right now on "andrea mitchell reports," hurricane ian regaining strength throughout the morning ahead of a second major landfall. now along the georgia and south carolina coastline where 13 million residents are bracing for storm surge. in florida, the search through devastated nabd neighborhoods f missing residents. more than 2 million people are still without power. here in washington, president biden promising to provide federal assistance for anyone in need.

good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. president biden will speak this afternoon about the federal government's coordination with leaders in georgia, south carolina and, of course, hurricane ravaged florida. we expect to hear from ron desantis later this hour. let's begin with nbc's kathy park in charleston, south carolina. residents are used to flooding in that historic district. this looks like it's going to be an unprecedented event. >> reporter: yeah. good afternoon. that's absolutely right. hurricane ian is still barrelling this way. we are getting slammed with these heavy bands of rain and wind. every so often we get slammed with wind gusts -- you see right now. this is the pattern that we have been experiencing all morning long. i want to show you what's happening behind me. that's the ashley river you are seeing behind me. there's sawgrass, and it's

almost covered by the water. it's high tide. that's the big concern throughout the day. the combination of high tide, the storm making landfall in this area and then, of course, that storm surge which could potentially get up to seven feet. if all those materialize together, we could be looking at widespread flooding. where we are, we are at the waterfront area from downtown. we are not seeing flooding. we are getting reports of the downtown area seeing some flooding on the roadways. on a good day, on a sunny day with high tide, a lot of the local roads do experience flooding. right now, here in the state of south carolina, the governor did declare a state of emergency but stopped short of mandatory evacuations, but did tell people to have a plan in place if they do need to find higher ground. right now, we are still kind of watching the eye of the storm.

it looks like it's kind of heading towards the myrtle beach area. it hasn't officially made landfall yet. what you see are the outer bands of this storm. we are not really out of the woods just yet. people still need to be hunkered down. be on high alert. flooding, a big concern. we checked the power outages. that is in the thousands likely to climb. these wind gusts, just incredible. intensifying. later today, we could see debris across the ground, tree limbs down, power lines down. we will be monitoring everything throughout the afternoon. >> kathy, it looks like it's getting intense. i'm thinking about the historic district. it's reminiscent of new orleans where buildings were not built to withstand these winds. or flooding. >> reporter: you are right. we were out in downtown yesterday.

had an opportunity to talk to some of the residents here who have weathered a lot of storms in their lifetime. they are saying, they are prepared. it's a cat 1. they have boarded up. they put the sandbags out. they are hunkering down, preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. you are right, we will see how some of the older buildings withstand the wind gusts, the rain, the onslaught of the weather as it continues to push this way. >> kathy park, thanks for putting up with all of that. stay safe there. kathy park in charleston, south carolina. let's go to our meteorologist. what are you learning from the latest updates? >> right now, we are still seeing that track trend farther north and to the east. here is a look, still a category 1. we are starting to see some of the strongest winds make landfall right now just in areas

like georgetown. i'm going to show you the actual track. you can see it's coming onshore as a cat 1. here is the shift that we have seen. with each update, it shifted to the north. initially, it was going close to charleston. now we are close to myrtle beach. that's going to change the types of affects the hurricane is going to have on the city. we will talk about that in a moment. 53 mile wide diameter as far as the hurricane force winds. they could see winds in areas like myrtle beach. the tropical storm force winds, look how broad. that's stretching from inner south carolina, south of columbia, all the way up into north carolina, towards fayetteville. that's about a 265 mile diameter. timing on this, we pushed the time back a little bit. we are headed into the afternoon and early evening, we see this make landfall. as it does make land, it will weaken. we are still looking at a major rain event into roanoke,

greensboro tonight through saturday. a look at the storm surge map. what we have here is as the storm -- this angle it's taking of approach, headed towards georgetown, we will see a lot of the worst storm surge south of myrtle beach and into myrtle beach. we will see an outflow through charleston. high tide, this may work in the favor of myrtle beach. high tide is occurring at 11:31 p.m., later than the storm is making landfall. this is still a hurricane. we are still looking at substantial storm surge possible in areas like myrtle beach. >> four to seven feet of storm surge is awfully dangerous. thanks so much. we will check back with you. joining me now is charleston's mayor. thank you for being with us. charleston looks like it may be spared the direct track of the

hurricane. you are seeing the rain, the wind. it's already looking pretty fierce from our correspondent just there. >> thank you, andrea. yes, i think south carolina is seeing the worst of what's left of ian right now. that convergence of heavy rain and the high tide that's really happening right now along with the storm surge is just a dangerous combination. although we didn't have an evacuation order, we have asked everyone to please stay in place. our public safety officials, responders are ready. the best love you can show them is by staying home, staying safe, staying in place. tomorrow, this thing is going to be gone. we can all get cleaning up and back to normal. we will do that quickly in charleston. we are very resilient and prepared. our hearts are going out to the folks in florida who were tragically impacted by this

storm. they really got the worst of it. >> we looked at some of the images today, two days later, 48 hours later. it was so devastating from florida. did that change any of your preparations? >> honestly, as of the track yesterday, we were thinking the center of the storm would be right over downtown charleston. so we are a little blessed it's to the north and to the east of us, because the worst storm surge occurs to the north of the eye. now we're on the south side. we will still get some. we're getting some right now. but not as bad as we thought just six hours ago. this has been a very unpredictable storm from the start. unlike any i have witnessed. we are already preparing recovery efforts not only for our neighbors to the north of us here in south carolina but also to send a team down to florida to help out down there.

i'm asking all americans to do what you can over the next few weeks to help with relief efforts in florida. again, they got whacked. >> that is such a good point. speaking of your neighbors, i'm thinking about the barrier islands off the coast of south carolina, because it looks to me as it's heading towards myrtle beach, that they are really going to get slammed as well. >> they will get slammed. paulie's island, that area right now is at the worst uppercut of the storm, you are correct. we will all pitch in and help those who are impacted. luckily, in a way, it's a serious storm, it's a number one storm, but compared to a three or four, the impacts are not nearly as dangerous. >> it's good of you to think of

your neighbors to the south in florida. thank you and good luck in charleston. >> god bless. come see us soon. >> that would be great. thank you. i want to bring in tom goodwin, a mayor of folly beach. what are you experiencing? how are you preparing? >> we prepared for the worst and hope for the best. that's what we prepare for for every storm. as a barrier island, it depends what time it hits, you tides it hits you on, where your flooding will come from, the river or the ocean. we know we will get flooding. we know we will get some power outages as we have experienced a couple today. we have been lucky so far. a couple of downed trees. nothing like our folks in florida experienced and our prayers with them. the more that the wind blows,

the more you feel for those folks who had actually a devastating category 4 storm hit them. >> mr. mayor, what do you think the storm surge is going to be be? when is high tide? >> high tide now. they were talking about four to seven feet. i don't know where we are going to end up. the last i heard was a little over three feet. that was before high tide. i haven't got a reading lately. it's all irrelevant. being an island seven miles long and three-quarters of a mile wide at the widest, it tells you water goes from side to side in a big hurricane. that could happen in places. that's what we are trying to make sure that people understand. stay home. don't go out and move around.

standing water is dangerous. you don't know if a power line got it electrified or not or what could be in it. we urge everyone to stay in, stay home and stay safe. folks, don't come down to take pictures of the ocean right now. this is not a good time for anybody to be on the beach. >> that is for sure. forgive me for not knowing this, but do you rely on a causeway or bridge? >> yes, we have a two-lane causeway. one in and one out. we have two bridges that you have to -- smaller bridges you have to cross. >> if you could repeat that. we lost you for a second. >> okay. we have -- the answer is, yes, we have a two-lane causeway, one in and one out. we have two smaller bridges that you have to cross to get to the island proper. we have bridges. we have causeways. we have rivers. we have everything you could imagine to be a barrier to get

in and out of the island during a storm. once the causeway gets flooded, there's no exit for a while. that's another reason why we ask people to leave on their own, even though there's not an emergency or mandatory evacuation. you can get stuck here. especially if you have health problems, that could be a real problem if you were to have a heart attack or something like that. we do have paramedics on the island, but to get you to further medical help would be a problem. those are the things we really push when we talk about preparing for a storm. >> that is such important advice. thanks for taking time to talk to us. good luck to you. the. >> thank you. we are monitoring how hurricane ian could impact the georgia coast. joining me now is savannah's mayor. what about preparations in georgia? this storm is moving pretty fast. >> thank you.

it's good to see you again. savannah is so remarkably blessed. in the midst of the devastation of our friends in florida, 30 hours ago, this storm was sitting on our heads. it has shifted markedly to the east. of course, our friends in south carolina, we are thinking and praying for them. for us, we have storm surge. we are approaching high tide, which is about ten feet, which brings challenges for us, particularly our lower islands around us, people getting to and from. of course, we have some lines that are down. we have trees that are down. again, pales in comparison of the devastation. god smiled on us again. after we get ourselves okay, it's going to be our responsibility to help our friends to the north and to the south. >> what about health care, hospital care, access to emergency medical? >> we are blessed to have two

health systems. both are up and running. they are open. they are not impacted at this time. they are operating as usual. big shoutout to our health care heroes that are always in place. >> good talking to you. lots of luck as the storm progresses. >> thank you so much. in florida, officials racing to rescue those still trapped and restore power to millions without it. a live report from the storm zone in florida coming up next. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. hell reports." this is msnbc. moderate to severe eczema still disrupts my skin. despite treatment it disrupts my skin with itch. it disrupts my skin with rash. but now, i can disrupt eczema with rinvoq. rinvoq is not a steroid, topical, or injection.

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even while rescue efforts continue throughout the florida hurricane zone, residents and local leaders are starting to talk about recovery and

reconstruction. that could likely cost more than $258 billion, according to one analysis, using national hurricane center data. joining me now from ft. myers is florida cheer financial officer and state fire marshall jimmy patronis by phone. thank you very much for being with us. you have said, this is the worst hurricane you have been part of. talk to us about the devastation and recovery efforts, rescue efforts, casualties. do you have a count of how many people may have been lost? >> sure. our urban search and rescue teams -- i wear a number of hats in florida. this is fresh in my mind from hurricane michael. we have 11 different task forces that are working in various parts of the affected areas. these men and women are going door to door and issuing life

safety services, life saving services on their mission. last night, we were embedded with task force 2, that's miami. they left miami 2:00 a.m. the night of the storm. they started going door to door that night, that morning. they even had an incident where a family drove up in a golf cart, an adult male was in full cardiac arrest. they immediately used defibrillators, brought him back to life and took him to the local hospital. there are challenges. the men and women of the task forces are just doing amazing work. these are task forces from virginia, texas, ohio, other states are helping. >> it's extraordinary. people don't have phone service, they don't have cell service. they can't call out.

by going door to door, you are checking on people who initially made 911 calls or just going house to house. do you have a death count yet? we were hearing 12 people had been killed. >> we have unconfirmed counts of 20. that's unconfirmed. here is a perfect example. a type of a death that you will have because of this can be a drug overdose. you get people that shelter in place. unfortunately, they are waiting out the storm and they do and take stupid things into their bodies that is attributed to the hurricane disaster. it's unfortunate that some people wouldn't heed warnings to evacuate.

i'm so proud of the efforts these first responders that are going door to door literally saving lives as we speak. they are cutting people out of roofs. the most amazing of humanity i have ever seen. >> in terms of insurance claims, how confident are you that those who suffered will get the financial help that they need? about a dozen florida-based insurance companies have shut down in the past two years alone. six were found to be bankrupt this year. then there's the question of whether people have flood insurance or whether they are covered for storm surge. >> that's a big concern. did you buy flood insurance? unfortunately, if you are not in a flood zone, your mortgage will not require it. flood insurance is relatively inexpensive in the scheme of things of what it can do in the case of a storm surge event.

the storm surge was ferocious. it was like nothing i have ever seen. there's definitely going to be some real concerns that i've got if those that did not have flood insurance are going to be underinsured. we do have insurance villages set up next week. here is the big concern i have got. help comes within days. predators come within hours. we saw it with hurricane michael as the rogue contractors, rogue public adjustors, rogue construction management companies, they will come in. they will prey on these vulnerable individuals, because of lack of communication. they can't talk to a loved one. they can't talk to their insurance agent. they can't talk to somebody they trust to get advice. these door to door predators are like locust. they will seize this opportunity

to prey. having this opportunity just to hopefully scare your viewers is something that i appreciate. we're not going to tolerate it in florida. >> the rebuilding, after katrina, it cost $186 billion. do you have any estimates of the damage, the cost to southwest florida? >> i was getting initial estimates from citizens insurance, our state-run company. it's like insurance -- you know, worst case scenario, 250,000 claims. what you are going to have is a problem because of inflation, because the increased cost and cost per construction now, labor is up, shingles, paint is up. people are underinsured. they are going to try to rebuild, but the cost to rebuild their house now is going to be

more than it was, say, three or four years ago. there's going to be some challenges as people transition. the state of florida, we worked after hurricane michael. we created downpayment assistance programs. but there's catastrophic forces up outside the supply chain that will make the rebuilding process more expensive than i would hope for it to be. >> i know -- i was talking to the mayor of charleston. they avoided a direct hit as it's moving up the coast. they are organizing to send people to help floridians. you are in ft. myers, one of the worst areas hit. what are you seeing around you? >> this is exactly what i saw on october 13th of 2018 -- our first responders are -- these men and women, they can't tend

to their own homes. they are at traffic lights directing traffic. you have moms and dads trying to get back to see if their belongings are still in place. it's a little -- we're literally driving in downtown ft. myers right now, and it's a little -- it's a little hard to digest, because these men and women will -- they will crash in about 72 hours. the cavalry is coming. law enforcement and mutual aid will come from everywhere to give the firefighters, the police officers, even government services a break. we will have -- i talked to the tax collector from bay county. he will bring his team down to give the tax collectors of charlotte and lee county a break so they can go put their lives back together. >> i know you are the chief financial officer, the state fire marshall, a member of the

florida cabinet. you will be at the news conference coming up. we will carry that live. thanks to you. calling out all the people, the rescue operations and responders, we're all so much in awe of the people responding to this emergency from all over the country. and you and all of your leadership down there. thank you for taking the time for us. >> let me add one other thing that we saw. we saw predatory, rogue go fund me scams pop up. they will create a story. there were over 70 fake missions established. please, please, please, if you don't know who they are giving the money to, don't do it. there's no transparency. go fund me is simply collection for somebody who has a great theater of ideas to put on the narrative to get donations.

red cross, salvation army, volunteer florida, those are all trusted sources to give your olympian to. don't be taken advantage of because of your own generosity to want to help. >> that's a good warning. appreciate your time. more than 2 million floridians are without power. residents in some of the hardest hit areas are assessing the destruction. steve, historic damage. the pictures are amazing. i don't know what you can tell us. >> reporter: you know, i have been here for less than an hour. i say that because i don't believe my eyes have fully adjusted to what i'm seeing. this is unbelievable damage. driving in, we came in from st. petersburg, cars in ditches, submerged in water.

traffic lights dangling. exit ramps that turned into small ponds. coming to this marina, we are across from sanibel island, it's recreational boats and yachts and doors of houses and tops of businesses, all mixed in with power lines and power poles in this destructive soup. as far as the eye can see. this while search and rescue efforts obviously continue in this area. we see helicopters probably every few seconds that appear to be rescue helicopters. we are across the channel from sanibel where people are cut off. 200 homes did not evacuate. the estimate is about maybe a dozen, maybe more, maybe dozens of people still trapped on that island only accessible by

helicopter and boat. the cleanup hasn't even started. it's not even a frame of reference yet because of how much devastation in this area has been built up, not only along the coast. when you go into town as well, it's impassable. it's impassable in town. so much wreckage strewn everywhere that i don't know how people are able to look at this if they have a home here, or even if they don't, and not feel something. this oppressiveness. because of how widespread the damage is. you heard that first responders continuing to do their job around the clock. utility workers in this area, because there's no power, continuing to do their job trying to restore power. damage assessors probably haven't begun to know the scale of this. of course, the death toll keeps increasing as this goes on. we will learn more today. just arriving on the ground, the damage is incredible. >> steve, i mean, just listening

to you, it's extraordinary. are they giving any estimate when power might be restored to some of the people? i guess sanibel would be one of the last to get it. >> reporter: you imagine sanibel would. you have to go in order of operations. the search and rescue is still immediate. they are still rescuing people by the hundreds every day. that is top of mind. then it's figuring out which scenes are safe enough to do that. then which scenes are safe enough to get somebody in a bucket to restore power lines or cut a line or to get emergency rations to people that may be trapped. there's still so much to be done here in such a scene of devastation, that restoring power, unfortunately, is probably very low on the order of operations, unless it's an emergency situation. in that case, you probably got a list of other problems happening. the emergency effort that's happening on sanibel not too far from here must be taking

precedence. those people are entirely cut off if many are still there. so much to do in so little time. a window that may be close on people that may be trapped. there's so much wreckage that you don't know. you can't see beyond it. >> steve, thank you for rushing to get there and giving us such a graphic and descriptive portrayal. stay safe. sanibel island, as we have been talking about, that barrier island, 20 miles southwest of ft. myers, devastated by a near direct hit from the hurricane. this morning, the city manager joined savannah guthrie and hoda kotb on "today" with a look at the damage. >> the city manager of sanibel island is joining us. it took a direct hit.

it's been cut off. the causeway, a chunk swept away. good morning. i don't have to tell you this, the governor called the surge biblical. another called it catastrophic. you have had a chance to kind of eyeball what's going on on sanibel island. would you just assess the damage for us? >> thank you. good morning. the damage is catastrophic. i agree. i have never seen anything like this. i have worked a number of hurricanes. residents who have lived on sanibel for many years can't understand the damage we have experienced. our main access to the island is cut off. there's five breeches to the causeway. we are still working to get our crews, search and rescue and our first initial cleanup cruise on the island by boat. we have limited equipment that's on island. we are waiting for barge access

so we can really start to make conditions improve for people that are on the island, that survived through the storm, and then also those that need to do the work. >> it's overwhelming to fathom. it's hard enough to rebuild a community, but to do it when it's cut off from land and to have to do it by barge and boat is astonishing. are there residents that rode out the storm? are you able to conduct rescues? are people okay? what's your assessment of the situation right now? >> it's a mixture. we do have people who are okay. they survived the storm on the island. they are moving about on the island. we do know that. we do have a number of people, over 300 households, where loved ones have contacted us or people directly contacted us during the middle of the storm saying that they wanted to report their address. we are still conducting welfare checks and continuing on our search and rescue. we will have urban search and

rescue teams on the island today with our police department and fire rescue personnel. >> time is of the essence. i know you are playing beat the clock here. is there something -- people are wondering if there is something you need. what kind of resources would help you? >> at this point, we are still making that assessment. boats -- we have a number of volunteers for boats that have been provided to us to help us shuttle people to and from the mainland to the island. that's working well. we are directing our resources through our emergency operations center in lee county. that's the best way to volunteer services through lee county operations center. then we can coordinate resources. we know we are not alone. my job, our job is to serve the residents of sanibel. we know the devastation is throughout our area. >> lastly, i know you have -- this is your town. these are your people. you know them well. can you tell us any stories or

anything you can relay to us from some of the residents there? >> i know a particular one couple who is 85 years old, a gentleman, a 79-year-old woman who live close to the bay. they had to climb to the highest point of their house in order to stay safe from the rising water. they were taken off the island yesterday by a family member. we're very grateful for that. we are hearing other stories like that. we know that people have been through a traumatic experience here. they just want to get off the island and be safe. then at the same time, we are feeling the questions about how do we recover? what are the next steps? we're trying to stay focused on our immediate needs. our staff is working on, what are the next steps so we can start to get boat access to people, so when it's safe we can get residents on the island. >> it's a long road but a beautiful community. our hearts are with you this morning. thank you.

>> thank you for covering our community. >> devastating. president biden vowing to do whatever it takes to help florida recover. >> we are working very closely with the governor and the entire florida delegation, democrat and republican, making sure that we can do everything we can, including now search and rescue, recovery and rebuilding efforts, which are going to go on for a while. going to go on for a long while. whatever it takes, we're going to be there as one nation and one america. we're not going to walk away. >> as we continue to monitor the latest on hurricane ian, a look at some of the other stories making news. this is "andrea mitchell

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woman to serve on the court, took the oath of office. judge jackson joining a court where just in the past few days we have seen the first public disagreement, a rare disagreement about the legitimacy of the court between alito and kagan and roberts. joining me now is kelly o'donnell who was at the ceremony. that's a rare privilege, being a correspondent for such an important moment. >> reporter: you had a sense of what an extraordinary moment it was to have this first african american woman who is now on the bench. her family, of course, was present.

there were notable guests in the courtroom. of course, the president and the vice president and their spouses in attendance. it's a step back in time. no electronic devices there. no television cameras inside the court. there's a real solemnity to the process. the chief justice welcomed the president. of course, he also welcomed other justices who retired. she took the oath with a strong and clear voice. she received handshakes from the other justices on the bench. of course, she takes her place at the far end of the bench which is the place for the newest justice, the one most junior in seniority. she comes at a time when there are six conservatives, three liberal justices on the bench. it will be a contentious, interesting term that begins monday.

as you mentioned, outside of the court we have had members of the court talking about the court's place in american life right now. justice kagan and sotomayor have talked about concern over decisions in the last court and the legitimacy of how people view the court. chief justice roberts has said that even if people disagree with the outcomes of cases like overturning roe v. wade, that that doesn't mean the legitimacy of the court should be challenged. this tees up a consequential term in its own right and a term that has now a new character to the bench with ketanji brown jackson a part of the court. >> kelly o'donnell, thank you. in russia today, president vladimir putin illegally proclaiming the annexation of 15% of ukraine's territory. his troops conducted sham referendum. witnesses say some at gunpoint. putin vowing to use all

available means to defend the regions, renewing the nuclear threats. joining me now is jeremy bash. if you were at the cia right now, or the pentagon -- we haven't talked about the sabotaging of the pipelines. european officials and american officials believe it was russia. they can't prove it, i am told, because it's too dangerous to send divers down and find the proof. how do they go to the u.n., try to sanction russia for that? there's enough to sanction russia on everything else. ignoring all the warnings from president biden and others, don't repeat these nuclear threats. >> i think the analysts inside the intelligence community and within our military are assessing that today's actions by putin with a clear signal that he believes he is losing the war. he believes his back is against

the wall. he believes he has to take extreme measures, including sabotage operations, rattling the nuclear saber and including invading against the west, calling us every name in the book that he can muster to try to justify his illegal annexation of territory in ukraine. >> and one thing that the pentagon is doing is they are going to accelerate training and improve training of ukrainian troops by establishing a training mission in germany led by american command. >> yeah. over in the theater of operations, on the eastern flank of nato, we have had a very successful operation to train ukrainian forces as well as deliver equipment. it's an integrated whole of government operation. the state department is there. the defense department is there.

other elements of our national security teams are there helping the ukrainians. this, i think, has been a major success, the unity of the west, the ability to deliver weaponry to the ukrainians, to deliver high technology which has inflicted damage on the russian military infrastructure. that's why russia took this illegal sham operation today to annex these territories is because they are losing this war. their military action has failed. the biden administration deserves a lot of credit. they have kept the pressure on. they delivered $14 billion in aid to the ukrainians. it shows how successful this has been. >> you have president zelenskyy saying that he is going to accelerate his submission for nato admission for ukraine, which could take years. both sides are so dug in. putin because his back is against the wall. he cannot be -- he cannot concede defeat because that's regime change, clearly, especially after the

unsuccessful draft. zelenskyy is not going to give up negotiation on the horizon. we are looking at years of stalemate and grinding war. >> most believe we will be in a stalemate mode. it means russia will have failed in their activities post february 24th. they will be pushed back to the lines, something akin to what they occupied before february 24th. it's going to be up to president zelenskyy when he wants to feel like he is prepared to go to the negotiating table. the u.s. government's policy is to back zelenskyy wherever he wants to go. there could be potentially confidence building measures in the interim. releasing griner and whelan would go a long way to showing that putin is serious about dealing with some of the humanitarian issues of holding political prisoners. that's a constructive step and something we should continue to call for. >> jeremy bash, good to see you. ominous times. >> good to see you. as hurricane ian moves

toward the south carolina coast, the front edges of the storm already there, how far will its impact be felt up the coast? the latest from the national hurricane center coming up next. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. to. now, there's skyrizi. with skyrizi 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months, after just 2 doses. skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms such as fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches or coughs, or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. ♪ nothing is everything ♪ talk to your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save. announcer: type 2 diabetes? talk to your dermatologist about skyrizi. discover the power of 3 in the ozempic® tri-zone. in my ozempic® tri-zone, i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight.

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for a 3-month prescription. president biden has now signed the inflation reduction act into law. ok, so what exactly does it mean for you? out of pocket costs for drugs will be capped. for seniors, insulin will be just $35. families will save $2,400 on health care premiums. energy costs, down an average of $1,800 a year for families. and it's paid for by making the biggest corporations let's go right now to florida, west of fort myers. governor ron desantis is briefing. >> when you look over at sanibel, you have bridge issues. so those folks from the mainland, i know they are work. we saw aa the lot of the coast guard choppers offering to bring people back.

in sanibel, some of the people didn't want to come back. they wanted to stay put. and that's their right. but nevertheless, those services are there, those services are available. folks at the county here about some of the water issues. i know we have more in there. jim has folk who is can assist the army corp. they need to, but obviously getting some of that infrastructure fixed, i think the reports that i have received from some of the utilities is that while there was really serious structural damage to some of the underlying electrical infrastructure, a lot of places in charlotte and lee, or at least part of the county and part or most of even charlotte county as well. >> obviously, we have a very difficult transmission there

from the coast of florida from governor ron desantis. we'll bring you anything that we learn editorially as we go ahead. hurricane ian is expected to make landfall with the leading edge of the storm already there. joining us now is michael brennan, acting deputy director at noaa's national hurricane center in miami. thank you for being here again. the coast of south carolina is in ian's direct path. what should people along the coast be expecting. >> right now, this is hunker down time. we have the center of ian, very close to making landfall between charleston and georgetown, south carolina. we saw a wind gust over 90 miles per hour in charleston harbor. we have seen water levels rise four feet aboveground level. we're seeing that storm surge move on the coast now. we're seeing hurricane force winds move on shore as well. this is the most dangerous time here in the next few hours for folks along the coast. >> and michael, talk to me about this threat of the national hurricane center warped of

life-threatening waters and winds. how do people prepare for that? >> hopefully, folks in the flood-prone areas have sought higher ground and are out of these areas where we could see inundation of 4 to 7 feet of storm surge. so that's life-threatening storm surge. we don't want anybody to be outside in the hurricane force winds. so this is a time to be in that safe place and stay there. if you're in the area where water starts to rise, try to get to the highest floor in your home and try to do whatever you can to get yourself away from the rising water, if you find yourself this that situation. tpz. >> what about the barrier islands along the coast? >> we could see inundation across the islands. especially in the myrtle beach area, we're seeing the highest water rise. we're expecting those 4 to 7 feet.

we're having very heavy rainfall that's also exacerbating the flooding that's going on now. >> a lot of us think about the landfall, but correct me if i'm wrong, but the size of this storm is such that there's already huge amounts of storm surge. you had high tide already along the coast and many of those places. you have a very wide area that is covered by this storm. >> there's a huge wind field. you can see those shown in orange. it extends 400 miles. fst pushing water up through the north carolina outer banks. and then the rainfall is spreading inland in advance of the center of ian. we could see a risk of flash flooding from rainfall across much of north carolina everywhere in this red area. that's the highest risk for charlotte, raleigh, columbia, so that's an inland threat that's going to develop later this afternoon and overnight. people in flood-prone areas inland are going to need to be prepared to move to higher

ground as flooding develops in the area. >> so we are seeing the damage in georgia and north carolina already. even virginia expected. can you update us on what the forecast looks for saturday ask sunday as you go up the coast? >> the center of ian is going to move inland across north carolina and gradually weaken and dissipate by the time it gets to virginia by late saturday. lu bust this slug of moisture interacting with another weather system is going to cause significant rain exacts through the midatlantic states into saturday at least. >> michael brennan, you're going to have a busy weekend. thank you for taking time for us. and before we go, i just want to say we want to make sure to take a moment to mention former president jimmy carter. the longest-living president marks another milestone tomorrow as he turns 98 years old. mr. president, thank you for all you have done for the nation and

the world during your presidency and since. and because we know that president carter and roselynn frequently watch, we want to send our best wishes to them on the president's 98th birthday tomorrow. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." remember to follow the show online and on facebook and on twitter. "chris jansing reports" starts right after this. "chris jansing reports" starts right after this it's the all-new subway series menu. twelve irresistible new subs. the most epic sandwich roster ever created. ♪♪ it's subway's biggest refresh yet! think he's posting about all that ancient roman coinage? no, he's seizing the moment with merrill. moving his money into his investment account in real time and that's... how you collect coins. your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. my asthma felt anything but normal. ♪ ♪ it was time for a nunormal with nucala.

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good afternoon, i'm chris jansing here at nbc headquarters in new york. hurricane ian could potentially strike again in the next hour or two. forecasts have it making landfall in south carolina as a category 1 is storm. president biden speaking to the governor there earlier this morning. but don't think a category 1 means out of the woods, because take a look at this area between myrtle beach as the state prepares for what could be a life-threatening storm surge. folks there have already seen the sobering message of destruction spelled out in rubble across florida. at this hour, at least 14 people are confirmed dead, 250,000 displaced, nearly 2 million still without power and more than 700 rescue missions have been carried out so far across the state. including these air lifts off sanibel island after the hurricane destroyed any access