>> welcome to the top of the hour. our special breaking news coverage this morning throughout the course of this morning, hurricane idalia. the category 3 storm that is rapidly intensified throughout the course of the morning before decelerating slightly made landfall near keaton beach in florida's big bend region. it is a category 3 storm. this what you are looking at now is less than 20 miles from keaton beach. the water levels have been rising throughout the morning. to give you context, particularly in this big bend region, this hurricane, hurricane idalia, is now most powerful storm to make landfall in that region in the past 1 20 25 years. sara sidner has been standing by all morning live in crystal river, florida. we have full team coverage all over florida's gulf coast.

we are in tallahassee. derek van dam is in tampa. bill weir is in steinhatchee where landfall happened 20 miles away. that storm has been picking up there. the effects have been rapidly intensifying there as well. we will get to everybody throughout the course of the hour. i want to start, sara, with you. looking at your live shots throughout the course of this morning, talking to you, the intensity, the up and down, bands as they have gone through, it's something to see. we experienced landfall about 15 minutes ago? >> reporter: yeah, we have vacillated from beautiful to terrible. beautiful to terrible. back and forth. that's just the way hurricanes work. but this is a very dangerous storm no matter how beautiful it is where you are on the west coast of florida. it has made landfall in the most dangerous position for people in that area, the big bend area. they need to shelter in place according to authorities. they need not to try to evacuate

if they haven't at this point in time. you have to watt until eyewall passes and the second major band of destructive wind and rain comes through past that eyewall. i want to get to derek van dam in tampa. he has been watching this storm. he has been watching it from the satellite images and from the ground where parts of tampa are inundated with that storm surge, with that floodwater. derek. >> all right. sara, so we are going to step away from this -- the seriousness of the storm for a second. you've got to bear with me. this is something you don't see everyday. what are you doing? literally, we are --? a very new way to beat rush hour traffic on bayshore boulevard in tampa. these guys are kayaking down this major thoroughfare over my shoulder here. i mean, look at that. i don't want to minimize the serious nature of the storm, but this is what people are dealing with in tampa as we will speak.

people coming out to be more spectators than anything. the storm surge threat has been realized. 5 1/2 feet at one of the tidal gauges down the road from us, and that is why we see this storm surge event unfolding across much of the big bend to tampa bay where i am located. that is an angry ocean there. you can see the waves just spilling over this coastal floodwater area. and in all of my years of reporting, i don't think i have ever seen people take advantage of floodwaters in that particular way. so, look, i am not going to minimize the risks. the ongoing risks that are real and dangerous, but the storm surge that they are anticipating and experiencing from where i'm standing now all the way to the big bend, remember, this is the strongest hurricane to impact the big bend in over 125 years. we are at record level storm surge in tampa bay. this is incredible to see unfold behind us and just look all the

way down bayshore boulevard. it is completely flooded with water and that water is lapping up to the front yards of these homes here as well. >> derek, it can't be understated how dangerous this is. we are in florida and my people in florida like to take risks sometimes. was that a, like was that a floatie for a pool that they were in? what that is vehicle, that craft that they were in? >> there is. that was a rubber ducky. and he is busy doing laps on bayshore boulevard. looks like others are doing the same. the spectators want to see this unusual event that's unfolding in front of their eyes. they don't see this every day. yeah, bayshore boulevard floods because of rain sometimes. but this is storm surge. where we are right now, we are safe, okay? ? up to my knees. we can get to higher ground very quickly. but the reason we are showing you this is because people

evacuated from these areas, zone a, pi pinellas county, and the reason is because of the storm surge. spectators are going see their properties. are they okay? are they safe? yes. people are going to take advantage of this moment, clearly. >> all right. the only thing is, i hope that they are safe because this is actually extremely serious and dangerous, especially where the storm is and tracks the fact that is hit landfall. you always have some jokers in your life. i guess we need them as well. thank you, dashlg. all right. john berman, my co-anchor and buddy who is in tallahassee, florida, the capital of florida. we have been listening to ron desantis tell us what is going on there, emergency managements folks. what are you experiencing? i see you are experiencing a little rain there. >> yeah, it's raining and windy. if you see me looking off in

that direction, the wind is coming from there and we are getting gusts that feel like 40, 45 miles per hour. just want to keep an eye for debris and things that may be going through the air. tallahassee is about 60 miles from keaton beach where this storm just made landfall. so here where i am is inland. this is where it's now going to get worse. the situation here will deteriorate for several hours as this storm moves in, which means more rain, 6 to 10 total inches here and more wind. tallahassee has never experienced hurricane-force winds since they have been keeping records. all the storms that passed through here have come through as tropical storms, 74 miles per hour or less. they could get hurricane-force winds here over the next few hours as this storm moves over us and into georgia. 200,000 people live in florida's capital city. this is where governor ron desantis has been speaking to

the state, warning them to stay safe. meanwhile, the people here where he is speaking from, they need to stay inside also because getting around is really just going to continue to get much, much worse. you can see the trees here. there are much bigger trees than this all over tallahassee, big, gorgeous trees, that are just going to be soaked into their roots. as the wind picks up, they will be so vulnerable and there will be such a great risk of tree damage, power outages. right now there is still power in this downtown area where we are. but that could turn, again, very quickly. they are expecting things to get worse here po, as i said, sara, is a situation they may have never seen before here in florida's capital city making it challenging to coordinate the storm response throughout this day. more rain coming in now, sara, and there is the wind. cue the wind. >> cue the wind. john, you are always so great in

the storms. you have been in so many. it's significant that you say this is the first time ever that tallahassee, the capital of florida, has ever experienced hurricane-strength winds and rain. that is significant. that is why they have been telling people to get to safety if they are near low-lying water. people need to understand tallahassee is inland. it's not right on the coast. y yet, here is this massive storm. thank you, john. we will check back with you in a bit. to our bill weir, he is in steinhatchee, florida, which is also getting pounded by this storm and these bands of wind and rain. what are you experiencing at this hour? >> sara, it's been interesting. we haven't had the tornado-level gusts that you would expect since the storm made landfall less than 20 miles just to the northwest of us here. but we are keeping an eye on the -- this is the steinhatchee river. you can see it coming up now. it is well over the road along

this harbor area here. this is where we were doing live shots last night, standing in those sheltered areas. we have heard a couple of times that sort of symbol crash of a big sheet of corrugated steel coming off of one of these docks here as well. we just saw one of the floating docks go down the road. that's starting to float. water is more of a concern than the wind we have seen so far. but, again, just made landfall so we are not sure. oh, i just sam some lightning. we will give you a little perspective as to where we are riding this out. this is the river inn metro. oh, in comes some flowing debris from spanish moss from the big grand trees out here. this is burea-- brick construct. it's 28 feet above sea level

which would keep the cars dry, we thought. we want to stay close to here if the wind pick up and send the flying debris around. about 1,000 people in this town. a lot of them remember 2016 when a hurricane sent a six-foot storm surge into this area. and you have to think about ultimately what comes next. i am wearing a lucky charm snapper's bar and grill in key largo where he was as hurricane irma was coming into the keys in 2017. interviewed the owner. they were having a hurricane party, a few cocktails in he dropped some f-bombs on cnn. charmed himself to the audience. the next day, snappers was gone. obliterated. but within a few months, thanks to the community and some official help and insurance help, they were back open for business. so the hope is along this beautiful nature coast, so many anglers here, birders, that this place will come back.

the good news is, it's hitting one of the least populated areas in florida and given the insurance crisis right now, so many big insurers refusing to cover folks in this state, it's too risky, it would be nice if we avoided the kinds of losses we saw during ian last year, $113 billion storm. >> i remember that interview. i remember that gentleman. i remember loving him even though i don't know him. the thing about these hurricanes, it can go from happy to heartbreak in just a few minutes. that is the reality of them. i do want to give you a sense of what has happened here at crystal river. this is where people normally dock their boats, they bring them in to see the manatees. we have been standing here on, you know, actually very dry ground, literally minutes ago, and now we are seeing the water come up. it's come up, oh, a couple of feet here. this is completely normally dry

ground. you would never want to put a boat on this. if you look to where the sort of awning is there with that pontoon boat, i mean, where you see the lights, that's the end of the pier, which is normally dry. so you can definitely see the storm surge is happening here. the fear is it will get up to 9 feet, potentially. right now it's only at a couple of feet. and the flooding is not extensive yet here in crystal river. that could change. we hope it doesn't. we hope this is it. but this storm is still going, it's still dangerous, and so we will be checking in with bunch of different people. back to phil mattingly, who, hopefully, is safe and dry in the studio. phil. >> going to make me feel bad when you lay it out right there, sara? >> how about some hot coffee? >> throughout the morning you guys have been showing fantastic picture, great context, as our

team has been doing up and down the guslf coast of florida. we want to get to cnn meteorologist allison chinchar, tracking idalia's every move from the cnn weather center. walk me through. what are we expecting going forward? >> now that we have had official landfall at 7:45 eastern time this morning, just near keaton beach, now that we have had that, the focus begins to shift. now we are looking at an inland threat for a lot of these communities. along the coast you are still going to have storm surge concerns, still going to have dangerously high winds. now we are also going to start to see some of those communities inland dealing with some of these extremely high winds. this is an extreme wind warning to 10:15 a.m. expands farther inland. as the storm works across florida, it will bring the high winds with it. you have the outer bands that could produce tornado warnings throughout the day. we have had already had a dozen of them. the amount of rain.

this is not a fast-moving system, so it's got a lot of time to drop a lot of rain. also, too, because it was a category 3 at landfall, it is still expected to be a category 2 or even a category 1 as it slides across the state of gor georgia before dropping to tropical storm status in south carolina. neighboring states are likely to have significant impacts. in fact, this purple area here that you see stretches into portions of georgia, you are still looking at the wind gusts that could exceed 100 miles per hour and in the surrounding areas 75 to 100. so still hurricane-force winds as we extend into other states. looking at the forecast, again those outer bands continuing to push across the state of florida, across the state of georgia, into the carolinas as we go through the next 24 to 48 hours. i want to emphasize, just because the storm made landfall, this is not over yet. in fact, we have got a long road ahead of us over the next 48 hours for some of the neighboring states. widespread rainfall totals, 4 to

6 inches. some spots could pick up 8, even 10 inches of rain before this is said and done. so you have some significant impacts here 'still to go even for areas way away from the coast. you have this excessive rainfall risk. all the areas in red, including columbia, south carolina, wilmington, north carolina, again, folks, cities nowhere sneer the florida coastline are going to have this significant potential for heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding as we go through the next couple of days. so do keep that in mind. we did see in the latest update at the top of the hour winds decreased to 120 miles per hour. it is still a very strong category 3 storm. the forward movement north-northeast at 18 miles per hour. so it's going to make its way across the state and into georgia and the carolinas as we go through the next several hours. >> remarkable it could be a category 2 hurricane according to forecasts as it heads into georgia. allison chinchar, you have been keeping us posted.

we will definitely get back to you as this continues to progress. now, where things stand right now, the hurricane is a category 3, 115 to 120 miles per hour winds. hurricane idalia has made landfall about 20 miles north of steinhatchee. you are seeing a picture of steinhatchee right now. look closely at that picture because what you see are roofs. those are not full houses. those houses are already mostly underwater. the biggest impacts of this storm, talking storm surges from 12 to 16 feet, wind and tornadoes in the outsider bounds of this storm. they are still to come, particularly in the areas where landfall was made as state, local and federal officials have been warning throughout the course of the last several hours. stay in your homes if you are in the big bend area. hunker down. just because landfall has happened or even if it seems like things eased up, the most significant impacts are still to come. we will be covering those

impacts, talking to people on the ground, in the state and local level as well as federal officials in the hours to come. stay with us. our special coverage of hurricane idalia, a category 3 storm, major storm, that has now made landfall on florida's gulf coast, we'll continue will we come back. mumuscle, bone, and heart health. yaaay! woo hoo! ensure with h 25 vitamins and minerals and enensure complete with 30 grams of protein. ♪ right now get a free footlong at subway. like the subway series menu. buy one footlong in the app, get one free. for freeee. at's what i'm talking about. order in the sway app today. trying vapes to quit smoking might feel like progress,

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progresses. just a little bit north of inland of where that storm was expected to hit is tallahassee, florida. we will get to our team in tallahassee in just a minute. i want to start with the, as hurricane idalia has made landfall in florida, talk to the national hurricane center's director, michael brennan. he with talked to you two hours ago. now that we have seen landfall, what should people be looking out for? >> well, near the core of idalia, in these areas here, perry, and then, you know, lafayette, suwannee counties, dixie, taylor county, treat it like a tornado, get to an interior room in your moment. you don't want to be outside. a lot of debris blowing around, trees coming down, could be structural damage. near the eyewall as it moves inland will see significant wind impacts. also seeing water levels rising on the coast along the big bend region. significant life-threatening storm surge is going to continue

for several more hours. elevated water levels down into the tampa bay region still with significant inundation there. we are just starting to see the impacts as idalia moves across north florida, season georgia later today and tonight and significant impacts into the carolinas during the day tomorrow. >> we have seen storms, particularly of this scale, slow down when they start to move inland. what type of risk does that pose to those communities? could still be a hurricane when it enters georgia? >> that's right. largely because we expect the forward speed to be quite past fast. it's moving at 20 miles per hour now. that will bring the center far inland before it has time to weaken. we are expecting it it to be a hurricane even when it reaches the cost of georgia and south carolina, at or near hurricane strength getting into tonight. that's why we have the hurricane warning and storm surge warning for portions of the georgia and south carolina coast. the inland areas in georgia and south carolina under hurricane warnings as well. again substantial impacts that

will spread inland with the center of idalia and not to mention the flooding, heavy rainfall, especially to the left of the track, areas farther inland like augusta, columbia, south carolina, fayetteville, substantial risk the next 24, 36 hours. >> you will be keeping us updated. appreciate it. thank you. >> thank you. >> now to cnn's brian todd. i was talking about tallahassee. he is in tallahassee. we heard from governor ron desantis, the florida governor, in tallahassee earlier this morning. the power went out. brian e what are you seeing inland from where landfall took place? >> reporter: right, phil. interesting that you saw the power go out when governor desantis was addressing people because a few minutes ago we heard a loud boom down the street from us. we believe that was a transformer blowing. of course, it that will be repeated throughout the region. already has been. here is what we can show you in

tallahassee. in the last few minutes intensification of wind and rain. wind blowing the rain sideways and then it will, you know, slop off a little bit, then intensifying again. we are under old oak trees with the spanish moss hanging down. this makes tallahassee beautiful. but also makes these trees a little bit more vulnerable, they become heavier. when here is another problem. a lot of the industries with the spanish moss, look at those power lines. lo look at the proximity of the power lines to the trees. of course, these trees are vulnerable to come crashing down. the last few minutes, the if photo jushl journalist and i am working with had trees come crash downing near us. we have been keeping our eye on that over there. look at that thing. just completely being whipped

around. looks like it's about to become uprooted. that will be like a javelin flying around on the street. if you venture out in this stuff, which you are not supposed to do, you have to have an awareness of. not only that. branches. always look around you. there could be debris flying off rooftops. we have seen it in the last several minutes. i spoke to an emergency management official here in leon county and she said that really now is the time to shelter in place. what they want people to do is stay in place and even when you think this thing may have passed, don't be deceived by it. you have got to stay in your home because that's when the first responders and the emergency crews have to go out and especially in this town when there is going to be a lot of trees blocking roads, they have got to go out and try to clear the trees. do not venture out. stay in your home. give the people some space, the responders and crews trying to get your power back and clear the streets of the trees, they need the space to move around and navigate.

it will be very difficult for them to do it, so you have got to stay in your home. we just came here last night from a town 20 miles away, st. mark's. we will try to venture back. that place could see some significant flooding. phil. >> such an important message. one we have been hearing from state and local officials. stay in your homes. just because you think landfall occurred and the storm might be easing to some degree, this is one of the most complicated times and want people to stay out of the way of first responders, emergency workers as they start going out in the hours ahead. appreciate you, brian todd. we are going to -- one thing that brian talked about that i want to focus on real quick, because we saw pictures of power lines, given the scale of the wind in perry florida. watch this video. you see the pop and the boom. it's somewhat akin to what you heard brian reference. >> this is a different video in a different place, but the type of thing you heard florida officials talk about preparations for in the lead-up

to the landfall. governor ron desantis saying up to 30 to 40,000 linesmen were prepared. the question is, when can they actually get out to do their work? they were certainly doing it in advance. it's worth noting, we have the mayor of tampa up next, and there is a dire warning from the city of tampa from her. take a listen. for moms, from centrum. ♪ this new mom ♪ ♪ here i go ♪ ♪ i am strong and brave i know ♪ ♪ with a little time for me ♪ ♪ no doubt i will get thrhrough ♪ ♪ loving me is loving you ♪ ♪ new from centrum. the women's choice multivitamin brand. ♪ ♪ wake up, gotta go! c'mon, c'mon. -gracie, c'mon. let's go! guys, c'mon! mom, c'mon! mia! [ engine revving ] ♪ ♪ my favorite color is... because,t's like a family thing! [ engineevving ] ♪ ♪ made it! mom!

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with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. ♪ you are looking at live pictures of the onslaught of hurricane idalia, which has made landfall in the past 20 minutes. the strong storm, a category 3 storm, sustained winds of more than 120 miles per hour. we are watching that storm come onshore there in florida. i want to go now to our affiliate reporter from wkmg who was in perry, which is about 20 minutes from where the storm made landfall. listen.

>> reporter: just the wind is changing just a little bit to where we were dry standing under this overhang even just a few minutes ago, which is, obviously, a fair indication that the eyewall is moving through and we are starting to get the other side of it. the cars i was talking about driving by, it seems people have parked at least for the next few minutes, which is a really good idea because this is the thick of it. we are in the middle of it right now. you can hear that roar. i mean, it is the sound of a category 3-ish storm, and this is the power. when we talk about it moving through, you know, the concern is that all of this stuff flying through the air, and it is really, i mean, shooting across the ground and through the air, any of this stuff, if you're outside, so the fence just wept down. it that construction fence went

down. if you're outside, you are in the line of fire. >> there you have it from perry. again, that's about 20 minutes from where hurricane idalia made landfall. that's why you are hearing that roar of wind and seeing all of that rain. i will tell you, we are outside of the most dangerous part of this storm. we are just getting basically tropical-force winds here where i am standing in crystal river, but the storm storm surge definitely, look at, it is coming up further. when we first started, you go to basically where that boat slip is, the dock is. the water was there. it was far back from where we are. now it is all the way up. it has definitely come up about 3 feet now. it was about one when we started this morning, and it was dry just before that. all right. i want to go to the mayor of tampa, mayor jane castor, who is standing by live for us. we appreciate, ma'am, your time

in the midst of this really dangerous storm. i know that tampa has seen some serious flooding. can you tell us what the situation is in tampa right now that people need to know about? >> right. what our people need to know about, we have had some damage from the winds, downed trees, limbs, those types of things. but what we are mainly concerned with is the same thing that you are experiencing up in crystal river. we have flooding, extensive flooding on the coast. we have 126 miles of waterfront land hear in tampa, and that is only going to rise. we are at low tide. the tide is coming in. we expect that king high tide around noon to 1:00 and that's going to bring in several additional feet of water. and so the flooding that we are experiencing now is nothing compared to what we are going to see in a few hours. >> reporter: you know, that is really important to let people

know. they see where i am. they see where you are. they see a little bit of flooding and think, oh, it's starting to be light out and it's not so bad and maybe we can go out and see what happened. that's not the case at this point. it really is -- it's going to get worse, the flooding. and so people need to understand this is not over, this event is not over, even if it's not raining or very, very windy where you are. ma'am, i think you are standing in the emergency center. can you give us a sense of what happens in there as the storm is you pounding the west coast of florida and you get the information out to people? >> right. we are in our -- which was activated yesterday at 7:00 a.m. we have representatives not only from the city of tampa, but from the county, from the state. so we are prepared to address any issue that comes our way. we are right in the midst of our morning briefing, talking about the shelter capacity. we have our push crews that are

throughout our community. they are the ones that are going out to clear the roadways once the winds stop. so we're hearing from them. we're hearing from our first responders. we have three bridges that connect hillsborough county with pinellas. currently, two of those are closed and probably will be closed until 5 or 6:00 this afternoon. we have our islands both harbor and davis islands, and davis islands are inaccessible right now, unless you have got a boat. so those are the issues that we're dealing with. and communicating to residents to let them know that that water is going to continue to come in. so we appreciate your efforts to inform our residents. >> reporter: madam mayor, i am a floridian. i am a florida gator. i needed to mention that. sorry if you went one of the other schools here, which i

shall not mention. but i love the people of this state and the beauty of this state. there is a reason people live in places like tampa and st. pete because it is beautiful. unfortunately during hurricane season it is extremely dangerous and people need to listen to you and folks from emergency management not to go out, even though it is quite beautiful seeing the storm come through. it is still extremely dangerous. it can be perilous. in that storm surge, you can't stop that. you can't stop that. your body can't take that kind of pressure when the water is being swept in. so people need to be really cognizant. let's just mention again how important it is. two of the bridges there that connect pinellas county with hillsborough county have been closed. you just heard that from the mayor of tampa. thank you, ma'am. thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us and let people know exactly what is going on there in your community that i know you live in and you love. appreciate you. >> thank you. thank you very, very much. it's paradise with the exception

of hurricane season, and people need to pay attention to mother nature because she wins every single time. >> reporter: every single time. thank you so much, madam mayor. i am going to toss it back to my colleague, phil mattingly, in the studio. >> you know, sidner, i appreciate getting in the florida gaetz. i am surprised you got through 4 1/2 hours without mentioning the florida gators. >> reporter: wohy wouldn't i don't know where you come from. the ohio state? i'm sure i will get a lot of hate mail. whatever. >> me, too. great reporting. great work. great interview with important messages particularly now there has been landfall and we have seen what landfall brings and is continuing to bring, including here in steinhatchee. about 20 miles away from where lachl took place, the direct landfall in keaton beach. the building there, they are half underwater tat this point. we are going to be going to our

correspondent bill weir in steinhatchee when we come back. also checking in a little bit more inland in tallahassee. we have reporters up and down the west coast of florida telling you all about what is happening as this category 3 storm, hurricane idalia, which made landfall about an hour ago, and now when you listen to local officials like the tampa mayor that sara was just talking to, very real concern about the surge, flooding, winds, about the aftermath of what will be moving through and is expected to move through as a hurricane up into georgia overcoming hours. stay with us. pano ai chooses t-mobile for business for 5g solutions...

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♪ welcome back to our continuing breaking news coverage of the landfall of hurricane idalia, the category hurricane that made landfall about an hour ago 20 miles away from the pictures you are seeing right now in steinhatchee. it is in the big bend region that was expected to be hit, and press sented storm to land in that region over the course of the last really more than a century. i want to go right now to cnn's bill weir. he is live from steinhatchee.

bill, you have been keeping us updated throughout the course of the morning. what are you seeing right now on the ground? >> reporter: well, phil, we are really watching the rapid rise of the steinhatchee river. give you perspective, those buildings down there, that's the marina, this is a little harbor area here along the river, we were doing our morning live shot standing on the banks of the river down there. it is now completely overcome the road here, and we are watching -- we have another camera up high that we can show you, a zoom shot of the debris now floating up river, including huge floating marinas. these are on floats and they slip their moorings and we have watched entire docks wash by with sailboats still attached. and the folks who run the place here, we are the river inn motel, they are really or eid about friends much theirs who stayed.

in particular, there was a sailor who stayed on his sailboat just around the corner. there is a causeway just around the corner i don't know if you can peek around the corner and give them a perspective. to the right, there you can start to see some of the docks that are piling up along the river there. be careful, ed. watch that wind. fords we are taking shelter behind the one motel wall here much we have a cinderblock construction. we were fortunate enough to have shelter in this wind right now. but, wow, it's come up fast. we heard of the six-foot storm surge that hit here in 2016. there were worries this could be twice that. we talked to some local business owners who were completely terrified. what that means in terms of insurance. this state is going through such a crisis, this is the third major hurricane to make landfall in 12 months. and so even if you don't live anywhere near the big bend area, everybody in in state will feel

the storm. in their wallets, as essentially there is now a hurricane tax for living in the state. the risks are so great now that the last insurer is asking for a big rate hike. those are worries for these folks who live in these areas for another day. but i'll tell you, you hear it again and again, i didn't know water could rise that fast, and we are seeing it happen, play out in real time here. phil. >> all right, bill weir. again, for context, where bill was at the start of this morning versus where he is now. you look at the structures that his photojournalist is showing. this is moving very, very fast, rising very, very quickly in an area that doesn't have lot of history of storms of this scale. we will check back with bill throughout the course of the morning. i want to toss it back over to sara sidner. what are you seeing at this point? >> reporter: we are getting another one of those gusts.

this is the story of the day. i want to quickly tell you it that we just learned some information here. what you are seeing now is low tide. low tide. the water has come up about 3 or 4 feet, actually probably more like 4 feet at that point. they are saying that this may get up to 9 feet. when might that happen? when is there a possibility this will get really nasty, other than, like, right now? it will get dangerous at high tide at 4:00 or 4:30 in the afternoon. we are by no means in the clear yet here in crystal river. and we are just getting tropical-force winds. we are not even getting the strong winds, the category 3 winds of hurricane idalia. we will check back with our reporters up and down the coast of florida, the west coast of florida, and we will be right back. you should watch your spending honey. i'm saving with liberty mutual, mom. they customize your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. check it out,

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breaking news that the landfall of hurricane idalia the category 3 major storm continues, you are looking at two pictures right now, steinhatchee and perry florida where you are seeing the effects of a storm that just made landfall in one of the central two areas where it hit directly. we've been covering this throughout the course of the morning up and down the gulf coast of florida but this big bend region where landfall was made, very real concerns about the storm surge, about the wind, about what may be coming in the hours ahead, even in the wake of landfall, people in the region being told to stay indoors, hunker down in the words of florida governor ron desantis don't do anything dumb if you are in that region right now. very real risks even as the storm passes over. and i want to get back to sara sidner who has been on the ground, watching this and reporting on this throughout the course of the morning.

sara? >> reporter: it has been five hours out in the same spot. with he did that so we could show you what that storm surge is starting to look like in crystal river. you are no the seeing the effects right now because one of the bands has not made it on shore here where we are. we are only getting tropical storm force winds and yet the storm surge is supposed to be enormous. we are seeing just a little of it. this is basically a low tide and we're seeing at least 4 feet of water sort of coming up. now, we were right on the water so that's where you're seeing it and it's not flooding the rest of the city of crystal river, however, there is going to be about 4:30, that's going to be the height of this event for this particular park. we are 50 miles from where the storm made landfall and 80 miles from me, that is where we find derek van dam. you can see up and down the west coast, here we're getting another band of wind -- up and down the west coast there are

differing variations of what this storm is doing to the population there, to the buildings, to the water, but everyone is going to feel this in some way, some worse than others. it is by no means over yet just because the storm has made landfall. let me toss it over to derek, he is in the thick of the storm surge there in tampa. >> reporter: yeah, share ration that's really the nature of hurricanes, right? it's all the water that goes up the nooks and crannies of the shoreline where it has pushed the water into those little areas. we're standing on bay shore boulevard and i think this is notable so i'm going to mention it, i've seen several bystanders, people from the community who have come out to take pictures of this particular flooded thoroughfare, this is a main artery for tampa, which is directly over my right shoulder, why that's significant is because we know that bay shore boulevard floods in a rainstorm, for instance, but this is storm surge and unfortunately we're in low tide at the moment and

according to the mayor, which we had on the show just a few moments ago, the worst is still yet to come. have a listen to what she had to say just a few moments ago. >> what we are mainly concerned with is the same thing that you're experiencing up in crystal river, we have flooding, extensive flooding along our coast right now, we have about 126 miles of waterfront land here in tampa and that is only going to rise. we are at low tide, the tide is coming in, we we get that king high tide around noon to 1:00 and that's going to bring in several additional feet of water. >> reporter: that's really a symphony of cataclysmic events that are coming together to create the storm surge. super moon, high tide, inland flooding and a surge of water from tampa bay working together to create what you see behind me. the worst is still to come.

sara? >>. >> reporter: that is a reality. derek van dam, thank you. i am live from crystal river, florida, the home of the beautiful manatee. things are going to get worse as far as flooding but i want to send it back to phil. >> thank you for your and derek's great coverage. we ever going to hand the baton off but the special coverage does not stop. hurricane idalia it continues on "cnn news central" starting right now. how w white do you think your teeth really are? let's try the tissue test. ooof, still yellow. whitening toothpaste can only do so much. there's tohpaste white, and there's crest 3d whitestrips white. much whiter! crest.

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david: i'm david goldberg, a bilingual elementary school teacher and president of the california teachers association. as we start a new school year, there's something new happening in california's public schools. jessie: they're called community schools. david: where parents and families, students and educators are making decisions as one. damien: it's a real sense of community. leslie: we saw double-digit gains in math, in english, and reading scores. david: it's an innovation that's transforming our public schools. narrator: california's community schools: reimagining public education. we are tracking some major breaking news this morning. the worst of hurricane idalia is now striking florida as an extremely dangerous category 3