complying with the -- with what officials are saying? >> they really are. and a lot of the residents are just kind of starting to venture out of their houses to assess some of this damage. but many of them did stay in. they were adviced that even if you think the brunt of this is past, you got to stay in your house and give crews time to cut some of the trees away and clear some of the power lines. you can't emphasize enough how dangerous these power lines are. it's dangerous to walk around here. >> thank you so much. appreciate that. and president biden is expected to speak on hurricane idalia in the next hour. we're going to take you there when it happens. stay with us for "cnn news central" which starts right now. ♪

our breaking news coverage of hurricane idalia continues. the storm is moving quickly across southern georgia as a category 1. and idalia is so massive, we're talking 250 miles of the southeast right now being hit all at once. the city of savannah now bracing 3 to 5 feet of storm surge expected there. and officials are warning conditions are going to rapidly deteriorate very soon. right now, search-and-rescue operations are under way as the catastrophic storm surge on florida's gulf coast is actually still rising in some areas. the big bend region, that curve in florida's corner there, seeing the worst impact after the storm made landfall as a category 3. and we're getting some stunning new video from keaton beach. it's showing the moments as the eye of the storm hit and this is some of the stunning aftermath. a home completely destroyed. the walls and the roof ripped off. you can see a bed inside of the house. florida officials say two people

were killed in two separate car accidents during severe storm conditions as well. >> in perry, florida, as the storm hit, winds topped 120 miles per hour. this woman caught the moment a tree fell right on her home. have a listen. >> oh, my gosh. no! it's okay, it's okay. it's okay. it's okay, it's okay. >> yeah, that could be genuinely dangerous. right now we have reporters covering all angles -- let's begin in gulf port with carlos suarez. tell us what you're seeing there in the wake of this. >> yeah, we're about a half-hour drive outside of the tampa bay area. we have been trying to get to this part of pinellas county the

entire morning, but we were unable to crossover from the tampa bay area. because the bridges have been closed. one bridge has reopened and so we were able to get out to gulf port. as you can see around me, this is what it looks like to be in this part of pinellas county right now. the flooding goes all along the coastline out here. you can see where all of this water was just pushed in by this hurricane as it made its way offshore here and made its way north of where we are. i spoke with gulf port's mayor earlier today. he told me that right now the city didn't see a lot of wind damage, but they are still trying to figure out exactly what the flooding situation is going to look like over the next couple of hours because all of this water right now is basically sitting here. you still have high tide includes about to move in around 2:00, 2:30 in the tampa bay area, and then we still have several more hours, more rain has started to move in. as you can imagine, crews, emergency officials out here tell us that until some of this

water recedes, they're not going to be able to get a true grasp of just how much flooding damage is out here. this part of pinellas county was one of the two mandatory evacuation orders that went out yesterday. that order is still very much in effect. though, again, in the last couple of hours, one of the bridges that connects hillsboro county which is home to the tampa bay area has reopened which means folks can crossover from pinellas county here as well as hillsboro county. as you can see, the folks out here are dealing with all of this flooding. it will be several more hours before some of this water eventually recedes. i don't know if -- jerry, if you can go to your right here. you can see what we've been taking a look at. some folks have taken to some kayaks to get up and down this part of the boulevard up here. this is a pretty popular part of

town. it's lined by businesses, restaurants and bars. a lot of these places of course closed yesterday in anticipation of this storm. but, guys, as you can see by -- see here behind me, the folks here are still very much waiting to dry out. guys. just the kind of surge and flooding that folks were warning about. >> brian todd is in tallahassee, florida, right in the cross hairs of this. what have you seen in the wake? >> reporter: well, jim, as soon as the brunt of the storm passed, we kind of fanned out to some of these neighborhoods and there's a lot of damage on the streets. i don't need to tell you. i can show you this. this is a pine tree with a lot of spanish moss. this thing was uprooted, crashed down and here's a look at the danger involved. it hit a bunch of power lines. some of them are down, some are on the street.

walking around these things, it's dangerous. taking us over here by the fence, look at this, look at the root system here, a wide root system. it's completely uprooted. luck i, it missed this house. here's the homeowner. this happened a few hours ago. can you tell us -- let me swing around here. can you tell us, what did you see, what did you hear? >> we didn't really hear anything. there was a lot of wind and the debris probably flying on the outside. but, you know, we came out and we looked because the power was gone. and my husband said to me, he said, oh, my world, the pine tree is down. and i said, wow! i said, okay, let's get that cleaning. >> you have a positive and cherry attitude. how do you look at this in the broader perspective of things?

it missed your house, right? >> and i'm grateful for life. we kept in prayer and meditation, you know, and hoping for the best. because at least we have life. we're grateful for that. >> and you have your kids. one of your children lives with you. >> yes, and she's safe. my husband is safe. there are people worse off, so i'm grateful. >> thank you. it was nice of you to talk with us and good luck in getting all of this taken care of. again, you've got people over here assessing damage in their yard. there's people down there. it's dangerous just to walk around here. interestingly enough, she and her husband thought that i was the insurance claim adjuster when i first approached them a short time ago and i'm sorry to disappoint them. hopefully the adjuster is on their way. >> henceforth -- >> we were talking to the tallahassee mayor there and he was talking about the trees as being a risk factor. just what we're seeing. >> i may call you the adjuster from now on when i see you in the bureau. i want to get to chad meyers at the cnn weather center.

that's a big part of the story here is all the insurance claims and how some of those insurance companies are no longer going to be insuring some of these areas or they've already pulled out. you're taking a look at where this storm is continuing to track. tell us what you have your eye on here. >> it is right now in southern georgia, just moved near vadalia, georgia. the wind is still coming off the water here. the surge may not go down for awhile. if you are at this point in time still kind of getting to high tide, the water could still be going up. the opposite of it is happening on this side where, savannah, you're getting wind blown up the savannah river. this is the storm itself right now. 80 miles per hour. rarely do we ever get a hurricane in georgia. crossing state lines from florida. but there you have it. and then back out here toward

the east by thursday, things begin to calm down. this is caught in warm air. there's a lot of warm air out here, a lot of humid air, this thing isn't winding down as fast as sometimes they do. there's the center of circulation right now. you can also see some of the circulation -- there is valdasta. a lot of rainfall here. still some flooding going on. and i think that flooding will be for many, many hours because it's rained for so long. back out there, power outages everywhere. it's going to take a long time to get the trees off the power lines. rainfall could be up to 6 more inches. that will cause more flooding in the heaviest areas. so this is what we're dealing with today. we're not dealing with a cat 4 anymore. but it's still going to have its problems here for many people here across the southeast. >> we talked a lot yesterday

about the danger of storm surge. do we have a sense now of whether it met the worst expectations? i don't think we do. because we don't have buoys or tattle tales there. we're going to have to wait and see and see where water lines are on buildings and trees. the worst that i could find right now is about ten feet. that's basically -- you know, they said 10 to 15. you're in the ballpark. that's not where the core surge would have been. it would have been north of that one location we have at cedar key and on up toward steinhatchee. we don't have those numbers because there aren't elevation buoys to tell us just yet. this will be man on the ground trying to find out those numbers over the coming days. >> we're waiting right now. a briefing at the white house just started. we're waiting to hear deann ch chriswell, the fema director, about what they're dealing with.

as you're looking at georgia, this is still continuing. what do you think at this point? what are some of your questions right now as fema is looking forwards this becoming a big flooding event a little further inland with georgia? >> right. it's the onshore flow that we still have, even for charleston. just had a 58-miles-per-hour gust on jekyll island which is a barrier island in georgia. the wind is still pushing water up. we're still seeing people, especially along the east coast here. we are still water lines going up and up and up. especially as we talk about these king tides that we've had. the supermoon. the moon is 18,000 miles closer to the earth right now. 18,000 miles closer than normal. that's a 5% extra pull. if you look at the moon, you'll notice that it looks big. that is what we're seeing with this supermoon. that makes bigger tides. about one foot on where you should have been with these king

tides. >> chad, thank you so much for that. let's go to the white house now where we are listening to the fema director. >> made landfall early this morning. while we were in there, the president contacted governor desantis to let him know that the federal family continues to be there to support him. the governor expressed that all of his needs are met currently and the president reiterated that if anything is needed from the federal government, we will be able to support and we have over 1,000 personnel currently deployed, prepared to support not just florida but all of our states that are in the path as needed. while i was in there, the governor also -- or the president directed me to travel immediately into the area and i will be traveling later this afternoon to join governor desantis tomorrow to do assessments and see firsthand what the impacts from this storm are. and i can report back to the president exactly what i see, what we think the needs might be and where the federal family can continue to assist. before i touch more on hurricane

idalia, i want to address the second reason that i'm here at the white house today. today i will also join president biden alongside his cabinet and agency officials who are supporting the response and the recovery efforts on the ground in hawaii. as we continue to help the people of maui rebuild and recover over the long term. the whole -- this whole-of-government approach is what is needed to get the right resources to the people of maui, the resources and the assistance that they need and that they deserve. back a little bit to what we know so far on hurricane idalia. while it is still too soon to assess the total damages, we know that the storm made landfall as a category 3 which means over 120-mile-per-hour winds and up to 10 inches of rain in some areas. peak storm surge in some places along the coast, it has peeked right now, but it could surpass, once they pressure over 15 feet of storm surge. we'll get exact numbers as

they're able to go in and assess what the total storm surge was. and, in fact, idalia is the strongest storm to hit this part of florida, to make landfall in this part of florida in over 100 years. but fema and the entire biden/harris administration, we were prepared and ready to support the needs of this tomorrow. as i mentioned, we have actually over 1500 federal responders that are on the ground in the affected area. this includes over 300 personnel from fema as well as over 500 urban search and rescue personnel ready to support any of the state's request. as of 7:30 this morning there are nearly 300,000 customer outages for power in florida and we do expect those numbers to continue to rise as the storm passes through and goes into georgia and we'll see power outage numbers for georgia, south carolina and perhaps north

carolina. our partners at the u.s. army corps of engineers are prepositioned to support power restoration and they have over 30 generators that are prestaged. the utilities are preparing for storm impacts and the state anticipates a total of about 30,000 to 40,000 linemen in florida to begin to assist in the power restoration efforts. people that are still in the storm's path, however, as you heard, they should not venture out in the storm and remain sheltering in place if your local officials are telling you to do so. however, if you are in trouble and you need assistance, please call 911. as you do go out, do not wade in the water. do not drive through flooded roads and streets. just remember, turn around, don't drown. we see so many fatalities after the storm passes.

we want to make sure that everybody is taking the right precautions to keep themselves safe. and as always, please continue to listen to your local officials as this storm continues to pass over georgia currently and into south carolina. please check on your friends and your family and your loved ones, especially older adults and people living with disabilities to see if they have any needs. in closing, i want to remind people this is still very much an active situation. remnants of the storm are still affecting florida as we speak. the storm is over georgia and moving into south carolina. people there and in the carolinas will continue to experience impacts throughout the day today and possibly into the weekend. again, fema is well postured with our federal partners to support floridians during this time of need and stands ready to support other affected states as needed. with that, i can take any questions. >> thank you.

administrator, what are you most concerned about over the next day or two since you just said it's too early right now to assess the extent of damage in florida. >> yeah, my biggest concern is those people who chose not to evacuate and i know that our local first responders, the heroes that are out there in those local communities, are doing an amazing job already of going into the areas where people did not evacuate and helping to get them to safety. i think that is our priority through the day today is to make sure everybody is safe after the storm has passed. as we go into the next few days, we're going to want to assess what the total amount of damage is and see what immediate needs need to be put forth in order to start the recovery process. >> administrator, thank you so much. could you just take us a little bit into that briefing that you had with the president today. what is he most concerned about, what was he most focused on and any other direction he gave to you other than to fly down to florida. and you said that governor desantis is satisfied with the federal response. doesn't need anything additional.

was there anything else discussed on that call? >> yeah, the president's main concern is making sure that we are bringing everything that we have into support these states as they're having immediate response or life-saving needs or beginning to start their recovery process. i think it's important that our governors know that we are ready and postured to bring in all federal resources to support any of their life-saving and life-sustaining needs in the future. the conversation was reiterating the fact that we already have over 1500 personnel there in the area to be able to support and the governor currently has no unmet needs. but as we begin to assess, as the government assesses and as i get on the ground tomorrow to assess, we'll see what additional needs might be there and if any of those resources need to be employed or move more into the area. >> has the president spoken with the governors of georgia or

south carolina? >> i think he was preparing to speak to them. >> to what extent do you attribute climate change as a cause of this storm or the other weather events that we're seeing over the last weeks and months. >> i'm not going to attribute the cause of this storm. what i can say the that we are seeing an increase in the number of severe weather events. and what we say with this storm, as we have seen with several of your hurricanes is that they're intensifying more rapidly due to the elevated heat of the water temperature in the gulf or in the pacific or weather it's in the atlantic. these storms are intensifying so fast that our local emergency management officials have less time to warn and evacuate and get people to safety. this is something that we have to take into consideration as we build or preparedness plans, as our local communities build their preparedness plans on how they're going to communicate and prepare their communities for the types of storms that they're going to face in the future.

>> reporter: secondly, if you have any sense or is it too early now to say what the cost of recovery will require or will be? >> it's far too early to even estimate what the cost is. it's still unsafe in many parts to go out. that's what's going to happen over the next several days is to get a good understanding on an initial estimate on what the amount of impact to these communities has been. >> reporter: just to follow on that with what you've seen so far, how long do you think it will take to get that full assessment and understand the costs of the recovery efforts. >> we have rapid assessment teams that have been prepositioned, ready to go out as soon as it's safe to do so. those are personnel that will integrate in with the state personnel to see what the damages are. but we also use technology. right? we use aerial imagery and satellite technology and our geospatial information to get a better idea so we don't have to physically put people out there and allows us to make these decisions quicker than in the

past. it will take several days to get a full understanding of what the initial damage assessment is, but it will take longer to get the full picture of the total amount of impact to these communities. >> yesterday you had said that the disaster relief fund was running low with what we've seen with this storm so far, the maui fires. do you think there's enough funding, are you confident that there's enough if there's an extreme weather event in the next month? >> i directed my personnel to implement media needs funding and that prioritizes the remaining funding to support those life-saving efforts. i believe through this effort we have plenty of funding to be able to support our ongoing efforts in maui as well as this event, to include florida, georgia, south carolina as needed. but we're monitoring it closely. every day we're looking at what the cost of these storms are as we approach the end of this fiscal year and if we have another storm, we're going to have to closely monitor what impact that's going to have and any other actions we might have

to take. >> thank you for being here. just getting a little bit down the road, these take weeks, months to recover. fema's involvement will go on for a long time. when there was a government shutdown, fema had to fur long it's nonessential staff right now. what potential impact would a government shutdown have on fema's ability to care for those in both maui and in florida? >> i mean, we always want to take account to what our personnel are doing and how we're using our personnel to support these events. a government shutdown does not impact our personnel that are funded through the disaster relief fund. they're able to continue operating all of the immediate efforts that continue to go on and we also for our other staff, can designate our emergency essential personnel to support any life-saving efforts. and so we have plans in place as we have gone through this before on how we would staff our agency

to continue to support those efforts. >> reporter: if i can follow-up about the assistance that was provided to those in maui. $700 in payments. given the cost of living in the lahaina community, is anything being done right now to try to raise that cap, that $700 figure for those who are there? >> the $700 figure of critical needs assistance is really just that amount of funding for some of the very immediate needs that individuals have. every year the main part of our assistance which is our individual and household program adjusts annually based on inflation. this year it's $41,000 of a cap that individuals can get. that will get raised after the fiscal year. i don't know what that number is yet. but we adjust that main portion of the funding that goes to individuals annually based on inflation. >> reporter: 700 is it for now, but they can pursue. but they're on their own until they get access to the further

assistance. >> and we already have -- i think it was 12,000 individuals that registered for assistance in maui. and somewhere over $15 million that's out on the street, that number could be higher right now from that other program. >> thank you. >> reporter: i know that you and the governor and local officials have all told people they need to get out of the way of the storm. my first question is, are you satisfied that people heeded those calls both from you and local and state officials? secondly, you mentioned the search and recovery teams that are deployed and ready to go. what's your assessment so far on what those needs look like if people are sort of stranded right now? >> so on the first question, many people did heed the warning, but unfortunately, many did not. we're getting reports of people who chose to stay and they're getting calls into the local first responders to come in and assist them. if anybody needs assistance,

they should call 911 and the first responders will come in and help. as far as the entire footprint of those resources that are available, it's a combined effort, recognizing the capability that the state already has with all of their resources and we have additional resources that are integrated in with that operation. if we need to immediately augment, we have resources that are ready to deploy as soon as requested without hesitation and without interruption. >> is it clear yet how many people may be stranded? >> i don't have a number on how many, no. >> reporter: from the assessment, what would you say are the most damaged areas and what was the response from the population in those areas to the government instructions? >> i would say that initial reports are in that big bend area that have had the greatest impact. they experienced the greatest amount of storm surge, they experienced the greatest wind speeds. when we do get out to start assessments, that would be -- my anticipation of where we would experience the greatest amount

of damage and impact across florida. >> how are people responding in those areas? >> i think many people did heed the warnings and there was a lot of public messaging put out there to let people understand that the danger is not just the cone of the hurricane, but it's the storm surge and the water which is causing the most fatalities in these events. but, again, many people did not as we are hearing about our first responders going into support rescuing people from their homes that are now stranded. >> way in the back. >> reporter: on the immediate needs funding, i'm curious if you have recognized the potential long-term ongoing recovery efforts that could be at risk here? >> if i understand that -- long-term recovery efforts based on right now or what it looks like going into the next fiscal year? >> reporter: going into the next fiscal year. which ones are at risk here if you do not get the funding you need. >> what immediate needs funding

does, the work does not stop. typical projects continue to go under way. our longer-term recovery projects for a variety of disasters that we've experienced over the year. the obligation or the reimbursement of the funding of those is delayed into the next fiscal year. if it gets delayed into the next fiscal year, then that just starts us out at a smaller balance of what we had anticipated our needs would be for fiscal year '24. >> reporter: are there any ongoing efforts that would be at risk if it comes to that. >> the work itself does not stop. it's the funding that just gets delayed into the next fiscal year. >> last question. >> reporter: there's still a lot of questions among officials in maui and lahaina and across hawaii about who is in charges in the hours that the fire burned and the hours after. you're a local emergency management official now at the federal level, how do you assess

how officials there responded? are there lessons to be learned for other communities? is your agency prepared to work with congressional republicans if they launch investigations as they say they will? >> again, i was not there during the response and so i would be out of line to assess how they responded during the time because i did not experience what they were experiencing. what the federal government does is we come in and support their efforts and that's exactly what we did and we will continue to support their recovery and their rebuilding efforts as they move forward. >> will you briefed by fema authorities in hawaii that would have been working in those officials. >> what i was briefed on throughout the time is my regional administrator bob fenton happened to be in oahu for a meeting and he was giving us updates as to the spread of the fire and what the population was impacted and the potential federal rouesources that would

needed to support the initial response and the ongoing recovery efforts. >> reporter: and republicans want you or others to testify about what went on in hawaii -- >> i'm happy to testify on what the federal role was in this process. >> thank you, everybody. >> thank you. >> we've been listening to the fema administrator who gave a number of important updates on the track of idalia. saying 300,000 customers without power. that number expected to rise. army corps of engineers, as well as thousands of line workers being deployed, but the expectation, it's going to be sometime before it's done. he reiterated orders that if you are under a shelter-in-place order, to continue to abide by that and call 911 if you're in danger. of course, the advice they often share in the wake of events like this which is don't drive into the water. that the danger remains, flooding remains.

there's the saying, turn around, don't drown. because the storm may have passed or the worst of it, but the danger has not. >> and we see that time and again which is i think people think, i've weathered it. but sometimes the danger comes in the wake of the storm. don't wade in the water, don't drive in the water if you're in the path of this storm. stay inside. and she's going to be heading to florida today under the direction of the president where she will be consulting with governor desantis, obviously, making sure that the federal needs are going to be provided there in florida. with us right now is nikki r rutger. she's a resident and business owner not too far from where this storm hit. some of the biggest storm surge that we have seen here, some devastating images coming out of this area, catastrophic

flooding. and you did evacuate, which you don't normally do, just to be clear here. but this was a different kind of storm. tell us what you've been hearing about the impact there. >> well, the pictures state everything. i have -- i was raise there had and i lived in the orlando for 35 years, i would leave there. my father was a fisherman. all their money was in the water. they trailer boats now which they didn't do years ago. i have a neighbor who has been there forever and many cousins who have lots of money invested in cedar keys and their clams. we're the largest clam-producing zip code in the country and their livelihood -- they never leave. they were leaving this time and

they're kind of my barometer as far as i need to go too. and i left. >> yeah. well -- >> if that makes sense. >> i hear you, nikki. this is jim sciutto. oftentimes in these storms you do hear of folks who don't listen to the warnings and stay behind. you know anyone who did stay behind as we show these pictures here? i can only imagine the danger that they're facing right now? >> what i do know is there's a good many older people on the island and i saw about four or five state trooper cars and when my husband was home, one of them stopped by and said that you need to evacuate and that if you do not evacuate, the fire department and ambulance, nobody was coming to save you, to rescue their lives because you didn't listen. and as far as i know, pretty much everybody left except for a few young, single 30-year-old

guys that just kind of know everything and thought they should state. >> we hear you. >> but everybody kind of left. and i plan on going back tomorrow. because i doubt they'll let you back on the island because there's a lot of damage there. i have an office uptown and i'm sure it had 3 or 4 feet of water in it. i have two houses. the water got under the house but not in the house, thank goodness. >> you are a realtor, to be clear. you sell homes there on cedar key. we were talking yesterday ahead of the storm with your neighbor, michael man, and one of the things that he was mentioning -- and we've seen this in pictures from other places which is, look, this is an older town. there's some wood construction which is beautiful, but perhaps more fragile. and we've seen the effects of that other places. is that one of your concerns?

have you heard about that when it comes to the damage? >> well, if the tide was as high as they said it was, and with that tremendous surge, uptown, the buildings are probably 100 years old. i have a 99-year-old house that is restored and all that stuff. it's not going anywhere because we repaired it correctly. but the places downtown, my office is in a very old building. i can't even tell you how old it is. it's been there since i can remember. and people older than me remember it as well. and it's not in -- it needs updating a little bit. so that would have been -- 15 foot of tide, that would have been gone. and that's what the weatherman was saying. that's one of the reasons we needed to leave because loose lumber like that, you're in

town, it's just problematic all the way around. >> listen, we're glad you're safe and as we know, you're going to have a lot to face when you go home. we wish you the best of luck when you go home drying up from all of this and recovering. >> y'all are doing a great job. thank you. i appreciate all of your work. >> thank you so much. let's bring in now the commissioner for taylor county, florida. pam, thank you so much for being with us. idalia made landfall in your county. tell us what kind of storm surges and flooding you have seen, you're seeing now and what kind of needs you have. righ >> right now i'm in town and we have not been down to the coast. i'm waiting on an aofficial as assessment from down there. i don't know what kind of surge

we had. i have heard through the grapevine that one house was destroyed for sure. other than that, i'm not sure until we get official word. we just have so many trees down. our sheriff has just asked everyone to stay put, stay off of the roads, and until they can clear some of these big trees. and then the other thing for me is, i have not been out of my driveway because we have a lot of pine trees and oak trees down in your yard and we cannot get out of our driveway until someone gets here to come them -- get them out of the way. >> yeah. we were talking -- >> as far as in town, it looks like a disaster done from the pictures i'm receiving and from the calls that i'm getting. as you said, it looks like a war zone in town. >> we heard from the mayor, your mayor yesterday talking about

the trees. the town loves the trees. part of the natural beauty there. but at risk with high winds like this. are you hearing of folks who stayed behind or were left behind who are now looking for rescue at this point? >> yes. we did have some people, the sheriff had told us that there were some people who refused to evacuate the beach area. and so when i checked in this morning with emergency management after all of this sort of passed through, they were preparing it at that time to do wellness checks. some family members had called and them to check on people. i just made a call not long ago to see if there are any reports of loss of life or anything. and so far, we don't know of any. but we have such a -- you know, our roads are just impassable, many of them. they're doing the best they can to get around to do these assessments.

>> the tree issue is a real one, pam. obviously not just for you. about 50 people staying behind. when you are you expecting the people will be able to safely return considering that there are so many trees down. >> well, right now i'm told that if you can get to the beach, that you can go. now property owners, when there's a lot of damage, the property owners have a re-entry card that they have to show because they have law enforcement blocking the roads. when we've had these hurricanes and tropical storms before, you have a lot of sightseers and we have had looters and so they try to keep all of that out and give the property owners a chance to get back in. but you know, oddly enough, we're known as the tree capital of the south. as i'm hearing all of these

reports, we have so many trees down across all the roads and i've had so many people calling me, can you give me help so i can get out. we're doing the best we can, but it's going to take awhile. >> no question. and as the fema administrator said a short time ago from the white house, if you are in trouble, please do call 911. pam, we wish you, we wish your community the best of luck in the coming hours and days and we're glad to hear that you're safe. >> thank you very much. we do continue to follow the latest on hurricane idalia. cnn crews witnessing rescues in a city just north of tampa and we're going to take you there. and we're waiting as well on remarks from president biden. he'll be talking about the storm. stay with cnn's special live coverage of hurricane idalia. . they charge you a lot. we charge you a little. they put their names on arenas..

we putut ours on my lower back. so nataturally when they annound they'd be raising their prices due to inflation, we decided to deflate our prices due to not hating you. and if this were one of their ads, they'd end it here with a "happy customer". so we'll end ours with an angry goat. oh h-ho, look at the angry goat. your brain is an amazing thing. but as you get older, it naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, even trouble with recall. thankfully, the breakthrough in prevag helps your brain and actually improves mery. the secret is an ingredien originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. [music playing] subject 1: cancer is a long journey. it's overwhelming, but you just have to put your mind to it

and fight. subject 2: it doesn't feel good because you can't play outside with other children. subject 3: as a parent, it is your job to protect your family. but here is something that i cannot do. i cannot fix this. i don't know if my daughter is going to be able to walk. i don't know if she's going to make it till tomorrow. [music playing] interviewer: you can join the battle to save lives by supporting st. jude children's research hospital. families never receive a bill from st. jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food so they can focus on helping their child live. subject 4: childhood cancer, there's no escaping it. but st. jude is doing the work, continually researching towards cures, giving more than just my child a chance at life. interviewer: please, call or go online right now and become a st. jude partner in hope for only $19 a month.

subject 5: those donations really matter because we're not going to give up. and when you see other people not giving up on your child, it makes all the difference in the world. interviewer: when you call or go online with your credit or debit card right now, we'll send you this st. jude t-shirt. you can wear to show your support to help st. jude save the lives of these children. subject 6: st. jude is hope. even today after losing a child, it's still about the hope of tomorrow, because. childhood cancer has to end. interviewer: please, call or go online right now. [music playing]

♪ (man) that looks really high. (woman) it is high. whenever you are ready. (man) are there any snakes? (woman) nope. (man) are you sure? here we go! (vo) it's time to push your limits. (man) okay. (woman) you're doing great! (man) oh, is that a buffalo? (woman) babe, that's a cow. (vo) the all-new subaru crosstrek wilderness. adventure on the edge.

we continue to track hurricane idalia crossing through georgia now after battering the big bend region of florida's gulf coast. they're experiencing serious flooding. parts of florida saw record storm surges as well as. in georgia, some counties now issuing flash flood meremergenc. the dangers are many. >> florida governor ron desantis have said that search and rescue teams have been deployed. tell us what you have been seeing there. >> i'm standing in the middle of a parking lot. you can see that water level right below my knee. we've been seeing over the last couple of hours that water level here in crystal river begin to increase and what's concerning is, we have that high tide still right around late afternoon, 4:00 p.m. the water here has gotten so deep that we've seen two boats now hit the water.

we've also seen two groups of different people be rescued, pulled out of neighborhoods in here. pulled out with their belongings. we've seen a dog be rescued alongside this group as well. they're then pulled out, u.s. highway 19 which is behind me. a lot shallower on that side. then they can get to emergency vehicles, get any other assistance that they need. but these rescues have been ongoing now for more than an hour. we expect that to continue since we can still hear in the distance these boats going up and down the street. now i am told that if water levels rise on this side of the street where i'm standing 6 more feet and cross over highway 19, homes on that side would be flooded. so many worry here as to the damage that could have been sustained all because of this surge flow. we've seen businesses been boarded up. a lot of people evacuating and leaving their homes. some that decided to hunker down

and see out the storm, now needing to be rescued alongside their belongings. in crystal, i'm ivan rodriguez. >> thanks so much, ivan rodriguez. we're going to stay in crystal river, florida, where the mayor joins us now on the phone. thanks so much for joining us. we know you have a lot to handle. what is your biggest challenge right now? >> thank you so much. we appreciate you being here in the community and highlighting the situation that we have going on. as we were concerned about, the biggest issue now obviously is dealing with the storm surge and we're right in the middle of it as we speak. some of the indicators that we're seeing right now is the water starting to recede slightly. however, high tide is not until around 4:00 p.m. with that being said, that doesn't mean the water will continue to rise until then. what we're seeing now is somewhat of a -- the water receding slightly.

so that is good news. the bad news is most of the city right now is under water. we're a low-lying area. our base elevation throughout our city is anywhere from 3 to 5 feet above sea level. and so we're experiencing a significant surge right now anywhere from 7 to 9 feet and so most of our roadways are under water. as the gentleman was just saying, there's individuals that are being rescued. we have citrus county and crystal river fire and rescue that are out. i just stepped off of an airboat a few minutes ago, went through the city. i will tell you that for the most part it doesn't appear that there are folks that are -- a lot of folks that are needing assistance right now. i think a lot of folks heeded the issue. we've been talking about it over the last few days, had a mandatory evacuation throughout the city now for 2 1/2 days. i think people were mostly prepared. but our biggest issue right now is dealing with the surge.

hoping that it starts to go down relatively soon. obviously, once the water goes down and recedes, it's dealing with all the issues that's brought about. >> it's really good news. and we're hearing this time and again that people realize this storm was different. it was going to be historic and they did decide to leave when maybe they wouldn't during other storms. but, mayor, i wonder, of course, we're still waiting as you said for high tide. when do you think it will be safe for residents to return and survey the damage. >> yes, ma'am. it's really hard to tell, it obviously depends upon how quickly that water recede and is we get folks in here with our utility to make sure it's safe from a power standpoint that, we don't have downed power lines or anything like that. as soon as the water gets -- recedes and gets where we can access the roads, we will take a look at that and then as soon as that is safe, of course, open it

back up to residents to come in. we're very obviously susceptible to tidal issues. it's not rain/water-type flooding. it's tidal. once this surge recedes, we should be able to get in there very fast. to your point, we are very fortunate. i think we're used to dealing with these types of things with storms and floods, but folks this time saw i think the severity of the storm and the track that it was taking and took it serious. i know a lot of folks throughout the city in the past may not have taken it as serious. but they did this time which was very fortunate. we got a lot of folks that got their belongings up to higher ground and that did evacuate. i think for the most part, people understood the severity of this. >> well, let's hope the water continues receding as well. that can leave damage in its way. mayor, we wish you and your community the best of luck.

>> thank you so much. we are grateful that you all are here covering us and highlighting the issues that we're going through. we really appreciate it. god bless. >> mayor, thank you. president biden set to speak here in minutes on hurricane idalia. we will bring that to you as soon as he begins. stay with us. life, diabetes. each day is a unique blend of going, doing, and living. glucerna protein smart with 30 grams of protein to help ke you moving. iquely designed with carbsteady to help manage blood sugar response. glucernabring on the day.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪ wherever you go. wherever you stay. all you need is one key. earn and use rewards across expedia, hotels.com, and vrbo. here's why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi

and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today.

we are continuing to follow hurricane idalia as it crosses through georgia after battering the big bend region of florida's gulf coast throughout this morning. both states experiencing serious flooding. parts of florida saw record storm surges. georgia, some counties issuing flash flood emergencies. you see a lot of wind damage as well. >> right now, i want to take you to a few miles from where this historic storm first made landfall in florida. wjx was on scene. >> we have made our way as close to horseshoe beach as we possibly can. this is in dixie county, florida, in the big bend. we're being told it's one of the hardest hit areas after that hurricane came through. i want to show you you have some of the search crews being escorted through the florida highway patrol is blocking this road.

this is the only road to come in and out. emergency personnel only because it's not safe. so we can see right there in this road, power lines are down. there's a lot of trees that are down. and there's significant water. this is just one of the coastal towns that got hit really hard. not just with the winds and rain, but with storm surge. i was talking with some residents who evacuated horseshoe beach. they were speaking with their neighbors say ing that the stor surge this morning was at least ten feet. it actually knocked out the live cam a ras. so they weren't able to see it past ten feet, but they are very concerned about their property and worried about their neighbors here in the area. so right now, we are working to get you a little bit closer trying to figure out the situation. i did ask a deputy if this is search and rescue. she said right now, they are just working to assess the situation and figure out what's going on and wo who may need help back there.

we'll bring you the latest for now from dixie county. >> our thanks for that. that's what authorities are doing in a number of communities, trying to assess who needs help, where the damage is. minutes from now, we are expecting an update on the strength and the forecasted track for hurricane idalia going forward. we will have the latest outlook right after this break. and as we head to break, check out how a reporter from wfts tried to stand strong during the fierce winds. >> here we go. wow. hey y david. connect with an advisor to create your personalized plan. let's find thehe right investments for your goals

okay, , great. j.p. morgan wealth management. i love my knix, i could not live without them. having period underwear makes life so much easier. i don't thini could ever go back having period underwear makes to just usingeasier. pads and tampons. just throw them in e laundry, it's super easy. k-n-i-x, knix. we, the first generation of moms to lose our kids to social media, are sick of waiting. for 25 years, there's been no new laws protecting kids online. while our children are dying. we can pass the kids online safety act. join us. join us. join us. join us. ♪ let's lead the way. heading on a family trip? nah, sorry son, prices are crazy, [son deflates] awh, use priceline. they have package deals no one else has. [son inflates] we can do it!

♪go to your happy price♪ ♪priceline♪ when you shop wayfair's labor day clearance... you get deals so big, we'll have you saying... am i a big deal? because it's a big deal when you get a big deal. wayfair deals so big that you might get a big head. because with a sale this big, you can get your dream sofa for half the price. shop wayfair's labor day clearance now. ♪ wayfair, you've got just what i need ♪

as we continue to follow hurricane idalia, cover all of its effects, we are waiting for remarks from president biden on what is proving to be an historic storm right now, hurricane idalia crossing through georgia as a category 1. it is expected to move through the state for several more hours before crossing into south carolina and pretty much wherever it's hit, it's left a trail of destruction. >> this morning it was florida getting battered resulting in it record storm surges and life-threatening wind gusts. h it did make landfall as a cot goir 3. that's the sge