right now on america this morning. hurricane ian strikes florida. popular islands off the gulf coast described as decimated homes and buildings lifted off foundations. firefighters making dozens of water rescues in naples even after water flooded their station and fire trucks pushing the truck out of the bay. power outages in florida growing by the hours, forecasters say the worst is yet to come for some areas and what's next for ian? the preparations underway right now, as the hurricane takes aim at the east coast, the watches and warnings now posted in other states in the storm's latest track. also breaking overnight a shocking death in the world of

hip hop rapper coolio passing away at the age of 59 what we're learning redefining what is healthy, the major update, possibly coming to your food labels and all rise. aaron judge reaches a major milestone in his race to beat the home run record. this could be it. eu reaction from his mom in the crowd on this thursday, september 29th. from abc news in new york. this is america this morning. good morning, everyone . we begin with ian roaring across the state of florida hurricane left well over two million homes and businesses in the dark and ian has been moving and just eight mph winds between 75 90 mph overnight. this is downtown fort myers looking down from a hotel balcony as you can see, the storm surge created widespread flooding. south of there, a fire station was inundated with flood water in naples. one fire truck even had

to be emptied because of its gear because it was smoking. new pictures show damage to a local hospital. the emergency room is flooded and part of the hospitals. roof was torn off. florida's not out of the woods just yet, and watches and warnings are now being posted in other states. so let's get to the latest on the storm's track from meteorologist kevin costner. good morning, andrew and rhiannon. hurricane ian made landfall the southwest florida coast on wednesday afternoon as a strong category four hurricane with a record storm surge places like naples and fort myers, but florida is just at the beginning of seeing impacts here. we've had a lot of flash flood warnings between tampa and orlando, and that will continue . we've seen some areas that have already seen more than a foot of rain and check out the rainfall forecast moving forward for the next several days. we've got feet of rain forecast between tampa to jacksonville and orlando and up into savannah , georgia. you could see a foot of rain as well. look at the track of ian here moving forward on thursday afternoon, it comes off florida's space coast as a

tropical storm hooking its way back around towards savannah, georgia by friday evening. that means storm surges coming to you in places like jacksonville beach, savannah, georgia, you're going to see 3 to 6 ft. storm surge there. that's nothing to sneeze at. not to mention tropical storm force winds. look at the wind forecast here, right here in the heart. of florida. even up towards jacksonville. there's still a chance for hurricane gusts here, moving forward over the next couple of days and tropical storm force gusts way up into charlotte, north carolina, check out the future radar here as we take you into this morning. it's a slow crawl across florida. then into thursday night, this storm comes off the coast hooks around jacksonville makes its way up the savannah river valley back to you, rhiannon and andrew. kevin thank you and take a look at tampa bay hours before ian made landfall, depending storm drain the bay and it is called a reverse storm surge is justin finches live in tampa with details on the damage up and down the gulf coast. good morning, justin. andrew rhiannon

. good morning, a gusty morning here in the tampa area as ian plows its way ever so slowly across florida, leaving behind a trail of destruction, and this morning, many are fearing what daylight will reveal. this morning. hurricane ian is now moving inland after decimating florida's gulf coast. on wednesday in slammed into the sunshine state as a powerful category four hurricane the storm surge, reaching as high as 18 ft in fort myers debris from destroyed buildings floating down the street. the water rushing in fast here you can see the tops of cars still visible on the flooded streets. but just over an hour later, those cars completely submerged the water level, reaching the tops of trees and roofs. that was my house. my house is gone. this surge wiping out homes, this map

shows just how much of the area around fort yers was underwater at the surges speak and time lapse video shows the storm surge, inundating the streets of santa bell on fourth myers beach cameras captured the storm surge, overwhelming this beachside restaurant. officials say both areas have been decimated. in hard hit naples car alarms going off as floodwaters inundate at this parking garage, the water, lifting them off the ground, this firehouse in the city covered in several feet of water . firefighters racing to remove equipment from this fire truck afterdot wanthe station about the department still made at least 30 rescues on wednesday, including this woman whose car became stuck in the water, the water, not the only danger the winds at one point hitting 155 mph just the fifth hurricane in us history to

hit that number. this reporter not to the ground after a falling bricks slammed into his legs in tampa, the winds knocking traffic lights from their wires, officials reminding people to stay indoors, but even those taking shelter had their share of scares this tree crashingthrough a roof, missing the family by just inches and overnight, more than two million customers left in the dark as the devastating winds and water. took out power lines and apped inye areescu will to waits we w sw you. this isoandrhian to from noah's hurricane hunters. the crew gets bounced around on the plane as they fly into ian. to survey the storm. one crew member called it the roughest

flight he ever had. flight cancelations are piling up ian's impact ripples across the country. nearly 2000 flights have already been canceled for today, and that number is going up as a bcs geo. benitez reports . many of florida's airports have been closed until further notice. just about every major airport in the state has been affected by this many of them shut down, no doubt about it. it is going to take days to get them back up and running. it is not something that you can do by just flipping a switch. we know now that the faa is telling us that airports in fort myers, tampa and orlando, they won't reopen until at least friday, around noon, with one exception . of course, if there's damage, but no doubt about it, this isn't just a florida story. these closures will have an impact at airports all across this country. thanks to geo there, more than 2100 flights were canceled yesterday. the busy miami international airport is not in the direct path of the storm and remains open. the storm slowly marches up the east

coast. people are preparing for the worst and really hoping for the best in city after city. here's a live look at daytona beach was still has hours of heavy wind and rain ahead of it. those were american flags, by the way, shredded by the wind. states of emergency are now in effect as far north as virginia . abc is andrea fuji has more. this morning, hurricane ian on the move heading towards northeast florida as millions of people in its path prepare the ferocious hurricane tracks away from the gulf coast. hurricane watches are now posted up the east coast from palm coast, florida all the way up to charleston, south carolina. overnight daytona beach, getting drenched as ian makes its way up to jacksonville. the mayor, already closing three major beaches. abc is trevor ault is in jacksonville. this thing is so big and its path is so powerful that it's expected to march all the way across the state of florida dip back into the atlantic ocean on the

eastern side and then slammed back into the coast here on the first coast, the atlantic ocean side here of florida, so jacksonville is bracing for flooding that they haven't seen in several years. residents not taking any chances we've got, like really three high tides to make it through here. hunker down. stand bag. if you've got sandbags, put them up if you fear in a flood prone area. um just just stay off the roads and hunkered down because here we go . meanwhile, bands already affecting georgia wind whipping on jekyll island, england county , georgia governor brian kemp issuing a state of emergency residents stock up on a central's as ready as i can be. i live in ardsley park with lots of those old live oak trees, so i'm worried about all the branches coming down south and north carolina governor owners also issuing states of emergency , though it's calm now in raleigh, north carolina, residents like jeremiah terry

are worried about possible flooding and is ready to move some of his belongings. probably some of my recording stuff. just i have speakers and stuff, so i'd be worried about that. remnants of hurricane ian are expected to hit the north carolina virginia border by the weekend and then head out to sea around tuesday. but in the meantime, even washington, d, c and maryland could get up to three inches of rain. canon andrew, thanks to andrea, a news photographer covering the hurricane is earning praise for dropping his gear to help a family reach safety. take a look. hurricane is do americans what cyclones are australians, isn't it? but this one is as big as florida that is massive. keep going. okay it's an enormous, enormous storm there now. fine we're just so you see there, cameraman glenn ellis, with an australian station notice the family struggling to carry their

belongings through floodwaters, so he ran to help while his reporter continued the live shot . well done. well done. alright coming up remembering hip hop legend coolio after he suddenly passed away, there's a new urgent warning to us citizens still in russia. as moscow holds sham bet sarah

and kathy on morning america. we're back now, with the passing of a hip hop icon, grammy winning rapper coolio probably best known for the song gangsta's paradise has died. the musician was found unresponsive yesterday at a friend's los angeles home fans and fellow artists paying tribute overnight on social media. when the hits stopped coming, he dabbled in other careers, including reality tv star and chef. no word yet on the official cause of death. he

was 59 turning now to the war in ukraine and the chaos in russia and massive flight from that country continues in response to vladimir putin's military draft . this is russia gets closer to annexing ukrainian territory. abc s i could. joshi has the details i could morning. good morning. andrew the u. s embassy, releasing a warning to all americans in russia get out or run the risk of being drafted into putin's war. this morning. the mass exodus out of russia shows no signs of easing hundreds of thousands of russians scrambling to flee across russia's borders in georgia, the mass exodus of men alone or with their families or friends, began shortly after putin called for 300,000 more troops. since then, cars have been forming long, snaking lines like this one. abc bricklin. it is on the border. allheop on a days longrn from russia sayhadoe an just needed to get out. many of them are relieved there are exhausted,

but they say they had no choice . people like dimitri, who spent seven days trying to escape russia. i don't want to kill people in i don't want to be killed. i don't need this word. i don't support team exodus coming on the heels of what the white house is calling a sham referendum in occupied parts of ukraine. putin is expected to use the results to declare the regions are now part of russia as early as this friday, russia has now announced the pre baked results of its sham referendum. these results were concocted in moscow not collected in ukraine have seen videos and reports of armed officials going door to door intimidating. voters says it's preparing to add new sanctions on russia for the referendums and announced another $1 billion package of weapons and equipment for ukraine. and now the eu commission president calling on the 27 member countries to also administer more sanctions on russia proposed sweeping new

import bands on russian products. this will keep russian products out of the european market. and deprive russia. 77 billion in revenues. the united states has now given nearly $17 billion of aid to ukraine since the biden administration took office back to you. like, thank you coming up new dietary restrictions how the fda is cracking down on foods claiming to be healthy. latest on hurricane ian. look at latest on hurricane ian. look at the city still in the covid-19. some people get it, and some people can get it bad. and for those who do get it bad, it may be because they have a high-risk factor. such as heart disease, diabetes, being overweight, asthma, or smoking. even if symptoms feel mild, these factors can increase your risk of covid-19 turning severe. so, if you're at high risk and test positive, don't wait. ask your healthcare provider right away

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have actually been going down and responding to calls they see some downed power lines as well as debris that's in the road. and what are your fears or concerns for your crew when it comes to potential rescue operations and some of those down power lines you mentioned there, i'd imagine those are pretty dangerous definitely about their safety when it comes to the power lines and making sure that they're not live. and don't want any tragedy that happened to our crew members or the lineman's that work with the utility company, and one of the things we also concerned is the water surge. we've seen some of the damage a little further south of you in the fourth myers area, anything that you can learn from that or what you're seeing on the ground there that might actually help you or assist you moving forward. well i guess the biggest thing is to always be prepared. this is a lesson learned. that if a storm is headed our way, regardless, if you think it's coming because we know how mother nature's can make turns. we definitely want to prepare ahead of time. and what sort of resources do you have ready to roll? just in case

things do turn for the worse. we did get some resources from the state. we do have utility companies here, ready to assist . we do have other task force units as far as additional personnel with medical and fire calls that are staging and just waited to go out once the time comes. and so much loss of life happens after the storm. what's your advice for people in your area? definitely make sure they follow the rules that's put out , utilize the resources that available when it comes to shelter shelter in place. make sure their family are taken care of, and the vulnerable populations and make sure you're always prepared, especially with those hurricane kids. make sure you have flashlights. we do have a lot of residents without power . take us through the days. the days ahead. we know we're going to i expect some additional damage. we're going to be a course of all night watching and making sure we're prepared to get out on the roads once it's safe to make sure we can get the community biters. normal

operations. we do have some water rescue teams ready to assist with that as well. all right, barbara trip fire chief with tampa fire rescue we thank you for your time. thank you. coming up going going gone historic home run for a yankee star. the buzz the best deals star. the buzz the best deals for natidon't mind me.y. i'm just the flu. i'm quite harmless, really. and when people ask, “but aren't you linked to dangerous flu complications, like pneumonia, heart attack, and hospitalizations?” i just say, “but, i'm just the flu.” it's him! who? i'm just the flu! fight the flu with sanofi flu vaccines, which help prevent flu in older adults. they've even been shown to provide better protection from flu-related complications compared to standard dose flu shots. don't get fluzone high-dose quadrivalent if you've had a severe allergic reaction to its components, including egg products, or after previous dose of flu vaccine. don't get flublok quadrivalent if you've had a severe allergic reaction

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try nervivenerve relief. bet sarah and kathy on morning america. time to check the pulse. we begin with florida wildlife taking cover are working to keep their animals safe. the flamingos at the botanical garden in st petersburg got comfy in a bathroom there. zoo called it their hurricane party must have been the right idea because a stork at the st augustine zoo was also in a bathroom, two sinks and two mirrors all to himself. next some eagerly awaited baseball historyslugger

aaron judge making it happen last night in toronto. and the three to left field. this could be it. ew he's done. it number 61 home run judge tied legendary yankee roger maris with 61 home runs in a season, the most ever in the american league. he has seven games left to break the record. the ball wasn't caught, though it fell into the blue jays bullpen and judge gave the ball to his mom. next the fda issues new guidelines for what food is considered healthy foods like nuts, seeds and certain oils would now qualify for the healthy label. the move appears to target certain items like sugary cereals claimed to be good for you, but really aren't the guidelines were last updated in 1994. finally happy national coffee day. everyone plenty of chains are offering coffee deals . duncan has a free coffee for those signing up for their rewards program. krispy kreme is

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