this could be the deadliest hurricane in florida's history the numbers are still unclear, but we're hearing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life. >> the jaw-dropping aftermath of hurricane ian is only just being realized at least a dozen killed by the storm. this morning, the search continues for survivors. today in moscow, vladimir putin plans to officially annex about 15% of ukraine as russian territory in what most of the west are calling are a total sham. conservative activist ginni

thomas, the wife of supreme court justice clarence thomas, was interviewed by the january 6th committee. new details this morning. first it was jon stewart, now trevor noah says it is time. details on what the host said after seven years. the boss is back with a big announcement, surrounding the celebration of the sweet sounds of soul music. wake up maggie, late september and we have a lot to say to you. "early today" starts right now good morning i'm phillip mena. >> i'm frances rivera. there are rescues taking place after hurricane ian. residents had to leave this flooded orlando nursing home by boat this is one of 45 nursing homes that had had to be evacuated according to the florida healthcare association and new coast gart video shows the devastated sanibel island, and residents there being airlifted to safety. it was that area that was hit hard and it is difficult to reach. the scale of ian's devastation is becoming more clear at least 12 deaths have been

linked to the storm in the u.s. with three lives lost in cuba. and there are still 2.2 million power outages across florida nbc meteorologist michelle grossman is tracking the latest. good morning >> good morning. we're going to see the impacts today in the kcarolinas and rain extending to the northeast by tomorrow as well we're looking at the chance for life threatening storm surge, life threatening flash flooding and really gusty winds, winds up to 96 miles per hour in some spots. here is the latest on ian. category 1 storm, regained its strength yesterday, and we're looking at winds at 85 miles per hour about 175 miles from charleston, south carolina it is moving northeast at 10 miles per hour we do expect that speed to pick up a bit today 13 million people under a tropical alert we have a hurricane warning. that is in red, impacting portions of south carolina, because we do expect that landfall later on today as a category 1 storm so let's track it for you. these colors are tropical storm force winds.

that's in the orange hurricane force winds in the red. so we're going to feel that as we go throughout today on this friday, especially into the later part of the morning hours into the afternoon, making landfall this afternoon somewhere between myrtle beach and charleston, near georgetown, south carolina, as a category 1 storm. it is going to quickly weaken as it goes inland, but still bringing heavy rain and