but they have not even begun to repair the damage from those two back-to-back hurricanes last year. >> fort myers, tarps on homes, a devastated area. >> final thoughts, janice. >> listen, it's another hurricane, right, and there will be another one and we will cover it and the best of humanity will come together afterwards. >> stay with fox news for continuing coverage. >> the state is still being impacted by the storm's bands and we are seeing that particularly in the northern part of the state. >> it's a dangerous storm. people need to prepare, be ready when it's coming through. >> there is still additional storm surge expected.

>> this is extreme high, you can see all the boats out here. look at this. this is crazy. >> john: you'll eyes on florida and now georgia after hurricane idalia comes ashore as a category 3 hurricane, blasting destructive winds and life-threatening storm surge. the hurricane weakening to a category 1 but officials warn florida and georgia not out of the woods just yet. hello, john roberts, good wednesday afternoon to you. >> good to see you. it is a very rough day for pretty much all the south, i'm aishah hasnie in for sandra smith. idalia, making its historic landfall this morning along florida's big bend area, it is the strongest storm to hit that big bend region in 125 years. powerful winds pushing water ashore creating the potential for storm surge as high as 16

feet in some parts of that state. >> john: heavy rainfall covering roads and raising the threat of flash flooding across florida. more than 300,000 people are without power in two states as the storm hits georgia now and continues its trek toward the carolinas, prompting a tornado watch as well as tropical storm warning. >> aishah: c.b. cotton is live in savannah, georgia, where a state of emergency is currently in effect. c.b. >> good afternoon, aishah. more than 65,000 people across the state are currently without power as hurricane idalia barrels through the region. all throughout today we have seen on and off rainfall and some heavy wind gusts, some in excess of 90 miles per hour earlier today, this savannah river behind me was looking much choppier. hurricane idalia passes over

southeast and coastal georgia. in savanah, they fear the arrival coupled with the high tide will cause flooding. some trees were uprooted and power lines knocked down, closing northbound lanes of i-57. earlier today, people rushing to grab last-minute supplies before hunkering down and riding out the storm. >> we are just here, we are just going to hunker down and try to ride it out. >> say inside, and if they tell you to leave, leave. >> as you mentioned, there is a state of emergency in effect for georgia right now. this afternoon, governor brian kemp reminding everyone it's best to stay at home if you can because we are not in the clear yet. back to you. >> aishah: definitely are not. c.b. cotton in savannah. >> john: to south carolina, idalia is expected to bring significant impacts later today

and into thursday morning. national weather service forecasting heavy rain, flash flooding, storm surge, damaging winds, and a chance for isolated tornadoes. katie burn is live in charleston and what are officials saying there? >> hi, john. we are one of the last stops here for idalia, but we have felt some heavy rain from the storm. officials are warning about all of those possibilities, we could see flooding, but we have a storm surge warning here and a tropical storm warning. we are in hurricane watches and tornado watches. we have already seen some tornado warnings we are along the battery in downtown charleston. this is a seawall that protects a lot of the beautiful historic homes when you think of charleston, a lot of the homes and businesses, shops have put sandbags already outside their doors to hold back some of the water that we could see. i mentioned we have had some

heavy rain. when you look over here, we have a little bit of flooding right now but that's just freshwater flooding, not from water crashing over the seawall, many are worried could happen once we reach high tide around 8:30. that's when all eyes will be on the battery and seeing how high that tide gets, which officials say even on a sunny day it's high. we would see flooding from it. kids are home from a half day of school today, offices the same and remote learning for a lot of kids in the area and offices the same as well. we are expecting an update from the south carolina governor, henry mcmaster, in less than an hour. we'll have more information for you soon. >> john: looking forward to that. i still remember vividly, katie, standing exactly where you were on september 21, 1989, as hurricane hugo was bearing down on charleston. this one, obviously, will be quite a different event than that. thanks, katie, back to you.

bryan norcross is monitoring idalia, and still packing a punch. >> it is and the episode yet to come may turn out to be the most dramatic of any one place. so far it's been very widespread and don't have all the details if there are certain neighborhoods inundated in the tampa bay area or other places, for example. but this still to come is something, and it's going to be very strong. the system now, the center of it, is in south georgia. it passed near valdosta, and on the east side they had about six inches of rain, came down at once, a flash flood emergency. and thinking is as this system moves to the north across carolinas, two things happening. one is the water, the wind starts pushing the storm surge into toward charleston and the various inlets and harbors and so forth along the coast here, but the bigger event is this band of very heavy rain. this is 5 to 8 inches, some

areas 12 inches, kind of up in the higher elevations. then all that water has to come down the rivers, down into charleston, down into georgetown, down to the myrtle beach area and savannah and so forth, so you can get flooding from the higher elevation on down to the coast and this is a significant threat as katie was saying. they are trying to alert people to every possibility here, including tornadoes, as this streaks across the coastline here, but dumps the water up hill and the combination is of high concern. >> aishah: can you quickly talk about the intensity of the storm. we are talking about a cat 1 hurricane currently over georgia and headed towards the carolinas. what can people expect? is this going to deteriorate as it heads toward the carolinas into a tropical storm or is it going to pick up? >> the thinking is it will indeed weaken, the friction with the land will weaken the top

winds but the threat then switches to the water. and more people die, actually of fres freshwater flooding in hurricanes than any other source lately in modern hurricanes. when the water is up in the higher elevations it comes down and the rivers and the creeks and the streams and they sweep away cars and all kinds of bad things happen. so think of this as the wind is a hazard, it can take out the power, still knock down trees, but the real deadly thing may turn out to be this rain, at least that is the concern at this point. >> john: a lot of big tall pine trees along that forecast track. people should stay away from that, stay inside if you can. thank you, we'll check back with you. stream it on your favorite connected device. always on and always, here is the best part, free. aishah. >> aishah: back to florida, governor ron desantis says crews are now assessing the damage in that big bend region where

idalia made landfall. grady trimble is there live just south of tallahassee. so, grady, what are you seeing right now? you are standing in a lot of water. >> yeah, aishah, if you can believe it, i'm standing in the middle of the road, just behind me here is the steenhatchie river, but it's hard to tell where the river stops and the land starts. mentioned the search-and-rescue operations, the crews that are out now assessing the damage. we have seen it ourselves right here in the last few moments. about ten minutes ago a coast guard helicopter flew overhead. also just saw go by in the river a boat with florida fish and wildfire official, state law enforcement officials. they told us that they launched their boats because they don't know if there's anybody who might need rescuing in this

community even though they have not gotten official word from anyone who might need help. but i want to show you just the powerful, not only the flooding that this storm caused but also the powerful winds that took down trees and power lines. here in taylor county, more than 80% of customers are without power and you can see why when you look at the business over here. on top of the floodwaters up to about my waist height inside that building, according to the owner, we can also see all of the damage from the outside, including that awning. there are pieces of docks that have been strewn all about there and you can see next to this other flooded building that this dock appears to have been lifted from the river and pushed over here until it settled, and we have seen that throughout the morning. debris, boats that came off their moorings, floating down the river behind us.

a massive metal structure of some kind floating down the river that then got lodged against some other building along the bank of the steinhatchie river. fortunately a lot of the floodwaters in the surrounding communities have subsided but people are coming back now and to assess the damage. in terms of flooding, it's not just right along the river. we went 2, 3 blocks away from the river and some houses in that direction are flooded as well. so, the damage assessment here in steinhatchee is just beginning. >> aishah: be careful when you are walking through the waters. thank you, grady. >> john: we want to jump to the white house, fema director is giving an update on the federal response to hurricane idalia. listen in for a few minutes. >> while we were in there, the president contacted governor desantis to let him know the

federal family continues to be there to support him, the governor expressed all of his needs are met currently, and the president reiterated that if anything is needed from the federal government we will be able to support and we have over 1,000 personnel currently deployed, prepared to support not just florida but all of our states in the path as needed. while i was in there, the president also directed me to travel immediately to the area and i will be travelling later this afternoon to join governor desantis tomorrow to do assessments and see firsthand what the impacts from this storm are. and i can be able to report back to the president exactly what i see, what we think the needs might be and where the federal family can continue to assist. before i touch more on hurricane idalia, i want to address the second reason that i am here at the white house today. today i will also join president biden alongside his cabinet and agency officials who are supporting the response and the recovery efforts on the ground in hawaii. as we continue to help the people of maui rebuild and

recover over the long-term. the whole -- this whole of government approach is what is needed to get the right resources to the people of maui, the resources and the assistance they need and deserve. now back a little bit to what we know so far on hurricane idalia, while it is still too soon to assess the total damages, we know the storm made landfall as a category 3, over 120 mile per hour winds, and up to ten inches of rain in some areas. peak storm surge in some places along the coast, it has peaked right now, but it could surpass once they measure over 15 feet of storm surge. we'll get exact numbers as they are able to go in and assess what the total storm surge was. idalia is the strongest storm to hit this part of florida, to make landfall in this part of florida in over 100 years. but fema and the entire

biden-harris administration, we were prepared and we were ready to support the needs of this storm. as i mentioned, we have actually over 1500 federal responders on the ground in the affected area. this includes over 300 personnel from fema, as well as over 500 urban search and rescue personnel ready to support any of the state's requests. as of 7:30 this morning, i know these numbers of dynamic and fluid, but as of 7:30 this morning, there are nearly 300,000 customer outages for power in florida and we do expect those numbers to continue to rise as the storm passes through and goes into georgia and we'll see power outage numbers for georgia, south carolina and perhaps north carolina. our partners at the u.s. army corps of engineers are prepositioned to support power generation, and utilities are preparing for storm impacts, prestaging crews and equipment

outside the projected storm track and state anticipates a total of 30,000 to 40,000 linemen in florida to begin to assist in the power restoration efforts. people that are still in the storm's path, however, as you heard from karine, they should not venture out into the storm and remain sheltering in place if your local officials are telling you to do so. however, if you are in trouble and you need immediate assistance, please call 911. as you do go out, do not wade in the water, do not drive through flooded roads and streets. just remember, turn around, don't drown. unfortunately, we see so many fatalities after the storm passes, we want to make sure everybody is taking the right precautions to keep themselves safe. and as always, please continue to listen to your local officials as this storm continues to pass over georgia currently and into south carolina. please check on your friends and

your family and your loved ones, especially older adults and people living with disabilities to see if they have any needs. in closing, i just want to remind people that this is still very much an active situation. remnants of the storm are still affecting florida as we speak. the storm is over georgia and moving into south carolina. people there and in the carolinas will continue to experience impacts throughout the day today and possibly into the weekend. again, fema is well postured with our federal partners to support floridians during this time of need and stands ready to support other affected states as needed. with that, i can take any questions. >> thank you. what are you most concerned about over the next day or two since you just said it's too early right now to assess the extent of damage in florida? >> my biggest concern is those people who chose not to evacuate and i know that our local first responders, the heroes that are

out there in the local communities are doing amazing job already of going into the areas where people did not evacuate, and helping to get them to safety. i think that is our priority through the day-to-day is to make sure that everybody is safe after the storm has passed. as we go into the next few days, we are going to want to assess what the total amount of damage is, and see what immediate needs need to be put forth to support and start the recovery process. >> thank you so much. could you take us a little into the briefing you had with the president? what is he most concerned about, most focused on and any other direction other than fly down to florida and you said governor desantis is satisfied with the federal response, doesn't need anything additional. anything else discussed on that call? >> yeah, the president's main concern is making sure that we are bringing everything that we have to support these states as they are having immediate response and lifesaving needs or beginning to start their

assessment and their recovery process. i think it's incredibly important that our governors know that we are ready and postured to bring in all federal resources to support any of their lifesaving and life sustaining needs in the very near future. the conversation with governor desantis was that, you know, reiterating the fact we already have over 1500 personnel there in the area to be able to support and the governor currently has no unmet needs, but as we begin to assess, right, as the governor assesses and as i get on the ground tomorrow to assess, we'll see what additional needs might be there and if any resources need to be employed or move more into the area. >> has the president spoken yet with the governors of georgia or south carolina as well or plans for that? >> i believe he was preparing to do that when i came to the briefing. >> what do you attribute climate change as a cause of this storm and other weather weeks we are seeing over the last weeks and

months. >> i'm not going to attribute the cause of the storm but what i can say we are seeing an increase in the number of severe weather events and what we saw with this storm as we have seen with several hurricanes over the last few years is they are intensifying more rapidly due to the elevated heat of the water temperature in the gulf or in the pacific or the atlantic. the storms are intensifying so fast that our local emergency management officials have less time to warn and evacuate and get people to safety. this is something that we have to take into consideration as we build our preparedness plans, as our local communities build their preparedness plans how they are going to communicate and prepare their communities for the types of storms they face in the future. >> secondly, more specifically on this storm. do you have any sense or too early now to say what the cost of recovery will require, will be? >> it's far too early to even estimate what the cost is. it's still unsafe in many parts to even go out. that's what's going to happen

over the next several days is to really get a good understanding on initial estimate what we think the costs will be and the amount of impact to the communities has been. >> just to follow on that, what you have seen so far, how long do you think it will take to get that full assessment and how long will it take to understand the costs of recovery efforts? >> we have rapid assessment teams prepositioned, ready to go out as soon as it's safe so to do so, personnel to integrate with the state personnel, but also use technology. we use aerial imagery and geospatial information to get a better idea so we don't have to physically put people out there and allows us to make decisions quicker than in the past. it will take several days to get the initial damage assessment, but take longer to get the full picture of the amount of impact to the communities. >> you said fema disaster relief fund was running low. what we have seen so far, also

the maui fires, do you think there is enough funding, are you confident there is another extreme weather event in the next month? >> yesterday as i announced, i directed my personnel to implement immediate needs funding, to support the lifesaving efforts. i believe we have plenty of funding to support ongoing efforts in maui as well as this event, to include florida, georgia, south carolina as needed but we are monitoring closely. we are looking at what the cost of the storms are as we approach the end of this fiscal year and if we have another storm we are going to have to closely monitor what impact that's going to have and any other actions we might have to take. >> thank you for being here as we do approach the end of the fiscal year as you noted, down the road, these take weeks, months, fema's involvement take

a long time. in 2013, a government shutdown, fema had to furlough the nonessential staff. what potential impact as lawmakers have considerations whether to fund the government, to care for those in maui and in florida? >> we always want to take account to what our personnel are doing and how we are using our personnel to support these events. a government shut down does not impact the personnel funded through the disaster relief fund so they are able to continue operating and supporting the immediate efforts and lifesaving efforts that continue to go on and we also for other staff can designate our emergency essential personnel to support any lifesaving efforts and so we have plans in place as we have gone through this before on how we would staff our agency to continue to support those efforts. >> if i can follow up with the critical needs assistance provided to those in maui, $700 in payments to individuals. given the cost of living in hawaii, specifically in the lahaina community, is anything

being done, considerations or efforts made to try to raise that cap, that $700 figure for those who are there? >> yeah, the $700 figure is just that amount of funding for very immediate needs that individuals have. every year the main part of our assistance, which is our individual and household program, adjusts annually, based on inflation. this year it's $41,000 of a company that individuals can get. that will get raised after the fiscal year, i don't know what that number is yet but we do adjust that main portion of the funding that goes to individuals annually based on inflation. >> 700 is it for now and they can pursue other moneys going forward. but they are on their own until they get access to the further assistance. >> and we already have i think it was 12,000 individuals that registered for assistance in maui, and somewhere over $15 million that's out on the street, the number could be higher right now, from that

other program. >> thank you. >> i know that you and the governor and local officials, state officials have all told people to get out of the way of the storm. my first question is, are you satisfied that people heeded those calls, both from you and local and state officials and then secondly, you mentioned the search and recovery teams deployed and ready to go. what he is your assessment so far on what those needs look like if people are sort of stranded right now? >> yeah, so on the first question i think many people did heed the warning, but unfortunately many did not. we are already getting reports of people that chose to stay and they are getting calls into the local first responders to come in and assist them. if anybody needs assistance they should, call 911 and the first responders will help. it's a combined effort, recognizing the capability that the state already has with all of their resources and we have additional resources that are

integrated in with that operation so if we need to immediately augment we have resources that are ready to deploy as soon as requested without hesitation and without interruption. >> is it clear how many people may be stranded? >> i don't have a number, no. >> what would you say are the most damaged areas and what was the response from the population in those areas to the government's instructions? >> i would say that initial reports are in the big bend area that have had the greatest impact. they have experienced the greatest amount of storm surge, they experienced the greatest wind speeds, and so when we do get out to start assessments that would be my anticipation of where we would experience the greatest amount of damage and impact across florida. >> how did people respond in those areas? >> again, i think many people did heed the warnings and there was a lot of public messaging that went out to let people understand the danger is not just the cone of the hurricane

but the storm surge and the water which is creating and causing the most fatalities in these events. but again, many people did not, as we are hearing about our first responders going in to support rescuing people from their homes that are now stranded. >> immediate needs funding, i'm curious if you have recognized potential long-term recovery efforts that could be at risk here. >> so if i understand, long-term recovery efforts based on right now or going into the next fiscal year? >> going into the next fisk year, which ones are at risk if you do not get the funding you need. >> immediate needs funding does, the work does not stop. the projects continue to go underway, our longer term recovery projects for the variety of disasters that we have experienced over the year. the obligation or the reimbursement is delayed into

the next fiscal year. if it gets delayed into the next fiscal year, that just starts us out at a smaller balance of what we had anticipated our needs would be for fiscal year 24. >> any ongoing efforts that you have identified that would be at risk if it comes to that? >> the work itself does not stop. it's the funding that just gets delayed into the next fiscal year. >> hawaii -- a lot of questions among officials in maui and lahaina and across hawaii about who was in charge in the hours as the fires burned and then the hours after. you are a veteran local emergency management official, state emergency management official. how do you assess how officials there responded? are there lessons to be learned perhaps for other communities, and is your agency prepared to work with congressional republicans if they launch investigations as they say they will?

>> again, i was not there during the response and so i would be out of line to assess how they responded during the time because i did not experience what they were experiencing. what the federal government does, we come in and we support their efforts and that's exactly what we did and will continue to support their recovery and rebuilding efforts. >> were you properly briefed by fema authorities in hawaii that would have been working with the officials? >> what i was briefed on throughout the time, my regional administrator, bob fenton, happened to be in oahu for another meeting and he was talking about the spread of the fire and population impacted and potential federal resources to help support the initial response in an ongoing recovery effort. >> congressional republicans want you or other agency officials about what went on in hawaii? >> i'm happy to testify what the federal role is in this process. >> thanks, everybody.

safe travels tomorrow. >> thank you. >> john: all right, the fema administrator with an update on the federal response to hurricane idalia as it continues to churn across the southern part of the state of georgia. let's get an update on what is going on in the local area. joined right now by hayden hancock, the city manager of the town of nashville, georgia, just north of valdosta. a mutual friend put us together, nice to make your acquaintance. the worst part of the storm literally just went over you. what's the situation on the ground there? >> well thanks, john and aishah for having me on this afternoon. thankfully, looks like we have cleared the worst part of the storm and as of now, no reported injuries, we do have trees down and widespread power outages, but as of now, no reported injuries. looks like we are in the clear.

>> aishah: you had some bad storms last week on friday, some folks and families were displaced by that. did you have shelters prepared for this storm? did you feel you had enough time to prepare? >> we did. actually, and yes, we did have a pretty bad storm come through on friday. that came out of nowhere. we did not have a lot of prep time then. but thankfully the ema agencies and the national weather service have worked together to put a plan for this storm so i think we are well prepared and have multiple shelters across our county and yeah, i think we all worked together very well to put together a very good plan. >> john: in terms of the biggest threat from the storm in the town, it's pretty flat land, a lot of farmland, not like you have a tremendous amount of water collecting at height in mountains or hills or anything. and rushing through the city. but you do, again, have a lot of flat land, so you could have a

lot of standing water. what's the biggest problem for you? is it the wind, the rain, when you assess what happens, what do you expect to see? >> really our biggest concern -- we are under a flash flood warning, but our biggest concern is our pine trees. our pine trees are huge, they have been falling and so that's our biggest concern and power lines down, people travelling, we are warning everybody to stay at home. the biggest take away, we are here for them, looking after them, we have a plan together and corresponding and speaking constantly, and if they are in danger call 911, and we will reach out to them. >> aishah: we were worried we may lose your connection in the minutes before we came to you, like john said, the storm was literally over you, at least the worst part of it as the eye moves to the east. tell me what the next steps are.

this is a small community, what, about 7,000 people live in nashville and i know people like to help each other, they know each other, people will want to get outside as quickly as possible to assess the damage and make sure their neighbors are ok, the elderly. what's your advice to folks as they start to venture out? of course, they want people to be safe. >> you are right, tonight and today we ask everybody stay home and let the ema personnel get out and respond to what's going on. we will have time to check on each other but at the moment if we will, just let everybody stay at home and let our emergency departments respond. >> john: i know a lot of people are were staying home, anne was telling me chaparral closed down the plant today, so hopefully everybody is at home riding out the storm. >> anne and i had a

conversation, our school systems closed, hospital, except for those necessary to be there, but yeah, so we absolutely ask everybody stay home, let us clear this out, we'll get through it. but thankfully, no injuries, so god is good. >> john: hayden hancock, we'll let you get back to work. appreciate it. >> aishah: the outer band of idalia is hitting the tampa bay region with major flooding and storm surge, potential killers. joining us with an update on how tampa is doing is mayor january castor. good to have you here and looks like no rain, but we are watching the high tide expected in the next 30 minutes or so and could create a dangerous situation with the surge. tell me what you've assessed so far around the tampa bay area. >> yeah, actually, we are doing very well at this point. you know, we did have flooding, we have issues with that going

into our lower lying areas. we have 126 miles of coast along the tampa bay area, waterfront houses and commercial development. so we are at the top of the tide right now. we are on bay shore boulevard, you can see downtown behind me, but i think the worst of it is over for us now. we just had a band of rain come through and now i can see blue skies on the horizon here. so, we are considering ourself fortunate as we look at what has happened to the neighbors to the north of us. so we have damage but it's not nearly the severe damage that some of our neighbors have incurred. >> john: mayor, we saw some pretty dramatic pictures of interstate 275, the howard frankland bridge, the tidal surge, a big funnel tampa bay and overrunning the bridge.

kicking a lot of debris up on to the roadway, and i think that we are looking at it from the west going east. is that still covered with water now, or has that subsided? >> it is -- it is still covered. it's starting to subside, but we have three bridges that will take us over from hills borough county to pinellas county, we expect those to be open as the water starts to recede. >> aishah: i've been hearing from some first responders on the ground telling me they have been seeing some folks trying to get out, assess the damage, driving around, even swimming in some of these floodwaters or flooded areas, and that sounds like a really bad idea. you don't know what kind of sewage is in the water or downed

power lines. so far are you still asking people to stay inside? >> yes, we are, especially in the zone a and the lower lying areas. hate to publicly admit this but we just saw a group of young men walk by with a large raft. what they were intending to do, i'm not completely sure but it couldn't have been good, couldn't have ended well, that's for sure. >> john: you had the opposite situation with ian last year, you were on the counter rotating side of that storm as it came not fort myers area. basically emptied out a lot of tampa bay. this time the water was coming back in because you are on the dirty side of the storm as it was progressing northward. as a person who has a plan for emergencies, you've got to sort of plan for all contingencies here. >> you do, without a doubt. i've spent 31 years in the tampa police department and you know, we had especially the days that

i worked narcotics, you had plan a, plan b, plan c and then what really happened and you can sort of carry that theory over to storm response, you just never know. talking about with ian, the storm surge we were going to see actually sucked the water out of our bay. as i've told everybody, mother nature is unpredictable, the one certain thing is that in the end she's going to win. >> aishah: mayor, quickly, i know the county is watching the lafayette river -- alfaia river. what is the assessment on the hillsborough river? >> i actually live on that river and we saw flooding there, the alafaia, it floods, not on a regular basis but clearly in

these types instances and so we did see three, maybe even four feet over the banks along those rivers. but individuals that have lived on the river, on the water for some time understand what can happen with these tidal surges and hopefully the majority of them took the steps necessary to get out of harm's way, take their boats away, whatever they needed to do to protect their family and their valuables. >> john: mayor, just final question, sorry if i could. last year hurricane ian as it came roaring ashore in fort myers, we saw a lot of boats thrust up out of the bay there and well inland. as far as you know, all the boats that were tied up at the, and thousands of them there in the tampa bay, st. petersburg area, have they stayed where they are supposed to or are you going to have a problem similar to what fort myers had with boats last year?

>> no, we saw that, you know, in fort myers and no, we don't expect anything like that will occur because we had enough warning. fort myers, you know, ian took the turn, they were just caught short and it takes a while to plan, especially on these bigger boats to get them out of the water or to take them in the opposite direction of the storm so we don't anticipate we will see that. i can tell you that was a very impactful lesson for those of us here in tampa bay. we were in the cross hairs of ian and charlie before that, the storms took a right-hand turn, easterly turn and hit different areas. when we saw that devastation from ian, it really underscored what mother nature is capable of in these instances and i think that that is top of mind for our residents here in the tampa bay area.

>> aishah: mayor castor, thank you so much, of tampa. we appreciate your time. we know you have a very busy evening ahead. thanks for sharing your time with us. >> john: thanks, mayor. >> thanks, appreciate you guys, thanks. >> john: appreciate you too. florida governor ron desantis off the campaign trail but still getting some looks as he responds to the hurricane. that and a whole lot more news ahead. veteran homeowners to combat today's rising prices. lower your monthly payments with the three c's: pay down your credit cards, pay off your car loan, consolidate your debt with a va home loan from from newday. type 2 diabetes? discover the ozempic® tri-zone. in my ozempic® tri-zone, i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events

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opportunity to show off his leadership skills again. mike emmanuel is life with more and mike, sort of harkens back to ron desantis a year ago when hurricane ian hit. how is he handling the storm response so far? >> john, governor desantis has been visible, providing lots of updates, looks experienced and appears confident in his team's response. as a current elected official, can remind gop voters of his skills in crisis management. >> when the winds die down to a sufficient level search and rescue efforts will begin. we have eight urban team staged, 33 ambulance strike teams, 5500 national guardsmen and the coast guard on stand by should that be necessary. >> former governor chris christie who led new jersey during super storm sandy in 2012 was asked what his advice is for

desantis. >> the best advice i can give him is just to be present. you know, be present, be out there, let the citizens see you after the worst of the storm is over. so they know that you are on top of the job and that you are going to listen to their concerns and do the very best you can to help get them rebuilt and recovered as quickly as possible. >> former vice president mike pence is making stops in iowa. he is weighing in on current issues such as u.s. support for ukraine. >> the war in ukraine is not our war but freedom is our fight. america is the leader of the free world, we are the arsenal of democracy and i think it is in our national interest to give the ukrainian military what they need to fight and expell the russian military. >> with recent polling suggesting desantis campaign is losing team, his crisis management skills could make him look presidential. john. >> john: all right, mike emmanuel with the latest on

that. thank you so much. aishah. >> aishah: all hands on deck. fox news alert, any moment president biden is set to speak on how his administration is handling the devastating impact of hurricane idalia. we are going to take you to the white house as soon as he begins. >> john: plus the recovery from hurricane idalia may not be just taking place in the next few weeks. dr. marc siegel on the domino effect the storm may have physically and mentally for the millions of americans living in its path. psoriasis really messes with you. try. hope. fail. no one should suffer like that. i started cosentyx®. five years clear. real people with psoriasis look and feel better with cosentyx. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infection, some serious and a lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. tell your doctor if your crohn's disease symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reaction may occur. best move i've ever made. ask your dermatologist

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this is a very large storm that's affecting many states in the southeast and the coast guard right now, we are really in that post storm search and rescue phase and assessment phase down here in florida but i just want to remind everyone that as the storm continues through georgia, south carolina, north carolina, it's going to be a difficult storm with lots of flooding and certainly a difficult time for mariners to set out in any path near shore, on rivers or at sea. >> john: we should say, admiral, the 7th district is headquartered in miami but you have assets up and down the west coast of florida, notably up there in clearwater. have you been able to get your air assets up yet? has the wind subsided enough for you to go take a look at the hardest hit areas around fish creek, around keaton beach? >> yes, john. we have already started some

overflights to do that initial assessment on the west coast of florida, up around the big bend and also in western florida, the panhandle. so those aircraft are fixed wing aircraft are up doing those assessments now and that's really to assess what's going on on the ground. look for any search and rescue cases near the ocean or inland, and then make assessments from there. so, yes, they are reconstituting in those areas as we have search and rescue helicopters ready to go in florida, the western coast of florida, as well as the eastern coast of florida as well. >> john: what's the assessment so far from the fixed wing aircraft? seeing anybody that requires rescue as we saw the coast guard do so efficiently during hurricane ian last year? >> so far it's been a little early as they are making the flights. a lot of downed trees, flooded areas inland, and a lot of debris that way.

so we have not seen a lot of initial search and rescue efforts but we are continuing to assess and monitoring with all our local, state and federal partners to make sure that the search and rescue continues. there have been lots of calls to 911 throughout the state, but we continue to assess that, and as the storm continues we'll continue to do that up through north carolina. >> aishah: admiral schofield from the u.s. coast guard, appreciate all the work you and your folks are doing to help rescue americans in this time of need. appreciate your time. >> john: good to see you, thank you. tracking hurricane idalia as it moves across georgia now. take you live to the national hurricane center for the latest update from director michael brennan. that's next hour on "america reports."

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>> john: hurricane idalia digging in as it moves across land now. first of all, blasting florida with damaging winds and catastrophic storm surge. in tarpon springs, parking lots filled withstanding water as flooding now becomes a major concern in the sunshine state. steve is live in tarpon springs, florida, just west and a little bit north of tampa. steve, you've been witnessing a lot there, including a guy who was right down in the water trying to find a place to hook a tow up to a van that had stalled out. >> that was great to see, they finally got that woman out of the water but i think the problem is when salt water overflows over your engine like that, the car will not be any good. we have seen some real signs for hope over the past several hours. the water here has dropped down more than two feet.

we have got some sun coming out, so some good signs, it's a body blow for owners of businesses. this restaurant had two feet of water in the store. a sense of a body blow a the lo of hard work ahead to recover. but the overall mood is really one of determination. the biggest challenge so far really has been two things. one thing water has been blocking the way when it was up waist high, we actually saw a fire truck that could not get through. there was a barge on fire behind me and some eager and frustrated firefighters could not get to that plume of smoke. and saw electric power trucks unable to get through the water. we are seeing a difference now, the power trucks are able to flow and perhaps most importantly, the national guard is out and about. we have seen helicopters overhead as well as their high water vehicles. they have more than 2,000 of them. so they are not only performing search and rescues and welfare checks on people, but also clearing the roads to make things easier for folks to g