♪ >> ainsley: fox weather is tracking ian now a tropical storm as it is hitting central florida this morning. you are looking live at daytona beach, florida would are seeing incredible video from when ian made landfall as a powerful cat 4 hurricane, almost a 5. it brought record storm surge leaving houses and businesses under water and at this hour more than 2 million people are still without power. >> pete: flash flood warnings are in effect right now as millions more brace for ian's wrath. florida governor ron desantis set to address -- give an

address to respond at 8:45 this morning. we will bring it to you live when it happens. >> brian: just like we did yesterday live across the state with a firsthand look at the devastation and all seeing it for the first time because the sun is coming up. seen evermeteorologist is standing by our team fox coverage starts with robert ray live in fort myers. that's where it hit robert, right? did sure did good morning to you from the devastated streets from downtown fort myers. you see this debris field i'm walking through with garbage cans, mud, palms that were literally projectiles when these hurricane force winds were coming through here yesterday and into the evening. this guys, if we look at the video was i am not even exaggerating and not to use a cliche a rushing river yesterday evening street after street here full of storm surge water that came up from the bay and the river about three blocks behind

me made its way into streets here destroying businesses and now business owners are starting to come in and take a look look at things like this. look at the size of this palm. probably 10, are 15 pounds ripped off trees flying around in hurricane force winds yesterday along with rooftops and other debris these items can cause a ton of damage. beautiful to look at but when they are flying through the air like that. just very very intense i can also tell you i talked to one and he explained to me about 3 or 4 blocks away from here, on the river's edge, where a lot of boats and vessels were tied up yesterday. they became untethered and there are many strewn all over roads and out of the water. toppled and destroyed by

hurricane ianens winds yesterday that just were persistent through the night actually here when day break comes and we can move we will assess that and get video and figure out the situation as our emergency officials on the ground as well as national guard other 5,000 activated here on the ground and in the air. unfortunately over 2 million people out of power here across the state of the florida to the south of me where i'm at in naples beautiful cowgill community with so many people that have moved there in the former years, including my in-laws who live down there. the devastation in that region search and rescue crews have been out and about and some of the images we have seen down there are just heart breaking. on the shoreline, fort myers beach where i started yesterday morning and retreated evacuated because of the storm surge come in. they received upwards 18, 15 feet of storm surge on that

barrier island. homes with water up to the roof lines. assessment will continue with that as day breaks here and the sun comes up i just hope people evacuated from that region because that is a situation that could have been very, very dangerous for many. and we hope that it was not certainly there will be a loss of structures we hope we do not see a loss of life here this morning, guys robert. >> we saw somebody driving by does that mean somebody is use the roads? i'm not saying if it's wise or not but are there people driving by regularly? >> here's the deal. there is a curfew here for the next two days and by the way, there is system power here in downtown fort myers because they are attached to the hospital grid. that's the only reason that there is power here. they are not supposed to be out here driving. though i will say, this for business owners, they are come in. we have seen some of them come in. you can't blame them. you have a business here. this one boarded up behind me with all the debris that's your

life. you want to see what's happening. but we are not seeing, you know, anyone coming in that doesn't seem like they don't need to be here at this point. of course in the aftermath of these disasters that does happen and it will be expected. that's why the national guard a lot of times is brought in to create barriers and perimeters and they will certainly throughout the day and coming days to stop those that just don't need to be in here right now. the assessment is going to take a long time. >> ainsley: interesting they are part of the hospital grid they get the power. some of the people have businesses in that area will come in to assess the damage and also to charge their cell phones. i was talking to someone yesterday who lives in that area. they were saying we might lose-we don't have any more power and our cell phone once it dies and we are expecting not it have power four or five days. are you seeing that? you say your in-law's live in the area or naples. >> yeah. they unfortunately are out of power. they are in one of those big high rises on the gulf bark up

generators. i will say the hotel we stayed at last night no power. no running water looks similar to, you know, things i have covered internationally in hostile environments, war zones where people refugees are brought in and have that feel i think people unfortunately are going to have to -- they hunker down for the storm and now there's a whole other element of mental and physical toughness in the coming days. but you feel for the elderly and the children down here. so many people have moved down here. retired. such a beautiful region. and unfortunately it's going to be a really rough ride. if there is a silver lining at all guys, there is many aid groups coming down with provisions and supplies and they are on their way. if you are watching this, believe me, those people are on their way from states all around the country that's what happens

in america. >> brian: especially in florida. >> yes. >> pete: robert robert, what i'm taking from you it's not at this moment search and rescue it is preparing continue to during and survive and do the best you can in the days to come that is. >> that is correct though there will be search and rescues as the sun is literally starting to come up. on those coastal communities, those areas that had the storm surge that was six, 12, 18 feet. they are definitely going to be search and rescues here this morning. those officials couldn't come in because frankly the window was still so persistent all the way through the middle of the night. just not safe. but, yes, we should expect to see that in the coming hours on the coastal areas. >> got it. >> ainsley: thank you so much. we will check back in with you. >> pete: fox weather multi media journalist brady campbell continues our coverage next on the ground in orlando. brandon? >> good morning, guys.

if you take a look around me. you can see it is still raining. not coming down too hard right now. but the window is also continuing to go. you can see the trees behind me. you might see a slight sway in them. but, look, ian, it hit land tieing for the fourth strongest storm to hit florida as a category 4. we got it here in orlando as a category 1 now it is continuing as a tropical storm. you have guys were here last night. you would hear of the howling of the window. it was really loud out here. but, also, phones, they went off several times. we were getting those emergency alerts saying, you know, there is flash flooding happening here in the area. so, when i looked out of my window, i could see, you know, water definitelily accumulating in the parking lot and the window kind of blowing on top of it so you could tell there was a good amount of accumulation out here on the roads actually downtown orlando where we are a

foot of radar ifned indicated rainfall and with six inches over the metro area of orlando and our forecast censors they expect about another 1 to 3 inches here from ian. now, another issue that comes out of this is the impact to people. so that's going to be flooding on the roads for anyone who is trying to get out and drive which probably is not suggested yet, i mean, the sun isn't even out yet some people tweeting about their cars flooded or arms flooded city saying if your home is flooded can you try to self-evacuate to a shelter but definitely avoid any flooded roads. so it's a continuing situation here. a lot of rain here in orlando. and the window is picking up as it continues across florida. back to you guys. >> brian: who would have thought that orlando would still be raining there. thanks so much. meanwhile, senior meteorologist janice dean probably was not surprised. she has been tracking it all. >> janice: taken 24 hours for the storm to actually get to the orlando area and now we are

anticipating reemergence in the atlantic ocean. it could actually strengthen maybe to a category 1 hurricane again and then make a second landfall towards georgia and south carolina. but here are the statistics from yesterday. made landfall at 3:05 p.m. eastern time near could i costa florida. that's where charley hit in 2004. this storm is three times the size of charley and at one point a category 5 storm there still is the potential for them to upgrade this to a category 5. at one point yesterday we had hurricane hunters report winds of 158 miles per hour. it's 157 to make it to a category 5. that certainly could happen. one of the strongest storms to hit the sunshine state. still looking at heavy rain in the forecast north of atlanta. counterclockwise winds not over yet. flash flood warnings in around around the orlando area. daytona beach where they are getting tropical storm force winds. if you look at the track go into

friday 75 miles per hour. 7 # makes it a hurricane. this will be a border line cat 1 hurricane. we do have hurricane watches up and down the coast line from coastal georgia all the way up towards the carolinas. just take a look at friday and saturday. still at least tropical storm force winds along the southeast coast. so that's going to be a big deal. storm surge 3 to 5 feet in these vulnerable areas. tropical storm warnings are in effect, watches that extend well inland. and then hurricane watches so i want people to be prepared for hurricane conditions for northern parts of florida, georgia, in towards the carolinas. we are not done and the ground is saturated here so flooding is going to be a big concern. it's not going to take a lot of rain to cause flooding and 2 to 3 inches in an hour. that's not out of the question. flash flood threats certainly for northeast florida but all the way up the coast line along these vulnerable beaches. storm surge 3 to 5 feet. can your property take that? that's something you have to assess. do you have to move further inland here is the rainfall

total still to come. some areas 3 to 8 inches. isolated amounts of over a foot of rain. we have certainly seen totals of close to 2 feet that flash flood threat will go into friday and saturday as we move in towards the carolinas and then going in towards the appalachians, the mountainness regions of the mid-atlantic, tracking the storm throughout the weekend and even into early next week. sun now coming up in florida we will see some of the images of the coast line changing really forever for up-to-the-minute minute coverage of the storm stream fox weather.com. download that app. >> brian: let's go over to carley shimkus. she has promised to do the other news. >> carley: we will start here, bribe, with the american crime crisis of the mom plowed into by hit and run driver while pushing her baby is now going after los angeles d.a. george gascon soft

on crime policies. yesterday in court of the young mom described how she doesn't feel safe in her neighborhood and won't if the teen driver is allowed to be at home. previously thanks to gascon, the convicted teen was sentenced to just five months in a probation camp. he is trying to get out of that probation camp early finland is closing its border to most russian tours tomorrow as russians who don't want to fight in ukraine try to flee that mover comes as the kremlin bans cars from entering the region of georgia after president putin ordered mobilization of the military. nine mile line of cars trying to escape the country can even be seen from space and the kremlin says it will officially incident create four regions of ukraine into russia tomorrow. those regions holding referendums on joins russia last week. and listen to this one. several democratic candidates are cashing in on women's themed campaign merchandise while failing to define the actual word woman. center michael bennet is selling

women for bennett tote bags when asked to define woman, he read to answer. g.o.p. missouri senator josh hawley calling out the democrats for being scared of being canceled in their own party saying this is what the modern democratic party looks like. those are your headlines, guys, over to you. >> pete: it's a classic problem. will. >> carley: what's a problem. >> steve: if you don't know what a woman is how do you sell the woman swag very difficult. >> brian: we don't even know pronoun. how do you get that right too. we have a lot to learn. >> pete: we do. carley thank you very much. john fetterman, john fetter woman. if he is asked to define. >> brian: he did say that poet. >> pete: that's not my words it's his. how we define what a fetter woman is? >> ainsley: betty bought some butter she said this butter is bitter how does betty -- whatever. what's coming up. >> pete: fox weather is tracking tropical storm ian as the storm slams central florida this

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>> brian: er from the right now. this is hard to hear. according to the lee county sheriff, there are, quote: fatalities in the hundreds because of hurricane ian. this morning more than 2.5 million in florida are still without power. the state's largest utility, florida power and light serving the vast majority of the state with nearly 1.2 million outages. david reporter with the florida and light company we just got that word about the fatalities. one of the biggest dangers

people walking through and get electrocuted because of a downed power line. what are you finding so far? early. daylight is assess the damage and see what we're dealing with. >> brian: power outages 2.5 million is that the number you are working with. >> we are hearing across the state 2 million at this point. i can tell you specifically for florida, power and light we have just over 1.1 million customers out across the state at the moment. with that said, we have also been out and about throughout the storm where it's been safe to do so. restoring power to our customers. and we have actually already restored power to more than 500,000 of our customers. >> brian: david, do you look to restore their power or come in with temporary power? >> we look to restore their power. our goal is to get all of our

customers back up 100 percent as soon as we can. but the most important thing is we are trying to do that safely for our workforce and for our customers. ' we understand that our customers require power. that it's really important to get back to normal for them. and so we work really hard to make sure we do that safely but obviously as quickly as possible. >> brian: we see where the storm hit and where it's heading. are you staged in certain areas in order to surge your forces? >> we are. so we have more than 20,000 restoration workforces staged across the state. at the present moment we have crews from more than 30 states supporting us. and we also have about 37 stapling sites throughout the state. so, as the storm leaves those areas we can push the crews straight in there as soon as it's safe to do so, assess the damage and start the process of restoring the power. >> brian: david rurt with us now.

news of casualties. talking about power. dave, are a lot of your lines buried in the ground or are they all on poles? >> so we have been working for more than a decade and a half to underground our lines into different places throughout the state. but overall, we have tens of thousands of miles of power lines throughout the state. so it is a lengthy process. so some of the lines are underground. but the majority of lines today are still above the ground and that's what is going to take some time to assess. we are going to use drones to go out and figure out exactly where the biggest damage is. and that will allow us to get the power back on as quickly as possible. >> brian: during sandy my whole neighborhood went on fire because somebody brought their generator in their house. that is a big problem, correct? >> it is a big concern. it's something that we spent a lot of time communicating with our customers on in terms of safety overall. safety about what to do when you see a downed power line. safety around using generators

safely at your home. and so that's something that we continue to communicate every single time we go out to customers right now. we want them to be safe. we want, you know, if they survive the storm and, you know, are okay. we obviously don't want something to happen after the fact as we are restoring power. >> brian: dave, do you have a number on how many homes have been restored of power? >> so, since the start of the storm we have actually restored power to more than half a million customers so far. >> brian: best of luck. i know oven through this before each one has their challenge. biggest hurricane in florida history. dave rioter, thank you. >> thank you, appreciate it. >> brian: 23 minutes now after the hour. ainsley, take it away. >> ainsley: all right. thank you be brian. we have a fox news alert. the lee county sheriff, which is the fort myers area, says that there are, quote: facilities in the hundreds following hurricane ian. this as we learn a section of

the sanibel causeway is wiped out this essentially cuts off sanibel island from the mainland. emergency responders are there on the scene. we will continue to watch this and get more updates as the sun comes up there. tampa residents are fearing a major storm surge, state representative jackie toledo is coming up next. ♪ >> tech: when you have auto glass damage, let safelite come to you. ♪ pop rock music ♪ >> tech: my customer enjoys time with her family. so when her windshield got a crack... she scheduled with safelite in just a few clicks. we came to her house... ...replaced the windshield... and installed new wipers. that's service on her time. >> grandkid: here you go! >> tech: wow, thank you! >> customer and grandkids: bye! >> tech: bye! don't wait, schedule now.

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♪ >> pete: we're back with a fox weather alert which is, indeed, heart breaking. according to the lee county sheriff, the death toll may be in the hundreds. ian making landfall as a category 4 hurricane n lee county. ian which is now a tropical storm hitting central florida where people are bracing for severe flooding that is ongoing. fox news correspondent fill keating is live in tampa, phil? >> confirming that the fatalities would be in the

hundreds. they said that this morning on another network's morning show. we do know that part of the sanibel causeway did collapse. not sure if that is directly connected. but, there is still with the hurricane and that is now a tropical storm ian, still a major rain, window, and storm surge threat. primarily now along the i-95 corridor along daytona beach, jacksonville area before the storm system moves north. here in tampa, you know, it's pretty calm a little chilly about 70 degrees surprisingly. the rain has moved out east but it was a pounding night of window and rain here last night. category 4 hurricane ian made landfall at 3:00ish just north of fort myers on kia costa a barrier island on sanibel fort myers that entire region is dealing with power outages. in fact 2.5 million statewide

without electricity right now. and as one would expect most of that is where the category 4 hurricane slammed ashore. this is the website power outage u.s. which tracks these outages. about 50,000 utility crews including many from out of state are now trying to get everyone back on the grid in placido, florida where landfall happened in charlotte county here is the whiteout eye wall where the storm and it's 150 mile-per-hour winds slammed ashore. most of the southwest florida corridor is under a flood advisory. all the way until saturday. that will likely spread further northeast as the system and the rains and the storm and the flooding all move in that trajectory. all of this must recede hence the flood advisory. the bulk of the window and rain spans from the orlando area to the i-95 core doctor on the east coast of jacksonville and lastly, the nfl has now selected

the minnesota vikings football stadium as a location just in case this sunday's game here in tampa between the kansas city chiefs and the tampa bay buccaneers can't be played because of the hurricane. still not certain though. >> pete: phil keating, thank you very much for the update. florida state representative jackie toledo represents the south tampa area and joins us now. representative, thank you so much for being here. give us an update. you are getting the data. information in realtime, i would presume. i'm guessing you heard the news we are reporting this morning that the lee county sheriff is saying fatalities could be in the hundreds. that's south of you down near fort myers. what do you know? >> no. i just heard it here first with you. it is absolutely devastating. they are definitely going to need our help and any way that we can support them, we need to

rally behind our brothers and sisters in fort myers and bray for the victims and families. we need shelter in place in tampa. it's still not safe to be out there. i saw some posts about, you know, some power lines being down and i think there is just so much water and window that it is still very unpredictable right now. >> pete: what hab the most unpredictable, i guess you can't state what was unpredictable, but what was unforeseen in your mind as far as what occurred as the storm went through? >> well, we are racing for a direct impact here in tampa bay. so a lot of us were evacuated. and then having it shift to fort myers. i don't know if they were as prepared as we were certainly with the deaths we are seeing we no that a lot of people did not evacuate. so sadly, we are going to deal with having those consequences and we are going to help them as much as we can as well.

>> pete: jackie, are first responders able to be out in the streets this morning? we are looking at images right now on our screen of taped from fort myers. i know you are up in the tampa area. are streets open? are first responders age to get around? >> some roads. i live in a very -- we are at sea level so it's very hard to get to some of the roads in south tampa. you know there are certain are a tailor roads that can you access. again, it's not safe to be outside right now. >> peter: well, jackie toledo, florida state representative, thank you for the update. we are thinking about you guys and wish you the best. thank you. >> thank you. >> pete: all right. for up to the minute coverage of hurricane ian, download and stream fox weather.com. they do a nice job. coming up, waffle house restaurants have a reputation for staying open even during extreme weather.

to the point that eeven have their own index. we will break it down next. ♪ feel like... sound like... even smell like. more on that soon. ♪ ♪ the best part? the prequel is pretty sweet too. ♪ ♪

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♪ >> pete: we're back with a fox news alert. the lee county sheriff says there are, quote: fatalities in the hundreds following hurricane ian. the category 4 hurricane making landfall in lee county. here's what the sheriff said within the last 30 minutes. >> while i don't have confirm numbers i know the fatalities are in the hundreds. there are thousands of people that are waiting to be rescued and, again, cannot get the true assessment until we are actually on scene assessing each scene and we can't access people, that's the problem. we are accessing the bridges, we are seeing what's compromised and what's not. this will be a life changing event for the men and women that are responding. >> pete: this as we learn a

section of the sauna bell causeway in lee county as well is wiped out. this essentially cuts off sauna bell island from the mainland, emergency responders are on the scene and as we get more information, we will certainly bring it to you. >> ainsley: i wonder how the little chapel on sanibel is doing where people get married. we will find out more about the area when the sun comes up. during major weather events like this that you might have heard as of the waffle house index this simple guide is actually used by emergency responders and even fema to determine how quickly an area will bounce back. green would mean that the restaurant has full power and a full menu. yellow means they are running out of food or power. and have a limited menu and then red would mean that the restaurant is closed completely. right now, more than 30 florida locations, these waffle house locations are in the red zone. so they are totally closed. waffle house ceo walt elm member joins you now to explain. good morning to you, walt. good morning, ainsley thank you

for having me. >> ainsley: thank you for coming on. this is a real thing. waffle house using this and emergency responders are using this to determine how bad it is and when we can all come back and maybe have a regular lifestyle again. who coined this phrase? how did this begin? [inaudible] when he was running florida emergency management, and he told me just happened to notice that if the waffle houses were able to get back open after a storm, that area, community was doing well and if they were not, it was not. so, somehow it took on a life of its own and it's something that a lot of people ask us about this time of the year. >> ainsley: i know last night you were telling us you believed there were about 21 that were closed and now this morning, more than 30 is that because it got so bad you couldn't keep them open? or is it because the storm is moving through florida and then you had to close more and more? >> a little bit of that klee

closed everything in harm's way before the storm. now we are in the process of trying to assess where we have power. where we can get people. how we can get people started. so the store i'm in right here just south of tampa. he would are not currently open. but you see we have power. we have a few people and we are about to get open. we have got a parking lot full of folks out there that want to eat. as soon as i'm done with this it's back to the grill. >> ainsley: i know that a lot of your employees that work in these waffle houses they expect -- they need this money. they need a paycheck. when do you think you will start opening again? >> oh, we are going to be opening up this morning. most of the places that were not damaged we do have some damage down there, we will start to get down into those markets that have been affected in such a grave way. we will get down there today with generators get things open

in those community that need us the most. >> ainsley: what kind of damage are we talking? >> so, i don't have a full damage report now but what i have heard we have got broken windows and high rise signs that are knocked down. i don't think we have lost any buildings. we didn't have anything right on the beach. but port charlotte, port myers, that punta gorda area down there is kind of where we think naples a little bit. where we think we are going to have the biggest challenge. >> ainsley: okay. well, please keep us posted. thank you so much for being with us. we love your restaurants. are they just in the southeast? they're up here in new york, too right? >> no. we are not up there with you in new york. we are keeping -- ready for you when you come back. we're largely in the south. >> ainsley: thank you for sending me -- you sent me a basket i was talking about how much waffle house means to me because my dad and i would go all the time. go on wednesdays before

wednesday before high school. we called it waffle house wednesday. all my friends met there i use my waffle house cup and mug all the time. thank you so much for that we are praying for your employees and we hope y'all can get up and running again people love their waffle house and i know your employees need that paycheck. god bless you. >> thank you so much, ainsley. we will be open as quick as we can. >> ainsley: okay. great, thank you for what you do. >> thank you. >> ainsley: let's hand it over to carley for more medicine lines. >> carley: we are begin to begin with america's crime crisis. carjackings in the city of philadelphia are hitting a grim new milestone. scenes like these are becoming all too common as report of auto theft are hitting more than 1,000 for the first time ever last year. the city recorded # hundred 47 carjackings. vice president kamala harris touting the u.s. alliance with the wrong korea while touring the demilitarized zone on her tour of asia. >> so the united states shares a

very important relationship, which san alliance with the republic of north korea, and it an alliance that is strong and enduring. >> ainsley: the gaffe comes a day after north korea fired test missile toward the north sea. the department of homeland security's website is providing satisfy with a constant stream of lifestyle advice. what? dhs offering guidance to its 240,000 employees like finding things be to do that will make you laugh and get plenty of sleep. this week they informed employees to, quote: choose whole foods that give your body steady energy from healthy sources of nutrition and help your mind feel good. guidelines. maybe they need waffle house. that makes you feel good. >> ainsley: maybe the word homeland helping you take carol of your home? >> carley: that is the weird

one. that is the advice you could get from mom or just common sense. >> ainsley: thank you so much, carley. >> carley: you are welcome. >> ainsley: tropical storm ian slamming coast of florida. fox meteorologist craig herrera is coming up next. ♪ akes two to make it outta sight♪ ♪one, two, get loose now! it takes two to make a-♪ get double rewards points this fall. book now at bestwestern.com.

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yoyou ght t beurprpris rainfall totals close to 2 feet of rainfall in some of these vulnerable areas and we are still dealing with the potential for upwards of a foot or more of rain for parts of northeastern florida, up towards georgia and the carolinas. we have a 65 mile-per-hour sustained window storm. the area of low pressure is going to go out into the atlantic and has the potential to strengthen a little bit before it makes a second landfall we think somewhere between coastal georgia in towards south carolina. flash flood warnings are in effect around the orlando area

up towards daytona where we could get several inches of rain in a short period of time and area of low pressure going out into the atlantic could be a category 1 hurricane again before it makes landfall against somewhere along the coast of south carolina. that is our current projection and then at least tropical storm force winds for duration of not just a day but several days as we get into the weekend and then we will see the potential for storm surge along these vulnerable coast lines so tropical storm warnings are in effect really from central florida all the way up towards the southeast coast line and those tropical storm watches move way inland into augusta as well as columbia, south carolina. the hurricane watches are in effect. we are going to feel hurricane force winds along this coast line. so, if you need to evacuate, you probably should do so. you have a little bit of time here. flood alerts are in effect where we could see upwards of 6 to 10, even 12 inches of rainfall. flash flooding will be a concern over the next few days, especially over portions of

northeastern, florida where we still have that storm that is moving north and eastward. and slowing down by the way, which is not good news that means more of a potential for heavy rain. the next five days shows us 5 to 78 inches, some of these areas could get more rainfall, especially in the mountainous terrain and flash flooding is going to be ongoing as we go to the southeast and toward the mid-atlantic. the bottom line is we are not done with this storm yet. the strongest storm potential was yesterday across florida. and now it's going to be a flash flood event and also the storm surge potential along the southeast coast line continue to keep you up to date. ainsley, brian, and pete, this is a devastating story, obviously, that we'll continue to follow. >> ainsley: thank you so much, janice. we have a fox news alert. we are learning this morning the lee county sheriff, which is the fort myers area, says there are, quote: fatalities in the hundreds following this hurricane. the category 4 hurricane made landfall in lee county yesterday. >> brian: this as we learn a

section of the sauna bell codsway in lee county is wiped out. you are looking at video of that area. this happened yesterday. this essentially cuts off sauna bell island from the mainland. emergency responders are on the scene. yesterday governor ron desantis said ian is one of the top five worst storms to hit florida ever. >> pete: joining us now with the latest fox weather meteorologist craig herrera. craig, what is the latest? >> the latest is tropical storm right now. the storm continues to move. maybe making a second landfall over along the carolinas. it's going to be the fourth strongest hurricane to hit land in florida with winds at 150 miles per hour making it a strong category 4 at the time that it made landfall. now it's bringing some heavy rain to places like orlando. places north of there. flash flooding emergencies are in place, which is rare. you don't get flash flood emergencies unless they're talking life-threatening rescues. they have boat rescues going on and these in and around orlando where they have already received about a foot of rain.

the north side of this storm is where we are getting more of rain and more in the way of window come around the storm banking up against florida, georgia and the carolinas. if you think of that like a catcher's mitt if you will, all of that water is getting pushed up into that little cut in the land there. and that's going to create strong storm surge in and around charleston, south of there. you think of charleston below sea level. the storm surge is going to be incredible. when we talk about hurricanes, you talk about hurricane force window, right? talk about the winds. they don't take into account this storm surge. and that's a major part of these storms. just how high it is. you think about naples yesterday. storm surge was over 6 feet which is a record. back in 2017, they got storm surge just over 4 feet which was a record. that was with hurricane erma. if you stand 6 feet tall the water is above you and it's not standing water. it's water rushing onto the coast. so that is a major concern because it's picking up debris. also causing power outages that we are seeing. the window have been incredible. a lot of the area has received

so much rain leading up to ian so the ground is saturated. it won't take much in the way of window to knock over trees, topple some, you know, tree damage, topple some of the power lines as well. we talk about 2 million plus residents without power right now. major concern -- we have been telling people hey, download the fox weather app. get the notifications on fox weather app. you will lose power. if you got power, battery backup, you can continue to watch us on the fox weather app. go to fox weather.com it's free. yesterday we launched on fios. maybe have you relatives in the area. get information to them. try to notify them. at least if you have a phone let people okay to know this is where i'm at. critical to get that gone also watch us on tv device. >> brian: jacksonville a lot of rivers, the intercoastal there, you have got canals and then the ocean. >> right. >> brian: where is the greatest worry? >> the greatest worry is along the coast. inland a lot of the rain is just coming down. even though you have the storm

surge along the coast, places like orlando to jacksonville is getting so much rain that they are still flooding because of these rivers and these streams that are going over their banks. when you factor in high tide and the water has nowhere to go. >> brian: what is high tide? >> it comes two times a day usually the morning and evening and varies from location to location. so anywhere between 5:00 and 6:00 in the evening but that can all vary as well throughout the day depending where it is. these rivers are going over their banks reaching flood stage st. john's in orlando getting over the banks as well. historic flooding along the river so not just the coast but well inland also because of the rain that just keeps coming. >> ainsley: all right. well that's great news that you are on fios now. a lot of families are moving to fios. >> we just launched yesterday on fios. find us there permanently. we are excited about that. continue to bring you that coverage. 24/7 here streaming. >> ainsley: almost a year. >> can you believe it october 25th was our launch date. we haven't hit a year yet. i'm excited to be here.

full staff ready to go. >> brian: got a huge network that formed almost instantly. thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks for having us. >> brian: for continuing coverage of hurricane ian download the fox blsh app. we were just talking about stream it 24 hours a day. also fox weather is tracking ian. we got team coverage across florida, in florida with the very latest. plus governor ron desantis is expected to give an update in about 45 minutes. weave will bring you the latest. ♪ ♪

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>> i don't have confirmed numbers, i know fatalities are in the hundreds, there are thousands of people waiting to be rescued and again, cannot give a true assessment until we're on scene and we can't access people, that is the problem. we're accessing bridges. this will be life-changing event for the men and women responding. >> no kidding, search and rescue efforts beginning now, the sun