do on normal types of storms. and then having major structural damage to the underlying electrical infra structure. when you have a category 5 storm hitting potentially and massive storm surge, that is going to interrupt, most likely, a lot of the underlying infra structure. when fpl and other companies are going in, some of those tasks are going to be -- you'll have to rebuild some of this stuff. so the folks in those affected areas should just understand that if it's as simple as simply just hooking up a few more power lines that's what they will do. in those areas that will have the most severe impact it will likely require to have some reengineering, to have some structural fixes and that will require manpower but it is going to take a little more time. so people understand, fpl understands how significant and important this is to get the

services back up and running. but we also understand the severity of this storm and the really, really catastrophic damage it can inflict on the coast, on the southwest coast of florida. you are starting to see power outages across the state but you are going to see way, way more over the next 48 hours. you will have millions of people without power in this state within the next 48 hours, no question. this morning kevin guthrie, our director of the florida department of emergency management has asked for additional airlift hafts and high water vehicles. approved florida's request with dual status of our national guard forces under title x to provide additional resources and forces and we're thankful for the fulfillment of that request. we have 1200 personnel for our florida department of transportation that are on stand by to perform cut and toss

operations. these guys can't work if they can't get to where they are going. and so that's the top priority for the florida department of transportation as well as florida highway patrol to clear these roads, to make sure that the bridges are safe and to really green light these operations to get back into these communities. in southwest florida, this is a lesson from irrel ma. when the storm passes teams will clean runways and resume air operations as quickly as possible. a need to bring in things like food and water via fixed wing aircraft. you want to have the runways up and running as soon as possible. some of them could be under water. there will be things that go into that, having those folks on the ground to do it will make a big, big difference. we have 5,000 guardsmen, 2,000

from other states. we have nine chinook aircraft ready to respond. jimmie has been talking about our urban search and rescue teams. there are five of them ready to go and they will be in that to commence rescue operations as soon as it's safe to do so. our florida fish and wildlife conservation committee has placed their special operations group in broward county, high water vehicles, shallow draft boats and helicopters that are ready for immediate deployment once it is safe to do so. i want to thank -- we now have total throughout the state we've got over 40,000 personnel linemen and associated personnel that are involved with rest

restoration. they are staged across the state of florida. southwest florida you'll have movement from southeast for additional surge of resources. this staging area is going to send people across the state. we'll have a catastrophic impact in southwest florida but this thing will really barrel across the state. it is going to be a strong storm. it will weaken once it gets on shore but you could end up in central florida have winds certainly gusts that would be hurricane force. it will at least be a tropical storm as it barrels across. that will cause problems with the vegetation. it will cause problems with trees. the ground is already wet based on the amount of precipitation we have. that's ripe conditions for trees to fall over. that means more power lines are down. so that's going to have a cascading effect. the most significant impacts will obviously be the landfall but you will have other impacts and why you have the folks

stageed and why you have so many people. there will be a lot of different places around the state of florida that they need to respond to . 26 states have sent us support right now. i want to thank them for their support. it is much appreciated. we have also -- i've been in contact personally and also the florida department of emergency management are in contact with the local folks in southwest florida about needs and their needs have been met. obviously once the storm hits there will be additional needs and we stand by ready to offer the support in that regard. it's very, very -- >> bill: we'll leave this for a moment. fema is briefing in washington, d.c.enter let's get the headline from there. >> the same teams, the same brave first responders that we use to help communities during covid-19. we are also tracking medical needs across florida's

hospitals, adult care facilities and dialysis centers for facilities that have evacuated and for those that have not. finally, as i told the president yesterday, this level of interagency coordination will not stop. as we prepare for the historic and catastrophic impacts that we're already beginning to see. so now with every emergency response we wouldn't be successful in meeting our mission without our partners at the american red cross. the red cross has done an incredible amount of work in preparation for hurricane ian and it is my pleasure to welcome the american red cross ceo gail mcgovern. >> thank you very much for inviting me to join you and fema and the weather service, wonderful partners and i want to thank you both. on behalf of the american red cross, our hearts are with

everyone that is in the path of hurricane ian. >> bill: a lot to track at this moment. want to get away from fema and go back to governor desantis. he has the best information right now. >> this will be one of those historic storms and it will really shape the communities in southwest florida and have a profound impact on our state. so we just ask people for their thoughts and their prayers. we know there are a lot of people that want to be helpful in a variety of ways as this goes. we'll be calling on more and more people to pitch in in a variety of different capacities. not everyone is a skilled linemen or operate special operations to go and rescue people. but some people can volunteer and help with folks who have been displaced. there will be a need for all of it as the storm goes through and we assess the damage that's been done. i'm thankful for what they're doing here with florida power and light. this is something when you are a major florida-based company you

know this is part of what you do with your business. and i'm happy that they really leaned in on this and really marshaled a tremendous amount of resources to offer the quickest and most effective response possible they can do as a company and a lot of floridians will be happy about this. the power problems won't be easy but they are committed to putting the manpower in place, spending the resources necessary to have as most successful conclusion as we can. so we are going to hear from some folks from fpl and also hear from jim bush, senior director for external affairs fpl. do you want to say a few things? >> i'm jim bush. director of external affairs for florida power and light. we want to thank governor desantis for coming out to greet the men and women who have come

to respond to hurricane ian. we have assembled a restoration workforce of more than 19,000. that includes fpl employees, contractors and men and women from partner utilities from around the country. there are more than 30 states represented here today. we have line workers who traveled in at this site from as far as texas and oklahoma, minnesota, and north dakota. all to help florida respond to this challenge. there have been many times that fpl employees have traveled to other states to help them when they were in need and now they are here to return the favor and we're very grateful for them for that. here at the lake city processing site, these men and women will be briefed on the restoration challenges ahead. we will share our work and processes for storm procedures so that everybody is on boarded and ready to go. they'll fall out across the state and be positioned at 37

work bases that are currently close to the areas that will be most highly impacted. and they will work around the clock until power is restored for everybody as quickly and as safely as possible. it won't be easy. we anticipate that there will be many downed trees and debris. perhaps tornado damage and in many areas flooding conditions throughout our service territory but these men and women will work extended hours, 16 hours days if difficult conditions. they'll work around the clock until power is restored to the last fpl customer. thank you for the emergency declaration and for all the men and women who have traveled in to help us respond to this storm. thank you. >> david. >> thank you, governor desantis. i just want to assure all of our customers that we are executing our plan. we have already deployed as the governor mentioned resources

across the entire state. we are ready to respond. also want to take the opportunity to remind our customers and the general public to keep safety top of mind. fpl, we consider safety our number one priority and we want to insure that our customers know that we are working around the clock to safely and quickly restore power to our customers and i want to assure our customers that they know that we will not stop until every customer is restored. again, thank you very much, governor. >> james. >> i want to thank governor desantis for his leadership. i spent the last few days at the emergency operations center. this storm is unbearable to watch i have a lot of faith in knowing the team he assembled that's ready to launch across the state. we've seen in tallahassee, here and elsewhere. at deo we support communities, businesses and floridians. especially true during a

disaster event like a hurricane. right now we're hosting daily calls with our private sector partners to get realtime updates on emergency supply chain inventories and business closures and other information to get floridians access to the latest information. we're sharing these updates in realtime at www .florida disaster.biz. as well as key resources before, during and after the storm. we've activated the private sector hotline. 850-815-4925. or email to efs18@d m .florida .com. we want to hear from businesses who want to help. partners including wal-mart, publix and loewes are bringing

in supplies. we're co- locating the closures and hours of these and other business essential and retailers on our map available at deo's webpage. florida disaster .biz/business open close status. many starts have dedicated pages on their web sights to find their stories specific information including publix and wal-mart. >> dana: you have had a thorough update from governor desantis and his team on the ground. we want to bring in florida senator rick scott. the former governor who led the state through hurricane ir ma in 2017. i'm sure you know very well what all they are going through and your assessment of what your state is doing. >> florida is ready for hurricanes. we have great local emergency management teams and great first responders, sheriffs, police

chiefs, mayors, a great state team and great working relationship with fema. i've been talking to all these groups over the last few days. everybody is prepared. it starts with you. you have to get yourself prepared first. now is the time you have to hunker down and be careful. this is going to impact not just southwest florida but impact the state. there will be a lot of downed power lines, you have to be careful about touching downed power lines. don't drive into water. don't get to the beaches. we have a lot of storm surge. don't use a generator unless you know how to use it. don't use power tools unless you know how to use them. we need to be careful and everybody to survive the storm. you can't rebuild a life. after ward we have to do everything to can to stay safe and take care of anybody that might have a need. >> bill: you dealt with those storms when you ran state of florida. what you said is true. we've heard that from many guests. can you think of the singular

biggest challenge when your head of state as governor when a storm is approaching like this that you try to communicate to people but it's tough, it's difficult, what would that be? >> i think it's get everybody to get engaged and take care of themselves first. have your water, have your food, have your medicine all those things. you might lose power. you might not be able to get out because of all the downed trees and everything. the state is saturated right now. you will see a lot of downed trees. the land is saturated so it means you will have a lot of downed trees and power lines. just get everybody to one, be careful before the storm and be careful after the storm. don't get out there and move -- try to move a power line. let the professionals do these. we have great rescue teams. let them do their jobs. we have great restoration teams. let them do their jobs. great companies like florida power and light that come in.

utilities work well together. fema has been -- when i was governor they were great to work with. i talked to the administrator of fema yesterday. she is committed. a class act. she does a great job. i'm sure everybody is working hard. i hope everybody takes their own responsibility and stays safe. we don't want to lose a life. >> dana: we know last night president biden and governor desantis had a chance to speak and now your senator from the state of florida. what are you looking at in terms of the federal role in order to support and help rebuild? >> the first thing is fema has to do their job. i believe they will. they will come in and provide whatever resources now. they're rushing resources to florida right now. on top of that they'll have assessment teams to try to help people with needs. my belief is each federal agency will do their job and i will be part of my responsibility is to make sure they're doing their job. i tell our sheriffs, mayors, the state team if you have any

issues i will be glad, in my years as governor and my years here build teams and relationships with people that can be helpful and it's work. >> dana: thank you so much. love to be in touch with you as florida gets ready to bear this storm. >> bill: thank you, senator. back to the ground we go now live in tampa. phil keating. we have not spoken to him in an hour. how are things now? >> the steady rains have increased the last several minutes as these bands really counter clockwise whip around and up the state. it will be happening all day long. the governor's team, emergency management team, they believe that landfall likely in charlotte county later this afternoon. charlotte, punta gorda exactly where hurricane charley slammed into it in 2004 causing widespread damage. this hurricane, category 4 ian

that could become a cat five is a lot larger and it is moving a lot more slowly than charley was. this is only moving north/northeast at ten miles an hour. with the size of it, that's why the mayor of tampa this morning is forecasting and warning everybody we could get up to 20 inches of rain because the storm is going so slowly. it will sit over the area. speaking of tampa bay, this happened five years ago during hurricane ir ma. the bay waters are now receding getting sucked out in the gulf of mexico because of the counter clockwise rotation of the still-approaching hurricane. that has made good pictures there. the tampa police department sending those out today. it's an unusual phenomenon but does happen when you get these kind of gee oh graphical conditions. 75,000 floridians now have lost

electricity. that is expected to very likely go much, much higher. it happens in every hurricane in the state of florida. that's why everyone is taught to get a week's worth of food, water and medicine so you can stay put in your house once you lose power and nothing will be open. that's the way it is covering hurricanes. at ms don't work, restaurants aren't open, everyone is basically riding it out indoors and they are waiting to get outside once the rain and wind stops to see what the damage is. everybody, of course, in the state of florida hoping for minimal damage. it does appear of the roughly 3 million floridians that were told they live in a mandatory evacuation zone to get out. it looks like a lot did. >> bill: we live on our cell phones and for a time at least a lot of people won't have access to that information and technology. thank you, phil, for that.

>> dana: hurricane ian is approaching category 5 status and expected to make landfall in a matter of hours. our coverage continues on fox news and fox weather app. >> bill: there is other news. the feds are trying to do something about it. halloween is around the corner. authorities are sounding the alarm on fentanyl packaged as candy. the message will be shared with us this morning. for appraisal or termite inspections. no upfront costs at all to get the cash you need. veterans get more at newday. about two years ago i realized that jade was overweight. i wish i would have introduced the fresh food a lot sooner. after farmer's dog she's a much healthier weight. she's a lot more active. and she's able to join us on our adventures. get started at longlivedogs.com

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>> bill: arian rapidly intensifying. the experts at fox whether, this right now is a worst case scenario for southwest florida. they are telling us the category

of storm, whether a 4, 5, 3, the large diameter of the storm the strong winds will cause a massive surge. also in the corridor winds of category 3 or 4 strength occur it could be inland. there will be massive damage to structures, without damage even outside that zone. a lot of these homes aren't built for it. we're bracing for this. we don't know where it goes, dana. we aren't sure exactly when it happens. it will happen sometimes today. >> dana: they say storm surge will require evacuations in north florida as well and possibly in georgia and south carolina along the coast there. stay tuned. we have more updates on that coming forward as well. media platforms are at the legal feud over 70 lawsuits are filed against tik tok and face books alleging they knowingly cause harm to american kids.

tik tok keeps marketing prescription drugs to kids under 18. >> dozens of new lawsuits parents are holding the social media giants responsible for major damage to their kids calling these platforms dangerous and blaming them from anxiety and depression to eating disorders and substance abuse. it is important to note, dana, in seven of these 70 plus suits the plaintiffs are parents who children have committed suicide taking aim at meta , this is followed by snap, snapchat and parent company of tik tok. the pharmaceutical journal outlook is out with an explosive report says tik tok marketed drugs as weight loss drugs to children. it is followed up with the "wall street journal" confirming these findings before tik tok ultimately pulled those videos

down from the app. right now a bipartisan bill is working its way through capitol hill spearheaded by senators blackburn and blumenthal cracking down on the very real danger posed by the apps. >> one of the things we've learned from parents is that they want a toolkit to protect their children online. many of them did not realize what was happening until the pandemic hit. they began to see that the enemy wasn't always outside the home. many times it was inside the four walls of their them and it was coming at their child off of a device. >> last year facebook whistleblower a former employee alleged the company was knowingly preying on vulnerable young people to boost their profits and said they also new girls using the app suffered from body issues and self- harm. not just a crisis at home. tik tok is now facing a $30

million penalty for breaching children's data protection. >> dana: thank you so much. president biden has started a press conference talking about nutrition and health but might be talking about the hurricane. let's listen in. >> we are on the alert florida has made for immediate assistance and long term assistance. we discussed what we've done to prepare for the hurricane, that includes dispatching hundreds of fema personel and activating thousands of national guard members and developed a search and rescue team and deployed them to multiple federal agencies and they are already on the ground and ready to help as we speak. fema pre-positioned millions of litters of water and meals and hundreds of generators. we have scheduled everything we can possibly do and we think and so do the mayors and governor. we have put up shelters. they are ready.

not sure exactly where it will hit but it is getting pretty clear. i made it clear to the governor and mayors that the federal government is ready to help in every single way possible. i will repeat what i said yesterday to the people of florida. this storm is incredibly dangerous. it is life threatening. you should obey all warnings and directions in emergency officials. don't take anything for granted. use their judgment, not yours. evacuate when ordered. be prepared. storm warnings are real. evacuation notices are real, danger is real and when the storm passes the federal government will be there to help you recover. we'll be there to help you clean up and rebuild to help you get -- florida get moving again and we'll be there at every step of the way. that's my absolute commitment to the people of the state of florida. [applause]

forgive me, i want to add one more warning. that's warning to the oil and gas industry executives. do not -- let me repeat, do not use this as an excuse to raise gasoline prices or gouge the american people. [cheers and applause] the price of oil has stayed relatively low. it kept going down. the price of gas should be going down as well. my experts inform me the production of only about 190,000 barrels of day has been impacted by the storm thus far. less than 2% of the united states daily production impacted for a very short period of time. this small, temporary storm impact on oil production provides no excuse -- no excuse for price increases at the pump, none. if gas companies try to use this

storm to raise prices at the pump, i will ask officials to look into whether price gouging is going on. america is watching, the industry should do the right thing. as a matter of fact they should move for quickly now to bring down the price at the pump. the price of gasoline is down a great deal. there is too much of a delay between the price of a barrel of gas -- oil and the price of gasoline at the pump. now to why we're all here for this historic day. >> dana: that was president biden there to do an event on nutrition and health but he wanted to tell the people of florida this storm is life threatening and encourages everyone to listen to the experts and get themselves to safety as quickly as possible. >> bill: we're on ian every hour of the day today. but there is other news. important stuff, too, we've been talking about for a couple of years now unfortunately. a former d.e.a. official warning parents to the dangers of fentanyl after connecticut law

enforcement seized 15,000 pills disguised as candy. halloween is right around the corner. d.e.a. warning the deadly rainbow fentanyl could end up inside of a candy bag of your kid. the dea administrator joins us now. tell our audience why you came to new york to deliver this message. >> first of all, we believe that thethis. we just finished a four month operational effort, 10 million fake fentanyl pills off the setst that look like real pills like oxy, or others. we look almost 1,000 pounds of fentanyl. why that's important. the work of the men and women of

d.e.a. in less than four months. it's the equivalent of 36 million potential lethal doses. >> dana: that's what you found. >> that's what we found. we know how important it is to be vigilant. we're working worldwide in 344 officers at our core operational priority right now is we know who is doing this. the two cartels and we are going after them. >> dana: how are we going after them? >> a number of things. first of all it's really important to understand that these two cartels dominate the entire supply chain from sourcing chemicals in china to producing fentanyl in mexico, making some of that fentanyl into fake pills and increasingly we see into rainbow colored pills and transporting it into the u.s. whatever means they can and selling it on social media and in other places in the u.s. then also responsible for the illicit finance and getting their profits back from the united states to mexico and to china. we have created two counter

threat teams. one on each of the cartels working worldwide. intelligence analysts and data scientists targeting the entire network. it is really important to say this. we can't just take out of the top of the network and the person on our streets. we have to do those things. we also need to essentially degrade -- >> dana: moms are really and dads are really worried their kids will end up with these bags of nerd candies and they will find their child dead. >> one of the most important things we take about. we have not seen any connection to halloween. i want to be clear if we see it i promise you have my commitment any credible evidence we'll come out and tell you. what we do see is social media. we see fake pills like the blue oxy that you just showed. rainbow pills a new tactic being used by the cartels. we have middle schoolers and high schoolers dying of fentanyl poisoning. 12-year-olds, 13 and 14-year-olds who are dying.

we're not seeing it in elementary school or halloween candy. the bottom line this is all over social media. we know it's out there. parents, we are begging families and parents to talk with their loved ones and to talk with their children. never take a pill that wasn't prescribed directly to you. help your child come up with an exit strategy. what do you do if a coach, best friend, another member of your family offers your kid a pill? what should they do? no legitimate pharmaceuticals can be sold on social media. make sure your kids know that and understand many people dying of fentanyl poisoning had no idea they were taking fentanyl. the cartels don't care. >> dana: it's weapons. it is not just pills. these feel like weapons and they're targeting the children of america. >> completely clear on this. they're targeting everyone. they are targeting every american. the more fentanyl that they can sell through, they are making

more money. >> bill: we're watching this initiative one pill can kill. we grew up with messages that came out of washington. this is the one now. good luck. >> dana: i know the d.e.a. does incredible work. we should get you the resources you need to do more. >> bill: please come back. back to the storm now. we're going back to tampa, florida now where the images we're seeing really haven't changed much. we had a drone in the air a short time ago that was in st. pete. i don't know how long the drone will be able to be in the air. ashley webster is live there. you were on the air before the sun came up this morning. where are you now and how have things changed? >> well, as you can probably tell it is starting to really kick in now. these bands of heavy rainshowers and gusty winds, i would say up to 35, 30, 35 mile-an-hour. it will only get worse from

here. the rain has been torrential for a number of hours now and we expect it to continue through into the evening and early thursday morning. to answer your question, bill, we're on the north shore looking south at tampa bay. i don't know if you can see the bay itself. something interesting. three days ago tampa was set possibly to get a direct hit. now we know hurricane ian is likely to hit further south. 60 to 80 miles. what we're seeing the water within the bay is starting to be moved outwards towards the ocean because the direction of the winds moving tampa clockwise around the storm is pushing all this water from east to west. in fact, earlier there were some shots of other areas in the bay that were absolutely dry. all the water had disappeared. it's a real sign that there is a hurricane approaching and gives you a sense of how powerful these things are. again we're probably 100 miles from the center of the storm and

we are still getting these very strong bands of rain and wind. i do think the big story here, there is a storm surge in place. we're in evacuation area here. a few people trying to get shots. we have police patrols constantly telling them they're in an evacuation zone and should go home. i think power will be an issue. last report around the state and certainly to the south of us 193,000 people now without power. that number is expected to go much higher as it goes throughout the rest of today and into tomorrow. right now we're just at the beginning of hurricane ian. back to you. >> bill: good to have you down there. back with you momentarily. ashley webster in st. pete's. >> dana: lauren is live in st. petersburg. tell us when you're seeing there. >> we are on st. pete pitch a little way from ashley. police are trying to check any one trying to come over here

for a permit. you can't be here unless you have that permit. they stop people from going across the bridge. at one point they shut down the bridge to come over here. the hotel we're in is only some employees and then us. the place is a ghost town at this hour. we are just getting some rain, light winds so far. the worst of it expected to continue to come in over the next few hours and expect conditions to continue to deteriorate. looking at the water visibility starting to go away noticing more wind than we have throughout the morning. the rain starting to pick up. so this place bracing for somewhere between 18 to 15 inches of rain. police have told people if you have not evacuated not is the time to hunker down. we got emergency alerts on our phone saying leave now if you are in the evacuation zone. they are expecting pretty big storm surge. 4 to 6 feet and all that rain very dangerous, dana, for

flooding. >> dana: thank you so much. we appreciate it. >> bill: nicole valdez is live in tampa as we move up the coast. nicole, good morning. >> good morning. more than 100,000 already without power across the state of florida as we're starting to see the effects of hurricane ian here in tampa bay. we're seeing more rainfall. an interesting impact of this hurricane over my shoulder here you are starting to see the water get sucked out from the shore and further into the bay. i want to explain what is going on as you see that image over my shoulder. waterways are doing a reverse surge. that's what's occurring. water drains out and that's when it is exceptionally susceptible to the giant storm surge we've been warning people about for the last several days. when that water comes back towards the shore, that is when you'll start to see it go over that situation. so over onto a roadway, over

potentially into homes here and when things start to get dangerous and why governor desantis for the last several days has been begging many in tampa bay to get out before we started to see these impacts. unfortunately today and right now he says it is too late to do that. if you are still in your home you should be hunkering down and preparing for the storm hoping you have enough food, maybe something to eat if there is actually going to be no power, which looks like is already the case for many. we have seen flooding in other areas of florida already. the national hurricane center again emphasizing the potential risk of catastrophe with this storm. it is only a matter of time until we start to see that happen, bill. >> bill: thank you for that nicole. back to you in tampa. fox forecast center, dana, now reports it expects landfall between cape corral, florida and

sarasota florida between 2:00 and 4:00. cape corral florida is around the fort myers area. if you were to draw a line to the northeast up towards sarasota, it is about 70 to 75 miles. so that's where our forecast center at the moment is able to best pinpoint what we believe will be the first landfall in about three hours and 15 minutes. we have that and we'll get more right after this break here on hurricane ian after this. the new subway series menu. the greatest sandwich roster ever assembled. for more on the new boss, here's patrick mahomes. incredible - meatballs, fresh mozzarella and pepperon- oh, the meatball's out! i thought he never fumbles.

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>> bill: we're a few moments away getting an update of the details on ian an how it has changed over the past three hours. jason fraser from fox weather has an update. >> this is an intensifying storm. when we first signed on at about 4:45 on fox weather ian had max winds of 125 miles per hour. what is happening over the last three hours is we've been seeing further intensification. right now it has max winds at 155 miles per hour. look at the eye and how close it

is to the fort myers area. here is what we expect over the next couple of days. right now it is category 4 and we do anticipate that maybe, just maybe, it might be upgraded to a category 5 storm within the next couple of hours here. but it is expected to make landfall somewhere between fort myers and tampa later this afternoon and clipping orlando and moving into savannah and charlotte sometime this weekend. bill. >> bill: jason fraser watching that thank you. the national hurricane center updates about every three hours. next update should be 11:00 eastern time. sometimes it comes out a few minutes before that. that bit of information will tell us whether or not the storm has slowed down or continuing at its current pace. >> dana: we have martha maccallum joining us here. we've covered a lot of hurricanes. the president said it is life

threatening. our weather folks are saying it's the worst case scenario for southwest florida and storm surge and rescues happening in north florida because of all the rain they'll get. >> this is the cone of uncertainty so to speak where we don't know who will get the hardest by this. it looks like it will make landfall between 2:00 and 4:00 this afternoon. we'll be watching that really closely on store tore -- "the story." they had two near run ins with ir ma and the other one in 1993. this area has been largely protected from many of the storms over the decades. this one looks like it is squarely headed towards tampa and south of tampa, sarasota for the landfall. looks like tampa hopefully will skirt the worst of what was thought that could happen there because it's so low lying. but really the whole state is in a situation where they have to be really careful. >> bill: i agree with you on that especially the middle part of the state. we'll talk about this storm

tomorrow, the day after. it is going to -- it may drift back out over part of the atlanta ocean and georgia and may parts of north carolina and south carolina as it moves up the shore. >> you see the damage in terms of wind and what's whipping up the coastline here. we have all been in situations where we've covered these. you look at everybody preparing and then inevitably it takes a turn to an area that wasn't necessarily expecting the brunt of it. that's where we are now. governor desantis has been on a lot obviously and warning people all over the state they need to take it very seriously and he also said if you didn't get out yet, it's too late now. now it's time to hunker down at this point for a lot of people in the path of ian now. >> dana: i was thinking about the school children who had a pretty terrible last couple of years, not necessarily in florida. a lot were back in school but to get back to school after summer break and to be again out of the

classroom. >> you have -- they have are displaced by this. you have schools shut down and airports shut down, people who were hoping to get out now it's too late for that for most of them in florida. you've got sports events, football games, golfing, all of that affected by this. big economic impact to be sure. >> bill: florida power and light is getting help from multiple states. a lot of power crews coming from other parts of the country. florida does the same in alabama and louisiana, wherever they are needed as well. we have upwards of 200,000 people without power. that number will change significantly between now and the time you are on the air this afternoon. >> look what happened in cuba. the entire island is completely out of power. you feel terrible for people in cuba and port who were just hit. we have better infra structure in our country. it's an act of nature.

you never know what to expect. >> bill: we'll see you at 3:00 and "the story" will be more on this story for some time. >> dana: thank you. good to see you. hurricane ian is on a collision course at the sun coast of florida. landfall expected hours from now. the mayor of sarasota joins us now. how are you feeling about what's about to happen in about three hours? >> we're bracing ourselves. in the city of sarasota our number one priority is the safety of the residents. we have been preparing for this for years. last week we started our public works department started clearing out all the storm drains. utility department checked out all the generators were working. facilities were all fortified. parks and rec removed any items that were projectiles, sites to collect sandbags if you need them. we had -- we have 12 centers

where you can seek shelter here in sarasota. we have fpl with thousands of their crew members just ready for the grid to go down and ready to help if needed. so we are in as good a shape as we can be getting ready for this. we'll get through it together. i know many people are watching your show, including my father-in-law, rick, and they are just glued to your screen and they are watching everything you say. we'll get through this together, let's hunker down and be prepared. >> dana: we're honored rick watches the show. how do you think you did with evacuations in sarasota? >> we first he vaciateed zones a, b, c. the islands, keys and coastal area and people living in vulnerable facilities such as boats or mobile homes or rvs or

trailer parks and they really should have evacuate and go to a shelter. we have done a very good job. you aren't allowed to go into the islands unless you actually live there. you have to show i.d. we closed down many of the bridges and we are just hunkering down. i believe most people that have called me have said they are volunteering. they want to give back and help out. it is a very giving community. everybody is coming together. the people have said they lived in zone a or b are moving further toward higher ground. many people are heeding the warning. they should because this is very serious. >> bill: seeing wind gusts about an hour ago in fort myers at 62 miles per hour. i'm certain it has changed since then. what have you heard in sarasota? >> in sarasota, you know, i drove this morning. i had to do a site visit.

there are shelters and many sites in our area. and i don't know, it was about 45 miles per hour but that was hours ago. the scary thing about this hurricane is that it will intensify. they are projecting it will become a category 5 and slowed down. we originally thought it would get here yesterday and it has significantly slowed down and grown which is not a good situation to be in as it will cause more damage and stay in one place. so we are praying for everyone. we want to hunker down. know the community is here. governor desantis created this florida guard that he was criticized for and yet it's been one of the greatest thing. it is our own national guard locally for florida. they will help us out. he has been -- they've been with him at every press conference. i spoke with the governor yesterday. i was in the press conference here in sarasota.

our senator rick scott has given me a call and we are -- we feel blessed and we are prepared and we have so many resources available to us and so much support from our elected officials. >> bill: just watching this map here, mayor, while we have you here for one more minute. if you look at the southwest coast of florida, now this is further south than you are in sarasota. you get into places like port charlotte, punta gorda and cape corral. these waterways go inland quite a bit. which means when ian makes its decision she is going to pummel that part of florida and push that water deep into that part of the state. and you said just last week you cleaned out some of our sewers in sarasota. did you see the storm on the horizon? >> we saw it coming and cleaned

out. we cleaned out our storm drains and it is just standard protocol. we actually activated our emergency operations center meaning we have our emergency response team on call 24 hours a day. we take this very, very seriously especially being -- i don't know sarasota is the number one city to live in in florida according to "u.s. news and world report." we have the residents, infra structure and people have put us in the best we can be in to handle this and we're ready. >> dana: you are in a position of leadership and leading you are. thank you to your father or father-in-law watching. we appreciate that very much. >> bill: rick. >> dana: we'll be on this all day long. incredible resources to cover the story from all angles. thank you mr. mayor. sound from governor desantis. he spoke and let's hear what he had to say. >> this is a very powerful, major hurricane that will have

major impacts both on impact in southwest florida but then as it continues to work through the state. it is going to have major, major impacts in terms of wind. in terms of rain, in terms of flooding. so this is going to be a nasty, nasty day. >> dana: that's governor desantis making sure everybody understands what is coming. >> bill: the national hurricane center updated the latest on the storm. it is about 50 miles south/southwest of punta gorda, florida. maximum sustained winds 155 miles per hour. national hurricane center said ian is forecast to turn northward on friday, approach northeastern florida, georgia and south carolina coasts late on friday. one more while we have a minute. nhc eyewall will cause catastrophic storm sushlg. winds and flooding in the florida peninsula soon.

>> dana: all of these warnings have been very strong and dire. this will be catastrophic for the state of florida. we will be with you all day long. we have great resources in order to keep you updated on what's happening. >> bill: okay. so for dana and me, we'll check out for now. harris is going to take over and take you throughout the day. >> dana: here is harris. >> harris: fox news weather hurricane alert now. hurricane ian is holding together and that is a problem especially for the southern gulf coast of florida. right now the update, as you just learned, 2 to 4:00 p.m. eastern for landfall is now predicted with a direct hit ranging between cape corral to the south and sarasota to the north. when it does hit, wherever exactly that is, the united states national hurricane center could put hurricane ian in the rare form of a