-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com stay with cnn for the latest updates on hurricane ian. the news continues, so let's hand it over to laura coates and "cnn tonight." laura? >> john, thank you. it's so good to see you. please stay safe and keep us informed, as you're doing so well, please. i am laura coates, and this is

"cnn tonight." listen, one of the most catastrophic storms in florida's history, possibly the deadliest, regained strength to become a category 1 hurricane tonight. south carolina is now bracing for ian's wrath sometime happening tomorrow. and the very latest on its track in just a moment. we have yet to learn the full scope of the destruction caused by hurricane ian in florida. but what has certainly come into focus today truly is hard to find words for. at least 17 people have died so far, and that is linked to hurricane ian. president biden warns there could be substantial loss of life, perhaps more killed by a storm in florida than ever before. but it's really too soon to know more. and also too soon to say that the danger has now passed. i mean, there is debris everywhere. there's water everywhere. power lines are down. trees have been shredded. boats thrown on top of one another. countless homes destroyed,

entire buildings washed away. fort myers beach took the brunt of ian as wrath as it came ashore. look at this before and after showing the main drag there. it's now largely covered in sand. a popular restaurant called the whale badly damaged with surrounding homes and businesses completely wiped it o. john john berman got a first hand look at the devastation from above with the sheriff of lee county, which includes fort myers. >> all that debris littered everywhere. >> these were buildings? this was a building right there? >> there were buildings, restaurants, and what used to be the fort myers pier. >> what used to be the fort myers pier. i mean, entire sections of the causeway connecting sanibel island to the mainland are now destroyed, which cuts off all vehicle access. our bill weir was able to make his way to sanibel earlier

today, and he'll describe what he saw when we go to him live in just a moment. all bridges to neighboring pine island, they've also failed. emergency responders are facing so many great challenges to rescue those who are still trapped. i mean, more than 700 confirmed rescues just so far in the state. but many more are likely. you can see what appears to be military members who are pushing one of their humvees submerged in flood waters just south of tampa. and florida's governor is saying that it's going to take years -- ye years -- of effort to rebuild and come back. right now it's all about rescues and relief. we're going to have full coverage with the latest on the ground and in the sky over the atlantic. tom sater is in the cnn weather center tracking where ian is and where it's headed next. brian todd is in naples florida. first, i want to bring in our chief climate correspondent, bill weir, who is right now in fort myers. and he just got there after seeing some of the hardest-hit

and most cut-off areas today. bill, it's good to see you. we need you on the ground. just minutes ago, you got back from north captiva island. tell me, what did you see there? >> reporter: well, laura, it was really interesting. we went right to the -- sort of the bulls eye of the storm and the barrier islands around that, including sanibel island in north captiva, as you mentioned there. but the most striking damage was in a place that we're looking at here, which is st. james city on pine island. and what struck me about this trip out there on sanibel, you know about the bridge being blown down. but a lot of the houses there looked pretty good. they escaped pretty unscathed because of the quality of the construction. this is a high-end neighborhood for lack of a better term. same on north captiva. there's no cars. it's sort of a golf cart community. the working class folks live in

prefabricated housing or mobile homes were so vulnerable, especially to a category 4 like this, laura. and the destruction there at st. james is breathtaking. you just -- it's -- you can -- these are human lives sort of spread out all over the ground. and if you forget that, you think, this place just has to be bulldozed. what can be salvaged here? but then you have to be reminded, these are people's lives. and some people did not want to leave the storm, and they certainly don't want to leave now even though the destruction around them is unlivable, frankly. >> did you see people when you were out there in the devastation that needed to be rescued? obviously you were on this location. you were able to get there. what were you seeing of people who were either unable to leave for whatever reason or desperately needed help? was there a way to get people rescued? those efforts are underway in other places. >> reporter: yeah, there are. there's both the coast guard, which we saw using helicopters to come in and air lift people

out. i know they had a couple dozen this morning. i don't know the total for the day. but we were with a bunch of volunteers, guys from the cajun navy, project dynamo, and some others that we're going to meet one of these members in just a second. these are guys here on their own dime, on their own time, just to try to save americans. and we saw this, the cajun navy -- i rode with guys back in hurricane katrina, and we informally called them that. they became an official non-profit in recent years. it was so inspiring to see people who wanted to rush into the teeth of this and save as many people as we could. the haunting thing, one of the quotes from one of the guys today from project dynamo, he is an amazing figure who spent the last few years just trying to rescue americans both from afghanistan and ukraine. he's on vacation here because he's a floridian, and he's out there. and this is a guy who worked in military operations, in intelligence. and he said, i just believe there are hundreds of bodies out

there we just haven't found yet. so, it's not just not only looking for proof life, it's trying to figure out the true devastation as well. the people we did see, we rescued one couple that their children had been worried about them, called them, they were so grateful to get out of st. james city. folks on sanibel, in one case, the husband was ready to go, the wife wasn't ready to go yet. on another island, there were about 30 people on north captiva who rode it out and everyone's accounted for and they don't want to be rescued. it's really a tale of two storms based on how your structure held up, your shelter held up. but bottom line, no matter where you live, there's no water. there's no electricity. there's no cell service. so, life is going to be very primitive regardless of the zip code or the wealth of that particular neighborhood. it's going to be brutal for a long time, laura. >> bill, i'm glad that you speak about this because i think one of the things that's not being

talked about enough and the devastation in those areas, as you talk about, really is unbelievable. and the tale of two different areas, zip codes and beyond, just the idea of what economic inequality can do in terms of being able to weather a storm and the recovery in an effort to try to rebuild in some way, how your home could withstand the wind, everything else. there's just so much around this topic. and we have to keep focusing on these stories because the natural disasters will continue to occur. i know from your reporting, you're a climate expert as well. but some of the issues that exacerbate it are man-made problems as well, in terms of the inequities we have. so, we'll have to keep focusing on these stories. bill, stick around, because you talked about going to sanibel island. there was a member of the cajun navy and an incident commander named jake carter. and he's actually with you at your location right now. i want to bring him into this conversation, because as you talk about the importance -- jay, please come on in.

i'm so glad that you're here. i'm so glad to think about the work that you're doing. i just have to know, while we're talking, we're seeing all these images that are just devastating to think about. can you just help people understand what motivates you to go in and the so-called cajun navy and how invaluable it really is. is there an alternative? is there other help coming? or is that what motivates you to be there now? >> honestly, i just know there's a need. i mean, that's really the most basic answer possible. but i hope one day if my kid ever needs something, there's somebody like me, somebody like you that's willing to come get them. and that's really the bigger picture for me is just being willing to help my neighbor, man, help out a friend. that's what it's all about. people's lives are in danger. without people like us, without people like aerial recovery group and pccr, this doesn't happen. i mean, so these guys are

willing to come out and give their time and put themselves at risk. i'm very helpful for them as well. >> go ahead, bill. >> i should mention laura, all these guys have -- i just want to say jay's a firefighter, a veteran firefighter for years. these are guys that have the hearts of first responders. >> thanks, sir. >> a lot of ex-military and just a sense of service, which really impressed me. >> yes, sir. >> thank you for saying that. that is so true. speaking of that, jay, you sent us a still image of your team rescuing an elderly gentleman. can you just tell us about that moment? the audience is seeing it. tell me about what happened. >> oh, in this particular incident here? >> yeah. >> i'm so sorry. >> we're watching -- >> i can't see it from my distance. yes, ma'am. i was not on that particular

incident. that was some of my team members there. we worked through the night from the time the storm started moving just off of the coast. we actually snuck around the west coast side, and our team split up in different groups so that we could reach more people. and this was actually some of aerial guys here out doing this rescue. >> can you tell me what it was like some of the rescues you did do. i know there was a couple from pine island, others as well. i think we're trying to get a sense of what it's been like. what were the struggles to try to get people to safety? is the waters -- were they exceedingly high? were the winds -- what conditions did you actually go out in to give us a sense of what people are up against now to execute these rescues? >> yes, ma'am. well, the water was the biggest issue. that was the biggest issue everywhere that i saw. we had -- for the family that we saved, the elderly gentleman that was an amputee and his wife, they were struggling. they gave a call to their

daughter. she had gotten the call about 12 hours prior to talking to us. and the water was rising. they were panicking, thought they were going to die, had no way to get out, had no way to go. and the phone cut off. and they had no idea if she was alive or not. so, she panicked. she called as many people as she could. she got no answers. nobody would go out. the water was rough. it was really hard to get out in that channel. you remember how rough it was. so, she gave a call out to us, to cajun navy, to aerial pccr, to dynamo, and we grouped together. we formed a team, and we went out and got to them, were able to call her on the phone. and she got a family member to meet us back at the marina and pick up the family. >> we were dropping them off and we're going to go back out and try to go to sanibel at this point, and he insisted we've got to take care of this couple,

which just shows you completing the job there as well. but again, i'm interested -- let me jump in with a question here, laura. forgive me for that. what you didn't see with us on sanibel was one partner wanted to leave and the other did not. and it seemed like there was a bit of shock going on. do you see that a lot, the effects of the storm, where people don't know what to make of their surroundings and how desperate they probably need to get out of those places? >> yes, sir. i mean, to be honest with you, this is their home. this is everything that they built. this is everything that they love and everything that they know. so, it's really hard for them to just walk away from that, even when it's destroyed, even when it's devastating. their feelings are hurt. they just want to give up. but they don't want to leave their home. and i can understand that. you know, we have things at home that just can't be replaced. >> especially when you're at your most vulnerable, right? >> that's right. absolutely, absolutely. >> laura, what he said to me as we were walking out to the

boats. for me, it's a thursday. for them, it's the worst day of their lives. >> yes, sir. >> when you walk into that with that amount of empathy, it goes so far for folks that need that help. >> it's so true. and i think sometimes people miss a way -- people tend to have a tendency to judge the decisions to leave or not. they tend to say, if i were them, this is what i would do. we put ourselves in that position knowing full well, just look around what you're seeing. it is impossible for someone to be from where i'm sitting or across this country and know what that is like in that moment, that decision to make and how unbelievably hard it is. and i'm noticing around you, i mean, you're working against not only the natural elements. now it's in darkness. now it's in darkness. no power, not even the benefit of daylight to see the destruction or perform the different services. where are you headed next, bill, because right now you have been hopping around and seeing different areas? and of course this has impacted so many different parts of

florida. where are you both headed next? >> well, i'm just going to wake up and see where the day takes us, you know? that's kind of how we roll. i don't know. we've been in this little bubble on the day all day. i don't know what's happening in the rest of florida right now. i'm eager to catch up on other communities and what they're going through. i'm obviously interested in chasing human stories like these and reminding people that we're all in this together at these moments. >> yes, sir. >> so, i don't know about you guys. you guys were talking about running missions tonight in the dark. >> yes, sir. >> which would be superhazardous, given there's no pilot lights in the channels that guide boats out in this really shallow gulf. >> yes, sir. >> it's really treacherous, all this stuff floating out there. are you going to go out tonight? >> we're actually talking about that. we've been up since 4:00 on wednesday morning. we ran rescue missions all night last night. the whole team's tired. >> yeah. >> but we want to push through. we want to help everybody that we can help.

so, for every minute that we rest, there's missions that's not going on. there's somebody that's suffering. and that's just the way we look at it. you know, we want to be out there as much as we can for them. >> that's unbelievable. what a -- what a spirit and the heart. did you say -- how do people reach you? you mentioned they were trying to call other people? how does one find or reach out to be able to get the help from you? is there a number they're contacting? is it word of mouth? are you hearing about it? how do people try to get your help? >> well, to be honest with you, it's kind of a mix of things, and that's how we want it. we want them to be able to reach out to us in any way possible. if we get the call from the incident commander -- and i get phone calls all day long from people. our crew that's working remotely gets phone calls all day long from people. you can also go to gocajunnavy.org. the menu page there, you can ask for help, you can donate, and

you can volunteer your time. there's multiple ways they can reach out. and the community, the community is amazing. what's really special to me is when we save someone, their entire family tells everyone else, the cajun navy, aerial recovery, pccr, they came and they helped us in our darkest moment. the next thing you know, we're getting calls left and right saying, i heard you helped her family. could you do the same for us? and that's a special moment for us. >> let me throw a plug into one of your partners today. projectdynamo.org -- >> yes, sir. >> -- another non-profit which has spent the last couple years rescuing americans from ukraine, the occupied territories, and the taliban in afghanistan. incredible organization. >> right. >> brian is amazing. so, i'm putting these guys into my family's address book. if i ever go missing, i would like to know that these guys are out there looking for me.

>> jay carter, bill weir, thank you so much. thank you. it is so heartening to see the spirit that this has done. please keep us posted on what's happening and please statay saf. there is much more to comeme tonight on ian's aftermath. but first to where it's headed next. over the atlantic now and it's gaining strength again. right back with a live update from the cnn weather center next. as someone living with type 2 diabetes, i want to keep it real and talk about some risks. with type 2 diabetes you have up to 4 times greater risk of stroke, heart attack, oreath. even at your1c goal, you're still at risk ...wch if ignored could bring you here... ...may put you in one of those... ...or even worse. too much? that's the point. get real about your risks and do something about it. talk to your health care provider about ways to lower your risk of stroke, heart attack, or death.

learn more at getrealaboutdiabetes.com why hide your skin if dupixent has your moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis under control? hide my skin? not me. because dupixent targets a root cause of eczema, it helps heal your skin from within, keeping you one step ahead of it. hide my skin? not me. and for kids ages 6 months and up that means clearer skin, and noticeably less itch. with dupixent, you can change how their skin looks and feels. and that's the kind of change you notice. hide my skin? not me. serious allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems such as eye pain or vision changes, including blurred vision, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines without talking to your doctor. when you help heal your skin from within, you can show more with less eczema.

talk to your child's eczema specialist about dupixent, a breakthrough eczema treatment. ♪ my relationship with my credit cards wasn't good. i got into debt in college and, no matter how much i paid, it followed me everywhere. between the high interest, the fees... i felt trapped. debt, debt, debt. so i broke up with my credit card debt and consolidated it into a low-rate personal loan from sofi. i finally feel like a grown-up. break up with bad credit card debt. get a personal loan with no fees, low fixed rates, and borrow up to $100k. go to sofi.com to view your rate. sofi. get your money right. ♪

>> tech: when you have auto glass damage, let safelite come to you. ♪ pop rock music ♪ >> tech: my customer enjoys time with her family. so when her windshield got a crack... she scheduled with safelite in just a few clicks. we came to her house... ...replaced the windshield... and installed new wipers. that's service on her time. >> grandkid: here you go! >> tech: wow, thank you! >> customer and grandkids: bye! >> tech: bye! don't wait, schedule now. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ [ sleep app ] and the end. you have now reached the end of the sleep app. you're the first person to actually do that. now i want to say congratulations, but it's also disappointing. what do you mean? that's it? i've got nothing left. hey if i were you, i'd try warm milk. enough out of you! hi! oh go.. is this really helping? good days start with good nights, so you may want to talk to your doctor about both.

[ sleep app ] i'm still here. oh boy. after slamming florida in what could be one of the largest natural disasters in the entire state's history, hurricane ian is making its way up north tonight. ian has intensified into a category 1 hurricane and is taking aim at south carolina and georgia as well. charleston county has declared a state of emergency. residents are preparing for a storm that could hit as early as tomorrow morning. tom sater is live in the cnn weather center. tom, what is the latest?

it's traveling. what's happening now? >> it is. let me begin with the radar, laura, a little bit of good news if we can find it on this extremely sad day today. the rain is finally moving out of florida. you can see in areas off to the northeast. we do have a little bit of a northeast wind up here, so we still have a little bit of a surge just going on or at least continuing to keep the water up on the shoreline. but just a terrible day, where we had several hours with one in 1,000-year rain events, one the two feet almost of rainfall and all the rescues from everywhere, st. augustine up to jacksonville. let me show you where we are. the current position. this will pretty much show you everything you need to know. 215 miles south of charleston. almost everything you need to know is by looking at these watches and warnings. in red, from cape fear down

through the coastline of south carolina and you get down to near the border with georgia. that's a tornado warning. it's still a warning down in florida, but it's offstore. we have, of course, tropical storm watches. we have tomorrow warnings. look how far inland they go. this is going to shock some people. even though it's very disorganized and of course the national hurricane center is showing us that we do still have a center and it's a warm core, which means it's still a hurricane. until we can better define where that center actually is -- we know where it is but it's kind of discombobulated where the track will be. here are the winds coming into the northeast. we have a little bit of a surge here. you can start to see the rainfall here picking up coastal c area of georgia into south and north carolina. all this rainfall is on the northern flank. that's what we saw in florida. that rain is going to be moving in ahead of our rainfall. and here it is, a category 1 tomorrow afternoon, maybe

sometime between 1:00 and 3:00, puts it right near charleston, historic charleston, which floods easily with four or f 5 inches. and now we're going to be looking at pretty good winds and heavy rains. but it's just to the north of there, so maybe they miss out on some of the heavier surge but not by much. >> we've seen the damage coming out of florida. how about the storm surges? is that equally a threat in places like south carolina? we're talking about the amount of rain would be enough. the storm surges, you've told us so much about that, is that a risk there too? >> it's a big risk. it's a big deal. it's called the low country for a reason. when you have 4 to 7 feet in along coastal south carolina into charleston, it's going to push that water well inland and flood charleston. how far in will it go? we still have areas of 2 to 4 and 3 to 5 in coastal areas of

georgia. when you focus in on the coastline of south carolina, here's kiowa island. here is charleston. yellow is 3 feet, okay? you get into this area of orange, we're talking 6 feet. this is mainly marshy area. again, of course that's okay where we have some area of red, which is 9. it can absorb that. but you get into area of ashley river, you get into wanda and cooper, this goes well inland. so, i think a lot of people are going to get shocked. and if you live anywhere on these rivers, i wouldn't just sandbag. i would pack up what you can and try to get inland a little bit because we don't want to get shocked like we were down in southern florida. we knew what the forecast was for the surge, but to see the pictures, it's hard to wrap your mind around it. then you toss in a good 6, 7, 8 inches of rainfall in some areas. this is going to be a big deal in columbia and up toward the north in part of raleigh, north carolina, as well. it's not over yet. it'll make landfall as a category 1 hurricane. so, take this extremely seriously. it's sad news for areas like

charleston to see that flooding. >> of course. we'll keep on the story. we'll keep on the hurricane. we want people to be safe. tom sater, thank you so much. everyone, ahead, m many floridians did choose to stay in their homes to ride out the deadly s storm despite all the warnings. among them, our next guest, a mom with four children. why her family decided to stay put and what their last 24 hours have been like, we'll talk about next. my active psoriatic arthritis can slow me down. now, skyrizi helps me get going by treating my skin and joints. along with significantly clearer skin, skyrizi helps meove swelling, and fatigue. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year after two starter doses. skyrizi attaches to and reduces a source of excess inflammation

that can lead to skin and joint symptoms. with skyrizi, 90% clearer skin and less joint pain is possible. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. with skyrizi, there's nothing like the feeling of improving my skin and joints... ...and that means everything. now's the time to talk to your doctor about how skyrizi can help treat your psoriatic arthritis- so you can get going. learn how abbvie can help you save. i was always the competitive one in our family... 'til my sister signed up for united healthcare medicare advantage. ♪wow, uh-huh♪ now she's got a whole team to help her get the most out of her plan. ♪wow, uh-huh♪ with coverage for dental... ...vision... ...prescription drugs and more. advantage: me! can't wait 'til i turn 65! aarp medicare advantage plans, only from unitedhealthcare.

take advantage now at uhc.com/medicare

many floridians in the path of ian evacuated, but in others did not. one of the people who decided to stay is a mom of four, including a 1-year-old. she rode out the storm in her fort myers home with her family, and thankfully -- thankfully -- everyone is okay, including the dog. but look at this video she took. i mean, trees are uprooted, downed power lines. there's damage everywhere. and she joins me now. juju, thank you for being here. and it's very good to see you in the light of what we're seeing here right now. i've got to ask, what was it like to ride out this storm? >> well, you know, i've been here basically my entire life. so, i've seen a lot of hurricanes. and that's what us floridians do.

we ride it out. we stick together. and we just prepare. we are people that we are very positive, but we prepare for the worst. and we are going to build it back. >> juju, i certainly hope so. and i'm so glad to know that you and the little ones are doing okay. i wonder -- and based on what you said, for many people they saw this and thought, this is another hurricane. they've heard the reports in the past. you've weathered many in your past, you said. what was the reason you decided to stay? was it you didn't think it would be as bad as it was? was it unexpected? >> well, like i mentioned before, we prepare. this is our home. and we prepare. and that's what we did this time, just like all of the other times, just like charlie, just like irma. we're prepared. of course this time our area

took it really, really bad. fort myers beach took it really, really bad. thankfully it was just buildings. like i said, we'll build it back. >> you know, i'm looking at this and thinking about it as a mother myself, and i cannot imagine having to do this and try to go through it. you have four children. you have your dog as well. some of them are very young. when was it like being there with your children. you must have had your own fears, your own concerns. but, you know, us mothers, we have to make sure that we're not always showing that and trying to comfort our children. what was that like in your home when that happened? >> well, we were very safe. that's what we do. we boarded up. we made sure that we were safe. and we are. we made sure that we are at the elevation that if waters rise up, we are safe. and that's exactly what we did. we made sure that the elevation levels of our home are on the

level that even if we have a surge, we are safe. and it's exactly what we did. anyone can go on the west side and check their elevation levels. and the news tells you that your home is going to be on elevation with a surge that you need to evacuate, then you need to do that. so, that's exactly what we did. we checked our level, and our home was safe. and that's why we stayed. so, for everybody in zone a, i believe that most people in sanibel got evacuate. and people in zone b also got evacuated. and that's it. we were in an area that later on we were told to possibly evacuate, that maybe we would see surges in certain levels. and we made sure that our home was safe. and we were safe. we didn't see any flooding whatsoever in our home. we then -- we don't have any damage in our home. and that's what we do in

florida. we prepare. so, the areas that needed to get evacuated, they got evacuated. there were cars going around telling people to evacuate in those areas. that did not happen in our area. so, we prepare, and we made sure that we are and we are safe. >> juju, i'm so glad to know that. thank you for joining us. i hope you continue to be safe. we're looking at the devastation from the video footage. unfortunately, not everyone had the same result that you did with your home. i'm glad yours was safe and there was the information to allow you to prepare appropriately. as we're seeing all across florida and the coast and devastation, everyone out there, you can see that sometimes the preparation is nothing compared to the storm. and the wrath we're seeing continues. we're going to head down the coast. we're going to c check in on

naples and the rest of the county as well. the mayor says the impact there is devastating. let's see what he means next. ...thanks to dupixent. dupixent is t for sudden breathing problems. it's an add-on treatment for specific typ of moderate-to-severe asthma. and can help improve lung function for better breathing in as little as two weeks. dupixent helps prevent asthma attacks... and can even reduce or eliminate oral steroids. imagine that. ♪ ♪ dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. get help right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. who knows what you can do when you du more with less asthma. ask your asthma specialist about dupixent.

if you wake up thinking about the market and want to make the right moves fast... get decision tech. for insights on when to buy and sell. and proactive alerts on market events. that's decision tech. only from fidelity. when you're tired of looking at your tired old bath, we fit your style, with hundreds of design options. bath fitter. it just fits. visit bathfitter.com to book your free consultation.

in naples, florida, the historic pier is still standing. but as you watch video of the pounding it took, frankly it's a

wonder how it is even stand. a storm surge tore through marco island, and after it ripped through downtown naples, they're talking weeks if not months for recovery. at times, the water has been up to your waist it's that deep. for those that fire fighters could not reach, the only option, which was a dangerous one, was to walk through the flood waters. brian is in naples tonight. brian, how bad is the damage there that we're talking about? >> reporter: well, you just mentioned the phrase weeks if not months. that's exactly the phrase that officials here in naples told us it would take to recover from this, from the storm's hit of this city. take a look. this is what we're talking about. look at these ground floor apartments here. this is all from the force of water. this is not wind damage, this is the storage surge that came up

and just tore out the facade of these two apartments on the ground floor here. we talked to a young lady who lives on the second floor here. she said she didn't believe anybody was in these apartments when it happened. she was here, she rode it out, and she said the water levels were up to the level of the street sign up there, and it's about this high from what she told me. so this was the force of the water that came in. we're about 150-2 hundred yards from the beach. it came from an elevated beach to tear through these apartments. city officials here have said that the property damage to the city itself will range probably up to around $20 million. they believe that property damage just to personal property could extend up to $200 million, and one city official said that

is a conservative estimate. this is what you've got here, and these scenes are all throughout the city. there's several apartment f apartments that go all throughout the block that are just like these. if it was daylight, i could walk along and show you the extent of the damage here. but if anyone was in these apartments, they were in real damage. again, the lady who lives on the second floor says she believes no one was in these two. but you get a sense of not only the damage but the danger as well. >> are you seeing rescue efforts around those apartments as well? i know it's not daylight. are you seeing people going in and out to check, or is it too precarious to go out and do stuff? >> reporter: they're telling people, do not rush back to your homes. it's too dangerous, and if you get hurt, we have other priorities for rescue, and we're not going to be able to rescue

you. we have people coming in and out of these areas checking. it may not be too bad to come out of one of these places. even then, veteran first responders know even when you go into places like this, there are shards of glass all over the place, exposed wires, things like that, these are not safe places to go. >> thank you, brian. everyone, naples, as you know, is the county seed of collier county. the sheriff's office was in the air today assessing the flooding in one of the most vulnerable parts of the country. i'm joined by the collier county commissioner. thank you for joining us this evening. the hope was to finish rescue and search efforts before dark. here we are in the darkness. has everyone been accounted for? >> i can't say if everyone's been accounted for because the struggle we face here is when we

strongly suggest people to evacuate and then they don't, and they lose cell phone and internet, all types of reachable coverage. unless you're going door to door, which we did a lot today in collier county and had a lot of neighbors report, we had an elderly neighbor, they didn't evacuate, can someone go check on them, we did a lot today. i was impressed with what collier county did in the way of evacuation. a lot of people aren't here. i spent the whole day all throughout my district. the people who are here were all dragging out couches and carpet and they had four to 5 feet in their -- flooded in their homes and their apartments. what's going to happen is once mower and things like that are restored that brings a lot of the evacuees back, they're going to be horrified at what they find here in some places. this was all about catastrophic

storm surge. we've had this happen before and you lose roofs, but when that happens, you can go back into your structure. water is so devastating, just like fire and tornadoes, it's a different type of catastrophe. we have never seen storm surge of these proportions before. just when we had hurricane irma came through here, but because the storm changed a little bit in our favor, the storm surge was much less than what was initially forecasted. this time, what the meteorologists forecasted, i personally saw every inch of that storm surge and what it did to my county and district that i'm the commissioner for. >> commissioner, is there clean drinking water? is there power? >> yes. so we have full drinking water. i will tell you, that was a

pleasant surprise because during hurricane irma -- and i wasn't a commissioner at that time, so i don't know the reasons -- we had no pressure, so the water was fine, but you didn't get the pressure out of it. water, shower, everything is working perfectly. today we made a lot of progress. we had power restored in some areas of collier county. i live on marco island, it's a big piece of my district. marco island got hit very hard by storm surge. if you're familiar with marco island, we consider this a resort town, but we have people who live here full time. the entire island is still in the dark. i'm texting sporadic. i'm impressed i'm talking to you now. the rest of my community power is being restored. we have a very aggressive plan to pick up a will the of the debris. people are dragging stuff out of the street.

it's things like that that will start to restore the community a bit. the structures is going to take more than ten months. i'm here during the weeks and months, and i'm thinking that's very conservative. some of the basic necessities people need, we're trying to get those restored back. but we do have water and water pressure, so that's been a huge positive. >> commissioner, thank you for being a part of the program tonight, and keep us posted on what's happening. it's heartening to know there is at least the drinking water. we're hearing so many stories about human relations and people being able to look out for one another. i hope that will continue. we will watch for any new developments on ian, and we're going bring them to you here. also coming up, we're going to turn to vladimir putin's moves in ukraine as people scrale to leave their homeland when cnn tonight returns.

by hitting eczema where it counts, dupixent helps heal your skin from within, keeping you one step ahead of eczema. hide my skin? not me. and that means long-lasting clearer skin and fast itch relief for adults. with dupixent, you can show more skin with less eczema. hide my skin? not me. serious allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems such as eye pain or vision changes, including blurred vision, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines without talking to your doctor. when you help heal your skin from within, you can change how your skin looks and feels. and that's the kind of change you notice. talk to your eczema specialist about dupixent, a breakthrough eczema treatment. new astepro allergy. no allergy spray is faster.

with the speed of astepro, almost nothing can slow you down. because astepro starts working in 30 minutes, while other allergy sprays take hours. and astepro is the first and only 24-hour steroid free allergy spray. now without a prescription. astepro and go. president biden signed the inflation reduction act into law this afternoon. ok, so what exactly does it mean for you? out of pocket costs for drugs will be capped. for seniors, insulin will be just $35. families will save $2,400 on health care premiums. energy costs, down an average of $1,800 a year for families. and it's paid for by making the biggest corporations pay what they owe. president biden's bill doesn't fix everything, but it will save your family money. don't mind me. i'm just the flu. i'm quite harmless, really. and when people ask, “but aren't you linked to dangerous flu complications,

like pneumonia, heart attack, and hospitalizations?” i just say, “but, i'm just the flu.” it's him! who? i'm just the flu! fight the flu with sanofi flu vaccines, which help prevent flu in older adults. they've even been shown to provide better protection from flu-related complications compared to standard dose flu shots. don't get fluzone high-dose quadrivalent if you've had a severe allergic reaction to its components, including egg products, or after previous dose of flu vaccine. don't get flublok quadrivalent if you've had a severe allergic reaction to its components. tell your healthcare professional if you've had severe muscle weakness after a flu shot. people with weakened immune systems may have a lower vaccine response. this flu season, you do have a choice. choose the protection of a sanofi flu vaccine. ask your pharmacist or doctor which sanofi flu vaccine is right for you. ♪ my relationship with my credit cards wasn't good. i got into debt in college and, no matter how much i paid, it followed me everywhere.

between the high interest, the fees... i felt trapped. debt, debt, debt. so i broke up with my credit card debt and consolidated it into a low-rate personal loan from sofi. i finally feel like a grown-up. break up with bad credit card debt. get a personal loan with no fees, low fixed rates, and borrow up to $100k. go to sofi.com to view your rate. sofi. get your money right. ♪ within hours from now, russian president vladimir putin expected to host a ceremony in the kremlin to formally declare four occupied ukrainian territories as part of russia.

the territories make up nearly 20% of ukrainian territory. the action of course is viewed by ukraine and the international community as ill legitimate and an attempt to further justify his war. joining me now is josh rogan from the washington post. you and i have had these conversations before about what's going on. this annexation seems like we have been here before. >> right. putin's style is he sets up his next series of options. what he's doing is giving himself two basic options. one is to establish new facts on the ground in these two regions in the wooes and two regions in the south to press the ukrainians for peace. the other option is by claiming these as russian territories through these sham elections, he's threatening the west and ukrainians that if they continue to attack him, he could escalate. so he's giving himself an

escalation option and a deescalation option. the problem is he's not going to have the result he wants. because the ukraine yans behind those lines would suffer horrible atrocities, and that would not tend war or lead to justice or peace. so we're going to have a few months more of fighting. winter is coming, but it's not here yet. until that happens, and as long as the ukrainians are pushing the offensive, the european partners are going to help them. but we don't know which of the options he's going to choose, the suing for peace or escalation. either one is a pretty dang use scenario. >> so far one of the things he's done is to have a draft. you're seeing people leaving russia who don't want to be drafted. they are now seeing some cracks in the propaganda machine. what impact is that having on this decision? >> well, there's no doubt that after seven months of fulling

many of the russian people into believing this was propaganda, that this was not a war, that it was going well, it was going to be over soon, that jig is up. there's no denying once they see their sons and fathers and grandfathers and uncles hurdled into a meat grinder with no training or equipment, there's no more propaganda. they can't sit there with a straight face and tell putin's lie. now he's flatout telling the russian people, you got to like it or lump it. as the pressure increases inside russia, it could lead to putin backing down or pressing the gas button. he wants us to think if he escalates enough, that we'll back down. it's too clever because the reality on the ground in ukraine is that ukrainians are winning, and this would be the exact wrong time for them to respond. and i feel bad for millions of

russians who are suffering, but i feel worse for the ukrainians who are suffering. ukrainians are the victims. >> you mentioned grandfathers. putin did come out in a rare occurrence where he corrected a mistake about the draft, is this part of the tactic to try to from all offenses try to fortify the resolve that he thinks people are lacking. >> we don't know exactly what happened with the sabotage of those pipelines, but they believe the russians blew up their own pipelines. if you understand how putin operates, it makes perfect sense because he's setting up a pretext so he can say, i'm the victim. he's also threatening to attack european pipelines to have them sending their military all over the waters to give them busy work and increase the pressure

on them. other than putin and tucker carlson, it seems pretty clear that putin did it himself. he's playing the crazy man card, and he's a little bit crazy. but we have to win the war. >> josh rogan, tha you so much. we'll be right back. all across the country, people are working hard to build a better future. so we're hard at work, helping them achieve financial freedom. we're providing greater access to investing, with low-cost options to help maximize savings. from the plains to the coasts, we help americans invest for their future.

and help communities thrive. i'd like to thank our sponsor liberty mutual. they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. contestants ready? go! only pay for what you need. jingle: liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty.

when a normal day is anything but normal, we fit your schedule, with our unique tub over tub process installed in as little as a day. bath fitter. it just fits. visit bathfitter.com to book your free consultation. when people come, they say they've tried lots of diets, nothing's worked or they've lost the same 10, 20, 50 pounds over and over again. they need a real solution. i've always fought with 5-10 pounds all the time. eating all these different things and nothing's ever working. i've done the diets, all the diets.

before golo, i was barely eating but the weight wasn't going anywhere. the secret to losing weight and keeping it off is managing insulin and glucose. golo takes a systematic approach to eating that focuses on optimizing insulin levels. we tackle the cause of weight gain, not just the symptom. when you have good metabolic health, weight loss is easy. i always thought it would be so difficult to lose weight, but with golo, it wasn't. the weight just fell off. i have people come up to me all the time and ask me, "does it really work?" and all i have to say is, "here i am. it works." my advice for everyone is to go with golo. it will release your fat and it will release you.

everyone, thank you so much for watching. our coverage of hurricane ian continues now with don lemon. he's live from orlando. i'm so glad to see that you're safe. we have been watching you all day. >> reporter: what a day it has been. a day of really horrors and danger, but also some good, seeing neighbors coming together helping neighbors. but it's been probably the most interesting day in a long time, and the emotions going back and forth watching and