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 now, sandra, the damage

is only beginning. >> sandra: for those of us who have lived through hurricanes we know how scary they can be. chief meteorologist is with us tracking the storm and the latest tally on some of the winds that are being reported across that state. what are we seeing, rick? >> so far, john, i'm glad we had the video that popped up from 2017 up in jacksonville, because jacksonville is going to get storm surge again from this storm, which is pretty hard to imagine. this is a look at the winds recorded so far, verified naples, 112 miles an hour, still with kinds of the worst of the wind offshore, it has not made its way there just yet. so we have a long road ahead. all right, every hour now we are getting an update here, so this is the 2:00 p.m. update. no changes in the last three hours, pressure still at 937 millibars, moving north/northeast at nine miles an hour. we are looking at that every hour.

often times when you have a storm making landfall it starts to weaken a bit, interact with land, the friction changes, and that changes the structure of a storm. also in this storm we thought maybe if the forecast was further towards the north a little dry air in here and would weaken storm. none of that has happened. worst of the impacts across parts of florida. the graphic here added on the center forecast from the national hurricane center, what normally see the cone, i put the center on here. the storm is not going to behave and follow that point, but anything to the right of that, and seeing the images of the storm surge coming on shore. it's going to take a while before that gets out of here and then have the threat from inland flooding from massive amounts of rain falling from the storm. so, take a look at this, sanibel island, boca grande, center

could come on shore, will not call it landfall until the center makes its way across land, but the first eyewall coming on shore and the back eyewall will rapidly make its way on. tornado watch, tornadoes throughout the day today, night tonight and into tomorrow, and farther towards the north and also going to watch massive inland flooding in addition to the storm surge flooding. the storm has not weakened at all, 12 to 18 feet storm surge at the highest points just where it makes landfall and to the right of that, and then inland flooding. the national weather service does not do this very often, high risk for flooding, anywhere in the red, happens a couple times a year with massive rain events, this is one of them. we have it for today and tomorrow. massive area, i-4 corridor, even far interior sections of florida

you run the risk of encountering significant flooding to cause lots of problems and loss of life. some spots will see over two feet of rain by the time this is done. and one last thing, we have hurricane warnings extending to the other side of florida, and then the storm comes across the water, i don't think we will see big strengthening of it, but tropical storm warnings across coastal areas of georgia and south carolina, you are getting in on this by this weekend as well. >> john: a lot of people love hilton head island because it rarely gets hit by a hurricane, it's not a hurricane but hit by the tropical storm as well as savanah. you had a fabulous close-up of the eye of the hurricane as it was beginning to come ashore from that radar, and looks like placida, on the left-hand side of the screen, where steve is, will probably get the clear blue sky we were talking about in the next maybe hour or so. which will be fascinating to watch. we'll keep the shot up.

let me ask you about the storm surge. clearly sanibel island, captiva island, pine island, experiencing the worst of it. two components to it. the storm bubble created by the low pressure in the eye itself, and then there's the wind driven surge. when you add the two of those things together, rick, what are we expecting to see where it comes ashore. >> 95% of the storm surge is wind driven surge, 150 mile an hour winds pushing the water forward, that's where you see. there is the center of it. anything to the right, because of this rotation, that's where all of that water is being pushed in. earlier in the day you saw the water that had been sucked out of all these inland and bay, that water rapidly filling back in. so they are in the middle of the storm surge there and naples, over six feet, highest ever storm surge they have had in naples and that's around, say, 20, 30 miles to the south of

where the storm is. so, a lot of people are getting in on this. it always takes time for us to get images up because the areas have flooded so you can't get in and get the pictures out to people. we are getting some of them to you where we have cameras, cameras that are stable, but we'll get a little bit as you are saying, john, once i'm sure some people are going to get some images when the eye of the storm is going over, even though we say not to, just for your safety, don't know what kind of electrical lines are down there, things that you could get cut on and if you need emergency help you are not getting it if you get hurt while the center of the storm is going over. i'm sure some people will do that, we'll get some images coming out from this and then you are right, storms on the other side, the winds will be in the 140, 150 mile an hour plus as well. >> sandra: rick, please keep us posted there. ashley webster is live in st.

petersburg. folks are experiencing, despite looking more calm around you, some of the most widespread power outages in the state where you are. >> yeah, exactly right, sandra. it does not take a whole lot. the ground was saturated before hurricane ian came on to the scene. a lot of rain in florida, especially in this area. now you throw in this flooding rain we have had and the bands have come through from the storm, then you throw in some heavy wind gust, we are just in a bit of a lull. earlier it was gusting up 40, 50. we could get gusts later on today up to 80 miles per hour, and that's going to push trees down and it does affect the power outages. the last number i saw was over 400,000. earlier today the governor of florida, ron desantis, said he expects millions of customers to lose their power at some point as this storm, this monster storm marches across the state and we are 120 miles from the center of this storm as it makes

landfall. you can see we are looking south toward tampa bay itself, and the storm is so strong and the winds coming out of the east, actually pushing all the water out of the bay, not all of it, but a lot of it into the ocean. what will happen, it's going to come back in at some point and authorities are saying don't be fooled. the there is still the potential for storm system which could be dangerous indeed. so, you know, the severe weather is many miles outside the eye of this storm. and earlier today, desantis, the governor said listen, whatever you do, you have to hunker down now and just wait it out, take a listen. ok, apparently we don't have the sound bite. bottom line is if you haven't even gotten out, it's too late now, hunker down and i think as the next 24 hours come along, either here in st. pete and many areas around florida, you'll see the power go out, trees go down,

and flooding is going to be a huge issue. so, we'll continue to follow it. guys, back to you. >> sandra: we'll check back in with you as more pics come in from across the state. brock long, jump into the coverage as we await this category 4 hurricane to make landfall. we are told it is imminent, it could happen at any moment officially. your thoughts as we watch folks, some of which the governor says, chose to hunker down. >> yeah, unfortunately it's going to be another historic event for southwest florida. reminds me a lot of hurricane charlie in 2004, that area is incredibly vulnerable to storm surge and what i don't like about this storm is it's much larger than hurricane charlie was in 2004 but it slowed down

as it's making landfall and that means two things. duration of winds is going to be excrutiating, but then the storm is going to have a lot more time to pump water, pumping ocean water into the back bay and inland areas, not only a huge hit along the coast, a lot of communities along the river inlets well inside off the coast be devastated from storm surge. >> we remember a number of years ago mexico beach in the florida panhandle there, near panama city, it was literally wiped out. hurricane hugo, 1989, sullivan's island, the isle of palms, cleared it off, nothing left. some of the barriers islands, we will see something similar as the storm surge wipes out everything even tied down. i wanted to ask you about the response, and we have heard from

governor desantis a couple times today, when we think about a big storm like this, we think back to hurricane andrew in 1992, when there was criticism about the lack of immediate response, we think about hurricane katrina in 2005, in which there was a lack of immediate response. from what you know of what the governor and fema and the local emergency management agencies have in place here, what do you think the response to this storm will look like after it blows through? >> well, you are exactly right. the nation asks for a bigger, more robust fema after andrew, and after 2005, and after sandy impacted new york. but what we have learned from the different events is that this is the response in recovery mechanisms that have to go into place as a partnership between local, state and federal governments. so i always said and tried to explain this to the american public, the response phase is locally executed, state managed

and federally supported and so, luckily where this storm is making landfall i do know that, and i do believe that lee county and charlotte county and sarasota have strong local emergency management capability in place and backed up by a strong and prepared state. kevin guthrie is an experienced management director and the local capacity to deal with ian is exceeded, they will ask for the support from the state, and then from the federal government and that's how this works. fema's job is to help the governor overcome gaps he experiences during the response and recovery phase, but i can tell you and i've exchanged messages with the administrator this morning that fema is very well positioned, they put forth large scale capabilities when it comes to search and rescue, to commodities, to support life sustainment after the storm

hits, it's a partnership. there are key pieces that have to be in place in all levels of government to go well. >> we are just looking at all the new information coming in to us right now, brock, as the governor just gave an update, top of the last hour saying it's a major, major storm, strengthening overnight has been significant, as we work our way to the official hurricane landfall, brock, as far as preparations for emergency personnel, they are at major risk if they step out in the middle of this hurricane making landfall. so, there is the period of time where even when called to emergency situations they won't even be able to respond. it's a short period of time, but we are about to approach that moment, brock. >> right, yeah, right now it's all about batoning down the hatches and taking cover, and it's a delicate balance. you want to move capability when it comes to incident management

support or search and rescue teams closest to the event without becoming a victim. and like i said, it's a delicate balance, but teams and equipment, utility teams, the power teams are moving as close as possible without equipment being damaged, so that after the storm passes and is safe, then you know, it will be an orchestrated dance coming in to help restore systems and largely focus on the life safety and search and rescue, trying t find anyone that's in true danger that stayed behind that shouldn't have. you know, one thing that bothers me the most. when you get to the major events, and only one mile away, two miles per hour from being a category 5 storm so essentially looking at the worst, it's the storm surge aspect and that causes evacuation. a lot of people associate hurricanes with wind but really it's the storm surge that's going to have the highest potential to kill the most amount of people and cause the

most amount of damage so i do know what it comes to search and rescue, those are the areas you focus on first are the ones inundated by storm surge and then switch to collapsed buildings from inland winds. but i think the other thing to keep in mind, while we are focused on southwest florida, this system is going to impact multiple states all the way up through verge before its done. so fema has to be very careful, focus on the hardest hit areas, southwest florida but then also have to hold enough back to be able to support georgia, south carolina, north carolina, and virginia as inland winds and coastal storm surge heads up the east coast. >> john: we are seeing some dramatic pictures from naples, florida, this was taken a short time ago, and sent in to us. it's clearly a power line that's come down, and is arcing there. putting on quite a show, and that's what takes down the power is a tree will come down, a power line hanging on the

right-hand side of that picture and we will see it all over the state of florida. in terms of the power, i know this is not really fema's job as much as it is the state's job, but hurricane andrew back in 1992 didn't just take down power lines, it took out the entire infrastructure and we have seen this in tornadoes particularly, brock, where 2 or 3 miles of power poles will come down and those all have to be replaced. from what you know and your long experience with fema, how long could many people be without power in this area? >> you know, i think, you know, southwest florida for example has got to be prepared for multiple days, you know, if not closer to a week, a week or more in some areas, because the infrastructure is heavily damaged. majority of the infrastructure in this country is owned by the

private industry, so emergency management's job is help make sure they can access areas to fix their infrastructure and their capability, making sure that they have waivers to bring in mutual aid and utility trucks to fix the system, making sure that they can clear roadways for access, you know. emergency management does not own the power lines, but they do play a major role in helping the private power providers to get access and to help get the systems back up and running. and once you get the power and fuel flowing, then you start to settle and overcome other problems that the other lines of infrastructure may be experiencing, hospitals online, water and utilities come back online once the power is back on. so, getting the power back on is important and a lot of times emergency managers will have power representatives sitting in the local operations centers as well as the florida division of emergency management. >> sandra: brock long, former

fema administrator joining us on the breaking news. we continue to monitor the storm and john, brock making the point that you are talking about we are in the cusp of this making landfall as a category 5 hurricane. i mean, this is -- this is a big one, and we are moments away, possibly, from this officially making landfall, waiting for the announcement from the national hurricane center. hour two of covering ian, we are tracking its movements. i'm sandra smith and great to be with you covering this today. and hope people are staying safe down there in florida and anyone who hunkered down they are in for it, it's a powerful one. >> john: i'm john roberts in washington, by the way. a lot of us have friends in florida, some of whom are in harm's way, i have some friends in naples, they are doing all right, but this picture where steve is stationed, or where

robert ray is in naples or we saw a moment ago that shot that sort of freezing and then unfreezing of a weather vane and pier, that's where the bulk of damage will be, where the massive hurricane is coming ashore and will cause the most damage, and for people who decided to ride it out, the most terrifying moment of their lives perhaps. going back to 1989, i talked to a group of people who were staying at one of the beautiful houses, they owned the house on the battery in charleston and said oh, we are going to have a hurricane party, ride this out, no problem. well, eight feet of storm surge came into the bottom of the house, pushed in a massive concrete wall and these are houses that survived the civil war, and i said to them as we looked at damage so the sanibel island hotel here, i said the next day, how was your hurricane

party? they said they hid in a closet and screamed all night long, the most stupid thing we have ever done, never do it again. for people riding out the hurricane in the teeth of the storm, a life changing experience. >> sandra: and people decide to ride it out, possibly staff at the hotel, brand-new video in, sanibel, florida there, but going back to the point that this is a category 4 hurricane packing sustained winds, 155 miles an hour. that is just two miles per hour shy of a category 5 in ten at this, what we are dealing with. robert ray is in the middle of it. fort myers balancingsing out the winds there. robert. >> yeah, sandra. it has gotten more intense since i spoke to you, 20 or so minutes ago. t two separate transformers have blown down the block. rick, potentially go as far as you can, just to take a look at

all the debris that keeps running down the street from trees and into the harbor down there, and we have the ebbs and flows, rain consistent, but the wind, die-down and then incredible gusts can knock you off your feet. so, very dangerous situation right now as ian, part of the eye has already crossed according to radar, over land. the question is where and how fast it will come through here. we are going to see -- it's going to be not on top of us but we'll have the dirty side roll across the counterclockwise, it's going to give us some very heavy wind gusts, hurricane force wind gusts and rain bands still coming in and you know, you see the palms on the ground and electricity starting to go down, things starting to unravel here, unfortunately in fort

myers as they have been doing since the middle of the night last night. and as i said earlier, we started our day on fort myers beach, the storm surge was way too intense so we evacuated, and here we are in downtown fort myers, listening to the wind, feeling the wind, and mother nature, hurricane ian just really throwing punches unfortunately right now. >> sandra: so the center of ian is moving across, obviously, we know the eyewall of the storm has started moving across the state. the west coast of florida, that started early afternoon. then moves across central florida and heard this from brock as well as the governor top of the last hour and then reemerge over water northeast of florida by thursday morning. it's a long process, but the one you are in right now is a short process. we are awaiting official landfall of this hurricane,

robert. >> yes, we are, and the streets of absent of human beings except occasional big four-wheeler that drives by with some sight seers, and they should not be out here. i think people have heeded the warnings here. there have been some folks down in the harbor that we talked to earlier that were manning and trying to make sure that the ships were ok, making sure that they were still tied up. we actually had to leave there about an hour and a half or so ago because of the gusts coming in, and the rain, the surge was splashing up above and was not safe for us or our equipment. so we came here and now, you know, taking cover in this parking garage in downtown fort myers as we await even more of this system to come in and again, it's just -- just, you know, here we go. so -- to my point, you wait and

have some moments you can start taking a walk and perhaps be ok, and then you've got to -- then you have to hunker down again if you are going to be out in this. and the rain, when it hits your face, it hurts. debris off the trees spits and hits things, and you know, thankfully, i have not seen structures come apart, which is great, though with hurricane force winds, if there's aluminum structures, things weak like that, they will go. but where we are at, we have not seen it, but what we have seen is transformers blow down this block and downed trees as it just continues to come in in waves. it's just relentless. a hurricane force is relentless. >> and robert, looking at the latest satellite image, looks like you are likely not going to get the break that steve harrigan might get when the eye

comes ashore, you may catch the edge of the eyewall, won't get any relief there. we should report the number of power outages reported as a result of ian, 624,000 there in florida, and this is going to get worse as the day wears on. let me ask you about the marina that you were at a little while ago before retreating back to a more sheltered area. the boats look like they were riding out the storm well, but when the storm surge comes in, that's when they could break loose. we see those classic pictures of huge hurricanes, boats in the middle of the street. you expect we are going to see that there in fort myers? >> i think we may see some of it, actually, yes. the water has already risen roughly two feet in the marina, and if it goes, obviously the boats go and they will become untethered. and a lot of them had tarps that, you know, boat owners were trying to shore up some of their equipment and things and the

tarps became undone. almost act like an extra sail, so with this kind of wind, they could act as the fuel or energy to move one of those boats, and to your point, john, yesterday when we drove into the islands, the barrier island, fort myers key over there, i noticed there were so many boats still out in the inlet and this morning there still was, too. i think there may be problems over there as well. maybe people out of town and could not make it happen. i mean -- that's the way life goes. and also to your point about naples as well, i have in-laws that live down in naples. they lost power this morning at roughly like 8:00 a.m., so the power outages like you said over 600,000 are going to continue to mount, especially as the system moves into high populated areas like orlando. remember 2017, after irma made

landfall, orlando was in the dark in some spots for days and same with jacksonville. so, this is so widespread. the entire peninsula getting it, and we could even see cities up to the north in georgia, like atlanta, savanah, you name it. they are not going to see conditions like this, but you know, the topography not conducive to any kind of wind gusts like this or rain that comes in. so, we have a long journey ahead and it is only wednesday, guys. >> sandra: remarkable images there in punta gorda, florida, you see the wind so powerfully blowing, you can see the top of the palm tree there, but the boats are not moving up or down or back or forth, you have t assume they are tied down so tightly bow to stern but also the wind is moving one direction this moment. power outages, they are now reporting 624,000 to john's

point and growing, almost 625,000 after ron desantis at the top of the 1:00 hour reported 200,000 confirmed to give you an idea of just how exponentially the number of power outages is growing in this moment. also news update from the white house, president biden will be travelling to fema headquarters tomorrow. there was a briefing at the white house a short time ago. bob ray, watching the eye, watching the hurricane and it is moving closer and closer. significant storm that is this country is watching right now. a powerful storm just shy of a category 5 hurricane right now. robert, if you could, just continue to tell us what you are feeling in this moment as we approach 2:30 eastern time. >> yeah, indeed. the wind again picking up with these incredible hurricane force gusts. i do not have an exact number but i can tell you probably anywhere between 70 and 80 mile

an hour gusts when they really come in, and the rain as well just kicking up. there is part of it, what we have been feeling, though it's just so interesting that earlier you know, when we left the shore and headed here inland, we had quite a lull. as a matter of fact, i was amazed when i drove into this area to see downed trees and you know, pooling water and i thought to myself well that's interesting, because you know, ian had not even come remotely to shore when we had left but the outer bands attacked this area earlier in the day as it was bringing in the surge on the shore, and you know, it's interesting, the surge is so scary. when we got out there this morning to do our live reporting at 4:30 a.m. eastern time, went down to the water's edge and it was shaking a little bit, it was rough but there was a huge

beach. two hours later there was no beach. and we decided it's time to go, time to get off and go over the inlet and get to safety. otherwise we would lose vehicles and a lot of those losses over there no doubt, those that had their cars there is no high ground. but the system partially on shore, and we are on the dirty end, and this one, that was a good gust right there, as it comes in and it is just relentless as i said before. you cannot stop this, and if you are in your home or your apartment or condo, all you can do really is just make sure that you are ready, make sure you have the flashlights, make sure you have the space you can go to if the structure sounds like it's deteriorating, as we have been talking about tornadoes do occur all the time in major systems like this, and it can happen. and power outages are happening

as we speak, over 600,000. and as i've been reporting, we have been seeing literally transformers blow. and the stop sign, it's your typical -- look at that, i mean, that's what you think of in a hurricane and sure enough we'll be lucky if it stays in the ground as the bands force their way in and i would be remiss to say, sandra and john, and talk about how unpredictable the system has been over the past week. i was in bermuda covering hurricane fiona's effects and we found out we had to start mobilizing last weekend so we did, and one point there was discussion of orange beach, alabama, the florida-alabama border. and then the big bend,

apalachicola, and then tampa, amazing how unpredictable the past few days. >> you talk about the storm surge so frightening and remember back to august of last year when grand isle, louisiana when hurricane ida came in, huge, huge storm literally covered the entire island with water, 10, 12 feet deep and ruined it, still trying to recover. robert, take a break, we'll be back to you in a few minutes. further south to naples, florida, where we have the mayor with us. madam mayor, thank you for being with us. i've got some friends down in your fine community, they say they are doing all right but looking behind you looks like there is water in the yard. >> yes, there is. i'm sitting on the second floor of city hall and that's our fire

station 1 behind me, and under that is our fire battalion chief's car and, or truck, right now i just saw a firefighter go out on paddleboard. we are in dangerous situation and we have people who are trying to actually get into the city. we have had to station people at the entrances of the city and keep them out. we will impose a curfew. i think we planned and tried to prepare our community for the worst. unfortunately there are people that are out there thinking that they want to ride it out and watch it and head to the waters, and this is not what we are recommending. you need to stay inside, go to the second floor, your third floor, don't go to your attic,

don't panic, do not get in your car and try and get anywhere as you can see. our streets are 7, 8, feet, maybe nine as i've been looking at the waters, continue to rise. our storm surge and our high tide was set for 3:00, so we have approximately another half hour to an hour before we will start to see this water recede. >> sandra: incredibly dangerous situation there. as far as the on shore winds in the naples area, that obviously puts the risk of the storm surge at all time highs for you folks there in naples. >> it does. and again, the smartest thing you can do is wait this out and wait 'til recovery and reentry and then of course we all know

what to do after a storm, we are going to go into the mode of clean-up. so i just am praying for our citizens and for our northern counties and cities who are actually going to be hit by that storm because you can be as prepared as you want but i lived in florida over 30 years, and never in my life have i witnessed or experienced this. >> john: you know, the previous storm surge record was four and a quarter feet set back in 2017 during hurricane irma. you have surpassed that by probably two feet by now, and the water is still going up. with the ground as saturated, madam mayor, as it has been from all the rain on the west coast of florida, how long do you think it will take for the storm surge to subside, when can people come back to their homes? >> right now i'm going to let the experts tell me where you

can say, when they can bring people back in. but you know, it's probably -- it will be several hours and we also have clean-up still. so if we can get on the roads this evening before sunset and start some of the clean-up, that's my biggest hope. >> sandra: our best to you, we will check back in there, naples, florida, and an incredibly dangerous situation there. be safe as you can and we hope to check back in soon. thank you very much. >> john: mayor, thank you. >> sandra: head to tampa, phil keating is standing by. what's the report from there? >> we are in a lull in between big bands. we have certainly had some very, very strong wind gusts today, and bands of heavy rain. we have been out here since about 5:00 in the morning and the conditions as of the past hour definitely the worst they have been and everybody who has been looking at the satellite

and radar loop can clearly see, i mean, if jacksonville and atlantic beach where jonathan is, getting an outer band and the bulk of the intensity of the storm is where our teams are, steve and robert ray down south, but me in port charlotte as well as fort myers, that area, i mean -- all of that still has to come north and then meander east and eventually it's going to impact severely as far as rain and flooding the orlando metro area and move south of jacksonville and then through jacksonville and up into georgia. so i think everybody here is aware and the streets have been quiet all day, so seems a lot of people have been heeding the advice of the emergency managers, from the governor on down to the city and county level, to stock up on your supplies the last 2, 3 days,

apparently they did. a lot of grocery store shelves were empty and stay off the road today. seems fine right now but in 20 minutes it could be hellacious trying to get around town and the last thing anybody would want to do is drive south and the track of this, it's heading to tampa bay as of 36 hours ago, the center of the cone of uncertainty, yesterday it wobbled to the east, hurricane ian and now hitting further south of here but still in the cone. so you have to pay attention to the whole cone, not just the centerline, because hurricanes do wobble back and forth. so a little wind picking up. take a look at the high rooftop deck here in downtown, a set-up of palm trees feeling the winds, all of that is supposed to get much, much worse. there is a lot of tree debris

all over the place, that's expected to get worst as the day and night, the mayor warning tampa could see up to 20 inches of rain before it's said and done. >> john: the wobble to the east, good news for folks in tampa, bad news for folks in port charlotte, punta gorda, fort myers, but phil, tell us, i don't know if you've gotten a chance to look at it or not in recent minutes, but saw that extraordinary phenomenon the counter flow of the wind, is that your timer up, you have to go back inside or can you stay with us for a little while? >> no, it is not. not mean my timer is up. >> john: honey, i told you not to call me at work. but we saw the counter flow pushing the water out of tampa bay. do we know if it started to come back, is it out yet, what's going on? >> apparently not, what i was actually about to get to. the tampa police department just tweeted out another reminder to

people, just because the water has sucked back out into the gulf of mexico and you can now maybe go shelling or walk around where you couldn't normally walk because the water level is now really low, they are saying don't go out there. it is very dangerous because once that water returns the storm surge that comes with it could be life-threatening without a doubt. so they are trying to keep everybody, stay away from the shorelines of tampa bay as well as the hillsboro river and everything else that's sucking itself out into the gulf of mexico because once the storm gets through here heading north, then the counterclockwise winds turn into, well, those from the back side and push everything right back in, and that's certainly a life-threatening threat. >> sandra: phil keating, we will check back in with you shortly as conditions are certainly a bit different there than we have seen in other reporters, but the

state, across the state the weather is quickly changing. thank you very much. >> john: fort myers where robert ray has been so diligently reporting from, 19th congressional district, the congressman is byron donalds, what's the situation congressman where you are? you are in d.c., i guess -- >> i'm in washington, came up for the vote on resolution for the federal government but obviously the concern and thought process with everything going on at home, spent some time today over at the noaa offices and the fema offices trying to get assessments for what's happening now and also what's to come when this storm passes. southwest florida, obviously we have been through storms before. hurricane irma the most recent one, so now the key thing is, number one, people being safe, staying in their leaving, and number 2, doing assessments as quickly as we can

so aid necessary for southwest florida comes in so we can restore life as quickly as possible. >> sandra: that's the thing. we are still waiting for official landfall here and once that happens it's going to be quite some time for authorities to be able to really get in there for search and rescue efforts and obviously to assess the overall damage. as it always is the case with hurricanes. but you are looking at one of the most significant we have seen in recent history, congressman. >> you are absolutely correct. we are already getting the reporting from some of our emergency offices back home of the level of storm surge that they are seeing currently. the concern right now is what that looks like over the next hour, hour and a half as we continue to go into high tide and then you see some of the back side of that storm come through naples, bonita springs, marco island and fort myers. and so that's, and also cape coral, so that's the real concern right now.

i think we anticipate as the storm moves out to probably do some initial assessments some time tomorrow afternoon, and then the real work begins. >> john: congressman, it's not going to be over for a while, as the eye, the center of circulation moves northeast over boca grande and through placida, the back side of that storm will cork crew back around and push a lot of water up the river into the fort myers area and you know, these things, they are never over until the storm is long gone. and for people in that area, looks like they still have a number of hours of a dire situation to go through before they could begin to venture out and assess the situation. >> you are absolutely correct. it's going to take some time for just the storm to get through, and then one of the situations we were concerned about before ian even made its turn north to our area is southwest florida

had already been heavily saturated with water because it had been a very rainy season. so this complete inundation of water at this point is going to cause some significant damage to our area. so it's going to be crystally important that we try to get these assessments done as quickly as we can when the storm moves out so that way we can get a real assessment of all the needs, coordinate between the governor's office who has done a tremendous job, fema, like i said, i was at the fema offices a few hours ago, going over what's happening, what the standout plans are, asertation for fuel, for water, for food and for housing. so we can get people to safety quickly once the storm passes and try to rebuild the area as quickly as we can. >> sandra: it's just something, here is marco island, congressman, we were on placida

area earlier, and happening on the right-hand of the screen, but the sound right now, 116 miles an hour, 80°, high tide to your point not until 4:08:00 p.m., an hour away. some areas will be high tide when hurricane ian is potentially making official landfall, the national hurricane center has not declared that has happened yet but it is imminent. >> no, you are absolutely correct. and like i said, this was our primary concern. the wind obviously is something nobody wants t deal with, but florida, since, obviously since hurricane andrew more than 20 years ago, florida's building code has stood itself up to kind of withstand some of these high wind events, but the one thing that you really can never get a full understanding of is what the flooding is going to be like going forward. our hope is that a lot of the work we have done with infrastructure, because florida

is basically a low-lying area, will be able to get the water moved out pretty quickly. but right now it's not looking good and so the first thing we need from the nation is just really the thoughts and the prayers of the nation right now, and we are going to get in, all hands on deck to bring all the aid necessary to southwest florida and to make sure people can get their lives back on track as quickly as they can. >> john: congressman, thank you for joining us, i know you want to get back in touch with folks in your district. >> john: we find steve, steve, the eye of the storm is approaching you there, doesn't -- where you are, appear to be any indication of that just yet. >> there is, john, if you can look off to the left, that's the first tree we saw snapped here from where i'm standing. palm tree down. and if you look off behind me, you are starting to see piles of debris. l this is bits of aluminum

siding, fencing, parts of roofs, those piles are getting bigger. earlier we saw small items fly through the air, now bigger items. over here, a fence being stacked up. what we are seeing now is significant wind damage in the place where i'm standing, it's likely to keep up for the next hour or two. florida, the u.s., biden administration, all promising to marshal tremendous resources to help the hundreds of thousands along the coast going through this right now, but the help will have to wait for a few hours until the winds get below 40 miles an hour. back to you. >> sandra: that is incredible. the tree down and behind you looks like parts of a building or more trees, can't make out exactly what that is. extreme conditions there, as we were just noting with the congressman, 120 mile an hour winds, the tide is currently rising, won't reach high tide until 4:08, this is obviously a

significant elevation since we last saw you. >> it is. i was just sitting in my car watching this palm tree lean and then topple. it's rare to see the palm trees go down. in the distance you can't see it, there's a boat yard, a lot of expensive boats over there and hear them being smashed and mashed, and we are just one small snapshot of an area seeing structural damage. talking about category 5 or 4 hurricanes, you see roofs and walls come off and that's what we are seeing over the last half hour or so. >> john: one of the things i find very remarkable, we are able to stay in touch with you. back in the days we used satellite signals, 40, 50 miles an hour you could not get anything. but you are using a different technology. thankfully the infrastructure that allows us to see you has

held in place, i probably just jinxed it now, and seeing 100 mile an hour winds. a question for you, is that eyewall comes into shore as we see on the right-hand side of the screen, what's the risk where you are from the storm surge we have been hearing about? >> i think the risk will be tremendous, especially in lower lying areas. keep in mind, 1.75 million people were ordered to evacuate. much of the coastline along the west is very low-lying. and these are well built condominiums i'm standing right now. think about trailer parks as well. there could be 12 feet of storm surge in certain areas. so, lifesaving operations overnight. we are going to see high water rescue vehicles, urban search teams from around the country coming here to try and save people who are trapped by the flooding, and one final note, you are talking about the technical capacity and you are certainly right about that. these live views work well.

shout out to thomas vasquez and shona as well, they are standing out here in the eye of the storm and keeping our shot up, john. >> john: yeah, terrific. >> sandra: steve, we are getting some word, you know, at the mercy sometimes of social media to hear what's happening since obviously our reporters can't be going door to door, especially where the water is rising in some areas like naples, we just had the mayor on there. we are getting some word from some folks that they are going door to door there because the water has risen so fast, looking for anybody who needs a rescue. that could be happening already in some of these areas, steve. >> it's a terrifying thought. i mean, thank god this is happening in the afternoon and not overnight when you can't see that water rising. cliche about storms, it's not the wind it's the water that's going to kill you and certainly that's what the first responders going out despite risking their own lives are concerned about.

the second stage of the storm. >> john: steve, we see you out there braving the winds and we always know you love to put yourself in the worst possible place when it comes to covering these hurricanes. how many other folks are in placida riding it out with you, do you know? >> right now local officials say there's about 1,000 people in shelters. around the condominiums, we have seen probably a handful, 4 or 5 people and the electricity strangely enough is still on, and looking off to the right, i can see one after another snapped palm trees, which gives you an idea the force of the winds. i have to say over the last 20 minutes or so, it's not as bad as it was 20 minutes ago. but -- so maybe that eye is near and the back side will be flooding and first responders will be able to get to work and save some people. the challenge in florida is

always, you know, one-third of the population here is 60 or older. so people are going to need help and the country is clearly focused and mobilizing to help the people that need it here. >> john: just on that point, the eye is approaching you, it looks like it's only a few minutes away, so we'll stay close with you because it's really an amazing phenomenon when the wind suddenly calms down and the eye of the storm. >> will do, john. we are going to keep the shot up through this. we'll give you a shot. thomas -- oh! thomas vasquez will give you a shot of the eye, i'm going to go hug the wall here, thomas, if you could pan over there and show them some of the damage. >> sandra: steve harrigan, incredible conditions there, a downed tree alongside where he has been reporting for hours now. steve, take cover as soon as you

think it gets too bad there. we are getting some word out of fort myers, whatever pictures we do have out of there right now, there are -- there's lots ever reporting on astonishing scenes with the six foot storm surge, powering through the city, taking everything with it. this obviously john is an incredibly fast changing situation for many of these areas in southwest florida. let's bring in fox weather meteorologist jason frazier. jason, tell our viewers what they need to know at this hour as we approach the 3:00 hour on the east coast. >> this is an historic storm, teetering on the category 5 status. right now hurricane ian, max winds 155 miles per hour and moving slowly to the north/northeast at nine miles per hour. and one of the things as meteorologists we like to watch is what's happening with that eye and as you can see there, it is slowly moving right over land

there. we are expecting to hear from the national hurricane center in the next hour or so that this hurricane has made landfall and when we originally signed in this morning about 4:45, we have been watching it on fox weather all morning long, we saw rapid intensification and that means you will see the winds pick up by 35 miles per hour within a 24-hour period. we saw it happen within three hours of ian, of this morning of us going on air, and that's the reason why we keep saying this is a very dangerous storm and this is going to be an historic storm. number one question i keep getting is what's next with this system. so, we are expecting landfall here as i mentioned within the next hour or two, and once that happens, we expect for it to continue to move over land and then it's going to slowly start to bank a bit more northward and clip those of you in the orlando area. over the next 36 hours, one of the biggest concerns at fox weather is the potential for the

tornadoes to spin up. any time you have a whole lot of wind shear, that's what we call a change of wind speed and wind direction with height, that's when you start to get the quick spin-up tornadoes, and tornado warnings for osceola county until 3:30. later on, tomorrow evening we anticipate the storm continuing to move northward, the eye may shift to the atlantic and we could see another landfall between savanah and charleston, south carolina and will continue to move westward and clip columbia and charlotte. and the biggest concerns are storm surge. that is the thing that kills the most people during a hurricane event here and we are expected to see swells from 12 to 18 feet, bonita springs, fort myers, and extending to punta gorda. so john, sandra, this is a

dangerous situation, a dangerous night and this is one of the even more important reasons why we keep telling folks to make sure they download the fox weather app, because when this storm surge happens, and those winds continue to move into your area, the power is going to go out and we want to make sure that people have a way of getting those alerts. >> john: we just saw some pictures of lakewood ranch of extensive flooding. but punta gorda, there has not been a storm surge seen up there yet although i imagine as the water piles up, we will see that. we are focused on the west coast of florida but as you were pointing out a moment ago, the storm will maybe make a second landfall in a place that has not seen a hurricane in a long, long time. savanah, hilton head island, kiowa, charleston, and then south carolina, north carolina,

and the mountains of tennessee and virginia, and the rain could cause big problems into the weekend. >> yeah, and john a lot of people on social media have been talking about the category 4, category 5, and at the end of the day, it doesn't matter whether it's a tropical storm, a tropical depression, or a category 1 hurricane. this is going to end up causing a lot of damage. this is likely going to end up changing the fabric for the florida coastline for years to come. so when you talk about rainfall rates anywhere between 2, to upwards of 4 inches per hour, that is a lot of rain in a short amount of time. and a foot and a half to two feet of water for central, and those of you in southwestern portions of florida. so, you know, john, you know, it breaks my heart every single time we take some of the live shots and we see the flooding as well as the storm surge. i know it's going to be devastating for some families

when they finally return back home. >> sandra: wow, ok. so the last update we got from the national hurricane center on ian was top of the last hour, we are about to get another one, it was moving north/northeast at 9 miles per hour, sustained winds 155 miles an hour. we are waiting for the official announcement that it has made landfall. >> when we talk about landfall, we are talking with the eye is. and as meteorologists, 50% of the eye and the eyewall over land. so we are expecting to see that happen here within the next hour and it is the national hurricane center that makes that determination about when landfall happens. >> sandra: and we are watching it every minute of it. thank you very much for joining us, keep us posted. >> john: we talk about the maximum sustained winds 155 miles an hour and gusts more than that, but yet see our

correspondents standing out there. typically on the ground, friction means the winds are not as high as at altitude where the true speed of the hurricane is measured. 1992, during hurricane andrew, there was a gust that was recorded at the national hurricane center at coral gables of 177 miles an hour, and that was right before the weather radar ripped off the roof there and then they put the national hurricane center in a bunker at florida international university. so we are going to see some high gusts, but clearly at altitude the wind speed is higher than on the ground. >> sandra: and you can see the wind reports out of naples, 112 miles per hour. this is really something, and brock long, really stuck with me when we had him on a short time ago, former fema administrator referencing back to charlie in 2004, many have compared this path to charlie but he said because of that, he's warning that this is not just going to be a coastal hit, this is going to be a hit well inside the

coastline there, john, and that was a really important point. >> john: the track is literal identical to charlie but a much different storm than we saw in 2004. >> sandra: indeed. our best to all those trying to get through this and to those who are going to be deployed to help rescue operations as well. search and rescue. john, great to cover this with you. thanks for being with us. i'm sandra smith. >> john: i'm john >> martha: thanks very much. big breaking story as we follow this. good afternoon. i'm martha maccallum in new york. this is a category four hurricane, ian, that is now over land in florida as it heads towards the full landfall stage here. wreaking havoc with what is being called unsurvivable storm surges. already breaking records. expected to reach up to 18 feet. search and rescue teams of trauma surgeons, rescue