from the shoreline to the back bays and also to rivers inland. so, know your high tides. >> we are looking at the images, increasingly dire. stay inside as the storm approaches and wreaks havoc, pray for the charlotte county community and the rest of florida as we toss it over to "america reports." >> john: any moment now we are expecting an update from florida governor ron desantis as the eyewall of hurricane ian begins to move on shore bringing with it the potential for catastrophic damage. hello, john roberts in washington. sandra, welcome back. >> sandra: good to be with you, sandra smith in new york. "america reports," a quickly developing situation, ian expected to make landfall between 2 and 4:00 p.m. right now packing top winds of

155 miles an hour. that is just a couple miles shy of a category 5 hurricane. >> john: when you get that high it does not make much of a difference. forecasters warning of the storm surge could be as high as 18 feet as the eyewall comes on shore. >> sandra: an hour out from when it is expected to make landfall, 300,000 people are without power as the early stages of the storm rip away power lines. we have team coverage for you beginning now across florida for the next two hours. >> john: fox weather meteorologist jason frazier, what can you tell us right now about ian? >> john, bottom line, this is going to be an historic storm and we were on air as early as 4:45 this morning with hurricane ian and we saw what we call rapid intensification in a matter of three hours. that means we saw the winds pick up by 35 miles per hour in 24

hours, and already you can see right there the defined eye and it's slowly moving right towards those of you in the fort myers area, just to the north of there, and once it crosses over on to land, half the eye, what we consider to be landfall, and that's expected to happen here within about the next two hours. so, what's next for hurricane ian? basically the entire state of florida is going to be impacted by this. so, we anticipate ian continuing to take a northeasterly track into the orlando area and in 24 hours, significant rain for the orlando area and then a northerly trend towards those of you in the jacksonville area and then there is a possibility that the eyewall could end up going into the atlantic ocean before turning back right on the border of not only georgia but also south carolina. by the time it gets to charlotte, it's going to be a shell of itself.

expecting to see winds only about 25 miles per hour, but still going to produce a punch. john. >> john: a lot of rain as it moves inland and up through south carolina and north carolina and on into the mountains of virginia and eastern tennessee and that could result in a lot of flooding in the deep valley areas. in terms of the storm surge, we are seeing a lot of wind-driven waves and things. when do we expect the worst of the storm surge will happen and where will that happen? >> well, it's going to be happening within about the next couple of hours and when we talk about storm surge, the best advice or should say the best comparison is you remember as a kid when you used to get in the bathtub and you had where you pushed the water there, that is essentially what storm surge is. we are expecting to see that later on today up to 18 feet for those of you in the fort myers area. >> john: thanks very much for the update. florida, and here is the governor with the latest update. >> during this storm, if you are in the southwest florida

counties you need to be sheltering in place. don't forget that ian will produce hurricane strength winds and massive flooding, not just where it makes the initial landfall, but throughout the state of florida so central and northeast florida will also feel impacts. most people in the evacuations did leave, there were some that chose to stay. i was speaking with the sheriff down in charlotte county, and while most people did leave, they had some that wanted to hunker down. and at the end of the day, a decision they made knowing they had the ability to evacuate and knowing what the stakes were. nevertheless, safety, life safety operations will commence as soon as it's safe to be able to identify people who may be in harm's way and who are in need of assistance, and kevin will say -- i'll say a little about that, but kevin will say more, and fwc, about their efforts

they have staged and ready to go. if you are in southwest florida, stay inside until the storm passes. it may appear to be calm at some point, you may just be in the eye of the storm and the back side of that will get very, very nasty. this storm is expected to move across central florida and exit daytona beach some time on thursday. we have already seen around the state tornado warnings issued far from where the hurricane is entering in southwest florida, and those warnings will likely continue until this finally leaves our state. so even if you are not in the direct path of the storm, you need to take all tornado warnings seriously and you need to take appropriate precautions if that is happening in your area. the florida department of transportation has just announced fort drum, turkey lake service plazas on the florida turnpike are now closed. obviously they will try to get those open as soon as they can, we have 200,000 power outages reported throughout the state of florida, but outside of

southwest florida, crews are working to quickly restore power. of course, 200,000 is a drop in the bucket for what's going to happen over the next 24 to 48 hours. widespread power outages, particularly in southwest florida. we have over 100 portable cell towers ready to be deployed into the area once it is safe to enter. once the storm has passed and it is safe to go outside, you still need to be cautious. avoid downed power lines, standing water, stay clear of downed trees and don't drive in standing water, and please, if you are going to use a generator for your home, don't allow it to be inside. exist needs to be outdoors. stay out of the way of emergency crews, out of floodwaters and away from all downed power lines. stay off the roads. no need to rush back. you are going to have a massive surge of people that are going to be going in to provide, of course, life safety assistance for those who may have stayed in

some of the more hazardous areas. you are also going to have power workers going in. we were just in lake city, i was thanking -- we had all these power workers, line workers from different states. i saw them from texas, louisiana, all these different places stage, we have a massive, massive mobilization. their job is to get in there and help restore services. you are also going to have folks bringing in things like food and water, so there's no need to rush back in. there is going to be a lot going on in the immediate aftermath and a lot of people's safety depends on that. you know, if you are on the roads, you are putting yourself in danger and limiting the ability of emergency crews to restore power and clean debris. we don't know how much debris is going to be, but there is going to be debris and that's going to make it very difficult to navigate some of these roads, that's why fdot's immediate mission is clear the roadways so people are able to go in and access that, to be able to help deliver services for people.

in 2019, we were projected to be hit by hurricane dorian, a category 5 storm, and fortunately at the last minute it took a north ward turn and missed the coast but had a massive mobilization. this mobilization has exceeded that. this is a significant effort, county level, state level, federal support, it's really been impressive to see. direct already guthrie has asked for additional airlift hoist and high water vehicles in cooperation with fema, and dual status of the national guard forces under title x to provide additional forces, which we very much appreciate. we will also be exciting momentarily a major disaster declaration for all 67 counties, request the federal government reimburse 100% of the upfront cost for the first 60 days to ensure we can quickly recover and move forward into the response and recovery part, and

if you think about this storm, we have had storms that have been as strong as this hit florida, michael, hurricane andrew, labor day hurricane, many, many decades ago, yes. have we had big storms that left a lot of water and flooding, irma recently, this is really bringing both to the table. you are going to have massive amount of power hitting that coastline with really, really strong winds. that is going to do a lot of wind damage, but you also have the storm is so massive and people are kind of comparing this to the track that charlie took in 2004, because like this it was expected to hit tampa bay, it turned and ended up hitting southwest florida. charlie was strong but it was a fraction of the size of what we are dealing with here with hurricane ian. so, the effects of this are going to be broad and we appreciate the biden administration consideration for the people of florida during this time of need. when i was in lake city you had

massive numbers of linemen, but you have those staged all over the state. there is now over 42,000 linemen and other personnel ready to restore power in 30 different areas across the state, and those linemen and other associated personnel hail from, of course, many from florida but from 27 different states. of course, our department of transportation does have 1200 personnel on standby to perform cut and toss operation, understanding how important it is to get those roadways clear as soon as possible. supplies will be brought in by plane, boat, and by high water vehicle. airports in southwest florida do have teams behind and they are going to work to clear those runways as soon as the storm has passed. we appreciate the florida national guard really impressive mobilization of over 5,000 folks, as well as 2,000 additional guardsmen from other states. they have nine chinook helicopters ready to go, additional 22 helicopters will be coming in after landfall that

will be here in the next 24 hours. kevin will talk more about this, but we have the five search and urban search and rescue teams, hear from fwc what they are doing, high water vehicles from florida highway patrol and our coast guard partners. a massive effort as soon as it passes southwest florida to be able to get out, recon the area and identify areas there may be a need of rescue services and some counties obviously know where residents hunkered down in. this is really, really important, and i think in hurricane michael, it took a few days to get into mexico beach. we have the air assets to be able to recon and know where the response efforts need to go. and so in total, we have nearly 250 aircraft, more than 1600 high water vehicles and more than 300 boats of all drafts and

sizes, including 250 already in the major impacted areas and nearly 50 that are staged and ready to come in as needed. these include smaller rescue-oriented boats, airboats and larger boats that will be delivering supplies by water if need be. thank the 26 states that have sent us support, i just spoke with alabama, and she's supporting sending blackhawk helicopters down to help. governor bill lee in tennessee, fast tracked a request from tennessee, appreciate that. and able to speech with john bel edwards from louisiana, hey, we have a lot of experience in hurricanes so they are good, ask us, we want to send more. so we really appreciate that consideration, and if we need that, we certainly will do that. we also understand that people that are going to be -- displaced are going to need

assistance, to the department of economic opportunity has deployed funding and guidance through community action agencies to help floridians in need of short-term support like utilities, hotel bills and transportation if they have been displaced by the storm. please continue to monitor local weather reports, be very cautious about going out into hazardous conditions and then once the storm passes your area, just make sure that you are very careful because there is going to be a lot of things, a lot of hazards that are going to be down on the ground. i know there's a lot of people that have reached out, first of all, i want to say thanks. a lot of people have offered thoughts and prayers for the folks that are in the eye of this storm and that means a lot to us. there is also people that want to do their part, i have directed volunteer florida to activate the florida disaster fund where people can donate. better financially rather than

spend -- sending items. there will be thousands that will need help rebuilding, and floridadisasterfund.org or text disaster to 20222. for those who want to come volunteer, we have an official volunteer portal, we understand how significant this storm is. yes, an immediate response, yes, there will be things that happen with recovery, eventually there won't be much media attention on this as the weeks and months go on, but we understand a storm of this magnitude is going to require an effort over an

extended period of time. those are good folks down in southwest florida, they have really great thriving communities. this is not anything anyone wants t deal with, not something we certainly asked for, but we are going to step up, be there for folks, make sure folks get back on their feet in southwest florida, comes back better than ever. kevin guthrie. >> thank you, governor. as the governor said, hurricane ian is approaching landfall as a category 4 storm with winds of 155 miles per hour in lee and charlotte counties. at this time the division has received nearly 1,000 resource requests from our impacted local partners and 864 of those are either in process or completed. we are working as quickly as we can to address the needs of those impacted areas. this morning i talked with each and every local emergency manager in the direct path of the storm. if you are sheltering in place in the path of the storm, we are

asking you to now please visit floridadisaster.org/info and fill out our shelter in place survey. again, floridadisaster.org/info, to fill out our shelter in place survey. the shelter in place survey is designed to provide critical information to first responders about the demographics of your household so they can aid your families as soon as possible. this is primarily for those who did not evacuate. so that we know where you are at. this is not a substitute for 911. if you have an immediate need and you need first responder assistance, you need to dial 911. please understand that those 911 services may not be able to come to you right now, but again, if you need emergency services, dial 911.

even if it is calm outside, you may be in the eye of the storm. i encourage our individuals near sanibel, fort myers area, as the eyewall starts to come on shore, if everything stops, the storm is not over. if you can hear us, if you can see us on your tv, you are most likely have a bright sunshiny area here very soon. you are in the eye of the storm. stay inside. stay indoors. do not go outside. you do not know when that eyewall will collapse. so, please stay safe. avoid downed power lines and downed trees and standing water. when it is over use extreme caution. if you see any type of line, do not cut them. do not cut fiberoptic lines. fiberoptics are the backbone of our communication system, allows us to have connectivity for your

cellular devices on wireless networks. it provides access to the internet. it provides access to social media. please do not cut fiberoptic lines. to the communication, i'm sorry, to the communities beginning to experience the devastating impacts of hurricane ian, know the state of florida is standing with you. we have plenty of resources to respond to your need. we have thousands of boats on the ground, thousands of boots on the ground. we are ready to assist you. we will make sure that all available resources are used to help you through this difficult time. please do everything you can right now to stay safe. thank you, governor, very much for your, the opportunity to be here, and be your director. >> thank you. all right. colonel roger young, director of the division of law enforcement, florida fish and wildlife conservation commission. >> appreciate it, thank you

governor, and director for leadership as always but especially the trying times. fwc and colonel roger young, know the men and women of the fwc send prayers and support to those in the path of the storm at this time. know the fwc officers across the state are prepared, trained and ready for the full response to the storm. we have 100 officers outside of the affected area ready to respond with high water vehicles and specialized equipment and vessels. we also have 250 vessels staged already inside the affected area that will be ready and utilized for response to the storm. so just know that we appreciate all the support we are getting, officers will be ready to respond in this time. just want to say thanks to everyone and fwc officers will be ready for response. thank you. >> agency for healthcare

administration. >> governor, thank you very much for your leadership, director guthrie, you as well. good afternoon. as the eye of hurricane ian makes landfall, all healthcare facilities have made the necessary preparations and stand ready for ian's impact. since the beginning of the emergency our agency has been focused on the safety and well-being of residents and patients and hospitals and long-term care facilities. we have activated the health facility reporting system and we have requested and still do request that all healthcare facilities continue to report their census, their availability beds, their evacuation status, and their generator status information. and that includes even facilities that might be outside of the impacted areas. because we need to be sure that we can provide the necessary resources to assist everyone

when the time comes for response and recovery. as of today, the teams have coordinated with our licensed healthcare facilities in evacuating more than 7,000 patients and residents from 150 facilities. additionally, our team has activated the emergency patient look-up system, or e plus. this system allows special needs shelters in impacted areas to retrieve patient medical records and help medical providers and emergency response personnel to locate missing or displaced persons after the storm. we also have nearly 400 ambulances, paratransit busses, and support vehicles standing by to respond to the areas of impact. in addition to the team regular visits to all of our licensed healthcare facilities, we have

completed more than 343 additional on-site visits to our nursing homes and assisted living facilities within the cone of expectancy, to look at generator compliance in response to ian. 100% of our operating long-term care facilities have generators on-site. also worked with the hospital association, florida healthcare association and leading age, florida senior living and assisted living associations and activated working with them the patient movement mission. we know that facilities are currently bracing for impact as hurricane ian is anticipated to make landfall here shortly. following the storm, the agency for healthcare administration stands ready to immediately

deploy our surveyors for on-site visits to the impacted facilities. during these visits, we will ensure that each facility is maintaining an appropriate temperature for residents and that all other conditions in the facilities are safe for residents. if you are a patient or resident or family member and experience issues during the storm related to that facility or your stay there or the service, please know that you can lodge a complaint with the agency for healthcare administration on our website, aaca.myflorida.com, using our online complaint portal. if you are a licensed healthcare provider and experience any issues during the storm, please

of course notify your local emergency manager, but also please report through our health facility reporting system immediately so we know exactly what your status is and what we need to do to provide you the resources and help that you need. moving forward, the agency will continue to require these kinds of status reports for power outages, bed availability, and other needs. this has truly been a collaborative effort and i and my team appreciate all of the work that our agency partners have been putting in. thank you, governor. >> thank you. as we see the power outages over the next few days, massive nup bers -- numbers of people, not every power outage is created equal across the state over the next two days, when you have a

storm coming in at 155 miles an hour, that's not just going to knock down a few power lines, yeah, it's going to do that, but also the potential to really uproot a lot of the frur that makes people connected, and that is used to deliver power to people. and so that will just require a reconstruction of that, and that's something that can be done but it's not as easy as just simply hooking up a downed power line back into place. and so as you get more severe wind impacts, more powerful storm, the storm surge, you know, that's where you are in jeopardy of seeing a lot of that infrastructure disrupted in a way that will require more than just simply rehooking it. it's also the case homes and/or businesses that are not going to be able to take the power because of changes to what's happened to their structures. so, just keep that in mind. the folks that are staged,

mindful of those different things. they want to get in as soon as possible, assess the damage and do the restoration efforts. some of that may just be typical repair but some may be more in the line of reconstruction. so, just be prepared for that. we have been saying there was going to be significant power outages with the storm of this magnitude, that's just the reality. so, it's going to pass today, and from southwest florida, as soon as it's safe to go in, there are going to be people. i've talked to a lot of the local, they know where they need to look to see the damage assessments, where people may be in harm's way, obviously folks at the state level will be doing the same thing, and it's important and we want to make sure, obviously, save people that may need to be rescued and get the services started again because we need to get people back on their feet as soon as possible. with that, i'll take some questions. >> you mentioned there were some people that have chosen not to stay that lived in -- that were staying in evacuation areas. do you have any sense --

>> chose to stay, you mean. >> chose to stay, even though they are in evacuation areas. do you have any sense as to how many people that is? i know you are doing a survey. >> that's voluntary in terms of who wants to participate in that. i spoke with the charlotte county sheriff, probably ground 0 for the landfall and their view the vast, vast majority of people in that zone a did in fact evacuate. now, they did have, they have an island community where they had 31 people that were told, were offered the transit, and they just said that they wanted to stay and shelter-in-place, and so i know a lot of those barrier islands communities, the counties discontinued services so they were incentivized to get to a more comfortable environment, but some people made the decision to stay and they, you know, the local officials were not going to grab them by the shirt collar and drag them out of their own house. so they did that, and look. we have been saying that if you

are in an evacuation zone, once the order is made, you are risking potentially your life by staying, and people did that. nevertheless, as much as you may disagree with that decision, if there are people in harm's way when the storm passes we will be out there helping folks. that's the way we do it. and i know the folks in charlotte and surrounding counties feel the same way, and there's a lot of resources that have been brought to bear to do just that. go ahead. >> heard anything about, and i know it's early, so probably too soon to tell, no fatalities, any serious injuries, anything like that associated with the storm. >> kevin, i have not gotten a report on that. [inaudible] >> of those 150 facilities, how many were hospitals and do you have a sense of how many patients within those hospitals that would encompass?

>> the most recent information that i have, 15 hospitals evacuated, and that amounts to about roughly 350 patients. >> it's interesting. i, of course, you guys have been following the track, you know, it was going to be maybe north florida and then tampa, one of the worst case scenario, it has gone down. my view on that, if you are in the community it's worse case for you so you don't use those. tampa, i spoke with the ceo of tampa general and they have a system they can stand 10, 15 feet of storm surge. so they can keep the patients there. a number of the hospital systems have done that in the low-lying airs. i think particularly in tampa area, we had a lot of special needs evacuations -- i don't

anticipate major structural damage in those areas. >> individual -- >> you don't have a take on evacuations for cape coral, just, if you look at the storm surge diagrams, looks like there is a lot of, a lot of storm surges in that area, sanibel, captiva are getting hammered, as they embrace the eye. >> all of those individuals were under evacuation orders. we don't have the numbers of how many, what the percent was that evacuated versus those that didn't. i would imagine since most of that same area went through charlie, they probably evacuated. again, charlie was a fraction of the size of this storm. i would imagine most people that lived through that went ahead and evacuated. >> i think another issue is

just, i mean -- there were people that evacuated tampa bay to fort myers because you see the different weather tracks and it was thought that it would go, hit tampa, maybe go up the coast and that was not that long ago. i mean, that was, what, 36, 48 hours ago, you go back another 12, 24 hours from that, taylor county, and so i think that some of the folks in southwest florida because so much focus was on tampa, then when it says oh, actually, may be coming here, i think some heeded the warnings but i think it's because the forecast can kind of be all over the map. some say you said it was there, and then there. i think in the future the -- we tried to stress the uncertainty. when you have a model taking it to louisiana and another model taking it to sarasota, and then you just kind of meet -- it's not probably the ideal situation. now that we are close, once you are within 72, certainly 48, those are very accurate forecasts but before that, just

so much uncertainty but i think sometimes people think well, you said it was going to be here, and then now saying it's here. so, we'll see how it goes. i know the folks in lee county, once that forecast changed, i know they acted very quickly as they should have, and i know that they provided people with an ample opportunity to be able to evacuate. i do think some heeded it, some did not and chose to hunker down and hopefully, you know, the people that made that choice that it works out favorably for them. >> specifically for the tampa bay area when it comes to rescue efforts from the state. >> in the tampa bay area for rescue. i mean, obviously we have enough assets that, and we understand this is a big impact that the rescue efforts are not limit today one municipality or one county. you are going to potentially have more. my hope is you will not need massive rescue efforts the further away you are from the storm. i also have a huge amount of

confidence in the folks, in the tampa bay area, you look at the sheriff's departments, these are very first rate operations, they have excellent ability to respond to that. kevin will be here, our folks will be here if needed, but our sense is, is that the further away from the storm probably the local responders are going to be able to handle that. here in southwest florida, you are going to have all the local responders out and then also have all this support, coast guard, fwc, have national guard, i mean, this is a really, really concerted effort, and that's just the reality when you have such a significant impacted spot. so, hopefully they don't need us to fleet resources out, we will do it if they are significant but look at the guys up there, they are professional operations. >> you mentioned there were 150

facilities with evacuated patients and 15 of them are hospitals. how many nursing homes patients were involved and always the issue of transfer trauma in transfer of an evacuation. how many, you know, what are you doing to kind of anticipate that trauma on those individuals? >> well, to answer your how many question first, nursing homes that have been evacuated at least again most recent information i have, 40. als, 91, number of nursing home residents, 3508. number of alf residents, 3,012, and that's the most recent information i have as of probably 10:00 or so this morning. remembering that the facilities are self-reporting into our health facility reporting system. now, to answer your other question, you know, the agency for healthcare administration

has many partners involved in the effort to move patients when they need to be moved. not only do the facilities staff have a role to play, but all of the associations i mentioned earlier, right, so the hospital association, healthcare association, leading age, all of those individuals are directly, you know, they directly work with their member facilities. so nursing homes and alfs. so, it is -- it's a coordinated effort to make sure that the individuals can be placed in the right location for them, taking it, keeping in mind their health needs. our health facility reporting system is also used to find where there are vacancies in other -- in other facilities. you know, many of these nursing homes, nursing homes in particular have sister facilities elsewhere in the state. so it makes that kind of transfer a lot easier and less stressful on the individuals who have to change their

environment. >> so, we will have another update in another few hours. you know, i would just say seems like over the last 12 to 24 hours, every time you look at this storm, it's been bad news. it gets stronger, larger, and you know, we really appreciate people's concern for florida, you know, we do appreciate the prayers, you know, i'm going to be saying prayers the folks there are able to get through this as best as humanly possible. this is a really, really significant storm. it will be one of the storms people always remember when they think about southwest florida, probably be the big one that they always remember and if you know anything about our state, you go to panama city, you know, that michael is just part of the dna of the community. homestead, hurricane andrew is part of the dna community. this ian is going to be, is going to rank up there with that. so, we need the thoughts and prayers over the near term and then there's going to be a huge

effort on the back end to help people and to get the communities back on their feet. thank you. >> john: ok, governor desantis and the beginning of the eye of hurricane ian is coming to shore, and there you see, sandra, the pictures from sanibel island of the storm surge coming right across the island, right across the main roadways there. and the track is eerily similar to charlie which cut north captiva island in half, i assume something similar from hurricane charlie, and then pine island, and punta gorda, and charlotte, and charlotte harbor and the

storm surge comes ashore, a tremendous amount of damage. the wind is one thing, 155 miles an hour, it's going to produce a lot of wind damage, roofs, trees down, but it's the storm surge, it's the water that creates all of the tremendous damage from these hurricanes. and when you look at the size of this hurricane, too, so much bigger than charlie was, wind speed the same, but the effect felt in a much broader swath of territory. sandra, i wouldn't want to be right in the eye of this storm but there's a lot of people who probably will be and will come back to see the damage left. just look at the incredible amount of water coming across sanibel island. >> sandra: and the governor making that the most firm point, if you have not left you cannot leave now and he did say there are a small number of people who did hunker down, referencing this as a massive storm that is coming on shore. the eyewall coming on shore right now, the video that you were just pointing to in

sanibel, the first we have seen of that happening. to your point about the reference back to charlie, 2004, a similar path, governor desantis was noting. stay inside was the message until the storm passes if you are one of those who hunkered down. 200,000 power outages at this time, but desantis noting there will be widespread outages as it makes landfall. 100 portable cell towers, and 7,000 national guardsmen activated to help the state. robert is in fort myers with the latest on ground there. robert, what are you seeing and feeling there? >> yeah, sandra, intense hurricane force gusts here in downtown fort myers and i will say we just had a transformer blow just about a block down, we saw it, we heard it, boom, it went and we are expecting to see

more of that as you see the bands come in. a second ago i had to brace myself, now it's ok, but heavy rains, and the trees, there are trees down all over fort myers, sandra, and john, we drove in here from fort myers beach hours ago to escape the surge and you know, we were -- it was very calm at that point and now look at it as another heavy band is making its way through here. the bay is just down there, which is where we have been reporting the past couple hours, and the boats are starting to rock back and forth. the tarps getting whipped out. there are garbage cans flying all around this area in downtown fort myers, and you know, you just feel it unraveling, and ian is making its way in, just to the north of us and i've got the helmet because this is debris central here. on top of that, not even large objects, but even little

branches and leaves they get whipped this hard they hurt, they hit your face and your head, you have to be careful. serious situation, power outages all over. naples, florida, a wind gust of 112 miles per hour in the past 40 minutes as another massive gust comes through here. hurricane ian throwing hay makers right now, ooh, let's just hope that everybody is safe and in a place they need to be because this is going to continue and it's going to head right up the peninsula, guys. >> sandra: robert, as you noted earlier, you can run and duck for cover as soon as you know you can't withstand the winds. real quick, i'm sure it's hard to hear us, have you talked to anyone in that area who did choose as the governor was noting to hunker down and ride this out? >> we did, we don't have them on camera because of the conditions, but there was a boat owner right down there about a

few blocks and he was shoring up his boat, making sure his prize was not going to get blown away. you can't blame him. but very dangerous situation. and then this morning when we were on the beach and we left because of the storm surge which by the way, that bay is rising as i speak. we spoke to people this morning, specifically officials sheriff's department, another transformer just blew, guys. you of probably couldn't hear there, there was a boom. but regardless, the sheriff's department was going to leave the island when the surge came in, as another huge wind gust is coming in right now, and you see all the debris off the trees coming, and that's why the helmet here. almost should have something over my face as well, but yeah, that's the thing. everything is unraveling right now. it's to be expected when you have an historic storm with these kind of winds. it's not all the time, it's not normal for an almost category 5

to make landfall in the u.s., especially in the dense populated region of southwest florida and not just here, it will head up to orlando, jacksonville, georgia, carolinas, i feel i'm in some sort of a snow globe, but it's indeed a hurricane globe right now. tough conditions, sandra and john. >> john: we can see the vortexes of winds swirling around you. we know hurricanes can spawn tornadoes as well, can do a lot of wind damage on the spot. i wanted to ask you about the storm surge, though. because that is really going to start to pile up. the river will act like a funnel to go right into downtown fort myers. what's the latest forecast for the storm surge in the city there, as we hear that whistling of the wind as you are really getting into the upper 90s and maybe toward 100 miles an hour

there. >> yes, john, great observation. it is, it's whistling in between the buildings, the parking garages, the trees, structures, everything. and to your point about the su for my understanding and talking to our meteorologist at fox weather in new york, essentially what's happened in the past couple hours, the water down there has risen nearly two feet, stand by, nearly two feet, expected to potentially come up over eight feet here, of course on the beach we could see upwards to 18 feet. all this has just gone up in numbers since the morning began, and the intensity increased, and we are really taking it right now. by the way, thankfully rick, my photographer, based out of washington, d.c., with me in bermuda during fiona is in a safe spot and able to capture

the images, incredible job, great team. oh, catching my breath. this water is relentless and that is one of the biggest issues, john and sandra, it's deadly. it's, that's why we left the beach also this morning. there was no high ground there at the fort myers beach, nowhere to p ut our vehicles as the wind bands have stopped a little bit. we left there, we knew had we stayed, not only would we lose our vehicles but our lives would be in jeopardy. and cape coral earlier today, early this morning, winds hit 45 mile an hour gusts and emergency management decided we are out, we are not responding until these winds slow down. it's too dangerous even for them. and it is as you can see. this picture, what's happening here, it tells it all. >> sandra: robert, we have been watching branches come down from

the trees and almost immediately swept up and blown away. be careful. we know you have your helmet on. run for cover if you need to. give us a sense what it's like to stand in that sort of wind. you have reported through many hurricanes, robert, we have known you a long time, what that feels like to try to bear the winds. >> yeah, i know to viewers when p they see someone like myself they think no, no, that person is exaggerating, but it's not. you have to make yourself a human tripod so you can pivot depending on the wind and move wherever. it's like being in a sport, essentially. you have to do that, otherwise you are going to get knocked over and up need to be in position where you can come down when the wind comes up or up, or side to side, or you can get out of here. it really is important to stand like this and maneuver. kind of like if you are on a

trolley or a train at the airport that wobbles a lot, you have to catch your balance. it's the real deal. and social media does not like this sometimes, but this is the way you have to do it, a human tripod i would describe it. >> john: my first hurricane was hugo, a little bit less wind speed than this one, but i know what you are going through right now, standing out there against this. i hear some yelling in the background, hopefully not yelling at you. but just looking at the -- looking at the satellite picture of ian coming ashore, and looks like you are either going to get -- you are right in the eyewall there, and that's where the wind as we know is the highest. looks like you may get the edge of the eye or you may stay in the eyewall, but describe for folks at home what's going to happen when the eye comes ashore in the fort myers, punta gorda, port charlotte area. >> yeah, well here's the thing. remember, for everybody at home,

its spinning counterclockwise and we are on what's called the dirty side, the eastern side, that's where the toughest twist is as it comes in, and so we are going to feel that wallop. sustained winds and gusts that are potentially, you know, we thought we were having electrical problems before with transformers blowing up and trees going down, we are likely going to see some big time pops during that scene, and hopefully guys like that who just drove by will take shelter. even though the truck is huge, they are going to take debris hitting it, no doubt. we are going to brace ourselves for that as that eyewall, the dirty side, is going to make its way through here and another time the water will surge up, it's going to increase and the boats that are locked up over there, they may come undone, unfortunately, and we might see water come in and start spilling

into some of these low areas on the streets and frankly, you know, everything here in downtown fort myers is as flat as it comes as far as topography, and florida and the peninsula. we are ready. my photographer, we left that marina, he is under, this is a parking garage he's shooting from. we have two vehicles there, sitting inside, he is safe. i'm safe, helmet, the whole deal, we are ready for the eyewall, i just hope that people are hunkering down in their homes or they have evacuated, one of the two. too late to evacuate now if you haven't. >> sandra: we are about ten minutes from when the expected hurricane at a category 4 storm is expected to make landfall. we know the eye of that storm, the eyewall has come over, we were showing the pictures at sanibel a short time ago.

you are experiencing severe conditions robert, this could change a lot in the next ten minutes. >> it sure could. it absolutely could. and it's just -- it's the ebb and flow of the systems when they come in, you know. they start pushing and then there's a lull and then bam, right again, that's when you got to prep yourself and my head is on a swivel, it really is. i keep kind of doing this, because as you see in the background, stuff flying around, you don't know if something will come from my side or back or front of me. if it does, you know, i'm ready, certainly, if it gets too hairy, i'll dive over the brick wall into the garage for sure. do a tuck and roll, guys. >> john: robert, tell you what. we will let you catch your breath a little bit, thank you for your great reporting as we await the eye arrival. st

steve, he is on the other side of charlotte harbor. what's it like where you are, steve, do i need to ask? >> hats off to the fox technical crew to get the shot up in the storm. i'm seeing right now, small objects flying through the air. parts of roofs, it's parts of fences, it really reminds me of katrina. we don't know if the storm will get there yet, but you see the skies fill with small objects, objects are beginning to be torn off of buildings. it's a danger in the short-term, when you have one-third of the state over age 60, a lot in nursing homes, a lot in living

conditions or hospitals that have to be evacuated, that's a real challenge. and this might be one of the worst spots right here, but this is a major event, this is a big storm. already 45 miles north of here in sarasota, they are no longer responding to emergency calls. so you have a big swath of the coastline where really everyone is on their own at this point. that's a tough thing for people to hear, at least it's daylight. you heard the governor desantis really detail on the enormous response prepared for this. you have 26 states contributing, you have helicopters, you have high water rescue vehicles, you have urban search teams from around the country, people are pitching in to help. but that's a few hours away. right now, people are on their

own, it's daytime, stay inside if you are here. about 1,000 people where i am in a shelter, 175 shelters across the state, let's see this thing go by before the help can roll in. back to you. >> sandra: steve, thank you for your continued reporting as the conditions get worse as the eyewall has moved on shore at sanibel and captiva islands, the entire southwest corner of that state is bracing for impact right now. record storm surge in naples, worst yet to come, says governor desantis. and steve, go ahead. >> john: looks like he's trying to get back inside. he's in the worst of it there. where robert ray was is dryer than where steve is, when you look at the satellite picture, you see the red bands, that's why steve is in all of that rain, right on the north side. >> sandra: he's back. >> john: oh, he's back out.

>> sandra: steve, how is it going? >> i'll tell you, sandra, i can't hear anything or see anything, so -- someone has to shout for me to keep talking. >> sandra: thank you for staying with us. >> i guess the real concern is, oh, it's a pleasure. i think the initial concern is going to be this wind, right. 155 miles per hour, catastrophic, it could take buildings completely down, could take roofs off, could knock out electric power. but we are already seeing a major storm surge in places like naples far from here, they have hit more than a record. oh, there goes the light, he's ok, though, hit a record storm surge. so we could see 12 to 18 feet after this goes through. so punched by the wind and the storm surge and then flooding. i'm starting to see bits of metal fly off of this condominium behind me.

>> john: steve, if i follow the track of this correctly as we look at the satellite picture coming ashore, in the next half hour or so, it might be completely calm where you are and then of course it will go from 0 to 100 miles an hour almost instantaneously. >> it's an amazing thing if you've been through the eye as i'm sure you have, john, where you get a clear blue sky and you can look up to it for a little while, and it's, you know, they are warning people not to go back out. i think they have really been aggressive in their evacuations and in their warnings. you heard the governor basically say we can't take people off the island by the shirt collar, i mean, they have done a tremendous amount, just how big this storm is. 2.5 million people have been told to evacuate their homes. so, this is not just, you know, this isn't just the county where i'm standing right now, this is

a big chunk of the west coast of florida. 1.75 million people forced evacuation, a lot of them did not go, and a lot of them are without power and just hoping the hours pass until help can arrive. >> sandra: i would say watching you over the past five minutes we have been talking, steve, feel like it's worsening there? >> wow. i can't -- i can hear what you are saying but i'll just tell you, this is just a sheet of water now coming in sideways here. >> john: you lost your hat, steve. >> sandra: steve, be safe. thank you so much. >> john: again, i remarked -- let's go to jonathan, he's there on the beach where he's getting sandblasted. jonathan, that's a particularly uncomfortable feeling there, given that sand spit in your face. what's the situation there?

>> hi, john. atlantic beach is on the opposite side of florida from where steve is, you would think that we would be a comfortable distance away, not yet feeling the effects of the storm and yet it is blustery out here. clearly nothing near the hurricane force winds that he's experiencing. people are still able to stand upright, a lot of tourists coming out to the beach one last time before conditions worsen, but you can see the heavy surf here, and that is part of the concern that as the storm makes its way across the state and back over the atlantic, even though it will be a considerably weaker storm having passed overland, there is still a threat of storm surge, a much smaller storm surge than what they are experiencing in southwest florida. but a storm surge nonetheless, and also heavy rains creating a flash flood risk. here in this part of florida,

which includes the jacksonville area, there are many memories of hurricane irma which even though it didn't score a direct hit here in 2017, it caused significant flooding, including in downtown jacksonville. and so the jacksonville mayor warning residents who experienced flooding in low-lying areas during that storm, they may want to voluntarily take cover during this storm, john. >> john: all right, across the florida panhandle. >> sandra: jonathan, if i could give you an update from here, this is from our fox weather team, hurricane ian landfall now imminent as we have been reporting, expected landfall in the next two hours. the storm has slowed to a crawl as it approaches the coastline, so the landfall could be slightly delayed is the update. so we are waiting on the official forecast center to

notify us when the national hurricane center has declared official landfall. we know the eye wall of the storm has moved over the land there as we continue to see these worsening conditions across the southwest corner of the state, john. >> john: look at the tremendous amount of rain in placida where steve is, and being out in the wind is a singularly uncomfortable thing to do, but steve likes to put himself in the worst possible place when it comes to weather or the best possible place for pictures as we continue to watch what's unfolding there and that is just on the western side of that peninsula that forms fort myers and cape coral and charlotte harbor and punta gorda is up there. the picture of all the water, where was that -- old tape, sorry. i said the first hurricane i covered was hugo in 1989.

and the people will experience the wind will wind up to the point it sounds like you are standing behind an engine from a jetliner and it will blow so hard and has this very unique whistling sound to it and then all of a sudden, within about two minutes, the wind will stop and the skies will open up and you'll actually be able to see blue sky and during hurricane hugo, midnight the eye came ashore and looked up and saw stars, and thought wow, that was over quickly and then all of a sudden, about an hour later, the wind went from 0 to 120 miles an hour. the interesting thing is the hurricane is approaching, the wind starts very slowly and then comes up 20, 40, 60, 100 miles an hour, and then it stops as the eye comes ashore, and then from 0 to 100 miles an hour right away, and such a frightening experience, and that's when we discovered in charleston that a lot of the damage happened. so as we see the eye coming ashore