, it's just incredible to look at. and then we saw the neighbor shot and sent to us, it was really just a devastating fire. again, people don't associate fire necessarily with hurricanes, but this is how it starts. it does this all the time. we've also ventured to another neighborhood in largo manufactured homes and we saw at least two of them where the roofs were completely ripped off. so this is just the kind of the initial damage assessment we found out when this storm was at its height this afternoon, to try and assess some of the damage, we sauce a lot of the storm surge in st. petersburg, and elsewhere around that area. and then fanned out to assess damage. this is just the beginning of some of the damage that's going to be assessed in this area throughout southwestern florida. >> and it's not over yet, brian todd.

wait till the sun comes up in the morning and they start to see crews are able to go out an emergency officials out there. standby, i want to go to tom. tom this had been downgraded to category one, that doesn't mean the danger is over? >> oh no, not at all. in fact, the entire peninsula of florida right now is experiencing tropical storm force winds. and with that, the brain that comes with it. in fact, it's going to continue to be a hurricane up near orlando where you are. and maybe just kind of fall off and that hurricane status in tropical storm as it exits the other end of the state. you know, i wanna show you don, when we're talking about areas, of course, that we're talking about the surge this is a map that we were talking about earlier to give you an indication, here is cape coral. you can see fort myers here. the surge map projected in blue you can just see how many miles the system went inland. we don't know the exact total sometimes, in some areas, we only have so many gauges. but we can see from some of these models here, exactly what is projecting for us. you can actually see the grids of the roadways in the

communities here, fort myers beach, fort myers. you can see houses really inundated with 6 to 9 feet that we believe. this is something we're gonna continue to watch. but we've got hurricane winds that will stretch all across from areas of the midsection southwest off to the northeast. and then it gets to the north, you're still looking at tropical storm winds and we're gonna have a surge of 3 to 5 feet up in georgia and parts of south carolina. so, this is a multi day event, but at least the day the rain is coming to a an end in fortt myers and those skskies will be clearing shortly. >> but not here. it's just really quite unbelievable. thank you, tom. thank you tom, thank you ted, thank you bill we are, i will check in with you guys later on cnn. we're gonna eck in with an official a former official from the emergency management and also from the weather center, in a couple moments right here on cnn. don't go anywhere.

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we're back now live in florida. we're gonna go straight away to greg few gate, he is a former fema administrator. craig, thank you so much for joining us, you've been watching the coverage. junior also in florida as i understand, experiencing this as well. it is now downgraded in, to a category one. how do even begin to assess the damage? >> well, again, when light comes up they're gonna go to the areas that got the worst flooding from the storm surge. and we'll start working from their. they got teams that are already moving out tonight by first light the start to getting the drones up, get the aircraft out,

people be on the ground. and that will start giving us a sense of what's been devastated. but we still get a storm going through the state, we're gonna have more power outages, more trees down, and we've got more potential as you are right now seeing, extremely heavy rainfall, and that is forecasted to produced potentially life-threatening flooding across central floating in the north parts. this storm is not over. the wind is coming down. the rain threat has not decreased. >> yeah, the ground is saturated, right. i understand this is a rainy season. we're gonna see trays that are down and obviously, the wind pushing down. but it's also because the ground is so saturated. >> yeah, i mean this is gonna cause a lot of power outages. the big limbs on these trees, these trees coming down, they're going to hit things and what they're gonna hit a lot of our gonna be power lines. we're gonna see the power line issues or more power going out

as it goes across the street. we're not gonna see probably structural damage we saw closer to the coast. but we're gonna see some light damage there with the big thing is, trees coming down, power's going down. and the heavy, heavy rain a lot of risk of flooding. >> what do you need to do, what you're gonna do to restore services? you're gonna have emergency services, medical services, power, obviously, cable internet, that sort of thing? >> well, you're gonna focus, again, search and rescue on the hard-hit areas, and then the big thing as you've seen, utility trucks coming from all over the nation. do start putting lines back up. and a lot of these areas that are not done -- with the high winds are, once you get power back, up a lot of the other services come back online. so, that's going to be a key factor, is how much can you get power back on quickly over the next couple of days, depaul the areas it's gonna take longer.

and once you get the areas of heavy devastation, you're really focused out there is just getting roads open internet search and rescue. and then starting to get those critical infrastructures back online. >> basic housing, so many people are gonna be out of their houses for quite some time. >> well, again, that's something that at fema we are prepared to support the state, what fema will do is provide people with temporary renters assistance, get hotels and motels across the state to get people into. >> all right, we lost craig few gate, under skin assorted tell you what's happening here because i can't really see the pictures of what's up on the screen right now. i'm flying blind here. but listen, this rain is not stopped. in the winds are coming where i am. i just have to show you, i've been standing here just for a couple minutes and i want to show you just is from the heart of my jacket. check this out, let me do this,

go with me. this is from. i did this in the commercial break. just so you can see how much rain is coming down here. in the commercial break, these are rain pants. and still, at some point, the rain gear doesn't really matter. because the rain is coming down. i don't want to show you just how much that is. imagine, you know, just from standing here out of the commercial break, imagine how much rain is pulling all over the area. but as quick few gates said, this is going to be an event, mainly of water. right, and of rain. and also a wind event. when you tie the two together, especially when it's a rainy seasason, they end the rainy seseason and you have grounds that are satururated. you have the trees that are going to be toppling over, the big limbs and also falling on electrical lines and power lines.

up to 2 million without power here, it is gointo get worse. i know it is been dograded to a category one, but that does not mean that the danger is over. we're gonna continue our live coverage of hurricane ian, that's making its way up the florida peninsula, right after this very quick break. this very quick break. peaceful state. full plate. wait, are you my blind date? dancing crew. trip for two. nail the final interview. buy or lease? masterpiece. inside joke. artichoke. game with doug. brand new mug. come here, kid. gimme a hug. the more you want to do, the more we want to do. boosters designed for covid-19 variants are now available. brought to you by pfizer & biontech.

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okay, so, here we go we're back now and we're understand now that we are under a tornado watch until 1 am. 1 am where i am. i want to get now to another official, rob parents with the hillsborough county fire and

rescue. rob, we appreciate you joining us. we understand that you can talk to us about some of the damage happening in tampa, what do you know? >> yes, sir, we have already encountered roof fire rescue response delays from trees down, a lot of trees taking out power lines. power outages, some transformers, fires that were brief. and just roads that were difficult for units to pass right now. we are still responding to calls. it's just been challenging. >> yeah, i understand that the 18 foot storm surge, what kind of problem does that pose for you? >> 18 foot storm surge, i don't know if we experience that here in tampa, we do have a significant rain event. you know, and that's what we're guarding against now. we're urging our citizens to please stay home, shelter in place, there's no reason to be on the roads right now. we're still several hours away

from this being something that our citizens can be out -- we have to wait here the all clear to from local government. >> as i understand there's about 200,000 people without power, what do you know about that? >> you know, i can speak to what fire and rescue have seen locally. we've run around of power lines down. you know, i know our local emergency our local electric companies are prepared to respond to electrical problems when it's safe to do so. and i think they're standing by. we have a lot of fire knock you standing by as well to do a rapid needs assessment after the storm has passed. we have 11 teams around hillsborough county ready to go to do what's called a wind shield assessment, where they just drive and assess where the

damages are, so we can send technical search and rescue teams there to effect rescue as necessary. >> i know that here in orange county where i am, i saw fire in rescue crews just going around before it hit here. checking on people, trying to get them to leave when it was proper for them to leave. now, it's obviously hunkered down. trying to get leave check on them. did you do a similar sort of operation before it came through in hillsboro county? >> we didn't in hillsboro county. we did a full call back of our firefighters yesterday and law enforcement may have done that, but really hours was just messaging. get out the message through the media to get those folks that are in those evacuation zones to evacuate and get to safer locations inland or to one of our 45 shelters that we have open have open.

tampa's mayor is warning that the worst is yet to come, do you agree with the mayor? what are you concerned about? >> you know, the big challenge right now, we don't know we don't know. as was said before, sign up, we're gonna be able to see what's coming. we do have a lot of rain still in the forecast, this storm has just camped out. it's kind of like it hit the state and stopped, and it was moving slowly anyway. but it really slowed down and it's a significant rain event, dropping rain on an area that was already saturated. so, a lot of flooding, we're still paying a bit attention to river cresting and what that's gonna do and how that might affect flooding as well. >> what's your advice now for people in hillsboro county? >> right now, stay home. there's no reason to be on the roads. pay attention to trusted news sources. and your local government, and please don't go out until you received that all clear. there's a lot of trees down, there's a lot of electrical

lines down, don't approach any electrical lines, you don't know if they're powered or not. electricity and water, not a good combination. so stay away of all from all of that, until you hear from local officials. then >> rob we thank you for those, we really appreciate you joining us trying to get the latest information here on m my phone, can't get it to pop up but i do understand that we're dealing with the threat possible threaeat of a tornado where i am. so, we're gonna check in with tom seder in the cnn severe weather center in just moments to figure out what's going on here. listen, this is been downgraded that's what they've been telling me to catego one hurricane, that does not mean the danger is over here. rain and wind here.elted by and this hurricane is still making its way up the florida peninsula, it is not done with the state of florida yet. don't go anywhere.

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i tell you what, adding insult to injury would be a tornado on top of a hurricane. i want to get to tom seder in the cnn weather center. tom, where i am in orlando now there's a tornado watch. there's been tornado watches and warnings over the state of florida. explain to us what's going on. it would be insult to injury at this point? >> well, it's not unexpected when you have a tropical landfall. we had about eight tornadoes last night and significant

damage from broward county. prebook prions and of course the airplanes in the airplane hangars. wait a few more today, don, yours is just our watch right now. until 1 am. it does include the orlando area. most of that tornado activity is in the -- that's been moving through the bahamas and its well offshore. but to give you an idea, don, what we've been dealing with, we knew this system was around off the coast of south america. since last wednesday. and we've been watching the system as it kind of pulls through the area, obviously, making landfall at a category four. when you look at the system right now in what's left of it, it will be lifting up quickly. but still, there's still some heavy rainfall to move through your region, up areas to the northeast. the entire coastline of georgia and south carolina in north carolina's gonna get into this. but already clearing is beginning on the southeastern coast, southwestern coastline. we still have heavier amounts of rain for you and points up to the north and northeast. this is what i was talking

about, since last wednesday, we didn't have one named storm for the entire month of august. that hadn't happened in 25 years. and then it really started to blow up. september 10th was around the peak of the season, so we're past the peak, but this is when the activity picks up. all of cuba lost power, and most of them are still without power. making landfall, we're now at a category one. look at the bright yellow, these are tropical storm force winds for the entire peninsula, we lose the hurricane-force winds tonight, into tomorrow morning, but then we'll find this. also producing a 3 to 5 with surge parts of georgia. so again, the eye is breaking down all of the rainfall is just to the north of it. and again, it's going to continue to rain, already a good up to 20 inches in some spots. could see another eight in some areas. comparing in to charlie, we've been doing this for a while. the tracks are pretty close. not at the onset, but making their landfall really close to each other. both had winds of 150 miles per hour, they could revise eons

today, pressure both about the same. when we look at the size, however, you can take the core with such a small storm, you could take the corner from charlie and put it into the eye of in, that was so massive. don, i will leave you with this because i know last night, you are on the air. you are talking about climate change and the storms. again, the differences we're seeing with the acting director jamie rhome last night from the national hurricane center. he entered it correctly, not one storm can be really be tossed into the equation. and there will be a time to talk about climate change. but let me leave you with this tonight. because i know it sparks an interest in you in so many others. and this is not my statistic. this comes from professor philippe clocks back, he's a doctor, a professor at colorado state university. since 1950, there have been seven landfall hurricanes in florida that were a category four or five. seven of them.

the first four were each in a different decade. the last three all of them in the last five years. coincidence. could be. could be not. they'll be a time to talk about that in the near future. right now, we still have heavy rain, tornado watch, and downed trees and power lines. and some other things it'll be happening of course in the next 24 hours. >> well, listen, i'll just say that the science shows where the science shows, it's undeniable. what is happening. listen, let's talk about the storm surge, really, what i was trying to explain is just a phenomenon of the intensifying storms over the years and what it is, not trying to say that it's one particular storm could gauge something. but listen, you get an idea, you've been doing this for a while you've been covering these since i've been in the business for 20 years, i've lived in the gulf coast. you see the intensity of the storms increasing. and that's the science definitely shows that. i want to ask you about the

storm surge, because the mayor here is saying we could get up to two feet of rain on a very short amount of time. we got the storm surge that happens close to the coast, we saw what happened to tampa bay, sucking the water right out of tampa bay. and then you had that inland flooding, as we get this barrage of rain on top of me right now. the storm is about inland flooding here. i would say a bigger water event, i'm not a meteorologist, obviously, that it is a wind event. there's certainly a complication. but way more water. so talk to us about the surge in the inland flooding, please. >> the surge that was expected in tampa bay didn't turn out. in fact, the heavy rainfall we are expecting in the tampa st. pete area really didn't turn out as well. they really dodged a big bullet, yes, last night we talked about what the pictures would look like when the return flow pushed all the water out of the bay, and of course, we show the video all day long. but then after the threat from the surge went down to the south, they were breathing a sigh of relief.

of course, every community along the coastline as the path of the track was changing, every community wanted that center, that storm to be south of them. and that was the reason why. unfortunately, you know, the relief of some communities is just, you know, dire straits and heartbreak. for areas of others. we don't know the official highest surge just yet, they're gonna give us that information, i, believe probably in the next 24 hours. it could take even longer than that. we do know the gauge in naples registered up to seven feet and then broke or broke off. we don't know. it didn't measure anymore. we may never know that hype. but they will assess that, and they'll be able to tell however, venice was in that northern eye for quite some time. and almost there when damage is gonna be inside of the surge. south of that we get into our charlotte harbour. and that's where it got pretty bad, two to gorda, but really down toward parts of fort myers,

fort myers beach, and down in naples. that's the area i think that the aerial pictures are gonna tell us more, tomorrow. we could see images look much like mexico beach when michael moved in. i don't think, i mean i don't know i'm just guessing right now, i don't know how many homes are gonna be off slabs, probably not a great number like in mexico beach. but it's going to be more about the surge in this area. so, again, michael, when it first made landfall, registered a category four, they changed it much later after the assessment to a category five. i don't know if they're gonna do that within. but it is something to watch. the other event as all of this rain to the north. now, you take the landfall out of the equation, this is an incredible weather event by itself. i mean, it's already in the ground is saturated, for the last two weeks it had doubled the amount of rainfall, many river gauges around many of the rivers have been at flood stage before even even moved in.

so, that's the inland flooding problem, even at the peace river when it comes off charlotte harbor. many miles inland, we already saw before in was long before here that they were at flood stage already. and that surge, moving in, that rain on top, it that's not allowing that water to flow back out into the harbor and back into the gulf. we are in darkness right now, a lot of people evacuated there either inside, and again, emergency services and rescue personnel, which have been busy, are gonna be maybe busier now in the northern half of florida, and areas where you are and off toward the northeast. yeah, and then you get the pole in the -- drains that are clogged and you get the flooding, even a street floodingng in residential areas as well. tom sater, thank you very much, appreciate it. listen, lots of folks, where this is when the vacation capitals of the. world because you've got all sorts of theme parks here, universal, right, and disney.

also you've got major airports. people are stuck. lots of flights have been canceled. we are goi to talk to a family who is sheltering, hunkering down in disney. and they could not get home. so, they are stuck here. we'll talk to them right after this break. risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. and you may lose weight. adults lost up to 14 pounds. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. gallbladder problems may occur. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. join the millions already taking ozempic®.

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one of the vacation cabins for families in the world, obviously orlando, disney, correct? i want to get to kelly zimmerman and ashtyn garrett. they came here to vacation, take their kids to disney, and they ended up in a hurricane. hello, i'm glad you're doing okay. i understand your hunkering down. my question to you is, first, of all how are you doing?

and secondly, why did you come if he knew there is a hurricane on the way? ? >> well, we're doing good, and the reason we're here is because of this. one she wanted my three year old and two year old to go to mickey's halloween party on sunday. and our flight was mostly on thursday. but we have to move it wednesday. and as we watched, we moved it yesterday, tuesday. so we make sure we got in so that we could make it sunday's halloween party. >> yeah, so, what have you guys been doing? i mean, you don't get to experience much disney, did you? >> no, unfortunately, but we knew that. and that's why we plan to get here -- and hopefully make it to the hotel. and so, she's amazing brought everything together, so we're able to get out early. the airport was going to be closing. and we were told we have to

children, place we thought we'd have to stay in a hotel. and so thankfully -- >> we have been able to go swimming in the pool earlier today. we got here out sort in the lobby just, dancing, doing games for children so it hasn't really been that bad. it's actually good. it's almost a normal day here for the most part. the restaurants are open all day yesterday. -- in the, but nothing too crazy. >> okay, so, are you glad you came? >> absolutely. [laughs] >> ask me another day. >> [laughs] yeah, so i understand you guys are from colorado, correct? >> yes. >> so, you have not experienced weather like this before, a hurricane? >> no. [laughs] it's our first time. >> no. so, we're in a hotel, and

people came here, especially from the tampa area thinking that escape the bulk of it. you came here because you wanted to see disney. and i would imagine, hoping that you would -- that the hurricane would not come through. or at least, to orlando. but it did. so, what's it like at the hotel where you are? are people out and about? you said you are able to get in the pool earlier, there are some characters, what have you. take us behind the scenes, what's happening? >> so, when we got to the hotel, there is most definitely a long line to check in. a lot more than normal. and there was a lot of frantic because they did say at 3:00 there is probably gonna be a shelter in place. so, at that time, we don't know if they were going to close. there was a huge line for the dining room. they're having meal packets ready just in case. they were already open the next day, so they're just was a ton of people trying to get a bunch of food as they could to store for the family in case they could not leave the hotel rooms. but thankfully, that didn't get

to happen until, i mean, at 8:30 everything is still running smoothly. [inaudible] again, they're trying to make the best of a [inaudible] , trying to make sure the kids are [inaudible] , coloring, crass, and dance parties. try to make the best out of not being able to go anywhere. >> how much longer are you guys hear? are you going to get out as soon as the airports open up? because the airport in orlando closed today, tampa airport closed yesterday. are you guys going to leave right away, or are you planning to stay longer? >> well, we were planning to be here from thursday to tuesday. so, we're still planning to leave tuesday. we just need to send in our state knowing that will probably get stuck here. >> [laughs] all right, ashley and karen, hey, listen, you're adventurous, i have to say that. so, you guys be safe.

we appreciate you joining us, okay? >> thank you. >> all right, all right, hey, listen, at least our adventures. i have to say, even though ian has been downgraded to a category 1, we cannot stress enough, the danger is not over. stay at home. even when the sun comes up tomorrow, you u should try and stay in until emerergency crews tetell you it's safe to go out. so it down power lines, we still have debris and other things that are out that that can be very harmful and very dangerous. the storm is not over yet. so, pay attention to your local forecast. officials.on to the emergency and make sure you contue to watch cnn. we're going to continue to update you on the weather here. that's it for my portion. i'm going to see you again tomorrow morning. but, i just want to tell you, my friend and colleague john vause is gonna pick up our coverage live just after this break. we will see you later. be safe.

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