good-bye. he has now tied the record and he'll have, i guess another week, week and a half to break the record. congratulations to him and the new york yankees as well. our prayers are with the people of florida. we love you all. stay safe. stay with the fox news channel for continuing coverage. laura's next. we'll see you tomorrow. ♪ >> laura: i'm laura ingraham and this is the ingraham angle with a fox news alert. the state of florida has been devastated by one of the most powerful storms ever recorded. at around 3:00 p.m. today hurricane ian slammed into the southwestern coast of the sunshine state in cayo costa. the cat 4 storm had winds top off at 155 miles per hour and storm surges feared as high as 15-18 feet. now nearly two million people in florida have lost power with the storm moving at a glacial pace those numbers will continue to

climb along with the flood waters. we're learning at this hour that sheriff offices across the coast getting a number of calls from people trapped in their homes they didn't evacuate but as the lead county sheriff's office said winds need to drop to 45 miles per hour for them to safely attempt these rescues. we're going to have every corner of this disaster covered from reporters on the ground to residents in its path. but we begin in an area where residents have been advised to shelter in place, the tampa saint pete region and that's where we find fax weather's max gordon who is standing by. max what are folks bracing for there tonight? p pfrjts hey there, laura. well, this is an area where folks here were expecting the storm to make a direct hit and although it moved further to the south we aren't necessarily out of the woods just yet. some areas here are expecting around 20 inches of rain, and we are experiencing some of those heavy bands of rain right now as well as those very strong winds. some of these winds enough to

really almost knock you off balance. as this storm moves to the northeast, we are expecting some areas to be receiving around two feet of rain. so flooding is going to be a big issue. still, tampa's mayor says that after everything clears out, and by tomorrow, they should be sending resources down south to those harder hit areas. of course, electricity is a big concern for a lot of folks. as you mentioned, nearly two million customers without power right now. a lot of floridians in the dark as we speak. around 33,000 linemen and utility workers are in the state as we speak ready to start restoring power. but they can't really get up in those bucket trucks until the winds start to subside. winds need to be at around 35 miles an hour or below before they can get up and start fixing those lines. so a lot of issues there. and then when floridians go outside tomorrow, hazards will a wait. there's going to be lines down, trees down, and floridians need to make sure that they keep those generators outside of

their homes, so they don't suffer carbon monoxide poisoning. a lot of issues in the days ahead. and tomorrow, when the sunrises, a lot of damage will be seen. back to you. >> laura: max, thank you. and now we turn to someone who predicted this storm's path before pretty much anyone, fox weather hurricane specialist bryan norcross. bryan, now where does this storm heading from here and what's the biggest fear left as it moves inland? >> well, laura, this is just the first stage of a multi stage, maybe 4-stage disaster for the u.s., but at least a 2-stage disaster for the state of florida and i think three. take a look at it. you see where it's moving inland and the key thing about hurricanes is the circulation. so the circulation coming around the bottom like this, earlier this morning drove the water into naples, and it's all about the angle that it hits the coast. then a little later the winds changed direction a little bit, drove the water up the

caloosahatchee river, and that flooded downtown fort myers. so now we had both those downtowns flooded. but look at the top side of the storm the circulation this way drove the water out of tampa bay so it's going to take the whole system moving in order to get that water to come back into tampa bay, and that's a concerning but that's not going to happen until later tomorrow at the earliest. and then we have another part of this disaster, which is going to be the rain. up to the north, what's left of the circulation here. and you don't see it on the radar so much but there's still plenty of wind coming around down here. but in this northern part, 12-19 inches of rain fell today, and they have record flooding in a place called arcadia, which is not too far from sea bring there and that's the weather going to orlando. here's the track, it takes a step here tonight and then tomorrow, by tomorrow evening, it's in the orlando area and then moving north. you notice that's weakening here to 65 miles per hour but out

over the water, could turn into a hurricane that comes back ashore up in the carolinas, they have a hurricane watch there. but let me time this for you and i'll show you what the potential disaster is here. looking at this, to understand first of all, these are -- the yellow, i didn't draw that well, the yellow is just gusty winds up to t.w. shannon strength so 40 miles per hour and above. the key one is the orange in here, that's the hurricane force gusts. that's going to bring down trees and knock out power, guaranteed especially on top of the wet ground and these are the hurricane force winds. here we go forward in time and i want you to keep your eye on orlando. you notice at midnight tonight just beginning to get some gusts picking up in the orlando area but it's really, tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m., you notice this thing is crawling. you could ride a bicycle faster than this hurricane is going to move. but now tomorrow, orlando is in it in the morning, and then watch as we go through the day today. crawling across central florida

and the metropolitan area of our lando, daytona beach, melbourne. so now we're at noon still in the hurricane force gusts, and look at this. 6:00 tomorrow evening, it still hasn't completely departed the general orlando area. add to that -- that was about the wind. add to that the national weather service is forecasting an extreme risk of flash flooding because -- intense rain, some areas up in a belt up in here, 30 inches, and isolated areas widespread up to 20 inches. that's tonight into the morning. now watch where it moves and notice orlando still in it, and that's tomorrow. so, you know, this is all going to just slowly move to the north and focus on orlando and then we get up to friday into saturday, and now everything moves up north to the carolinas and georgia, and after that it's going to move into north

carolina. so the stages of this thing, laura, it looks like we had this big huge storm surge flooding and in fort myers and south florida then the storm surge and then the flooding in the carolinas and surrounding areas. so long way to go on this storm, laura. >> laura: yeah, brian, we always think of the initial impact but after that. look we know during any crisis, whether it's a natural disaster or otherwise, we see more than ever we leadership matters. competent, articulate, reassuring leadership. the devastating hurricane we were just talking about pounding florida, it's going to leave enormous damage in its wake, we can see it. evacuation orders, assistance, they're underway, and now minimizing the loss of life and organizing the recovery efforts are what matters most. >> the storm is doing a number on the state of florida.

it is going to continue to move through this state today and through much of tomorrow. and 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 a 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. >> laura: and leaders don't just read what other people put in front of them. they're not performance artists, not really, right? they're supposed to be actively engaged in all aspects of managing difficult challenges and directing, as desantis was just doing, the proper resources to where they're needed most. >> we're going in by ground, air, and by sea, mean thes all hands are on deck and there's going to be people that are going to be in harm's way and what i've said is, you know, folks were told in these areas of the hazards, you know, 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. and so that is going to -- those operations are going to commence as soon as it's safe to do so 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 mean, i meant people from alabama, from texas, from louisiana. they're all coming to florida. >> laura: and because no person, not one person can do everything, you need good people in position at a senior level to help manage in a time of emergency. >> you think everybody should know that the governor is extremely committed to being involved in this response and he was here with me until late last night and he was here with me

early this morning and he has not been anywhere but very near me the entire time so governor thank you so much for your leadership in that area. i mean, it means a lot to me, it means a lot to the leadership. >> laura: well, i'm not in florida, but i was reassured by seeing the team that desantis had in place. it's why leadership matters. because it filters down. because it inspires people in a time of need when, frankly, inspiration's hard to come by. the people of florida are under siege by hurricane winds, now flooding, and they're going to need enormous assistance going forward and right now all we can do is hope and pray and donate to the red cross and other great charitable efforts and then we remain grateful to public servants and first responders nationwide who put their people, their safety and their well-being first. joining me now is ohio congressman jim jordan ranking member of house judiciary committee and mollie hemingway editor in chief of the federalist. congressman it's nice president

biden did finally reach out to governor desantis. but he also declined to cancel a fundraiser tonight to help more, you know, obviously democrats get elected governor. which just seemed, i don't know, seemed off. i don't want to politicize this but it does seem off. >> and if president trump did that you can imagine what the left would say and you're exactly right leadership matters. we had great leadership from president trump and great from the governor. the governor said they already have 40,000 line workers on stand-by national guard on stand-by. they've got planes ready to go. i think you talk about air, land and sea ready to help the residents and families of his district and already set up a way to raise money for the families who we're all praying for who are going to be impacted about this and as you point out joe biden is raising money for himself and the democrats the people giving us all the problems unfolding across our country whether it's crime border inflation the last 20 months. so leadership matters and we're seeing a contrast that we had

under real leadership with president trump and this governor and biden. >> as desantis prepares for floridians he's urging to heed advise from the same local leaders he suggested ignore during covid and praising a federal agency that he previously said withheld aid a because biden was playing politics. mollie was hurricanes and covid the same. >> if you understand the difference between hurricanes and covid congratulations you're smarter than a cnn report railroad. there have been problems with management particularly at the federal level and florida emergency experts are unfortunately sandy in this type of ca at that time controversy, they are giving good advice, it is wise people listen to those local emergency leaders and just more than that, this is not the time to be playing these kinds of games. i get that reporters hate ron desantis. they hate that he's very effective. >> laura: they despise him. >> at pushing back against them

and other people on the left but the reasonen he's so popular isn't just because he pushes back and other crazy nest of the left it's because he's a good din straighter. when people go there whether they're republican and democrat they praise how he kept the state open during covid how he's friendly to the businesses. they like his policies, not just because he's conservative. >> laura: in the end government is supposed to would being for the people not conspiring against the people and we see that happening in varying states across the country but florida is really a shining example along with texas and tennessee and south dakota and iowa. they're state that are actually run well. >> yeah, at he we the people, not we the government. we the people elect folks to make decisions, not the bureaucrats like fauci who think he's smarter than everyone else speaking of covid. great leaders understand that, our constitution starts with those three words we the people. they get that. governor desantis, president trump, they get it. unfortunately today's left which runs our federal government.

they don't. they think power's all about the government and the bureaucracy and doing what they want to do versus what we the people elected folks to do. >> laura: i was talking to someone the other day and she said to me, not really a political person, an old college friend, and she said, i start to think like, i feel like i'm the enemy in my own country. i feel like i'm an adversary to the people we vote for or who are supposed to serve us as opposed to the political party. like we're the enemy. no, we're the people we're not the enemy. don't treat us like the enemy. the hurricane is slamming florida. john kerry thought it was the perfect time to tout biden on the climate. >> the inflation reduction act will be an accelerator of action. it has really serious money as incentive for the deployment of renewables. for the manufacture of renewables. for the deployment of electric

vehicles, the infrastructure for it. this is a job creator. >> laura: mollie? >> there is this wide held conspiracy theory on the left that manmade climate change is the cause of hurricanes, which is just absurd on its face. we've had hurricanes ever since the dawn of creation. they average, you know, i think the average number of hurricanes from 1851 to 1860 was 19. that was the same number that we will had between 2011 and 2020. there are more people living in coastal regions, that does mean that costs go up when haines hit. but there's just no evidence for this theory that people keep holding. and then also, the number of years -- even if you believed all of sort of the propaganda that comes with the legislation, the number of decades it would take to bear fruit in terms of any of this would -- it would not have mattered when they passed this bill. >> laura: congressman before we let you go on the issue of insurance and the flood zones this is a huge issue playing out on the coastal issues of the country a lot of insurance companies pulling out all together their losses have been

so big they can't stay in business. what is the answer because the federal flood insurance covers very little. >> yeah. >> laura: a little bit but not a lot of the values of these homes. so what happens. >> i would defer to the experts on the financial services committee what needs to happen. but i'm always reluctant to embrace any type of big government solution, certainly big federal government solution. we typically screw it up as evidenced by this inflation reduction act which we know is actually driving up the costs of goods andfloat in a bunch

of water. >> laura: no. that's a very no nonsense way of putting it patrick. so great governor desantis so far on his handling. it's early but his handling of the preparations for this storm. >> yeah, i mean, i think the systems there are in place, you know, and we come together in a

bipartisan way. you know i've talked by the way of new jersey. good old boy in florida. >> yeah, yeah. >> laura: my cousin vinny situation coming down to florida. i like it. patrick stay safe please. still ahead raymond arroyo michael shell berger plus more on this unfolding did he haves snakes florida as hurricane ian crawls its way inland. live reports from the ground in moments.

watch this. >> governor desantis says it's all hands on deck to prepare for what's coming. and that includes reaching across the aisle for help. >> isn't it socialism when the government helps you? quote, i am not in the pews of the church of the global warming leftists. this is what he thinks about climate change and now his state is getting hit with one of the worst hurricanes florida will ever see. >> perhaps -- >> i think presidents rise to the occasions or future press. >> this is not politics. these are people's lives. >> laura: ray, your reaction. >> whoopee should have said at

that at the givenlth she huff said that at the onset. it is so gross to say a governor's position on climate change made the hurricane and nature itself target he and millions of people in his state. this is absurd to the enth degree. and to politicize this moment when mothers and old people and babies are fleeing their houses a and their neighborhoods are swamped downtown naples under water, islands that you and i know under water tonight. this is cruel and it's the inhumane view that we saw today. they should be praying and hoping for -- that this hurricane would be dulled at not egging on and encouraging destruction to prove some sick political point. i don't care what side of the aisle you're on, whoopi was right, politics should have no place here and today on the view it was everywhere. it was partisanship from start to finish, laura. it was frankly disgusting. >> laura: yeah, well, the

hissing sounds coming from the set as they recoiled to strike, like spitting cobras as desantis. i'm looking at them like, they couldn't -- hold on, raymond,fu. it's hard to manage a situation like this and he's doing a great job. i don't care if it's republican, democrat or independent. he's doing a great job. we'll see what's happening in the coming days but we should hope that he does a great job. >> right. and there was one little freudian slip, sonny called

it's heart breaking. >> laura: raymond your perspective so important tonight thank you very much >> from extreme weather to extreme geo politics. we're going to keep our eye on florida obviously. a huge international freakout though could be just as impactful for the safety of american citizens. first, the democratically elected leader of italy led to the cries of fascism from the deep state and the bureaucratic elites all over the other cables. they were so out there that the 2019 speech on the importance of the family was actually removed

from youtube earlier today. now, it's since been restored to youtube. they claim it was just an unfortunate error. okay. and then there's something happening in the baltic, right? well, let's play out two indisputable facts. number one experts agree that only a government could have blown the nord stream pipeline. could have set off the explosion. number two, the destruction represents a major setback to russia which has been asking europe to open the pipeline. of course, what was remarkable is that in the days following this catastrophic and potentially escalating move, was the near total silence from the united states. eu and nato officials silent. that was until late today. a military official, who refused to go on the record, of course, said not only there was -- that there was no american involvement but that there's increasing evidence that this was a sophisticated attack, adding that european allies say

that the suspicion and likely culprit is russia. joining me

this weather's will nunley this destruction and fold all day. he joins us there now will what have you been hearing about when the search and rescue missions may actually begin? that's right. and i also understand that you are having problems reaching steve and harrigan's crew because the cell phone towers are starting to malfunction all around us. i mean, they have just been beaten up by this storm, like everything else is here. and so he was really in an area that was kind of landfall. so yeah, imagine to the lifelines of people that are trying to reach their loved ones tonight that maybe awaiting rescue and lord we've had some text messages to us tonight or the alert messages as a matter of fact, from emergency crews saying, we're still will not getting out and performing rescues. at this point, because even though now jacksonville, orlando ormond beach are seeing the effects of this storm were still dealing with hurricane

force wind here and i can start to, you know, go through some of the figures, but they're just astonishing when you talk about millions of people without power right now, we had storm surge so great in parts of fort myers, fort myers beach, naples. the waves coming in that were so dramatic. it ruined the gauges that even measure wave height and in some cases, this storm surge inundation. record storm surge , of course for naples so let me tell you what's happening on the ground here tonight about 10 minutes or so away from downtown fort myers. we started to see our first couple of convoys. this is one of the major arteries going into town. we started to see our first couple of convoys of electric crews. you can imagine that those line men and women are ready to get out here and start going. but the wind won't let up long enough for them to get out there and start their important work. we have not even seen too many, you know fire trucks or emergency crews moving in yet because the conditions just won't allow for it. so we have so many of our neighbors here tonight in florida, wrapped up in the

extremely dangerous situations. and i can't help but think about the people tonight that are awaiting rescue that are in their homes. no power may even have water in their homes tonight, holding on to that cell phone that they hope is working, waiting on word rescue. that's reality tonight for dozens, if not hundreds of people in this area that are waiting for those lifelines to emerge, so we're going to continue throughout the night. as soon as conditions allowed. laurel show you this too, before i leave you here. this is how i have spent the past 12 hours or so with my crew. we've been sandwiched between one of our fox weather beast when these big vehicles here in our concrete structure because the wind has been so powerful that we can't move around. so we're about to finally get that break where we can get out and get you some more coverage. but i think again when our flight team's going to show you in the morning is going to be some unforgettable, harrowing images of the power of this storm. well thank you. stay safe there, my friend. alright now we turn to fox news correspondent nate boy in orlando, which is expected to

get soaked overnight into tomorrow, nate. how are people preparing their. people have done what they can do. and at this point, laura they're really just hoping for the best after seeing the devastating images out of southwest florida , i can tell you that the wind and rain are picking up. in fact, just a few moments ago we had a strong gust come through and a tree branch just pretty much came down right to where i'm standing right here. so hopefully we're good here. we'll probably move after this live shot, but the worst of it is still ahead for the people here in the orlando area between seven and 10 a.m. it's expected to be the peak of hurricane in, and it's expected to roll through central florida as about a category one hurricane, possibly a tropical storm with sustained winds of 75 miles an hour. and up to 30 inches of rain, so i lived in fort myers for six years. prior to february, lot of people would come to orlando to avoid, you know the threat of storm surge. but you can't escape the flash flooding, so that is expected to be the big thing

that people here are really concerned about. and even though it's now a category two and as it continues, pushing its way across florida, the storm slows down, which means it just dumps more and more rain. you still get strong winds again. 75 mile an hour winds is no joke, and governor rhonda santos had a message tonight for the people of central florida. telling them what's to come. listen to this . you're going to see hurricane force winds in places in central florida. you're also seeing inland flooding because of the inundation that you're seeing some of the counties in the interior of the state are seeing major water events as well. so laura on top of the obvious hurricane warning. we also have a tornado watch in effect here in orange county until one a.m, the orange county sheriff's office, says that we could be seeing quote catastrophic flooding in the downtown orlando area. at this point, they are urging everybody to just shelter indoors. do not leave your home if you are outside for whatever reason. the roads are likely to

be flooded right now it's going to get worse. do not drive through flooded roads. it's very dangerous. at this point, people again have done what they can and they're hoping for the best. we'll send it back to you. nate. thank you. now coming up more reports from the ground plus, we fact check the climate analysis has being spewed elsewhere tonight.

>> laura: to give you a sense of how gar good afternoon juan the storm is that is the outer bands reaching georgia. here for an update is submity hicks fox weather. what can you tell us tonight? >> hey, well, good evening, laura. i can tell you it's a bit of a waiting game here in tallahassee. we're currently situated at the state emergency operation center and this is the center where re

to deploy across the state when it's safe. governor ron desantis made his final rounds today telling people about the state's recovery and rescue efforts. and as of this evening, the governor confirmed that at least 26 states have sent critical resources, including emt, fire and rescue. currently there's not a state curfew mandate but i can tell you that there are places like naples and fort myers, they're currently under a curfew, laura. >> laura: wow, mitti it's terrifying to think of anyone going out in this storm tonight anywhere near the hurricane. we appreciate it. thanks so much. >> and one of the most predictable responses to all of this with the insanity that's happening on the ground is for people to turn things into politics. and we said tonight we're not going to do that and we're not

going to do that. we're focusing on what matters which is getting the resources to the people that need them the most and getting you the information that you need. and that means we're going to derrick mcrae, who is the owner of hammer head beach bar in florida, he says his open. >> so here at hammer head, you know, it's just kind of one of those things, we stay open until we're forced to close. pretty much everybody here, they're all locals, they're all from florida. so we've been through this a time or two. and so we just, you know, we always want everybody to be safe, but we feel like we can do that and you know how florida is, everybody always wants to throw that hurricane party. so we do a little bit of that but also make sure that

everybody's safe and having a good time. >> laura: well, there's comfort in knowing that you can go to your favorite bar or you can still make your way to see your friends and maybe take the worry off your mind for a moment or two. >> yeah. >> laura: but, you know, the usual suspects will be like, you know, that's selfish, you should have closed the barks you shouldn't be up and running but it sounds like from everything i'm seeing in there that people are really glad you are open. >> yeah. you know, we're always prepared for all of this stuff, and, you

standard of living. we appreciate your words ton

tonight. actual factual analysis of what's happening. now our prayers continue to be with the people of florida tonight for the coming days, the weeks, they'll be dealing with the aftermath of the hurricane. stay with fox news and we will continue coverage all night long. we have the best team in the business and they are covering all aspects on the ground with all of our reporters. if everybody have a good night. safe prayers. ♪ ♪ >> hello, welcome to a special two hour fox news at night, i'm trace gallagher in los angeles. >> hurricane ian made landfall this afternoon in southwest florida and its battering areas in southwest florida. of company's been beyond that. we have seen life-threatening life surges. >> we have a