maybe it knocks something else loose that had been hanging on. that's what we're encountering a lot here on the ground. >> neil: hang in there. just incredible. so the storm rages on, and will, we're told, for at least another 24 hours, as it continues to slowly, and i mean slowly make its way north. that will do it here. "the five" is now. >> hello, everyone. it's 5:00 in new york city. this is "the five." >> the worst case scenario is unfolding for millions of americans. hurricane ian making landfall about two hours ago in southwestern florida, with ferocious wind speeds clocking in at nearly 155 miles an hour, just shy of a category five. at least 2.5 million people were ordered to evacuate. more than 1 million floridaians are sitting without power. that's going to grow every

second. florida governor ron desantis will bring a storm update later in this hour. we will bring it to you when this happens. rick reichmuth is in florida. how you doing down there? >> we're feeling the winds starting to whip up in st. petersburg. you can see the trees blowing behind me. the palm trees have been going nuts all afternoon. we're expecting hurricane-force winds in the st. petersburg area. a big concern is the rain. we're expecting up to 2 feet of rainfall here in st. petersburg, as well as parts of inland florida. that's a major concern as we move throughout the evening hours into tomorrow. one thing that i want to talk about is the reverse storm surge we've seen in tampa bay. initially we thought the storm was going to be hitting tampa bay right on, but it hit farther

to the south. because we've been on the northern edge of this storm, the winds actually push the water out of tampa bay it was surreal not seeing water in there. people have been walking along the bay. that's not advised. but the water many return to the bay. you know, we're going to see storm surge, a very intense storm surge, kick up in the next few hours as this hurricane moves northward. that's a big concern. we could be seeing several feet of storm surge after that negative 6-foot storm surge in the bay. so we're going to be keeping tabs on this storm, as well as the very heavy rainfall expected over the next few hours, all right here on fox news, always the fox weather app. i can't hear you. i lost my ifb, but back to you in the studio. >> max, stay safe there.

let's go to rick reichmuth in the weather center to give us an overview of what we're seeing. >> if you haven't downloaded the fox weather app, do it because you can get-live a livestream, u lose power, you can get live weather coverage, even if you don't have cable anymore, or internet, as long as you still have power or-battery still on your phone. take a look at these images. absolutely incredible. wind speeds have been amazing, the highest recorded wind speeds we've seen. the wind gusts right there. obviously you have to have a sensor. to get measurements like these, it's quite amazing. this storm came on shore in at cayo costa, where hurricane

charley came on shore. 140-mile-an-hour sustained winds now after the 155. it will continue to weaken. still a hurricane when it exits the other side of florida after traveling about 140 miles an hour or so in that direction from the southwest toward the northeast, still looking very amazing on satellite representation. we have tornado concerns across the eastern side of the state. the tornado watch, a new one, you say issued, going until 10:00 this morning. the latest radar picture, you can see the dark reds. one little green box. that's not from flooding from storm surge. that's flash flooding that's going on here just from the rainfall. this northern side of the eyewall has been in that for the last four to five hours. we're getting incredible rainfall rates. this is our exclusive fox model. watch what we expect this to

look like. overnight hours, and by the time we get to tomorrow we'll be watching an incredible amount of wind come in toward the jacksonville area, the st. john river will see a spectacular storm surge there. the other side of the state getting a lot of storm surge, and obviously all the rain still to come. some spots well over 12 inches of additional rainfall. we'll satisfy some spots, and rainfall totals over 2 feet, pushing 30 inches or so. right here, this is through tomorrow, a high risk for flash flooding on other side of the state. that's not issued very often. just a couple times of year. be very careful toward the eastern side of florida. hurricane warnings even in places like daytona beach. also tropical storm warnings in effect across georgia and south carolina. once the storm gets back out here into the atlantic, we expect it to make a left-hand turn, make a secondary landfall,

probably as a strong tropical storm across parts of georgia and south carolina. >> rick, you're so good at this stuff. really well done there. rick, when you think about the path that charley took 18 years ago, how similar this is, what's surprised you about this storm thus far? >> incredible surprise to see it make landfall in the exact same spot. it doesn't make sense that you could possibly have two cat four storms anywhere on the u.s. coastline. we don't have that many cat four or five storms that come on shore, and to have it the exact same spot is a horrible thing for people around fort myers, sanibel island, all these areas, getting this impact. the sad part about this storm, it's so much larger. charley was a really strong storm, but a really quick and small storm. this one is just so much bigger.

that just means the impacts are that much bigger. bill, so many people live in florida now than did 18 years ago. it's just lattimore people, a lot more infrastructure there that is going to have to deal with. >> jessica was a question for you. >> hi, rick. thank you so much for joining us. i want to build off what you're discussing, because the storm is building so slowly, what's your expectation for how long it will take for the system to go through and turn into the tropical storm that hits georgia and south carolina next? >> it's like a friday night landfall, somewhere here across georgia and south carolina friday night into saturday morning. we've got this all night tonight and throughout all the day tomorrow, we'll be watching this incredible rain here, even some into friday, rain especially across the eastern side of the state. want to tell you a lot of times you always hear, most of the time just the right-hand side of a storm, is the worst. that's always the case for storm surge. it was the case in this one.

we have a long period to still get through. getting good images from the storm right now, the storm coming on in the daylight, which oftentimes doesn't happen. so we're getting some images now. a lot of places still are not able to be reached. the storm surge is still in place where the storm surge came on shore. so it's going to be a while before we get images. obviously it's getting dark. it will be before tomorrow afternoon before we start to get images of that immediate coastline. to answer your question, i just rambled on there, jess. sorry. >> appreciate it. judge jeanine has a question. >> rick, it's jeanine. when we talk about the wind, how strong the wind is, the rain is really the problem. the rain stops, the wind

continues the flooding. the flooding is the bigger problem. >> more people die from flooding than the winds. it's from inland flooding. one is the storm surge, the bubble of water that gets pushed up from the wind of a hurricane, and that bubble of water pushes onshore. that's one piece of flooding. when you have winds that are in the 150-mile-an-hour range, that's incredibly dangerous. it will rip off roofs of people's homes. it will cause a lot of power outages. it will destroy mobile homes. there's that threat. then you're right, there's the flooding from the rain. because this storm is moving slowly, we get more rainfall in the same spot. totals of 30 inches of rain across florida that's already saturated. they've had a wet last couple of months. the ground is saturated. trees are more unstable. now you get 30 inches of rain and winds in some spots even not on the shore but get 50, 60-mile-an-hour winds, causing

damage as well. >> jesse? >> rick, in your career have you ever seen a hurricane this big? >> yes. >> which one? >> katrina was huge. irma was really big. after katrina, rita was really big. it does matter. when we talk about 155-mile-an-hour winds, that's not the entire size of the storm getting that. those are the winds that are closest to the center of the storm. the stronger or bigger a storm, the winds extend farther out from the center. you have more people getting the stronger winds. but as far as actual size, this happens frequently, that we get some very large storms. i think the reason we're comparing it to charley is because charley hit the exact same area as a cat four storm, but a small one. a larger storm is going to have bigger impacts for a lot more

people. >> rick, i had a question about, governor desantis is due to give another press conference at 5:30. when he does that, what's something that you'll be wanting to learn more about? >> yeah. i mean, he'll have updated numbers for us, i would imagine, which, you know, we know we're over a million people without power, without power going into the overnight hours. obviously it's really warm. you don't have worries about cold. we'll probably also get information about what kind of, not just damage, but water rescues going on. we've heard reports that people are calling, saying we need to be rescued from our homes. where this came onshore, we are hearing that the water level from the storm surge is at people's roofs. back to katrina -- i'm not saying this is a katrina situation, because it was a different flooding situation from the levees breaking. if you have your home, the water is up to your roof, you didn't leave, you have no place to go other than to get to the attic,

knock a hole out and wait there to be rescued. i want to know they're hearing from people. then what their plans are to help people who did say. >> yes. we will all be paying attention to that. reichmuth reichmuth, thank you .rick reichmuth, thank you so much. will nunley, you're in fort myers. what does it look like there? >> i want to build upon the points that rick was making. first of all, dealing with the rescues, we got alerts on our phones, saying wear not getting out, doing rescues. we don't know when that will happen. conditions will be at a point for the next few hours they still can't get out. that's terrifying news for people to receive on top of everything they're going through right now. so much of the state of florida -- its entirety -- is wrapped up in this emergency. you don't have to be experiencing what we are here in fort myers in terms of the storm surge and wind to be affected by this emergency, because you're talking about thousands of

people on the move, that have been trying to get to higher ground. you're talking about all the alignment, the roads that are congested, these things compounding, creating this emergency for the entire state of florida. meanwhile we still have hours more of this chaos left. i'm essentially in a suburb of fort myers right now. it's about 10 minutes this direction to downtown fort myers. i-75 is two minutes to my right. we've not seen the storm surge here. boy, are we seeing the effects of the wind and the relentless rain. this is a piece of a road sign from colonial boulevard that came from the streets you see behind me here. there were plenty of traffic signals that were on the roads over here. all of those street signs, those traffic signals, have blown down. when they crashed down into the strata, the wind just pushes them out of the way, like their toys. we still have branches coming down even as we speak.

these are heavy, heavy traffic signals. okay? that's not something you want to race through and hit. the wind is moving through with such force we're starting to lose parts of the roof. all of these banners and things like that, that have been on poles, that's a dangerous projectile, not the kind of thing you want to interact with. parts of our d terracotta roof, pieces crashing down all around us. we can hear objects taking flight crashing into windows around us as well. so everything becoming a projectile like this, with this wind being sustained like it is for hours and hours on end. and we are hours away from these conditions being over where we are. so you can imagine the panic this creates for people who are trapped in a storm. the cell service is heavily

damaged. we talked about the infrastructure taking a hit. it's not just electric lines. it's the long bug cells on top of cell towers getting battered by the storm as well, coming offlane, it's getting harder and harder for us to transmit. rick was talking about taking a moment to get images out of these places. that's why. it's not because we can't immediately reach them after a storm, but we don't have a way to get them back to you because the cellphone towers are being damaged heavily under the weight of the storm, also affecting, by the way, people trying to communicate with their family and with rescue workers in these urgent hours after an emergency like this. so much stull ahead. guys? >> will, thank you very much. hurricane ian making landfall, and more than 1 million americans are without power. more to come on that. we're watching this major storm. our coverage continues on fox news and the fox weather app.

>> hurricane ian making landfall and rampaging through florida. let's now talk to florida senator marco rubio. senator, would you like to say anything first directly to the people of florida? >> well, it's going to be a long 36 hours. this is a slow-moving storm. we've got all kinds of risk here. the storm surge has gotten a lot of attention, rightfully so. there's going to be a lot of rain on already drenched rain. you'll have flooding that way. we have tornado warnings that extend out to eastern central florida. of course the wind. this is still a category two, maybe low category three hurricane as it works its way through central florida.

already a million people without power, that number climbing into the night hours. it's a dangerous storm, and most likely hours before rescue crews can go out and rescue people and we can start getting an assessment. we've got a long day and a half ahead. >> we'll have that update live at the bottom of the hour with the governor. we'll take it around the table, sophomore. here's dana perino. >> i wondered what you heard about federal/state coordination. we know that the governor and president spoke last night. is there anything you need for the government to do for the people of florida? >> the people at fema are professionals, and florida has worked with fema for years. unfortunately we've had a lot of storms. the coordination is as about as good as i've ever seen it. there's assets ready to come in and assist the state. a lot those groups, whether it's task force or search and rescue,

you know, the linemen ready to come in, begin restoring power, they're already parkway positioned. they've got to wait for conditions to be safe. we emphasized bulk removal of debris. in the roads are clear, you can't even start the work. the cooperation has been excellent. better than it's ever been before a storm. >> senator, i'm wondering about the islands in southwest florida that really have taken a direct hit, moving south of sarasota, even boca grande, sanibel island. sanibel island's elevation is 3 feet above seawater. what are you hearing about that part of the state? >> we're not hearing a lot. those people have been cut off, lost power. maybe cell service to some

extent. people are taking video from a fifth-floor building. why we wanted them to evacuate, we can't get to them. they may be stuck there for a while. video was forwarded to us, and you can satisfy how quickly the water will come in. it's going to stand there for a while. most people heeded the warnings, but some did not. now it's time before we can get there. it is the storm surge. luckily it's not tampa, because that would have been catastrophic from a dollar standpoint. they're not out of the woods by any stretch, but it's in the south florida area, going down to naples, where you're seeing the storm surge impact it's hat. there's hours ahead of wind and other dangerous conditions there before -- it won't be until midday tomorrow before we start to get a full assessment of how bad things are. frankly there will be many first floors and one-story, two-story

structures that will become uninhabitable. >> jessica? >> hi, senator. thank you for joining us. my question is about the nursing homes, the elderly population. governor desantis said they have backup generators. how are the elderly people faring in this? >> i don't want to give a number count, because that's what the state department of emergency management will do coming up. my understanding is people have been evacuated, if they're in low-lying areas, or in areas that lose power they should have backup power that should last them three to four days, because it will be hard to resupply them. that's good news. we know where those centers are, the population count. that will be one of the first places that responders will go to to do a well-being check on the residents. many moved, or have been moved to other areas, arrangements made in that regard. we have a better count of that.

most of them, if not all of them, have backup power. if they don't, they've moved their people. so far so good. we'll wait for a deeper update on the numbers. on that front, i feel pretty good there's been massive improvements made from four years ago. >> jeanine? >> senator rubio, it's jeanine pirro. rick reichmuth talked about 1 million people without power. for those people who didn't heed the warnings, made a decision to stay at home, florida has been through this before. what happens to them? >> well, that's 1 million customers, so that's probably more than 1 million people. that's a household or business, what have you. that number will continue to climb. i mean virtually anywhere that this hurricane goes through is going to lose power to a great extent, because the lines come down. depending on where they are,

hopefully they've charged their cellphone, and cellphone service is working so they can be in touch with people. what you'll find for a substantial period of time until that power is restored, you can't go to a gas station, even if there's gasoline there, they can't pump it. you can't charge your phone. you have to rely on battery power. the roads might be inhabitable, so you can't move. it's a tough time. even for people that didn't have to evacuate will face that inconvenience. our crews are good at restoring power, but the grid is a complicated thing and you need access to it. people in areas without power, depending on why they lost power, where they are, you could be talking upwards of a couple weeks in some cases before people are going to be able to have power in that structure again. my sense is that as we move forward, we'll understand, have a better understanding of the people that have nowhere to live. we have to find them emergency housing, which is where fema steps in and helps the state with. others need power to come on. in the meantime we hope we can get grocery stores, gas stations

working so people have access to those things. the quicker those things come up, the easier it is for a community to move forward. >> thank you. >> senator, thank you very much. you guys seem well prepared down there. this thing seems like a real beast. we're praying for you. thank you. >> thank you so much. thank you. >> let's go to nate foy outside of orlando where the storm is sitting to hit. nate, what's going on? >> jesse, as this hurricane just made landfall in southwest florida, expected to exit the state at daytona beach, if you draw a line between those two locations, smack-dab in the middle of it is orlando, where we are. the next 24 hours are expected to be crucial for the people here. we're in windermere outside of orlando right now. the farther inland that you go, you know, in southwest florida, on the coast, you have every sort of threat you need to worry about. storm surge the biggest. some people come to orlando as sort of a safe haven, but it's

not totally safe, because you stull have gusts of wind and still have flash flooding, up to 24 inches expected in orlando. you heard governor desantis say, almost like the storm will make its way across i-4, where fororlando is in the center of. take a listen to the national hurricane center. so yeah, the national hurricane center is saying the same thing, that this storm is expected to move across the state, the next 24 hours. really important here, you heard senator rubio talking about the threat to nursing homes. again, i was in fort myers for hurricane irma, and the threat is not over once the storm hits-certain area. it takes days, even more than a week. it took days for people in nursing homes, some of them passed away after hurricane irma, because the generators didn't work, something that florida officials are making sure doesn't happen this time around.

listen to this. all right. looks like we don't have the soundbites. you know, long story short, we don't have the soundbites. i'm going to show you this dock behind me. we're staying at my uncle's house right now. we got kicked often the hotel property where we did our first live shot. that dock will be underwater. flash flooding. disneyworld has closed down for the next two days. the aarp airport as of 10:30 not taking commercial flights, only open for emergency relief coming into the hardest-hit areas. >> nate, say hi to your uncle for us on "the five." okay? >> will do. >> keep out here for breaking hurricane ian coverage. we'll be right back.

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>> welcome back. hurricane ian making landfall and wreaking havoc, tampa, florida, battling a storm we've not seen for a century. let's check with fox weather's max gorden from st. petersburg, florida. how has the situation changed, max? >> more than 100,000 customers without power in piniella county, and more than a million customers across florida are in the dark. help will be on the way once this storm subsides. the bucket trucks in the hotel parking lot, there are more than 33,000 utility workers from across the country, from 31 different states, here in florida right now, essentially waiting out the storm. i talked to one utility worker from indiana. he said he came here to help out along with his crew.

so we've got workers from across the u.s. now here to work. but it's going to take a while, because we have to let the winds subside. we can only work in winds up to 35 miles an hour. obviously it's dangerous to raise the lift on these bucket trucks. it is going to take a bit. so people are going to have to be in the dark for at least some time. pinellas county, duke energy, the main supplier, says they've installed smart lines that reroute power when there's outages. many some of the biggest problems are trees falling into lines, different objects interfering with the powerlines and causing those outages. they'll have to wait until the main bulk of the storm passes through before they do their triage, starting fixing powerlines in many places. there's help in other aspects. the national guard here florida

has deployed 5,000 national guardsmen. 2,000 guardsmen from other states are here as well. a lot of help from different states here in florida right now. but again, they're only going to be able to respond once it's safe to do so. right now here in st. petersburg, the storm is moving in. really we haven't seen the strongest winds, the strongest rain just yet. we are expecting up to 2 feet of rainfall here in st. petersburg. things are going to deteriorate pretty quickly over the next few hours. guys, back to you. >> thank you so much, max. fox weather's katie burn is in orlando. katie? >> hey there, guys. we've been tracking the storm from orlando. i can tell you we're dealing with the most significant wind gusts we've had all day long. the rain has let up a little bit where we are, but it's been off and on all day. a lot of people left the

southwest florida area, came toward orlando to seek shelter, to seek a safe haven to ride the storm out, but last night the hurricane warnings expanded inland, encompassing orlando, so people have to ride out the storm here too. hotels are sold out. disney parks are closed today and tomorrow. disney resorts are actually asking guests to shelter in place. whale we're dealing with orlando, over a hundred miles away from where hurricane ian is right now, just hovering over the florida peninsula, we're still seeing conditions like this. what's interesting about being inland is we know that even when you have category one strength hurricane winds in a city, they can have catastrophic major damage. we're dealing with a category four storm today. guys? >> thank you so much, katie. and let's bring in tampa police chief mary o'connor. chief o'connor. >> hi. i'm here. thanks for inviting me. >> to have you on, chief.

give us an idea of what's going on how, how if at all this is impacting what you do as police chief. >> well, yeah. obviously a major storm coming into the tampa bay area is going to impact operations at tampa pd specifically. we have about a thousand officers on what we call an alpha bravo shift right now, working about 12 hours on, 12 hours off. behind me we have all hands on deck here at the hillsborough emergency operation center, where multiple entities are working on any storm operations that need to be resolved. obviously we have tampa fire rescue, code enforcement, stormwater. you name it. so we have all hands on deck. you know, fortunately we're not taking a direct hit in the tampa bay area, but we are still prepared to take on, you know, whatever high winds and heavy rains do bring to our area. >> chief, that is in addition to the work that you already do in

law enforcement. that's got to be taxing you. >> yeah. obviously we're prepared to handle any emergencies that come up. you know, in florida we are used to having hurricanes here in tampa. we do manage some major large events. we've had super bowls. we have parades. we have au our gaspirilla event. we have plans in place, when a catastrophe comes up, everybody has a specific plan. obviously we cease normal operations, except emergency situations, until the storm passes. >> all right. bill hemmer? >> chief, thank you for your time. your governor tweeted out a picture of him meeting with linemen, saying 40,000 staged across the state to restore power. you'll need those people, whether it's in fort myers, orlando, maybe up in daytona beach, into jacksonville.

at 7:30 this morning, the governor said this storm is the real deal. he was right about that, wasn't he? >> he was. he really was. this is the largest storm to hit the west coast of tampa in over a hundred years. you know, again, like i said, we're fortunate that our immediate area did not take a direct impact. you know, we definitely feel for our neighbors to the south. once the storm does pass, we can deploy normal operations, we'll deploy a contingent to get back on track. >> this is dana perino. in some places, rick reichmuth reported south of you there's water up to the roof lines. they'll need to be rescued. but it's dangerous for first responders to get out. how do you make the decision -- is there something specific or

based on your instinct, to know when it's safe to get first responders out to help rescue people? >> typically when the wind speeds reach a certain miles per hour in our case our protocol is 40 miles per hour, we don't let our first responders out on the street, except in extreme emergency situations. then in those emergency situations we're going to use our high water vehicles. we're going to use specifically-trained officers and metho medics to go out and e calls for service. for the high water situations, obviously we have to wait until the high water recedes. there's not a lot we can do about water. the old saying, you can hide from wind, but have to run from water. hopefully the water won't take a long time to recede. the rescue operations and recovery operations, can last

for, you know, months, as we saw in other hurricanes that have hit florida over the years. it can take months, you know, even up to a year. we'll stay on the ground in south florida as long as it takes to help our neighbors in need. >> jesse? >> chief o'connor, this is jesse watters. once the hurricane passes through, there's going to be looters. not a lot, but always bad apples that take advantage of the situation. how do you deal with those people? >> well, when hillsborough county that we're in is a state of emergency in right now, so we have certain offenses -- >> chief o'connor, we have to let you go, because the governor just took the podium. we'll go right now live to ron desantis for an update. >> some of the counties in the interior of the state are seeing major water events as well. we know that 9-1-1 call centers are being rerouted. those coms are done.

calls are being answered, and teams and the people that are calling are being noted. then those local first responders will deploy as soon as it's safe to do so. now obviously local responders can make decisions, but by and large until the storm passes, you know, they are not going to go into a situation for rescue and put their own folks at risk. so we know that there are folks who are in the really high-risk zone a evacuation zones who do not evacuate. some have called in, and those people are being logged. there will be a response, but under the circumstances likely going to take time for this storm to move forward so that it's safe for the first responders to be able to do. we are getting reports, but it's going to take more time to know exactly in terms of structural damage, but we are getting some reports of structural damage, in both lee and charlotte counties, but i would say overwhelming

it's been that surge that's been the biggest issue and the flooding that has resulted as a result of that. in some areas, we think it's hit 12 feet. now, it is our meteorologist's view that the storm surge has likely peaked, and will likely, you know, be less in the coming hours than it has been up to this point, but we know that this has been a big storm, and it's done a lot of damage as it is. it's going to continue to move through the state of florida. you're going to see hurricane-force winds in places in central florida perhaps. it's clearly a strong storm all the way until it exits the florida peninsula in the atlantic ocean. as much as we're focused on southwest florida, very important, obviously, when you have a storm of this nature, i think at landfall it's going to be behind only the labor day hurricane, hurricane andrew and hurricane michael in terms of

intensity. i think we're going to end up seeing that. it may end up being a category five, but at a minimum it's going to be-very strong category four that's going to rank as one of the top five hurricanes to ever hit the florida peninsula. that damage is ongoing. under the circumstances very, very important. but the fact is, there's going to be damage throughout the whole state. people in other parts of the state, be prepared for some impacts. you are seeing counties in different parts of the state issue evacuation orders. clay county in northeast florida, which we do anticipate some major, major flooding events in northeast florida. i think folks that are familiar with the st. johns river know when you have weather like this you will see this. clay county has issued mandatory vaccinations of low-lying areas, along the st. johns river. flagler county issued mandatory

evacuations. st. johns county is evacuating coastal low-lying areas, including the city of augustine, as well as the city of st. augustine beach. putnam has issued evacuations for low-lying counties. and sumpter county is advising evacuating mobile homes. they're having to evacuate folks that are living in vulnerable areas. we have over 1.1 million reported power outages. now, there are crews that are still working outside of southwest florida, but just understand that number is going to grow. you're going to see more power outages as this storm moves through the center part of our state, and before it exits into

the atlantic coast. there are a hundred portable cellphone towers ready to be deployed into southwest florida once it's safe to enter, should that be needed. we want to make sure people are staying out of the way of emergency crews, out of floodwaters, away from downed powerlines. as soon as emergency crews can get in, they are going to get in. as soon as it's safe to go and clear the roadways florida department of transportation is going to go in and clear the roadways. these are all on standby, ready to go. they understand the importance of a really, really quick response. as i mentioned earlier today, we have now officially sent the letter with the request to the biden administration for a major disaster declaration for all 67 counties, requesting the federal government do 100% reimbursement up front for 60 days to ensure that we can quickly move forward into this response and recovery phase. i know sometimes they wait till different damage assessments are made, but in this situation

you've got a massive category four storm. you know, you compare charley to this, this is way, way bigger than charley. as strong as charley coming in, but charley was much smaller. this is a big one. we all know there will be major impacts. we are not only are there 42,000 linemen positioned across the state of florida, as soon as it's safe to go, those personnel are going to go in to resume power, and that's something that's very, very important. in terms of rescue efforts, obviously there's robust efforts in each of these counties. i mean, some of these are major counties in our state, like lee county, collier county. they have great response teams. the statute of florida, you know, we are providing a lot of support that's staged and ready to go. we have almost 250 aircraft, more than 1600 high water vehicles, and more than 300 boats of all drafts and sizes,

including 250 already stationed in the major impacted areas, and nearly 50 that are staged, immediately ready to come in. so with water this high, you know, these operations may need to be waterborne operations. now there are some where you need to use the water to get to some of the barrier islands anyways. you look at collier county, i mean downtown naples is flooded. that's probably going to subside as the time goes on. they're prepared for a lot of different eventualities. we're thankful for the states that have sent us resource and we're very, very appreciative of them stepping up and helping florida. as this storm passes your community, understanding it's still a very hazardous situation. you're going to have downed powerlines. you're going to have a possibility of harm's way because of standing water, misuse of generators. i asked the department of

emergency management, kevin, to produce for me the rundown of the fatalities through direct impacts of storms versus the aftermath, and in hurricane irma there were seven fatalities directly because of the storm, and there were 77 that were as a result of poststorm. a lot of that is standing water, downed powerlines, misuse of generators. so please just take precaution. obviously a ferocious storm coming in. very hazardous. very ominous. we know the life-threatening nature of that. but once the storm goes, once there's apparent calm, there are still plenty of hazards out there. so just please make sure that you're taking the proper precautions. i'm happy that volunteer florida is now activated the florida disaster fund. sometimes people say, hey, we want to help, what can we do? there's really two things you can do. one, send some donations, money. the other can be donate your

time. what's not helpful is sending items and sending things to us. we have a lot of stuff prepositioned. if there's a need for other stuff, ken and his team will work. fema. all these other groups can work to provide that. but if you provide money to some volunteer organizations and charity groups, they can make a big impact in people's lives. if you're willing to volunteer your time, there's going to be ways you can be put to work. there's going to be a lot of people that need help on the back end of this thick. so if you want to contribute, go to florida disasterfund.org or text disaster to 20222. for those who want to volunteer, we have an official volunteer portal at volunteer florida, volunteerflorida.org to find opportunities. this storm is doing a number on the state of florida. it is going to continue to move through the state today and through much of tomorrow.

there's going to continue to be a number of adverse effects. i can tell you that as soon as it moves beyond southwest florida, you're going to see-massive surge of personnel and supplies to be able to help those who are in need, get people back on their feet, and help to rebuild those communities. kevin? >> thank you, governor. i think everybody should >> thank you, govern he. i think everybody should know the governor is extremely committed to being involved with this response. he was here with me until late last night and early with me this morning. he has not been anywhere but very near me the entire time. governor, thank you for your leadership in that area. it means a lot to me and it means a lot to the leadership. as the governor said hurricane ian has made landfall this afternoon as a category 4. winds of 155 miles per hour. i'm not going to read all the statistics that the governor has mentioned but i will bring a couple of new ones here.

1100 resource requests have been -- we received 1100 resource requests. we have fulfilled 900 of those. again, the difference of the # hundred is stuff that we cannot just can't get out on the road right now. we are working as quickly as possible to address those needs. we have well over 200 shelters open. we have 42,000 restoration personnel. we literally have with first responders across the state and additional ones coming in, there is well over 10,000 responders statewide ready to do stuff. as the storm makes its way across florida. i remind floridians to stay indoors if you are in the path of the storm. if you are sheltering in place and the path of the storm and you still have power and wifi, please visit florida disaster.org/info to fill out our shelter in place survey. we have had a really -- we have

had a lot of people answer that, give us that information. that helps us provide critical information to first responders about the demographics of your household. so that they can aid your family as soon as possible. please keep in mind that first responders may not be able to immediately enter impacted areas to assist you due to the safety hazards. we will say we are planning a three-prong handle that specific issue. we have personnel staged to come in via vehicles. we have personnel staged to come in via air with aerial deployed search and rescue assets. we also have the coast guard and florida fish and wildlife commission ready to come in by sea for those barrier islands and beachfront properties. we will have a response mechanism that involves all three of those arms. shelter in place survey again i just reiterated florida

disaster.org/info. if you need immediate assistance please dial 911. that site is not a replacement for 911. if it is calm outside, you may be' in the eye of the storm. as the eye of the storm continues to move inland, it's getting ready to enter areas such as henry county, glades county, do not go outside if all of a sudden the window stops. in this situation that means you are in the eye of the hurricane. seek shelter immediately. get into an interior room and protect yourself. do not walk or drive through flooded areas. floodwaters can still -- i'm sorry floodwaters can stall your car and sweep you and your car away in the blink of an eye. we receive reports of identifies lated tornadoes across east central florida. if you are in a tornado warning, again, seek an interior room free of windows. get low, and put something over the top of your head to protect yourself. if a tornado warning -- i'm

sorry, self-deployments. we do not want individuals self-deploying out on their own. that is very, very dangerous. leave that to the professionals that are trained in how to do that. do not take your personal boat out in these situations. we do not want to have to respond to yet another problem. the governor mentioned there are more deaths as a result of indirect situations than the actual direct situation of storm surge, window at the beginning of a storm. so, please, what we want you to do more than anything else stay safe. governor, again, thank you. >> there are reports that they are on the way. >> so i think the cajun navy is on the way and, you know. there we go. i mean, look, we really welcome. those are some really battle hardened folks so florida

welcomes their support and honestly, particularly louisiana because they have dealt with so much. so the governor has been great and, look, we have got a long way to go. endure this storm to exit the state a lot of need to get in these communities particularly southwest florida and offer the immediate assistance. i do think the three-prong strategy we are going in by ground, air and by sea means that all hands are on deck. and there's going to be people that are going to be in harm's way and what i have said is the folks we're told in these areas of the hazards. they were given time to be able to make arrangements and to leave. some chose not to do that. they would have probably been better off doing that nevertheless, if people are in harm's way, you know, we're going to go and do whatever we can to help those folks. so that is going -- those operations are going to commence as soon as it's safe to do so. certainly, i would say, what, no later than first thing in the

morning? >> yes, sir. >> no later -- as soon as it's light outside and people are able to do it. and then it begins with the clearing the roads, making sure that the electrical folks can get in there. i was able to thank a number of these linemen. we went over to lake city where a number of them are staged. these are great folks. they're coming from all across the country. i met people from alabama, from texas, from louisiana. they are all coming to florida. when we were driving back to tallahassee from lake city, i saw this beautiful site of all these electrical vehicles coming where they had all the electrical equipment on. these are folks that are going to help put people's power back on. just a procession of them. we talked about 42,000. i bet you after today there is probably going to be significantly even more. so you really are seeing just a great low logistical effort to t all hand on deck. any questions? >> yes, governor, you are talking about getting calls from

people who have not evacuated calls for help. how many calls with r. we talking about here? kevin, do you want to take that? >> right now, i don't want to give you a solid number. earlier today we had the initial report was 21. and then we because of the 911 issues in that southwest florida area, we had one small rural county that was answering calls for the larger county saying that they had hundreds of calls. so, i can't really quantify that right now. but just going off the words that the emergency management direct at the local level told me. >> have you spoken to the president at all about getting that 100 percent coverage? i know there is a lot of folks out there who are pushing for florida to get that 100 percent coverage. >> when we spoke yesterday, i mean, he said, you know, all hands on deck that he wants to be helpful. and he said, you know, ask. whatever you need, ask us. so he was inviting us to request support and so we think that this is probably the best thing that we can get at this juncture given what we are dealing with. hopefully we will get a

favorable response on that. mr. g guthrie mentioned it earlr and this is a flood event and a lot of these places may not have flood insurance. do you know how exposed these people are who don't have flood insurance. >> it these are people realtor says you are not in a flood zone. they are not going to get the flood smoosh. i totally understand why people don't do that. just because you are not, quote, in a flood zone does not mean that you are not at risk for a catastrophic event like this. i think you will see some clearly. how many, that remains to be seen. there are programs that fema has to try to provide relief for people but it is not going to be a commensurate to having had a policy we deal with this in other storms across the country