but she won't resign, i will be back in january to call for a no confidence vote in his leadership. >> the whole point of this special session was to pursue these measures. you don't believe anything of substance has passed and we will see what january looks like. representative justin jones, thank you again for joining us again at the source. >> thank you so much kaitlan. >> and thank you all so much for joining. us tonight on cnn we're continuing our coverage of hurricane idalia. it's forecast to make landfall in florida's big bend region in just a matter of hours. prime time with abby phillip starts right. now >> a lot to get to in these critical hours. our special live coverage continues tonight of that dangerous hurricane right. now it is starting to hit florida, and i'm abby philip. idalia packing winds of more than 100 miles an hour is currently a category two storm, but it is projected to make landfall and to slam into the

coast as a category three, just three hours from now. evacuations are underway in at least 28 counties. mayors, officials, the governor all warning people in those targets zones to take cover or leave immediately. that includes people in cedar key and big band. one of the greatest threats, of course, is the storm surge. it's expected to reach once in a lifetime levels for this part of florida. cnn's live up and down the coast, including in tampa and steinhatchee. we will speak live with some storm changes storm chasers in the heart of the bull's-eye, also officials warn that time is running out to evacuate. first let's get straight to chad myers with this new forecast. chad, what is the path of hurricane idalia at this hour? >> still straight up to the north and likely just to the east of tallahassee as it continues to the north overnight. now the hurricane center will

be putting out updates once per hour, not every three hours, so that is some excellent news for us here in the news business. up to 110 miles per hour, 111 is a category three, so we are there on the cusp. we have been seeing this eye develop for the two or three hours past. we haven't had an eye for most of the storm, but that eye is very indicative of what we expect this storm to do, increase in intensity. an eye means the storm is breathing in its eyewall, sinking air in it i, and then all of a sudden things begin to go bump in the night. we are also seeing the lightning pick up with this eye wall is there as well. there goes the storm. you ask where it goes, believe it or not there are hurricane warnings in georgia. even though the storm is going to land in florida, it will still be a hurricane as it goes over the state line. this is going to be a quick moving storm by the time it gets there, taking all of the

water that this bubbled up storm is now collecting. think about a coffee cup, when you blow your coffee cup in the morning and tried to cool it off, all those little waves go to the far side? well now all the waves are doing the same thing, but not at two or three miles an hour like your breath. at 100 miles per hour, pushing that water to a collection point which won't let it go any farther than that right there. that is the storm at this point in time, moving on shore. again, somewhere, probably, around 8:00 in the morning for the eyewall, but things are going to start to go downhill with winds and everything else, rather quickly right now. >> things are really picking up in intensity. the storm surge, chad, this is a huge part of the story, always, with these storms. it could be up to 15 feet in parts of florida's west coast. explain to the audience, especially if you're listening in the state of florida, where do the risks? >> in this part of the coast you only really rise about 2 to 3 feet every thousand feet.

so you're not getting a lot of topography here. if you get a 15 foot surge, that surge could go inland for a mile at least. you get a two foot surge, all of a sudden on that slope the water just keeps going inland. the higher surge, unfortunately, begins to push it farther inland to where there are homes. there aren't many homes in this area. the ones that are about 5 to 10 feet above sea level. the problem is, if you get a 15 foot surge, you are now going to be above those. and even some of those, above those that are on stilts. one more thing going on tonight, king tide. this is a super moon tonight. that means that the moon is 18,000 miles, didn't happen immediately, but 18,000 miles closer than normal. that means there's more suction, more gravity from the moon, and so that's going to make the tide even one foot higher than it should be on a normal tide day. >> all right, chad, you're gonna be standing by for us throughout this process.

i want to go next to cnn's phone john berman who is in steinhatchee on florida's big bend for us. so john, where is this storm expected to hit in the coming hours? you are aware? we could be seeing that landfall? >> unfortunately here. not far from here. and if the eyewall goes across here exactly, this is still the area where they are expecting 10 to 15 feet of storm surge. about 45 minutes south of here, cedar key, the mayor told his people that they simply can't be helped if they stay. get out, this could be unsurvivable. let me explain why. i'm on the deck right now on a marina, the sea hag marina, normally a bustling place, i can see the bar right here with this time of night it would normally be filled with people. hurricane herman in 2016 was a category one. it has a storm surge of six feet. when that came in here, and then to come in here, that fill

the water up to about here on this deck where i am now. the storm surge of six feet went up to about here. so imagine what ten feet would be, and then 15 feet. well over my head. twice as high as i am right now. that's what it could be like here in eight hours, which is why people have been told to leave. sheriff deputies have been going door to door to houses here to get people to go. there's not a ton of people who live here, it's not a very populated area, only a population of 500 to 1000 people, depending on the time of year. and many have left. but if you haven't. the people who own the c hankamer enough chose to stay. their houses a few feet higher in elevation. they think they can ride it out. they just don't feel safe leaving this behind. but they know they are taking a risk, and they are scared. they are scared because they lived through her mean it's six feet of storm surge and they're nervous about what 15 feet could do. >> it's not an area that's used to these kind of storms.

what has the sheriff's department been telling you? what are their biggest concerns for this area in the coming hours, and perhaps for those few people who are deciding to stay behind? >> they don't want anyone to stay. they are concerned is the surge, they are making clear, as they do in hurricanes in low-lying areas, that after a certain point, they will not be able to help. once the winds get higher than 40 miles per hour, most of the timeline for us, meant they have to stay inside for their own safety. they can't come and help you. that's with the winds, with the storm surge, if the storm surge in a dates area and goes in, as chad was saying, i'm 500 yards, maybe four, the gulf of mexico here. but if you go inland more, as chad was saying, it's flat for miles and miles and miles. if this is covered with water, you're gonna have to be able to do water rescues, if they can, in some areas. it's a very small police department. they were telling us normally it's only a handful of sheriff

deputies who were on duty in this county ever, normally, at one time. they had to call in the state police to help them because there were so few of them there to monitor it. but they just want people to know, if you are still here now, you are on your own. >> there's only so much they can do once the storm comes through. john berman, thank you very much. i want to go now to cnn's carlos suarez, he's live in tampa florida. carlos, where the conditions like where you are there on the ground? >> will, we are in for a wet and windy night here. in tampa bay. it's about half an hour ago we started seeing a line of thunderstorms associated with this hurricane make its way across hillsboro county. we expect this bad weather to continue into the night and into tomorrow, which is when we might start seeing some of the storm surge associated with this hurricane. that is the biggest concern from emergency officials at this hour. they are worried that the storm, which is going to pass hillsborough county and

pinellas county, the tampa bay area as well as clearwater and st. pete, they're worried because the storm is not going to hit the florida directly that folks might become a little complacent tomorrow. but again, once that storm makes its way past, that is when we expect to not only see more of this rain, more of this wind, but then at some point all of that water is going to be pushed into the tampa bay and then once you have all of that together, you add in high tide as chad laid out, king tide, and that is a concern moving forward over the next 12 to 24 hours, is that we're going to see significant flooding when it comes to this storm surge at. this hour the forecast remodel is calling from between 2 to 4, six, maybe seven feet of storm surge. right now, abby, the concern is that provide residents who decided not to seek higher ground at least in these low-lying areas that they are in a safe place and they're worried folks are gonna go out and about tomorrow with the day it might get caught up in these

floodings. >> we continue to monitor that as well, carlos suarez, thank you, and stay safe there. i want to now bring in the tampa fire rescue chief, barbara trip. chief trip, thank you for joining us tonight. can you tell us, what is your department doing to prepare tonight for this storm? >> so we have been partnering with other agencies to make sure that we prepare for the surge. we know that the storm has -- that the storm has, going to bypass are so the main thing we're gonna worry about is that surge. we're telling all our residents, we're sending out information, sending out two our results know that right now the levels are low, but so they won't be complacent and go back into their homes. we did in a mandatory evacuation for certain areas, especially low-lying areas, and tomorrow we're gonna pay a lot of attention and have authorities are to make sure residents don't go back until that surge has bypassed.

>> either going to be additional resources also standing by to help if there is the need to do rescues for people who may have remained behind? >> yes. within tampa fire rescue we have what's called a task force that we have geared up and put on standby to assist with tampa police department, our local agencies, as well as electric company and other partners to make sure we go out and support the community. so we do have contact with fema, with a federal teams, so if we need additional leticia assistance they will stand by. >> you mentioned teams are gonna be going around tomorrow to make sure the evacuation orders are being heeded. to have a sense tonight of what percentage the folks that are under mandatory orders have actually already follow those orders? >> actually, our shelters have been filled. we probably have over 1000 people, in the shelters within the city of tampa. i don't have that number but a

lot of people are listening to the authorities and evacuating. we don't want the same thing to happen last year with hurricane ian as to the surge coming in afterwards and taking other lives. >> okay chief barbara tripp, thank you, and best of luck to you and yours death overnight in the coming days. >> thank you. >> cedar key is among the cities facing evacuation orders ahead of the storm, and although most of the residents have, in fact, he did those orders, about 100 people have decided to stay put, including my next guest. i want to bring in island hotel and restaurant owner andy bear. andy, thank you for being with us tonight. i hope that so far you and those close to you are safe. i want to ask you, you are in a very vulnerable location. why did you decide to stay put and ride the storm out? >> pretty much the one reason we states is some up and one.

word community. we wanted to be here for the other people but stayed, off or landing hand to make sure the end of the day they know that we are here for them as well. >> your hotel is open for anyone who loses power. how many residents are already coming to you and taking advantage of this shelter? >> it's not gotten horribly bad yet, but we're expecting to see a high number of volumes. probably anywhere between the six a.m. hours in the morning we are expecting probably a thunderstorm start rolling in here pretty soon after midnight, it's gonna rise up probably around 45% with the wind getting higher up. and then humidities already playing a good part, so it's florida, so with 88%. so we're looking at damage. >> have you done anything so far to fortify yourselves in your hotel? are you confident that you can't even ride out the storm without putting yourself and

others in more danger? >> i think will be all right. we've got a couple of sandbags out there. >> a couple of sandbags and what was that last thing? >> we take the elmer glue and put it between the sandbags. >> oh, elmer glue. >> keep the water from coming in. yeah, it just does doesn't work just for school. >> are you feel fearful for your life? they're telling us this storm surge will be a once in a lifetime event. it will be not something that people in the area that you are in are used to seeing. are you concerned for your own safety? >> not at this time. i think will all be fine here. we're just gonna leave it in god's hands. just hope everything works out for the best. we appreciate everybody out there looking out for us in praying for us and sending a supplies. >> we're hoping for the best for you, andy. thank you for joining us tonight. and please, stay safe. >> we will. thank you, abby.

>> our special coverage continues as the outer band gets worse. bill weir standby as well for the coast guard to talk about this once in a lifetime storm surge. stay with us. ♪ chevy silverado has what it takes to do it all. with up to 13 camemera views. and the z71 off-road package. ♪ you ok? yeah. any truck can help you make a living. this one helps you build a life. chevy silverado.

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we're here today to set the record straight about dupuytren's contracture. surgery is not your only treatment option. people may think their contracture has to be severe to be treated, but it doesn't. visit findahandspecialist.com today to get started. just in, hurricane adalja is right now on the verge of becoming a category three storm as it starts to slam into the state of florida. i want to now go to cnn chief

climate correspondent, bill weir, who is live on the scene. bill, you are right on the path of this storm, now a category three almost. how is the situation changing where you are as it moves closer? >> well, abby, we haven't seen any change yet here. it's still pretty calm before the storm but it was less than a year ago when i was preparing for hurricane ian and we went to bed and woke up and the storm had intensified greatly. that is the ingredient here, the warmer golf of mexico, warmer than we have ever seen before. it is in patches and so, overall, it is about 88 degrees, and average temperature but hot or warm to the shore, close to 90. so we are going to see whether or not that is sort of a steroid shot for this particular storm as it gets close to the shore. folks in communities like this, which is right, a low-lying community right on the river here as that storm surge pushes all the water up into the neighborhoods. that is the main concern. >> to that point, you just talked about this warmer water.

historically warm water. these communities now are suddenly in the path of hurricanes where they are not been before. is there anything that can be done to protect them going forward? >> that is an amazing question, and the biggest sort of a trillion dollar question as to how you adapt communities like this to the world that we are already now living in, at the same time try to mitigate further, more wicked storms down the road with more fossil fuel pollution. right now, the gulf is being reopened by the biden administration for oil and gas sales, that is coming in the coming weeks. their lawsuits around that, but right there it is the double bind of these oil economies in places like this where they have that as an income stream, but also the cost of it is becoming bigger with every storm. science has been warning about this for a very long time and in many ways it has been predicted, it is the speed at

these changes that have taken most folks by surprise. >> very much so. bill weir, thank you very much and continue to stay safe, please. i want to bring in now a u.s. coast guard public information officer, nicole grove, she's and tampa bay right now. so, nikole, how is the coast guard now preparing for idalia landfall in florida? >> so, we move some vessels down to fort myers beach area to be staged to go respond during and immediately after the storm if we have any emergencies. that is going to augment some of the crews that have stayed put to ride out the storm. we have also moved significant amount of aircraft over to west palm to do the same and respond as emergencies come up. our watch, our command center who are manned 24 hours have already gotten a few calls and have already assisted people who haven't quite heeded the warnings and they have gone out and hung out on the water for a little bit. we just greatly encourage

everybody follow the local government recommendations and please stay off the water until the storm passes. there is no reason to unnecessarily risk your life. >> i can't emphasize that enough, and this is obviously something that the coast guard is incredibly skilled at assisting in, but no one wants to be stranded out there during a storm like this. we have been talking all afternoon about the storm surge that could bring record water levels to a lot of these places along the coast, including to tampa bay where you are. what are you worried the most about when it comes to that storm surge? >> we are worried about the storm surge as well. we have a teams, they are crew members who are have shallow water vessels and can get into those low-lying areas. they are staged around parts of georgia and alabama, waiting to respond as soon as possible to emergencies that are up in that northern area. station yankee town, who is in yankee town, they are prepared and they have their shadow

water boats and are just waiting for the storm to pass, hoping for the best and will be responding to emergencies as soon as it is safe to do so. >> and just underscore what you just said, the coast guard you all can help, but after the storm has a past for people who are listening to this it's important to not be in an unsafe situation if you can avoid it. nicole groll, thank you very much. and sarasota county is among those preparing for hurricane idalia's rat. i want to bring in sarasota there kyle battey. they are about, thank you very much for joining us. idalia is now expected to intensify to a category three by landfall, it is just on the cusp. what impact, so far, has sarasota felt as the storm approaches? >> good evening. we have experienced a lot of rain and a bit of wind, but nothing in terms of the full

brunt of the force of the hurricane. thus far. >> sarasota county, you all were among those who issued evacuation orders. what can you tell us about whether you believe that the residents who are under those orders have taken heed so far? >> so far we haven't gotten any calls regarding anyone being in an emergency situation. we have been prepared for this for quite some time and it's not our first rodeo. particularly in this area, but our residents and citizens here, they know the road to call. for those who just moved to the area, it is something that we are well aware of and we have taken every precaution and

every measure necessary to make sure that they know what happens in these storms and the severity of what they are and what they can be. i stress to our citizens, our residents, those who just moved here, please, no matter what, take these things seriously. it is mother nature and you can never predict what may happen. >> absolutely. kyle battie, mayor of sarasota, thank you very much for joining us and continue to stay safe where you are. >> thank you very much, thank you. >> up next, cnn is about to board a hurricane hunters plane. we'll take you there live. plus, we will go back to the weather center with a chat with a brand-new update as we keep an eye on the speed and strength of this quickly approaching storm.

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bottom of the hour, i'm abby philip and our special coverage continues tonight of hurricane idalia. it's strengthening on the brink of becoming a category three

storm as it moves forward on its collision course with florida's gulf coast. now, it is expected to explode in intensity over the coming hours and make landfall overnight. it's safe to say that people living in that big bend area of florida, they have never lived through a hurricane like this. it is expected to bring a storm surge of up to 15 feet on top of powerful winds and excessive rainfall. places like fort myers beach are already experiencing flooding. that area is still recovering from hurricane ian that landed last fall. florida's governor, ron desantis, who is urged people to evacuate. he is warning that the damage here could be severe. >> you really have got to go back to the late 1800s to find a storm of this magnitude that will enter where this one looks like it is going to enter tomorrow. so we don't really have a historical analog in anybody's memory, so it is likely to cause a lot of damage. >> joining us now is cnn senior

producer, victoria kennedy. she is with hurricane hunters who will be flying through the storm in just a little while. victoria, you're about to get on this plane with a hurricane hunters. tell us, what are you going to be looking for when you are up there? with >> high, abby, thank you for having me. i am here at keasler air force base in biloxi, mississippi. this is home to the 53rd whether recon -- also known as the hurricane hunters and we are on the runway right now. or about to get ready to board the big c one third e.j. and take off for the hurricane, it's about a 30 minute flight to get to the hurricane and then, once we arrive at the hurricane, we will spend hours crisscrossing and zigzagging in and out of the eye of the hurricane and, basically what we are doing is they are trying to find the latest readings on

wind speed and pressure and temperature, so that those readings are sent back to the national hurricane center in realtime. they get those readings and they can make their final projections on where this hurricane will make landfall and just how strong the storm will be when it does make landfall. in fact, they are calling this flight that i'm about to get on the landfall flight because it is very likely going to be the last flight that the hurricane hunters fly on this storm before it makes landfall. they may actually, we were in the preflight briefing just a few minutes ago and they said it is very likely that they will keep us up in the air flying through the eye of the storm a little longer than expected, depending on how quickly it approaches land. >> all right, victoria candidate with an and credible assignment for us tonight. please keep us updated on what you see when you are up there.

i want to bring in cnn correspondent brian todd who is in st. mark's, florida, just south of tallahassee. brian, how are evacuations going where you are? we have been talking about all the areas of florida, they have been asking folks to get out. the hurricane is now just hours away. >> it is just hours away, a, b the evacuation orders, we are told, are going pretty well. we talked to emergency management officials here in waukesha county, where st. marks is. they said that they had a pretty good response where people who are urged to get out. they are under mandatory evacuations. they are told that at deputies went house to house in st. mark's, where we are, and in the surrounding areas knocking on doors. they cannot, even in a mandatory evacuation, pull you out of your house forcibly leave but they can strongly urge you to and that is what they have been doing. i have been asking one emergency management official what he would tell people who elected to stay. he had one word answer, he would say don't. but, if you do, you have to

make sure you have provisions for about three or four days because you could be isolated. i will show you a little bit why. this is a low-lying area, even the -- you can see behind, me this is the st. marks river. starting seal a lit of rain, raindrops from the initial bands of the hurricane coming this way. if we are lucky, during this live shot, you might see flashes of lightning on the horizon, which are really cold look at at night. it's not cool, of course, if you are being pounded by 80 mile per hour winds and getting a ton of rain on, but that coming in the next few hours. what makes this unique is that it's so low-lying, you've got three waters converging rate here. this is the st. marks river, the waukesha river is a few yards downstream, and then where i am, this is the appalachian bay. it has not had a hurricane of this kind of strength in recorded history come right up the bay. so there is no real barometer to which to measure how this area can absorb a hit that it is about to take. what we are told is now between

six and nine feet, possibly of storm surge and local officials did tell us that they do expect this area, this town, st. mark's to be completely flooded at least for a few hours because, again, this water from the st. mark's river already pretty high is going to be kind of washed up here like a snowplow, just pushing all that water with a storm surge. 6 to 9, feet into the town to my right and a lot of low-lying houses and other buildings here are going to be completely inundated with water. so, again, mandatory evacuations are in place. it's getting a bit late to get out right now, used to have a couple of hours left but they are saying that time is running out. whoever is going to stay here is just going to have to be prepared for whatever comes next. we did talk to several residents who are going to stay, they give the same reasons that we have seen many times, especially in this area of florida where a lot of people like to stay during these storms because they are worried that, if their homes get significant damage and they are out of town and then they can't get back in because the town is

isolated or cut off by flooding, that they're not gonna be able to deal with the damage. that is a common reason that we are hearing, we for that a lot today. a lot of people are electing to stay here and ride it out. >> that is true, although it does row reminding folks that your life is definitely worth more than the items in your home. brian todd, thank you very much for that report. i want to bring in now meteorologist chad myers who is at the cnn weather center. chad, we are back to you again. we're on the verge now of that category three that we are just talking about, right? >> right, we're at 110 miles per hour and 1:11 is the threshold to get to the major hurricane category, cat 3. i was in st. mark's four hurricane ivan, many years ago, and it was the saddest story i've ever seen. i had hit pensacola, it st. marks was flooded all the way to the rooftops. boats were floating out of rock storage, it's one of the saddest stories i've ever had to cover and i can't imagine a

storm that is 200 miles closer, what that could do to the lovely town of st. mark's. here you go, 110 miles per hour. we still have the eye, the storm is continuing to intensify and i am very much looking forward to the flight through the eye with our reporter there, our producer reporter. because this is the most important thing that we can see now for the next few hours. how strong will it get? every successive flight, they fly through, they make a triangle, they fly back through, they make a triangle, and they fly again. and they just keep going. you think that there is turbulence when you're flying over the rockies, well that is going to be a turbulent flight. 115 miles per hour, likely even higher as it does make landfall. it is the surge with all the water that the storm is bringing with, it it is also the potential for tornadoes down here with this one arm of the hurricane, the outer band coming on shore. there you can see the eye on radar,. which rarely ever happens. something else that rarely ever

happens do we get a hurricane warning to travel across the state line. we have hurricane warnings in georgia, we have 110 mile per hour winds expected across the i-ten. if you are traveling across the i-ten and thinking about it for the next few days, you are going to have to watch google maps because there is going to be so many trees down on i-ten on most of these highways, land is going to be wet, the winds are going to come through, the trees are going to fall, and it's going to take an awful lot of time to put those trees on the side and get those roadways back open again. that is the risk of thanking when you are going to bed right now that i will just get up and drive away from the surge if it comes. you know what? abby, there is likely going to be trees in the way on the road you thought you are going to be able to get out on. now is the time to go, it's not too late. i know it's dark, but it's not raining yet. if you are in st. mark's are open into appalachian --

not because it's gonna be surge, but because you want to get away. you can still get away, but probably in the next four hours that is going to become an impossibility. >> that is good reminder there, chad. thank you very much, we'll be back with you as we get more updates here. coming up next, cnn is currently where the conditions are worsening at this hour. we will take you there, live. plus, i will speak with a storm chaser who is in the direct path of where idalia is supposed to hit. their team o of independent tax attorneys will work with your cpa to detetermine if your company is eligible. [w[whip sound] take the first step to see if your small business qualifies. my brain. so i choose new neuriva ultra. unlike some others, it supports 7 brain health indicators, including mental alertness from one serving. to help keep me shp. try new neuriva ultra. think bigger.

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back now to our special coverage with the hurricane idalia getting closer to western florida, water is already starting to rise in areas along the coast. cnn correspondent gloria pazmino is in clearwater, just west of tampa for us. gloria, are you starting to see, i can see in your shot some rain, wind, what does that feel like as the storm gets closer?

>> well, abby, we have been here all day so far and i can certainly tell you that this is the worst expanses we have been out here. the winds are steadily increasing, if the rain is heavy, and it goes in and out. you can tell that there are these outer bands of the hurricane that are starting to arrive here in the area of clearwater beach, where we are. earlier in your program chad myers was talking about parts of the state where people still have time to get out because it hasn't started raining yet. it is definitely raining here. now we are in pinellas county and this is a mandatory evacuation's own, but i spoke to a man earlier who told me that he had no plans to evacuate. he is going to ride out the storm right here in town. part of the reason for that, he told me, is that he lived inland about five miles in this direction. the water is that way, in the pitch darkness, but the concern

here is of course for that surge, the storm surge. as the storm continues to worsen and the forces here continue to increase we are expecting that surge to really come in and potentially be significantly dangerous, not just to the lives here but the property that could cause significant damage. abby? >> that is going to be the big story of the storm, along with winds that are picking up if the strong gets stronger. thank you gloria, and stay safe tonight. for a closer look at the conditions there on the ground i want to bring in aki weather extreme weather meteorologist read to him or. you are over there in cedar key of florida, which is just where perhaps this storm is going to make landfall. what are you seeing right now and what are you expecting in the hours ahead? >> well, the winds that have been gradually increasing over the evening and have been getting steadily stronger. you can see some thunderstorms

move on, it looks like -- as well, and we do expect a tornado threat to really as we get into the overnight hours as well. -- we do expect a big-time tornado potential as well. down here in cedar key's, the big concern is the storm surge and this is an island that sticks out a little bit to the north of tampa. we do expect landfall a little bit to the west, as they are slowly starting to trend west. it doesn't mean that they are going to have it catastrophic storm surge here because a landfall of the hurricane is anywhere off to the west. we have that powerful onshore flow that is going to pile up the water and we expect a 10 to 15 foot storm surge with waves on top of that and winds gusting to her triple digits up over 100 miles per hour, so it's going to be very life-threatening here and that is why there is also a mandatory evacuation for this zone as well. there are about 100 people, and there are some higher areas here on cedar key, above 20

feet under the water tower, the school, people are stashing their vehicles up there. all of this behind me is going to be flooded out for several blocks through the gulf of mexico shoreline. >> you have experienced so many storms over the course of your life and career, but this is not really a part of florida that is used to this kind of intensity. what are you the most concerned about as we go into the coming hours? >> well that's right. a storm of this intensity has never gone up through the major coast and the northwest florida and appalachia bay here, and so an unprecedented storm like this will have unprecedented impacts and we just don't know what to expect. it is a scary thing, even for a storm chaser that has seen over 50 or 60 hurricanes so far, we just don't know what the impacts are going to be. we're not as familiar with the shoreline, it is very low-lying here as well so the storm surge is going to penetrate several miles inland. it is likely going to knock out a lot of bridges as well.

definitely the cavity of the shoreline is something that is very scary for a storm surge, because it is very conducive for the piling up of that water with the onshore flow, anywhere to the right of the center. >> yeah, that is a really interesting point about how that geography can actually make it so much worse for that part of the state. read, tamarack you very much as always and, again, stay safe tonight. >> thank you for having me. >> in some florida hospitals are suspending services ahead of idalia's landfall, but others are preparing for a spike in patients. someone who is manning the war room of one of florida's largest hospital systems will join me next. ♪ chevy silvlverado has what it takes to do it all. with up to 13 camemera views. and the z71 off-road package. ♪ you ok? yeah.

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the live developments on hurricane idalia as it barrels towards florida. a number of hospitals in that state are doing what they can to brace for the storm. h c eight health care is among them. for more want to bring in hcl kara vice president and chief of preparedness and emergency operations, michael or go. michael, thank you for being with us. so hpca health care, my understanding has about 40 hospitals in the state of florida. how are the hospitals, especially the ones in the path of the storm, preparing for it? >> hi, abby. preparedness is part of the culture of the organization. so, every year we go through exercises leading up to hurricane season that run our leadership through exercises. we briefed our staff on how to prepare their families, as well as professionally on how to prepare coming to work for storms like this. so that is the first level of preparedness that we do. when we get warnings of major events like this we activate our enterprise emergency operation center here in

nashville, as well as each of the hospitals in our division command centers that are more local to the incident. through, that we work with them to bring in additional generators, additional water, additional supplies so that we can care for our patients, whether any impacts that the storm may bring to us. >> i imagine there are some places where the danger might be too significant. how close are some of the hospitals to the path of the most dangerous parts of the storm, these 15 foot storm surge is that we have been talking about and the high winds of up to 111 miles per hour tonight? >> many of the hospitals will be operating near the coastline on both the coast of florida, as well as up into the panhandle. we take a lot of precautions to prepare these facilities that are maybe more near to the coast then other facilities. one incidents, we put up a barrier around the facility to protect it from flooding in there. so we go through steps to

prepare each of the facilities for days leading up to this. that is the key for us, it is having the preparedness bring all of our leadership and staff together to ensure that our facility is ready for any type of wind damage that could occur, and localized flooding that may occur. truly, our goal is to care for our patients during normal times as well as adversity like this. here at the enterprise command center, as our facilities are preparing to care for those patients, we mobilize resources based out of nashville's coordination center to go in and support our facilities so that they can focus on the patients and we focus on supporting our facilities in the zones. >> we are incredibly grateful, always to the health care for additional soup these facilities open to these kinds of conditions. michael wargo, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> thank you for your time. >> a brand-new forecast on hurricane idalia's path is expected in a few minutes. we'll bring that directly to you as we head into these dangerous next few hours.

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news just into cnn, 11 people have been sent to the hospital after a severe turbulence on a delta flight. that plane was traveling from milan to atlanta and the turbulence happened about 40 miles northeast of atlanta's airport. both crew members and passengers were hurt in this incident. we will have updates as we get them and will get them right to you, but that's it for me and cnn prime time. we have much more coverage of hurricane idalia with laura coats and cnn tonight, which starts right now. laura? >> thank you so much, abby. it's night we've got to foll