talking about 155 mile per hour winds. this is dangerous and it is barrelling towards florida as we speak. let's get latest. governor ron desantis is in tallahassee giving the latest update. >> if it's as simple as schismly just hooking up a few more power lines, then that's what they will do. but in those areas that have the most severe impact, it's likely going to require to have some reengineering, to have some structural fixes and that's going to require man power. it's going take a little bit more time. so people understand how significant this is. they understand how important it is to get the services back up

and running but we also understand the severity of the storm and the really, really catastrophic damage that it can inflict on thes southwest coast of florida. you're starting to see power outages, but you'll see way more over the next 48 hours. you'll have millions of people without power in the state within the next 48 hours. no question. this morning kevin guthrie, our team management has asked for additional high water vehicles from the department of defense and coordination of fema. they have approved the request for dual status of the national guard forces under title 10 to provide additional resources and additional forces and we're really thankful for the fulfillment of that request. we have about 1,200 personnel for the department of transportation that are on standby to perform operations. these guys can't work if they can't get to where they are going.

so that's the top priority for the department of transportation and highway patrol. to clear these roads torks make sure that the bridges are safe and to green light these operations to get back into these communities. in southwest florida, this is a lesson from irma. they have people that are calling leave behind teams. so when the storm passes, their job is to clear the runway asks make sure we can resume air operations as quickly as possible. there's going to be a need to bring in things like food and water via the aircraft. so you want to have the runways up and running. there's going to be things going into that and it's going make a big difference. we have 5,000 guardsmen. we have 2,000 from other states.

they have been talking about search and rescue teams. there are five of them ready go. our florida fish and wildlife kobs vags commission placed their special operations group in broward county. that's high water vehicle, shallow draft boats and helicopters that are ready for immediate deployment once it is safe to do so. we now have total throughout the state we've got over 40,000 personnel line, linemen, and associated personnel that are involved with restoration of electrical services and power services that are stationed in the state of florida. if you look at southwest

florida, you're going to have movement less likely from southeast for additional surge of resources. this staging area will send people all across the state. i know fpl is mindful of they have a catastrophic impact in southwest florida, but this thing is going to really barrel across the state. it's going to be a strong storm. it's going to weaken once it gets on shore, but you're going to end up in central florida to have winds certainly gusts that would be hurricane force. it's going to at least be a tropical storm. that's going to cause problems with the velkation, trees. the ground is already et with based on the precipitation we have. it's ripe for trees to fall over. that means more power lines are down. that's going to have a cascading effect. so significant impact for the landfall, but we'll have other impacts. that's why you have folks staged. there's going to be a lot of different places around the

state of florida where they are going to have to respond to. we now have 26 states that have sent us support. right nowen including tennessee, montana, louisiana, new york, colorado, indiana, new jersey, georgia. we want to thank them for their support. it's much appreciated. we have also been in contact personally and also the department of emergency management we're in contact with the local folks in southwest florida about needs and their needs have been met. there's going to be additional needs once the storm hits. we standby ready to offer the support in that regard. it's very, very important. we are going to have significant rescue operations that are going to have to be done. you have some people not most, but you have some people who chose to hunker down in some vulnerable areas. that's going to be something that i know they are keeping a close eye on. they are going to monitor the

impacts of the storm and monitor how those folks have been able to weather it. we anticipate whether it's ground, water, air, all different types of way gos in and help people. that's going to commence immediately upon this storm hitting. pray for people. you never want to see any storms hit because it creates a lot of problems. but i'll tell you the state has done a lot of storms over the past. it's never fun to have damage. it's never fun to see flooding. it's never fun to see power interrupted. but you kind of deal with it. there's some storms that leave an endellable impact. we have been working on hurricane michael. that was a major storm. there are people that were

drktly impacted. there's fatalities. then you had so many other things that have happened. all the way to this day that recovery goes on. this is going to be a historic storm and it's going to really shape the communities ins southwest florida and have a profound impact on our state. we ask people for their thoughts and prayers. there's a lot of people that want to be helpful. as this goes. we'll be calling on more people to pitch in a variety of capacities. not everyone is sdiled linemen that can go in and do that. not everyone can rescue people, but some can volunteer and help with folks who have been displaced. there's going to be a need for all of that as this storm goes through. and as we assess the damage that has been done. i'm thankful for what they are doing here with florida power and light. this is something that you know this is part of what you kwo do

with your business. i'm happy they leaned in and marshalled a tremendous amount of resources to be able to offer the quickest and most effective response possible. that they can do as a cane. i know there's going to be a lot of floriians that will be really happy about that. these power problems are not going to be easy, but they are committed to putting the man power in place and spend pg the resources necessary to have the successful for the external affairs. you want to say a few things? >> good morning. on behalf of fpl, we want to thank ron desantis to greet the men and women who have come to respond to hurricane ian.

we have assembled a restoration workforce of 19,000. that includes fpl employees, contractors, and men and women for partner utilities from around the country. there are more than 30 states represented here today. we have line workers who traveled in at this site from as far as texas and oklahoma, minnesota, and north dakota. all to help florida respond to this challenge. now they are here to return the favor. we're very grateful for them for that. here at the processing site, these men and women will be briefed on the restoration challenges ahead. we will share our work and processes for storm procedures so everybody is on boarded and ready to go. they will fan out across the state and be positioned at 37 work bases currently close to

the areas most highly impacted. and they will work around the clock until power is restored for everybody as quickly and safely as possible. it won't be easy. we anticipate that there will be many downed trees, debris, perhaps tornado damage and flooding conditions throughout our service territory. but these men and women will work 16-hour days and as i mentioned they will work around a the clock until power is restored to the last customer. thank you, governor, and the state for being here and supporting us. and for the emergency declaration. and for all of the men and women who have traveled in to help us respond to this storm. thank you. >> david? >> i just want to assure our customers we're execute ourg plan. we have already deployed, as the governor mentioned, resources across the entire state who are ready to respond.

also want to take the opportunity to remind our customers and the general public to keep safety top of mind. fpl, we consider safety our number one priority. we want to ensure that our customers know that we're working around the clock to safely and quickly restore power to our customers. you want to assure our customers that they know -- >> power one of the issues for sure is going to be really at a premium in the next couple hours as more and more homes loose power down the line, as hurricane ian barrels towards florida with 155 mile an hour winds. let's go to washington, d.c. fema headquarters is speaking with the national weather center officials right now. >> we have thrown everything at it from satellites and radar. we have expert balloon releases across the country. think about the midwest. think about the northwest united states. the weather service office is

launching extra balloons to get that data into the models to try to get everything we can into the models to make these forecasts. hurricane hunters from the air force have been in the storm often at the same time. getting us the data we need and some of these updates that we have been giving you this morning has come from the data from the hurricane hunters. i would be remissed if i didn't say i just want to say this real clear. heroes. they go towards the storm so we can get everybody away from the the storm. just real heroes flying into the noaa hurricane hunters, just absolutely amazing work from these heros. winds are 155 miles an hour. category 4 storm, hurricane force winds go out 35 miles from the center. it's so important not to just focus on the center line. it's big. 35 miles away from the center you have those winds. think about this. 115 miles you have tropical storm force winds. it's not just right there in the center. it's a bigger impact from all of this.

the storm is slowing down as forecast. it's going to compound the issues associated with storm surge and the issues with the rainfall. so real important you heard the advice already here. as this takes time to move across the state. it's going to take 24 hours or so once it makes landfall to make it to the other ied soft state. that's 24 hours of rainfall, 24 hours of winds pushing the water. that's 24 hours that you'll see some impacts associated with this. we have to talk about the water. 90% of fatalities in these tropical systems are from the storm surge, the rain, not just on the coast, but inland.

think about some of these values. a long boat to inglewood, 6 to 10 feet. it's a dangerous, life threatening amount of storm surge. these communities along the coast is an incredibly dangerous situation. rainfall not just along the coast, but inland. think about the values. widespread 12015 inches. some places will get 2 feet of rain. it's moving that slow. and that rain has a tough time draining because the storm summer has it blocked. so the water, people really need to listen to the warnings have multiple ways to get information and warnings since the water is going to be incredibly dangerous. the wind as well. we can talk about the leading cause of fatalities being water,

but when you have a category 4 storm around that eye wall, devastating amount of damage around that eye wall. so structural damage, power lines, trees, and some serious damage right around that eye wall. and tornadoes. if there wasn't enough threat, we still have tornadoes. 90% of the tornadoes are on that right front quadrant. so as we follow the storm in, that's where you get 90% of the tornadoes. everybody really urging you to standby for some of those warnings as they get issued. so that's it. there's an incredible amount of information. it's coming. one last thing i want to mention is getting through the storm, it's dangerous afterwards. there's debris. you think about trees, power lines, and please be careful with the generators. we have seen over the last couple years in some of the big hurricanes that there were more fatalities afterwards associated with generators than there was from similar storm surge of 16

to 18 feet. so i'm urging everyone to follow the instructions and be careful. after the fact. so that's all i have. i appreciate the partnership. >> that's the very latest from fema headquarters in washington, d.c. i want to go to john morales for nbc 6 in south florida. john, thank you for being with us this morning. give us the broad picture of what is happening right now and what we can expect in the state of florida. >> ian is a monster hurricane. it has 35-mile wide eye. that has spread those hurricane winds, those damaging winds over a larger area. the eye wall is approaching the

cap tee va island area, which is southwest of fort myers on the map. so the eye wall is where you get the worst winds and all that water being driven on shore. there's the weather radar right behind me. you can see fort myers there. it's this island there, all the way from that area including counties like lee and collier and sarasota and communities like port charlotte, even naples will get some water as high as 10 feet aboveground. the worst places, the storm surge is going to be 16 feet aboveground. bottom line, jose, i really hope people heeded those evacuation orders because this -- in addition to the horrific winds, 155, gusting to 200 miles per hour, right around that eye wall, the water issue like the

national weather service just explained from fema headquarters, this is a water disaster awaiting florida. it's going to end up damaging well over tens of billions of dollars in assets. >> you have been talking to us these last couple days, and i'm so grateful for your expertise and your time. you have been talking about the dangers of water not just wind. but give us an idea of 155 mile an hour winds. it's 155 miles an hour hurricane is 2 miles short of a category 5 hurricane. that's the highest category there is. what does that cause destruction wise in populated areas? >> it's absolutely catastrophic. to put it in historical perspective, since 1851 to the present, only four category 5

hurricanes have ever struck the united states. only 4 in 170 years. it's an extremely rare event, right now it's dpishlly a category 4, but it's only 2 miles per hour from reaching cat 5. it still has warm water as it's approaching the coastline. so it's not out of the question it could peek at 160 mile per hour winds with gusts to 200. now florida is an interesting place. it's got some of the best construction codes in the country. actually, particularly southeast florida in the miami area, some of the strongest ones in the country. nevertheless, there are some issues with construction in the united states in terms that in the caribbean islands, you find roofs that are with poured concrete on rebar to keep the

structure of the homes in places like puerto rico and the dominican republic, safer than here in the u.s. where many of the roofs are simply trusses with plywood on top and the shingles on top of that. so it's different construction and sometimes it can be vulnerable, especially some of the older homes that are not built to the more recent codes of construction here. >> for folks that are watching us with parents that speak spanish. i just want to go for spanish for the viewers that have spanish mostly speakers at home. >> i understand. [ speaking in foreign language ]

>> john morales, thank you in both languages, for keeping us informed with such vital information at this very difficult time. thank you very much. i want to bring in anchor of telemundo. it's good to see you. thank you for being with us here. you have been crossing this whole area getting ready for what is, no doubt, as john was telling us, a catastrophic reality. talk to us about what concerns you and the latino community have when this storm approaches. >> we're starting to feel the effects. the hard wind and the constant rain and the main issue, there's a big latino population around the coastline and most of the population in florida live along

the coastlines. and 20% of the population here where we are now are hispanics. and there are hard working hispanic people, families working in agriculture that we hope they have evacuation already, but if they haven't, they might face serious damage to their properties. that's one of the major concerns. >> where we are here, we have essentially a structure that that's very well protected. it's unusual. we were draifing through here and there was a large mobile home community. there are a lot of our people that live in places that aren't also structurally sound. >> that's correct. we also saw a lot of people evacuating, which is important. but that's true. this is a big agricultural area. not many resources in these communities and the effect can be very damaging. >> thank you very much for being with us. and he's been keeping the spanish language audience up to

the latest second on all the information. thank you. i want to go to fort myers where kevin anderson is with us. the majority of the area is under an evacuation ard. thank you for being with us. what is it that you're concerned about right now? some of the maybe most intense parts of this disaster may occur precisely where you are. >> so we're already looking at 35 mile an hour winds, over 3 inches of rain. it's worsening. storm surge is probably going to be the biggest concern. there are more deaths and injuries due to water than any part of the storm. >> talk to me about places that have been set up in your city and throughout the area for folks who have had to leave and who are concerned precisely about the low-lying areas and are looking for a safe shelter.

>> in the county we have a dozen or so shelters that are open. several though people have taken advantage of them. unfortunately, there are those who have chosen not to evacuate. they are hunkering down. at this point, they can't change their mind. it's too dangerous to go out there. and unfortunately, if they should need medical assistance or emergency assistance, once those winds hit 45 miles per hour, the police, ems and fire will not be responding. i do want to stress to people if you have a medical emergency, still call 911. while you may not get a physical spops, they can help you over the phone to a degree. >> talk to me about your community. >> we're based on the river just

up the gulf of mexico. so we're prone to the flooding. we have a nice point downtown right on the river. we have spent the last three to four decades of revitalizing our downtown. it's a very vibrant downtown. and it's most likely going to be affected by the storm surge. >> i thank you very much for being with us. you have been working nonstop to get the residents to be as safe as possible as this wind phenomenon comes barrelling towards us. i thank you for being with us and with us now, we're going to recap what it is we're just starting to feel the effects of. hurricane ian is barrelling towards florida. parts of of it is already arriving here. category 4. a very strong category 4

hurricane. we're talking about 2 miles an hour stronger and it's a category 5, the highest category that there is registration of. 60 miles west of naples, florida. that's where it is right now. and of the many things that are concerning about this storm is the slow movement. 10 miles an hour and as you see that eye, it's so well defined. there are so many low-lying areas there. i'm thinking of cap tee va and other islands. the cities that are right there on the coast. r going to be feeling very intense winds. and then the rising water and the rain. it's just right now reaching florida, the eye is.

we'll stay on it. still ahead, complete blackout. an estimated 11 million cubans are just now beginning to see some of their electric power restored after hurricane ian. we're in cuba with the very latest. and later 18 years ago, punta gor da took a direct hit from a hurricane. some are fearing it could be a lot worse. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" from bradenton on msnbc. from bradenton on msnbc by asking your healthcare provider if an oral treatment is right for you. oral treatments can be taken at home and must be taken within 5 days from when symptoms first appear. if you have symptoms of covid-19, even if they are mild, don't wait, get tested quickly. if you test positive and are at high risk of severe disease, act fast. ask if an oral treatment is right for you. covid-19 moves fast, and now you can too. ♪♪ ♪ a bunch of dead guys made up work, way back when. ♪

♪ it's our turn now we'll make it up again. ♪ ♪ we'll build freelance teams with more agility. ♪ ♪ the old way of working is deader than me. ♪ ♪ we'll scale up, and we'll scale down ♪ ♪ before you're six feet underground. ♪ ♪ yes, this is how, this is how we work now. ♪ ♪ ♪ we are going to president biden who is speaking. >> had hurricane ian and its impact it's going to have on our fellow americans in florida. yesterday i spoke with governor ron desantis for some time. my team has been in constant contact with him from the very beginning.

skb the mayors of tampa, st. pete and clearwater. my message has been absolutely clear. we are on alert and action to approve every request florida has made for temporary assistance, emergency assistance, long-term assistance that i have received. we discussed what we have done to prepare for the hurricane. that includes dispatching hundreds of fema personnel and activating thousands of national guard members. i have also developed a search and rescue team and deployed them to the mobile agencies and they are on the fwround and ready to help as we speak. fema prepositioned millions of liters of water, millions of meals and hundreds of generators. we have a scheduled everything we can possibly do. so we have put up shelters. they are ready. it's getting pretty clear where

it's going hit. i made it clear that the federal government is ready to help in every single way possible. now i i will repeat what i said yesterday. the storm is incredibly dangerous. it's life threatening. you should obey all warnings and directions from emergency officials. don't take anything for granted. use their judgment, not yours. evacuate when ordered. be prepared. storm warnings are real. the danger is real. when the storm passes, the federal government is going to be there to help you recover. we'll be there to help you rebuild, to help you get moving again and we'll be there at every step of the way. that's my commitment to the people in the state of florida.

i want to add one more warning. that's to the oil and gas industry. do not, do not use this as an excuse to raise gasoline prices or gauge the american people. the price of oil has staid relatively low. the price of gas should be going down as well. my experts inform me the production of only about 190,000 barrels a day. >> president biden now speak abts the gas and oil situation. we'll be keeping a close watch on what he said. he just gave a pretty consistent and solid explanation of what the federal government and the state and local governments here in florida have been doing, preparing for this monster storm. with us now is someone who has plenty of experience dealing with big storms.

former fema administrator and former director of florida emergency management division. craig, thank you for your time. from an emergency management perspective, what are you looking at? what are the biggest concerns that you have right now? >> the people to move to high ground. this storm surge, people are comparing this to irma and charlie. they don't come close to this. you're talking 18 feet of storm surge. it's going to push water in as far as i-75. so people need to move to evacuation to the high ground. people node to know the safe places. this is a category 4 hurricane. so this is about getting the public to react while all of the responders are gearing up around and as close as they can get to stay out of the path of the storm. once the winds come down, they are going to start doing search and rescue. they are going to try to get the roads open. the next 24 to 48 hours is going to be focused on search and

rescue. and just getting back into these areas. so as much as people can take steps now to protect themselves, after the storm, the danger is not over. i think that's something we have to really communicate now before they lose communication, before internet goes out, cell service, tv, radio, you need to stay safe. it you're in a dangerous area, don't try to get on the road. we have lost more people in florida in the days after the hurricane because of drownings. >> it's so important what you're telling us. let's talk about storm surge and the water issue. with 155 mile-per-hour-storm, clearly the wind is going to wreak havoc on houses and structures and the roofs and the ceilings and all kinds.

let's talk about the storm surge. >> water is the big killer. we have seen the storm surge. what's going to happen in the eye wall of the hurricane is coming in fast. big waves pounding like a battering ram. homes and businesses are are not built for this type of impact on these structures. this is going to bulldoze things out of the way. so that's why it's so critical to get out of these areas that are in the evacuation zones. you need to go out of that area. get to higher ground. get inside. >> the gulf of mexico is right behind us. but on the way in, there were really large mobile home dmunt communities that i saw people

inside. this is a mobile home, which is fragile for 155 mile per hour winds. but also the issue if it's right by the bay, what is it that you need people to know in cases of, people who feel they don't have somewhere else to go. >> they do. their shelters have been open. the counties have been work this for days now. everybody was focused on this storm going further north. counties are getting ready. people need to act. the evacuations are going to be for low-lying areas. some have the community center built as a shelter. but if not, they need to go inland. they have opened up schools and other locations. and if you're not in the evacuation zone and you're in a relatively well-built home, you need to treat this like a tornado. know the safe areas, safe room to go to during the storm.

and stay there. this wind is going to do a lot of damage. roofs coming off, a lot of things are going to be flying around. so for people that are in the areas that are not in evacuation zone, but you're in the path of the eye wall, you need to treat this like a tornado. go to an interior room, stay in that area and don't come out. if the eye passes over and things get better, don't think it's over president backside of the storm is going to be worse. kpr some comparisons, people who remember hurricane charlie, you can put hurricane charlie in this eye wall. this is a much bigger storm that's going to hit a lot more areas and you'll see a longer duration of wind. and the primary thing now is there's little time left to take these steps to protect yourself to survive this storm. >> whoa, whoa, whoa. i want you to say that again. what did you say about charlie versus this storm? >> the amount of wind from hurricane charlie would fit in the eye of this storm.

i remember going on the ground after charlie. tremendous wind damage. one of the few hurricanes i could follow the path to orlando in a helicopter. it was so concentrated, but the devastation was bad. this is going to be over a large area. so people that may have had power knocked out or trees blown down, or went through irma and said it wasn't that bad. this is much worse. there is no comparison to any past storm. nobody in southwest florida has ever experienced what is about to happen as hurricane ian comes in. if you're on the right side of that track, this is nothing you have ever been through before. your past experiences won't prepare you. you need to get to your safe place. >> i thank you so much for being with us. words of warning and words of wisdom. i very much appreciate you being

with us. joining us now is senior national correspondent kerry sanders. i just am often times just these hours previous to the most intense part, i flash back to 1992. when you were covering hurricane andrew and that category 5 storm that was small and quick. but cause sod much destruction. what are you seeing and what are you living through? >> what we're seeing is tropical force winds. what that means really is that there's some trees swaying and a few branches down, but it also means that the fire and police here in charlotte county are on alpha bravo shifts. they decided for their own safety they are not heading out right now to respond to anyone calling 911. they have not received any 911

calls beyond what they would normally get, but there are no 911 rescues that are going to take place now until the hurricane passes through. so wherever you are, you are riding this out without the aid of the government to come help you. let's talk about where i'm physically standing. i'm just about two blocks from charlotte harbor. if we're talking about a storm surge that was officially 10, then 15, and possibly even up to 18 or 19 feet, that means that 5'5", that's three times as tall as i am here where there would be water coming in because we're so close to where the water pushes up. storm surge is hard to understand, but it is the wind that is so powerful pushing the water forward, pushing the water forward. it just builds up and with nowhere to go, it just goes inland. so we have a, b and c flood zones. those are evacuation zones.

a is red. that's the closest to the water. the red and the orange zones have been told you need to evacuate. that can be about say up to two miles because it's kind of a crooked line from the charlotte harbor, the peace river. so those folks should have left. but i say that and understand that i just met somebody here a short time ago who said i thought i was going to be good. our house is nine feet above. we were in the orange zone. we should be okay. but now i hear that it's going to potentially go higher. so he's looking for higher location and made his way to a parking structure in downtown where he and his family will have their cars up a couple floors inside a concrete parking garage where they hope to ride out the storm. because nobody can do anything when that storm surge comes in, it's not just the water rising. it is violent. it is powerful. it takes down walls. it takes down cars.

so anybody who thinks they are going to be able to to something in a that is living in a fantasy world. olympic swimmer can't swim in that kind of rushing water. so that's where we are right now. people who are realizing maybe i should have evacuated. i can't get on the roads now. where can i go. i will tell you that parking garage almost completely full right now. so it's not like other people can rush down here. there's not a lot of space left for cars. >> and just the thought, thank you for bringing the height and the size issue. that's above what exists already. this is a humongous wall of water. >> and we need to add if the

timing is acurate, it will be happening when we're hitting a high tide. so you have the high tide, which also adds to the problem because if we had a lower tide, you can calculate some numbers. but in a high tide, it builds on top of it i don't know, but where i'm standing on this road here, this likely will all be under water. if the prediction is correct. we have seen storm surge before. sometimes it lives up to expectations. sometimes it exceeds it. sometimes people are lucky and it's not. you can't gamble on these predictions. rst it's really hard to determine. the authorities in charlotte county believe they are in a position to respond once the hurricane passes to fresh water flooding, but the storm surge is a whole other ball of wax here. >> kerry sanders, take care. thank you for being with us.

still ahead a closer look at the impact hurricane ian is possibly going to have and will have on florida's most densely populated ciies. we'll be going live to tampa. first a check on where hurricane ian is and where it's headed, next. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." watching diaz-balart reports. now, there's skyrizi. with skyrizi, 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months... and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections, or a lower ability to fight them, may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to. ♪nothing is everything♪ talk to your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save. (vo the new iphone 14 pro is here. and right now business owners can get it on us at t-mobile. apple business essentials with apple care+ is included so you can easily manage your team's devices, here, and here.

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a year for families. and it's paid for by making the biggest corporations pay what they owe. president biden's bill doesn't fix everything, but it will save your family money. right now, hurricane ian is barrelling towards florida. hurricane hunters are flying around and flu the eye of the storm. they are tracking its path and its intensity. look at this video from fort lauderdale. showing the storm's power, heavy winds and rain, hours before the hurricane is set to make lands falls. this is in broward county. joining us now with the latest is meteorologist bill karins. what's the latest on the storm's path? you have been watching it and tweeting about it. tell me your concerns. first, show us what exactly it's doing. >> now we're in a destructive

phase. we know it's a category 4 bordering on category 5. it's moving on shore. trees from r falling down. storm surge is up to 5 feet. that's the first area to get hit by the storm surge. we're waiting to see what they peak at. all the way through fort myers. and the other thing is now the destructive hurricane force winds are moving on shore. this purple box are very rare. this is what we call an extreme wind warning. it's almost like the equivalent of we know there's a tornado on the ground. here's the area of greatest concern for the tornado. similar to this. we get these only with landfalling hurricanes. this means catastrophic winds are expected. that's coming on shore. that's coming on shore in will make its way up to fort myers here and will probably be another one extended northwards. the winds are losing power to many areas right in the strike

zone. . right now the winds are at 56 in sarasota. but it's here on the island where we'll get the 110-mile-per-hour gusts. as far as the latest stats go, we're waiting for the new update at the top of the hour. it doesn't really matter. this is such a huge storm. the eye of the storm is like four times the size of the eye of hurricane charlie back in 2004. this will not compare so that. that was a really bad storm. this one will probably be five to ten times worst. 15 to $35 billion worth of insurance claims expected. that will put this in the top five list of the worst storms ever in our country's history. we had the storm surge. erg that comes with a major storm like this. i feel for all those people that didn't evacuate. now it's when the winds start to howl and it sounds like a train. the power is out. and a lot of people are probably question figure they should have

stayed. >> bill karins, i thank you so much. i want to take a closer look at the situation in tampa right now. with us now is the city's police chief. chief, thank you for being with us. what are things like in tampa? ? >> we are obviously not letting our guard down at all here in tampa. we obviously are not taking a direct hit, but as you guys just mentioned, the storm is a massive storm. and we are not letting our guard down whatsoever. we're still enforcing our mandatory evacuations in zone "a" and "b." we are actively speaking to our residents, encouraging them to, you know, seek higher ground before the storm does, you know, land here in tampa bay. we are obviously manning our shelters, we're still encouraging, we are pushing out information and we're just, you know, trying to keep everybody safe here in tampa. >> and, chief, there is a point

in time when the winds exceed 40 miles per hour, et cetera, that there is no way for first responders, for police officers to go and assist people. how close are we to making that decision in tampa? >> we're not quite there yet, obviously, which is why we're still in reach -- outreach mode to get people to seek higher ground, to make sure they charge up their phones while they still have power so they can get information, to still seek out resources, go to the shelters if they need to before the -- before the 40-mile-per-hour winds get here. because, as you mentioned, once the 40-mile-per-hour winds are sustained, first responders have to shelter in place and we can't go out and help anybody out until after the storm passes. as you mentioned, the eye of the storm is massive and it's going to take several hours for the winds to die down and the winds may be sustained over 40 miles per hour well into tonight. so that's why for the next couple hours, it's crucial for

our residents to seek higher ground, get into the shelters and continue to prepare themselves for the worst of the storm that's yet to hit. >> and i want to highlight the extraordinary beauty of what is tampa. what do you want to tell folks right now that still have power in tampa and the saint pete area, all of the areas that are going to be affected by the wind and the water? >> yeah, we've been mentioning to folks that the water is the biggest problem. obviously, you know, you shelter from the wind, but you run from the water. anyone that's close to the water, even though we're not going to have the expected storm surge that we were going to have, which was was 10 to 15 feet of storm surge, we are going to see significant rainfall which is going to continue to saturate the grounds here around tampa bay, they're already saturated. we are going to see significant

flooding in all of our low-lying areas. there's still time for our residents to get to the shelters, get away from the water. once the water starts to come up, there's really not a lot people can do expect to kind of hunker down in place. again, we want to get to everybody. we want to save people. we want to help, but it's going to take some time before we can get out to everybody. so, you know, obviously, don't let your guard down. now is the time to get to the shelter, get to higher ground before the water starts coming up. >> chief mary o'connor, thank you so much for being with us. i know you're working so hard and the men and women of the police department are doing so much. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. communities up and down florida's west coast have spent the past few days preparing for this monster's arrival. here in the sarasota area, all of the food banks have been working to make sure that people staying in shelter have food and water. and they've also been preparing to help people once the storm is over. with us to talk about this is

the food bank ceo sandra frank. thank you for being with us. how can people who need food get food over the next couple of days? >> yes, actually, i'm going to echo what we've been hearing, that the time to prepare is now and be thinking about what you need to do after the storm has passed. so we're working closely with our emergency management personnel, quite closely with them. we delivered water to shelters yesterday. made sure they had truckloads of water in preparation for the coming storm. we sent bags of food home through the school system because the school is closed on monday. we sent thousands of bags of food home with the kids to make sure they had food for the two or three days that all of us would be pretty much shut down. we had our volunteers in here tuesday packing more backpacks and we stand ready to replenish the supply of food for kids as

soon as the schools reopen. and a lot more is going on. >> yeah, and what -- what do you do once the storm is over? how do you go and help people who are going to be in such need? >> yes. so we actually have sarasota county's tactical team sheltering at the food bank. that's the group that goes out and clears the roads. as soon as our tactical team clears the road, the food bank is right behind them with food trucks, trucks full of water and food going out to six specific agencies that are designated as emergency feeding organizations. food is already there. we delivered generators to them. they've got food and water and they're prepared as soon as the roads open to provide food. there are six agencies, go to our website to find out who they are and the locations and dates that they will be opening.

and we stand ready -- i'm sorry. >> i just wanted to -- give us that address, give us that link. where do we get more information? >> yes. allfaithsfoodbank.org is where sarasota county residents can go to find out what agencies will be open and the food and water that will be available to them. and we are also prepared to do mass distributions. we did those during covid. meaning 500 and 600 families we can serve at a time. we're ready to do the pop-ups which go into the neighborhoods that have been most significantly affected. >> thank you so much for everything you all are doing. stay with me. i'm going to be back the next hour. we're expecting an update from the national hurricane center on the very latest of hurricane ian. msnbc's special coverage of hurricane ian continues after this quick break. stay with us. is quick break stay with us

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good morning, 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm in bradenton, florida, as hurricane ian is bearing down on the coast and on track to be one of the most intense hurricanes on record. moments ago we got an update from the national hurricane