90% of our city is without

power now. the winds are extremely high. and water is rising. >> just clinging to i don't know what that is. they're flying around the streets. >> a cinder block wall that was the entire width of this area came down. >> they're coming through. we had some of the strongest winds here so far. >> good to be with you this morning. i'm francis rivera. >> and i'm philip mena. it is 4:30 in the east. thank you for joining us for this special edition of "early today." the strong winds of ian already impacting daytona beach along the western coast as it slowly moves towards orlando. the storm has been downgraded to a category one. it is still packing a powerful punch. there are nearly 2 1/2 million power outage as cross the state. >> ian made land fall in southwest florida in the ft.

myers area where the storm surge submerged buildings. it could take days or weeks to know the full impact. the county manager tells nbc news overnight they are getting a sense that the community has been decimated. >> and in port charlotte, north of ft. myers, this hospital says they were hit from above and below. the storm surge flooded the lower level emergency room and the winds, the wind tore part the fourth floor roof which is where the intensive care unit is. drss forced to evacuate the hospital's sickest patients. some of them on ventilators. we have floerz across florida this morning ready to give us live updates on what is happening along the storm's path. we want to bring in our anchor jose who is in bradenton, florida. south of tampa. we heard the words like decimated, strong powerful words that describe the storm. but where you are, some sense of rev assurance. you're seeing power is back on given the trees and power line have been down throughout the

night. >> yeah. good morning. power is sloily reconnected in the area. for example, right behind me is a sarasota bay. behind that is the gulf of mexico. sarasota area is just behind us. sarasota is side by side with sarasota. we're seeing heavy damage. and large swaths of of this county, sarasota county, are still without power. bradenton, a lot of areas without power. yesterday the governor of florida said that there were 42,000 people ready to step in and different -- 30 different locations in the state of florida waiting to immediately

come into the area that have suffered power outages as soon as possible. and it's already starting to get possible for areas like sarasota, bradenton when we see strong winds. but certainly not as strong as we were seeing just an hour or so ago. i want to turn to someone who has flown into the eye of the storm. nick, i was struck by video that had gone viral that you put up. and it is something you wrote. when i say this was the roughest flight of my career so far, i mean it. another thing you said, i have never seen so much lightning in the eye of the storm. describe like what you saw and what you experienced. >> yes.

so we flew through hurricane ian yesterday morning as it was intensifying up to its peak category four strength. it was the longest eyewall penetration i ever had. i never saw so much lightning in the eye. the sun didn't come up yet. i had taken photos inside the eye of where it looks like it is bright as morning. just because there was so much lightning lighting up the inside of it. it certainly was the most intense ride that i've had so far in this job. >> and you've been flying for, i mean, for six plus years. i always wondered, hoy do these planes, how do the planes able to go through this, you know, extraordinarily intense winds and lightning and the thunder?

what kind of planes you are all using? when you were talking about how the things were falling down from the structure, it seems as though this thing was in a very fragile state. >> so we have sufficient aircraft. we fly through storms with our two lines that were specially made for this back in the 1970s. threes four engine propel ar aircraft. you get a lot of wind shear that can cause a flight to be bumpy and a challenge. we have fantastic pilots and meteorologists onboard looking at our onboard radars. we have a great maintenance team that takes great care of the aircraft. even though we're flying through nasty stuff, we're confident in

the platform that we're on and confident in the people that we have onboard. >> and you were talking about that eye just filled with lightning and light. the size of the eye, a lot of folks are describing it just as huge. >> yeah. so, you know, hurricane eyes can vary pretty significantly. yesterday when we were flying through ian had about a 20 mile diameter eye. we actually circled in. and that eye was shifting. it was going from a nice circle shape to an elongated shape. i got tight trying to circle there. >> nick, thank you for being with us. extraordinary work that you and the other scientists are doing. i appreciate your time.

francis, let's continue this. i have to tell you, this work that they're doing is so unique and so wonderful and just the conditions that these people go through on these planes is just amazing. >> i think it's nothing short of heroic going in there. you know? >> yep. >> you're making the decision to go in and just be -- we've been through turbulence, right. that's not what this feels like. and to make that decision and to do it for the greater good so that we can better understand what is happening and what's to come, we applaud their efforts. >> yeah. no doubt. life saving what they do. okay. we'll check back in a bit. >> let's go to michelle grossman who is tracking ian. good morning, michelle. what are we seeing? >> good morning. not to talk about nick the entour show, if you don't follow him. give him a follow. he takes you start to finish through the aircraft. it makes you really realize why you need to heed the warnings. they are flying through these and collecting da yacht good for

us. let's get back to ian. we're talking about a category one storm. it's a low grade category one storm. still strong winds. 75 miles per hour. the location is 55 miles per hour south-southeast. it's moving at 9 miles per hour. we thought it would be slower today. around 3:00 or 4:00, walking pace. but it's nine. that is not quite as slow. still crawling across florida. we still have so many throughout state of florida into georgia, south carolina. we're looking at a hurricane warning. this is really rare to see it coast to coast. that is in the red here. we have hurricane watches, tropical storm warnings and watches. that is telling us the warning that the conditions are still happening now. ian is not over. we still have a long way to go in terms of rainfall today and in terms of really gusty winds. you put those together. we're going to see trees down. we'll see power lines down. and then it's going to impact portions of the southeast, portions of the carolinas. so we have a ways to go.

we're seeing the winds gusting 68 miles per hour in daytona beach e on top of that, seeing very heavy rain. see this band right here? we're going to see bands coming in and out of very, slefy rain. that is going to pile up weechlt been falling jesse all morning. we're seeing that water rise. the so we're going have the threat for life threatening flash flooding as we go throughout this thursday. the here is a flood threat on the map here. you see the green. that is your flood watch from south carolina into georgia and into florida. we're looking at flooding happening right now. that is a flash flood warning. that does mean that flooding is happening. that includes orlando where jesse is. we're going to see that as we go throughout the day. this is a really dangerous situation still. we're going to see the sun rising. we're going to see the catastrophic damage that happened yesterday. we're going to add to that as we go throughout the day. impact in terms of winds, more structural damage. we'll see more power lines down. more trees down. that's going to lead to more power outages.

it could take days, weeks, even months in some cases to restore neighborhoods. we'll talk more about ian in a few minutes. >> that's a tough part. people realize the damage that hurricane ian caused. okay, thank you, michelle. ian is thrashing florida. we have the latest as it churnz up the east coast. keep it right here. it right hee >> it's my home. it's the only thing i have. i mean, if that goes, then what do you do? if you knew my life, this is nothing. if you knew my past and my life, this right here is nothing. you know what i mean? and we take that chance to help people. and we take that chance to help people

42 past the hour. ian is shamming that area with heavy winds and rain for hours. i want to get right to jesse kirsh. good morning. the flash flooding risk was too real for your team. >> and jose, it just got extended. we've had now twice the alerts on our phones going off saying that a flash flood warning in this area has been extended to 6:45 eastern time. the last time we spoke a short time ago, the rain had subsided. it is now starting to pick back up again a little bit. and you mentioned that concern we have at our doorstep. this is supposed to be a pool deck. right now, it's just a pool. the water climbed up the stairs. it is now at the top level just feet from the entrance. we're sheltering. thankfully we're able by stairs

to get to a higher floor if we need to. we're keeping a close eye on it. it is holding off for the time being. that has water streaming across it. and that has been continually building for several hours. we continue to get this day luge of rain. and that has been the greatest concern here, jose. not the wind gusts. now we're expecting they will hit at max 60 miles per hour. we did feel gusts. it's been this steady pitter patter of rain that continues to come in bands and has been for several hours now. some areas could see as much as 30 inches of rain. and that contributes to that risk of flash flooding which we know can be catastrophic for people. officials here in orlando have been asking people to get in place off the roadway as of 2:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon.

at this point, people should be where they're going to wait to ride out what is left of this as it makes its way here. it sounds like ian is still dozens of miles from where we are, jose. and as we have seen it coming closer and closer, even as it has been in our future, we have seen really powerful wind gust ands seen heavy rain bands which speaks to the strength of this storm. even from a great dus tans. jose? >> i thank you very much. remembering sunrise expected at 7:22 today. this morning. so just a little under three hours from now. but a lot is going to be happening between now and sunrise. our special edition of "early today" continues. up next, we speak to florida's commissioner of agriculture and consumer services for the latest on recovery efforts. on recovery efforts.

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for the west coast, high winds, massive storm surges and catastrophic flooding. residents hunkering down. let's turn now to nicky fried. florida's commissioner of agriculture and consumer services. good morning, commissioner. >> good morning. >> what advice can you give to people there to stay safe as this storm just continues to wreak havoc across your state? >> it's important for anybody who is still feeling any remnants to stay in place. you're seeing a lot of the horrific images of the large storm surge. we're going to have power outages. will you'll have lights down. tree branches down. it's really not safe until the water starts to recede. people are going out and b i know you'll have the itch to want to go out of your house to see what type of damage. but until you get the green light from the authorities, it

is unsafe. but they're going to go first to the county and the hardest hit areas. if you want to create a emergency for your family, it may take some time for the vehicles to get to you. >> we mention you and so many more have slept or keeping a pulse of what is happening. what have you been hearing from the residents around there? what are the number one concerns as far as calls of damage, rescues, et cetera? ? the largest is the fact that people are stranded. we're starting to get the calls. we have baked the calls in, specifically throws in the west coast, the cape coral area where people did not adhere to the evacuation orders. and now we're seeing the devastating surge. and we have the last numbers recorded was 9,000 individuals are going to actually relocate.

that's everyone from those who stay and are stranded or just needed to find new places. >> really a tough go the next few hours as the sun comes up. and best of luck with those rescues. hope they're all successful. thank you for your time. >> thanks for having me this morning. >> our special coverage continues. up next, michelle is tracking the storm's path. storm's path (woman) oh. oh! hi there. you're jonathan, right? the 995 plan! yes, from colonial penn. your 995 plan fits my budget just right. excuse me?

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welcome back on this thursday. ian is dropping heavy rain in many spots. that is the big story for today. let's track it for you. we're looking at category one storm. we'll see what happens at 5:00 a.m. then it emerges into the atlantic. it is taking a turn to the west. it will impact georgia and south carolina making third land fall by friday in south carolina. the main story again will be

heavy winds and damaging winds and heavy rain and also storm surge. we'll be right back. also storm surge. we'll be right back.

many residents are hunkering down in florida as the storm goes across the state. we're going to talk to a woman in florida who is in cape canaveral. greta, what is the situation there? what advice can you give to residents to stay safe in the community?

>> hi. i'm in cape canaveral right now. i was evacuated from my own home in st. petersberg, florida. and right now we're seeing high winds and lots of rain. and so to stay safe, especially for children to stay safe, sheltering in place. finding activity to keep yourself calm and help your children stay calm. it's going to be most important in the early days. children are preparing to respond to this disaster and make the very urgent needs of children and families. >> so important. the emergency response team and what they're doing as well, talk about the families at home right now. we're being told by so many people to hunker down. don't go back just yet. wait until daylight. wait until it's safe to head back. what is the best way to go about

in reassuring these kids such a frightening time at home and parents with them snp. >> yeah. so there is a lot of things that parents can do. try and to -- keep a normal routine whether that is around meal time, play time, grabbing some books tore read together. i know the winds and rain sounds can be scary. maybe you have your power going in and out. so keeping yourself calm as a caregiver, trying have that limited exposure to images and news stories for your children. you as a caregiver, you're informed. but trying to protect our children from the stories that they're hearing. and then always reminding them of who the helpers are and who those people are that are building up and helping them and their community. >> really valuable information.

you want to be there for your kids but not to scare them as well. greta, thank you so much for perspective and advice. >> very important work she's doing down there. >> thank you so much for watching this special edition of "early today." >> don't go away. the our continuing breaking coverage begins now with a downgraded tropical storm ian rages on. downgraded tropical st rages on and it's covered by medicare. before dexcom g6, i was frustrated. all of that finger-pricking and all of that pain, my a1c was still stuck. my diabetes was out of control. i was tired. (female announcer) dexcom g6 sends your glucose numbers to your phone or receiver without painful fingersticks. the arrow shows the direction your glucose is heading: up, down, or steady, so you can make better decisions about food and activity in the moment. after using dexcom g6, my a1c has never been lower. i lead line dancing three times a week, i exercise, and i'm just living a great life now.

it's so easy to use. dexcom g6 has given me confidence and control that everything i need is right there on my phone. (female announcer) dexcom g6 is the #1 recommended cgm system by doctors and patients. call now to get started. (bright music) this is storm surge. this is the ocean coming into naples:there is no delineation between the gulf of mexico and naples. there is the wind speed as i'm standing next to a building. it is somewhat protected. >> before that, i had to take a knee out there. signs are falling. >> about 90% of our it is ji without power now. the winds are extremely high.