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 center on the storm's strength

and trajectory. it's expected to bring a catastrophic storm surge with winds over 150 miles per hour. the wind speed right now at 155 miles per hour. just shy of a category five storm. the eye of the storm is expected to churn somewhere between 40 meyers and venice, just south of where i am right now. hurricane ian has spawned multiple tornados in southern florida. a wide swath of florida is on alert through 5:00 p.m. today. already, alread more than 100,000 people are without power. more than 2 million people are under evacuation orders. hurricane ian is roiling seas. a big clue for what hurricane ian is capable of, cuban authorities has said the entire

island has lost power. urgency and anticipation of the storm has mounted as we expect a very busy hour ahead. we'll hear from tampa's mayor in 30 minutes. we'll be speaking with sarasota officials on their own storm preparations and fema's assistant administrator. 30 minutes ago we heard from president biden. >> this 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. warnings are real. the evacuation notices are real. when the storm passes, the federal government is going to be there to help you recover. >> we start with our reporters

and that update from the national hurricane center. michelle grossman is tracking the storm, sam brock is in sarasota, florida, and steve patterson in st. petersburg, florida. you mentioned we'll see a slowdown of the storm. what does that mean for conditions and what's the latest on the storm's path? >> jose, it means we're going to see prolonged wind events, also storm surge, some really heavy rainfall, up to 24 inches in some spots. and we're looking at a strong storm. category four storm, almost category five. it's strengthening at the worst time, as it gets closer to land. here is the latest, winds at 155 miles per hour. the location is 45 miles west-northwest of naples, florida. it's getting very close. and we're looking at that movement northeast at 9 miles per hour. we'll see the forward speed begin to slow down. thursday, friday, we're still going to see storm surge, wind

speeds and also really heavy rainfall. here's a track for you, category four storm and we expect it to become 155 miles per hour as it gets closer to the coast here. it will remain strong as it makes landfall, even through the next, six, seven, eight hours, we're looking at strong winds. we're not just talking about the coast of florida. we're looking at inland portions as well. we're going to see flash flooding, flooding rains and even towards the weekend we're going to see it pop into the atlantic and make a northwest turn. let's show you what it looks like on radar right now. where you see the brighter areas, that's where we're seeing the heaviest rain falling. heavy rain is falling right now. it's going to fall over the next 48 hours. lots of lightning around this eye. it will move inland with all of the lightning. we also have the threat for

severe weather. we have a tornado watch where you see this pink/purple color. portions of central florida and southern florida. we're going to keep in this in place today, thursday and friday. nine reports of tornados last night and that's a threat as we go throughout time here on top of all the other impacts. so winds are really starting to pick up. we've been watching this all morning long. we first saw the tropical storm force winds, now we're seeing them pick up into the 60s, 58 miles per hour, we're looking at 53 miles per hour in fort myers. we're starting to feel those effects. things are going to start to deteriorate. storm surge, this is a big one. it's a wall of water. it's a wall of salt water that moves on shore and we're going to see 12 to 18 feet in some spots. you cannot outrun this. this is the number one reason why people die in hurricanes. jose, we're watching the rain from the sky closely too. you add those together, and we're going to see catastrophic problems.

>> and so, michelle, looking at the movement is under 10 miles per hour, it's now at 9 miles per hour. this is a very slow-moving disaster, michelle. >> it's slow now, but we're going to slow down to 3 miles per hour. it is going to crawl across the state of florida over the next couple of days and that's why we're not just talking about the west coast. we're going to have life-altering conditions on the west coast of florida, but this encompasses the entirety of florida. >> and, steve, the public works administrator asked people to limit water use. what other concerns are you hearing there? >> that is the primary concern, jose. it's the massive amount of flooding that could strike this area. we're also starting to see several power outages in the area. right now, i can tell you, while this area is no longer

forecasted to get the brunt, the eye of the storm, the wind here is already immense. already i have to brace my knees where i'm standing. this is st. petersburg pier. you're looking out over the bay. a lot of the water has pushed out with ian coming in. but the wind is now almost blowing sideways, you can see the trees, the immense amount of rain, the wind. the danger, though, is not what happens now, it's what happens later. it's what happens on the back end with the storm surge that may be 8 to 10 feet in this area, even 5 feet could cause a lot of devastation here. when you talk about flash flooding, when you talk about the rivers and streams in this area that may get backed up well before even the storm makes landfall, it's very dangerous here. not only because of the storm that's coming in, but because there's so much that has been built up here along tampa bay, that is in very low-lying areas.

the potential for flooding is immense and the potential for wind damage is immense right now. jose, back to you. >> pleas take care. evacuations didn't begin until early tuesday because of the shifting storm path. what is happening right there now? >> okay, so there were evacuations, i got an alert earlier this morning about zones "a" and "b" having to be out of here. but that window has closed. the governor said, do not think about leaving your house right now as we're waiting for 150-mile-per-hour sustained winds hurricane to strike this part of southwest florida. listening to steve a second ago, you could see how close the water is to where he's standing. i was in pinellas county yesterday. it's street level to begin with. they flood, jose, when there are normal rainstorms. forget about what we're about to see over the course of the next day. this is terrifying from that standpoint. the projections right now, 12 to

18 feet where i am. the winds have not yet arrived. we're starting to get a taste of it. 12 to 18 feet of storm surge, that is double what this area has ever seen. so we're entering unchattered territory right now. there's a big footprint for health care here. i asked them if they're evacuating patients. there's a building that was built decades ago, moving members of the behavioral health department, inpatients there, out right now as we speak. they may be moving the icu in one of their buildings as well. they have staff that is dedicated to getting this accomplished. they're camping out overnight there. there's a small sample from our conversation. >> i have a lot of families that are here that -- whose houses were in evacuation areas and had to leave everything they know and are bunked down in this

hospital. a lot of them have come here and they've sent their families onto other places that are more safe and out of the danger zone. so they really do take on a lot to do what they're doing. >> reporter: another note right now, we were just briefed by the governor. the expectation is that the power outages will be in the millions. workers are standing by at the ready to try to address that as soon as it passes. >> when we were driving from south florida up here, they were seeing truck after truck after truck heading down south. the governor says about 40,000 linemen are ready to come right back in as soon as conditions permit it. sam brock, michelle grossman and steve patterson, thank you very much for being with us. i want to bring in chief of emergency services in sarasota county.

thank you for -- what's your biggest concern -- can you hear me? can you hear me? >> yes, i can hear you now. yes, sir. i can hear you now. >> sorry. what's your biggest concern with this storm right now? >> well, i believe that many people underestimated this and did not take it seriously. that's my concern. but we're at a point now where i'm looking out my window, i can see the winds are probably up there in 45 sustained. we don't send emergency vehicles out there anymore. if they're not there, we're getting really close. whoever did not go to an evacuation center, that's my concern. if they have power and they're watching this, they need to find a safe location in their home, a safe room to move to if things start going bad. if they didn't leave, i'm very concerned about folks that did

that. >> yeah, let's talk to those people who still have power and they're watching us here on msnbc and saying, all right, i stayed behind, i didn't think it was going to be this intense. if it does get worse and it's going to get way, way worse, what are some of the things that we can tell them and that's -- for example, get into a room that doesn't have windows, a bathroom is a good place to look for. but start thinking about the highest part of your house or the safest part of your house. >> yeah, exactly. one of the things when you have high storm surge, some people climb into the attic and, you know, that's a dangerous move. it gets them out of the water but then they become trapped up there, concerns like that. first of all, we try to educate people on where they live. they need to know where they live and if they're at 10 feet and we're getting 18, there's going to be eight feet of water coming into their home.

but it's very concerning. i look at the numbers of our capacity per shelter space that we've opened up versus what's really there and i'm wondering where the heck all of these other people went. did they leave the area? did they go to friends or family like we've been trying to do? or are they at home and took a chance? >> that's such a concerning question, right? ed, thank you, for being with us this morning. tampa seems to have dodged the eye of hurricane ian, but the city bracing for potential historic floods. the damage it could see. plus, with more than 2 1/2 million residents ordered to evacuate, what officials say is urgent now for the people hunkering down. we're going to get an update from a top fema official ahead. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." diaz-balart reports. when they can enjoy the best? eggland's best. the only eggs with more fresh and delicious taste.

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we are back here in bradenton, florida, as hurricane ian is slowly making its way ashore. and perhaps the biggest fear is potentially life-threatening storm surge. this animation, i want you to take a look at, gives you a vivid idea of just what some parts of central florida could be in store for. you see what is five foot storm surge would look like next to our kerry sanders. and then, just how much more significant a ten foot surge would be. keep in mind, some parts of florida could see surges even higher than that. kerry sanders joins us now north of fort myers. you're directly in ian's path. what are you seeing at this hour? >> well, we're seeing some gusts that are around tropical storm force level. maybe 35, 39, 40 miles per hour.

when it hit 39 miles per hour, the police and fire stopped responding to 911 calls. but we talk about the storm surge and, you know, it can be incredible powerful, incredibly strong. the force of mother nature with that water coming ashore, i was at a location where we had some storm surge once and i was right on it, and there were tree trunks moving there like twigs. i mean, that is the incredible power of water moving with winds from mother nature. and we're talking about winds of 140-plus miles per hour. let's take a look as we're standing here. and the reason we're taking a look at the drone picture of this area is because in a couple areas, it will not look like this. if that storm surge exceeds 7, 10, or predicted in some places to be as high as 18 feet, much

of what we see in this video here looking down will be a city inundated by water. residents who live in those zones that were evacuated, the "a" zone and the peace river, the "b" zone which is the orange area, those were, please get out, mandatory evacuation. although, they can't physically remove somebody. when you hear the word mandatory evacuation. some people stayed behind. you get into the yellow zone where it was not a mandatory evacuation, now with a storm surge that could go as high as, say, 18 feet, the yellow zone would be impacted as well. i met one resident who told me that, like, he thought at 9 feet he would be okay. now he hears it's going higher, the it's not going to work for him. he and his family and the dog have gotten in their car, found a parking garage in downtown and they're going up two or three flights there and ride it out.

inside a little car, but high. jose? >> kerry sanders, thank you very much. we're about 45 miles south of tampa which has narrowly avoided being in the actual eye of the storm but bracing for significant flooding and high winds. this morning water along bay shore boulevard in hillsborough has receded a lot the gulf. nearby in pinellas county, residents are under a mandatory evacuation. they've ordered all residents to evacuate. i want to bring in charlie justice. commissioner, thank you for being with us. 2.5 million floridians have been ordered to evacuate. you closed access to the barrier island at midnight.

what should those residents now at this hour? >> really thank you for having me on, we really want to make sure that people understand that while we're not going to see a catastrophic event, we are seeing an event. and we will see some surge. we will see a lot of rainfall and so today we're asking folks to please shelter in place, don't go out and take a look, don't think because we've avoided the worst of this that this is a time to go out and explore. >> is it too late to go to a shelter right now? >> we still have shelters open if you're in one of the other areas. on the barrier island we're going to be telling you to shelter in place. don't leave your home. hunker down. don't go out and explore around. we want people to shelter in place today. >> the national weather service says tornados are also a possibility along with life-threatening storm surge. what do you have to say about the concerns for tornados which can be, well, destructive?

>> obviously when you hear that warning, find yourself the interior spot of your house, away from windows, anywhere we've got a solid spot to be, but the biggest thing is people need to be alert, aware, again, this is not over for pinellas county. tomorrow we'll look at this and be in a lot better place. >> do you think, commissioner, that this is a situation that pinellas county is going to have to be confronting not just for the next couple of hours but for the next couple of days? >> sure. we're looking at 24 to 30 hours of rainfall, of tropical storm winds, and people look at that map and they see the eye and they start to relax. some of the tropical storm winds gusts, we'll see gusts potentially 60, 70 miles per hour, that could do some damage. that could lift trees.

and in pinellas, we've had so much rainfall in the last several weeks, our ground is saturated. and so more rain today, heavy winds, that could push some of those trees up, that can knock down power lines. we want folks to be safe. again, shelter in place is where we really want people to be today. >> charlie justice, thank you so much. >> thank you. an update on the latest on the storm's path. where the storm surge could be the most devastating. this is important. also talk to a top fema official about recovery efforts that could take weeks or months. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" in bradenton, florida. art reports" bradenton, florida (cecily) adam. look-y what i got... (adam) is that the new iphone 14 pro? (cecily) yup, with this amazing new camera. smile! (adam) and you got it on verizon? (cecily) even better. i got verizon's new plan. includes apple one. that's apple music, apple tv+, apple arcade, icloud+. (adam) i hear the acting's pretty good on that one. (cecily) so is the deal i got from verizon. iphone 14 pro, on them! you should get one.

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earlier. all the way down in south florida. winds were reaching -- very high winds. the storm itself is now reaching 155 miles per hour and you can see the wind speed, 155. the movement, that's of such concern. the movement is at 9 miles per hour. the wind gusts, 190 miles per hour. and we're here in the bradenton area. you're seeing right behind me, this is sarasota bay. and then behind sarasota bay is the gulf of mexico. we've been experiencing some very, very intense wind gusts and the rain has been nonstop. but, but take a look at that radar image. it's showing you the most intense part of the storm and yet to arrive to florida. it is a potentially

life-threatening storm. and as you can see, the eye is hitting right in fort myers. julia ainsley is with us this morning. i want to kind of go over what federal officials have been preparing for and what it is they're going right now. >> we just heard from deanne criswell as they look at this life-threatening storm. they're talking about the number of personnel they're moving to florida. they have a fema headquarters set up in miami as well as 128,000 gallons of fuel. they have 2500 red cross personnel going to the state of florida to act as first responders. more of the numbers here, 350 personnel from the army corps of engineers. we understand other federal law enforcement like cbp will be in that area as well as the -- they're getting ready to put out

300 ambulances and medical teams, 3.5 million liters of water and 3.7 million meals. they're preparing for a life-threatening storm and we understand from the national weather service director that it's really the water they're concerned about there and he says really anyone in the state of florida is in the crosshairs. he emphasized it's not just people on the coast, that they also are expecting damage and life-threatening conditions even inland. and so this is all an effort from administrators and officials here in washington to try to get the word out to people in florida, south carolina, north carolina, georgia, about this storm's path and what they need to do to be prepared and also what their federal government is doing to be prepared and, of course, you've heard from local and state officials there today as well, jose. >> absolutely. and i want to bring in bill karins. bill, we're talking about, you know, 155-mile-per-hour winds. that's 2 miles per hour short of

a category five hurricane. and it is -- this last hour you were just telling us about just the compare and contrast. just the eye of ian versus charlie. take us through what exactly -- ten most costly events have been and what you're worried about right now. >> i want to show you this, kind of get perspective. now we're into the damage phase, unfortunately. it's not the forecast phase anymore because the storm and the eye is moving on shore. to give perspective, some of the insurance adjusters were estimating this could go somewhere between 20 and $35 million in claims for how much damage is done. hurricane katrina is the costliest, harvey, number two, sandy, ida, and then you get to irma, andrew and then we have some other events and then hurricane ike. we could somewhere close to this being one of the top ten

costliest hurricanes ever in this country's history. just to give you a perspective of how bad this can be. the eye is coming on shore. we're not going to get that confirmation of the landfall just for the history books, it doesn't matter damage-wise. this eye is 30 to 40 miles wide. it's going to take a long time for it to reach the coast well after the hurricane winds. the catastrophic winds and, unfortunately, the damage that comes with it is hitting right now at captiva. they're in that northeast quadrant of the eye. wind gusts could be in excess of 120 miles per hour right there. it's sad for this beautiful region here. that will then head into fort myers about two hours from now. if you're able to text people in that region, a lot of people have lost power, they need to be getting to their safe rooms. anyone here in this region, you're under that extreme wind warning. in your safe rooms, in your basement if you can. be careful of your elevation.

you have to know that. you don't want to go to the basement if you're in a low elevation. interior room, you want to be pillows, blankets, a mattress. you go into the bathroom and put a mattress on top of you and you wait and pray and hope for it to pass. that's the situation that many people are going through in this area right now. the wind gusts, they're going to pick up. a lot of our wind centers are going to break. they're going to stop working. we've had numerous gusts to 60 to 70 and we're not going to see many reports above 100. and as far as the hurricane goes, we just did get the new update at 11:00. as i said, it's not much of a forecast anymore since it's making landfall, but it is still a category four. did not go up to a category five. after the storm is over months from now, they'll go back through and look at all the data

and wait and see, they can upgrade it to a hurricane five. here's the new path from the hurricane center. they have that landfall, looks like just to the north of captiva here. almost right over the top here of charlotte harbor, right around 2:00 to about 4:00 this afternoon. that looks like when the official landfall will be. and then it will move inland after that. the biggest thing we're concerned with is the storm surge. this is worst-case scenario for the entire coastline. we want to focus in on areas at landfall and just south. that's where the water levels are going to be the highest. that right now looks like it's pinpointed -- if we get that landfall right here, from captiva southwards to naples, that's the region, jose that if we're going to get an 18 storm surge, which would be catastrophic water, second level of homes, wave action on top of that with the high winds, that's as scary as it gets and that's

the region of concern. >> bill karins, thank you very much. i want to bring in fema's assistant administrator for recovery. thank you very much for being with us. we know the storm is bringing catastrophic damage and this is possibly going to displace a lot of -- not possibly. it's going to displace a lot of floridians. what are your top concerns right now in terms of the immediate response? >> thanks for having me. right now the biggest concern is of course the impact of the water as you were just hearing from your metrologist. the storm surge is going to be catastrophic. it's going to be significant for those areas that are going to be impacted. that's life-threatening. that's why we saw so many of the evacuation orders and we know many folks heeded those. but, of course, that's the biggest concern. and then, again, the rainfall, the inland flooding that's going to occur throughout the state

and counties farther away from the shoreline. they are also at risk of catastrophic flooding and making sure that folks heed the warnings, look out for those alerts and stay safe. >> so how much is fema able to help in this stage? we just now essentially waiting for the storm to pass? >> we've been working with our partners in florida for -- since last week to preposition a team, meals, water and equipment. and so we have been embedded in the state with the -- in tallahassee with the state officials. we have teams prepositioned in miami to move in behind the storm and we have a focused effort on search and rescue with our partners at the coast guard and d.o.d. and other places. so that is a big area of focus right now is the prepositioning is done. we're going to watch the storm track and be ready to move in

with our partners as quickly as needed to help those that are impacted. >> and what have you learned from other natural disasters in the past that is helping you all in this coordination with the state of florida that has quite frankly, unfortunately, so much experience with storms. >> as you mentioned, there's a lot of experience across the nation in hurricanes recently whether it be in florida or other states. obviously one of the things we know and have used in this scenario is you can't get time back. you have to move quickly, you have to preposition and plan for the worst which is what we've done. we've got our resources in place and then the question will be just how quickly we can get out with our partners at the state and local level and try to make sure we focus on those immediate needs of search and rescue. of course, it will be most important, clearing emergency routes, making sure those are free and clear and looking for those that are in medical facilities or otherwise that

might need special attention in their response. >> thank you very much for being with us this morning. really appreciate your time. coming up, i'll talk to the mayor of one florida city under mandatory evacuation. her message to people who have stayed. and how the red cross is mobilizing ahead of this storm. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. (vo) get the new iphone 14 pro on us. right now t-mobile is including apple business essentials so you can easily manage your team's devices. on the network with more 5g coverage. only from t-mobile for business. back when i had a working circulatory system, you had to give your right arm to find great talent. but with upwork, there's highly skilled talent from all over the globe right at your fingertips. it's where businesses meet great remote talent and remote talent meets great opportunity. ♪♪

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42 after the hour. the national hurricane center has just put out an advisory saying that in the areas of englewood, bonita beach, charlotte harbor, there is already catastrophic damage occurring. the national hurricane center is saying that they expect a storm surge of 12 to 18 feet in those areas. as we see that live picture from

the radar of hurricane ian barrelling into florida. inside florida's evacuation zones, hospitals are a key concern. "the tampa bay times" reports several hospitals were evacuated while others across the region on monday canceled noncritical surgeries and appointments ahead of the arrival of ian. nursing home also prepared with those at highest risk of storm surge evacuating residents. joining us now, julie ward, a mayor. your city is inside the mandatory evacuation zones. have most people heeded the warnings and left? >> they did. they did. i think they saw the direct path that we were facing just a couple of days ago in the tampa bay area. we've been preparing for five or six days now for, unfortunately,

what our neighbors and friends to the south of us are going through right now. >> so how are hospitals and other key areas of your city handling it? are patients being moved? what are the concerns that you have for places like hospitals and nursing homes? >> any nursing home that didn't have a generator or was in a -- an evacuation zone, like where it floods in "a," "b," or "c" zone, they had to move their patients. and they did. they accomplished that by yesterday. those folks are, you know, battening down the hatches and they're with others that are more inland. >> and, mayor, for people who may be decided not to evacuate until right now, is there anything that is available for them? or are people effectively on

their own until -- because of the conditions the worst pasts? >> we're asking anybody today to stay in their home and not go on the road. we are experiencing right now tropical storm-force winds and it's going to get worse as the afternoon goes on. we have a lot of trees in the tampa bay area especially where i'm at and so we expect power outages, power lines down, trees down. we're asking anybody that is thinking about evacuating at this point to just stay at home. >> yeah, i mean, things are getting a whole lot worse, even where we are. thank you, mayor, for being with us this morning. the red cross has mobilized hundreds of trained volunteers from around the country to florida to help with hurricane ian. tens of thousands of relief supplies are already here on the ground. and dozens of shelters are open

across the state. joining us now is jennifer pippa, executive regional director of the american red cross of central florida. thank you for being with us. we're hours away from seeing the worst part of this storm? florida. but a lot of people are already feeling destructive winds and the concern about the water. what are the needs that you're seeing right now for your organization as it prepares for the aftermath of this very dangerous system? >> so what we find a lot of times in this kind of prelandfall situation, folks call us because they want to know where a safe shelter location is. we work with local, county and state officials to be able to share that information. people can get that information at 1-800-red-cross or our website or the app. that's one of the things that we see right now that is most important. people who have chosen to evacuate, want to know a safe place to go in order to ride out the storm. after that, what we will start

to see is people thinking about what are their next steps after that, and one of the most important things that we work on and sharing is information. how are things going? what does the impact look like? if you put yourselves in the shoes of a person who ends up in one of our shelters, they want to know how their neighbors are. information is a key piece of this as well to make sure that we're keeping all of the constituents of florida updated about what is the current conditions in their neighborhoods. >> and so, jennifer, i've got to tell you, a lot of people i've been seeing, we've been crisscrossing in this area here, bradenton, sarasota and other places, one of the things i noticed is that there are a handful of hotels that were open and receiving people and a lot of the hotels were actually changing their policy saying, yes, you can bring in your pets. but i'm wondering for red cross shelters, shelters across the state, people that have pets that are family members, are able to go with their pets? is that something that has been,

you know, widespread and information for people who can go to different places with their pets? >> yeah, absolutely. one of the things we learned very early on in a sheltering operation is pets are family too. and so it's incredibly important for those pets to be taken care of. there are many shelters where that's available. you heard the governor in multiple press conferences talking about asking hotels to loosen the restrictions that may not typically take pets to allow folks to take their pets. we have seen in past hurricane evacuations, if we don't make room for our furry family members, folks will choose not to evacuate. we want all family members to be safe when they experience these kinds of conditions. >> jennifer pippa, thank you so much for being with us. for everything that you all are doing. up next how cubans are recovering from hurricane ian after the storm knocked out

power to the entire island, the largest island in the caribbean. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc.

52 past the hour. as hurricane ian slams into florida, it just left cuba where it hit that island as a category 3 hurricane. it knocked power out across the entire island. cuban officials say some power has been restored. it slammed cuba with 125 mile an hour winds. it downed thousands of utility poles, transformers and power lines. the infrastructure in cuba is virtually non-existent. they have been having power outages for years. now the situation is dire. >> reporter: cuba woke up to a national blackout. last night authorities informed the entire island was without power. we have been traveling west this morning from the capital, making our way here to the province

affected by the category 3 hurricane. this is one of the first towns as you enter the province. we are on our way. we wanted to see what kind of damage we could see. you can see there's a bus that was torn down. there was a roof on the bus stop. there's trees. you can tell there's a lot of people on the streets. earlier i spoke to someone from the civil defense, their version of fema here. it's a branch that's dedicated to responding to emergencies. he tells me when this happens, they are preparing for this four to five days before. right after the rain and the wind ended, the citizens come out and they join the government in the cleanup effort. you can see this part of the street has been cleaned. in fact, it was quite impressive yesterday when we tried to make our way in this direction, the highway was covered in trees. a lot of the trees had been removed by this morning. an island like cuba prepared for hurricanes as best as can be

with certain organizations and the limited resources, they work very well responding when it comes to the people going out not only to assess the daniel but also to do the cleanup efforts for all of the cleanup. yet, there is a lot of rationing when it comes to food. that could get worse. earlier today, they did tell me that the crops in this area -- this is an area that is known because of its agriculture, rice, root vegetables, beans, a lot of the food that goes to other parts of cuba comes here. they are still assessing the damage. the official told me they do expect big damages to that crop. i wanted to get understanding if it was moderate damage or what kind of hit did the agriculture industry take. he says he does expect a serious hit. that's still being assessed. i want to show you -- we came to the center of town. this is the damage they are telling us that they are seeing

across the province is the roof of buildings. these are metal -- pieces of metal used to create a roof. they have been bent. some of the doors, you can see objects inside of people's homes that fell, parts of the roof and other stuff with the wind, of course, was broken. one of the most interesting things is they me in cuba, because of limited supplies, a lot of these materials will be bent back into place and will be reused because that's the only way that they can make repairs. essentially, the stuff that we see that was damaged during the storm is used as best as possible to make repairs on the existing buildings. we were informed this morning that two people died as a result of the hurricane. in the next few hours, we will make our way into the province, mostly affected, to see the damage that it caused in other areas. that category 3 with 129 mile an hour winds, it hit 40 to 50 miles west where we are. the further we go in, the more

damage we are seeing in western cuba. back to you. >> thank you very much. what a tragedy there. people are on their own to deal with this latest hit. that wraps up the hour for me. follow the show online. i thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. u got it on? (cecily) even better. i got verizon's new plan. includes apple one. that's apple music, apple tv+, apple arcade, icloud+. (adam) i hear the acting's pretty good on that one. (cecily) so is the deal i got from verizon. iphone 14 pro, on them! you should get one. oh, selfie time! wow, you can hustle when you need to. (vo) get a new iphone 14 pro, on us. and get it with one unlimited for iphone. only on the network america relies on. verizon. when our daughter and her kids moved in with us...

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right now on "andrea mitchell reports," hurricane ian, a dangerous and monstrous category 4 storm with 155 mile an hour winds barrels toward landfall along florida's west coast.