to take it all in, just by looking at the photos. we have a lot of the numbers to try to help explain how bad it is. chris jansing, thank you very much. ian is about to make the fourth landfall, the second in the united states, the eye is headed just north of charleston, south carolina. and this is what it looks like right now. the wind is picking up. as you can see. and the relentless rain has already flooded streets downtown. we'll show you that. the anticipation there is heavy. especially with all that we can now see in florida. day two of recovery. and the scale of the disaster gets even worse. entire neighborhoods look more like a toddler's tossed-up toy box. homes leveled. belongings strewn everywhere. boats on city streets. the old way to start to comprehend it, as i was telling chris, is to consider the numbers. as "the new york times" reports, fema says more than 33,000

people are now in 257 shelters like this woman right here. florida says it needs 5.5 million meals to feed them all. and 6.6 million liters of clean water. 2 million people still do not have power. water isn't running in five counties. 19 counties have boil water notices. and more than 200 health care facilities are evacuating, or considering doing so. 10 airports are closed. along with 24 ports. 31 transit systems. and nine railways. and then there is the death toll. the official number is now 14. though those same officials say that number is very likely to rise. and they are warning, just because it has a weaker wind speed, making it a category one storm, hurricane ian, that does not mean that the danger has passed. as we have learned over and over again, it is the water, the

rain, the storm surge, and the flooding that is often the most dangerous. that right there is where we begin, looking at what the storm is doing now, joining me from charleston, south carolina, is nbc's kathy park and nbc meteorologist somara theodore. you're there on the shoreline getting the wind. what's it like? >> talk about those winds. extremely gusty ought here -- out here and these are conditions that we've been experiencing all day long, there goes my hat, there we go, that illustrates exactly how dangerous the conditions are right now, very dangerous, you don't want to be driving in, this however we have seen some cars along the bridge there. earlier this morning, we were actually bracing for impact here, in charleston, and it looks like the storm is going to be making landfall closer to myrtle beach. but at last check, we know that power outage numbers are creeping up.

we're in the tens of thousands at this point. i also got an alert on ply phone just a few moments ago, and it looks like flash flood warnings are in effect, at least until 5:00 this evening. we heard from officials there, telling folks to stay off the roadways, and in fact, charleston police department officers are sheltering in place at the moment, because the conditions are so dangerous. ems also sheltering in place. as well. in tough conditions, as tough conditions improve. and i can pound -- i can point out, this is the river behind me, that the water is slowly starting to recede. high tide around noon today. and that was a big concern. the timing. all throughout the morning, we were concerned that high tide would coincide with storm surge, and also, this incredible rainfall. but now, that this track is kind of jogging towards myrtle beach, and it looks like we might be

kind of in the thick of it now, the things should be improving later on in the afternoon, but officials are warning, you know, if you don't have to be outside right now, hunker in place, stay indoors, because driving is going to be treacherous, and of course, we're dealing with these winds, and there goes my hat. >> kathy park, yes, a hat in the storm helpful in some respects but you tend to lose it when the winds pick up. thank you very much. >> somara, as kathy was saying, the eye of the hurricane is more north of charleston, by myrtle beach and when do we expect landfall to occur? >> what is happening is we are starting to get muddy in the water when it comes to the actual area of rotation and that specific eye is a bit raggedy and not as well defined and taking some time so that center is very close to awendaw south carolina, near myrtle beach and it is picking up speed to the

north at 15 miles an hour. we've got 85 mile-an-hour winds. but we've seen stronger winds. more on that in a second. let's turn that out. after they announce that landfall, we expect it to push just north of myrtle beach, further into the south carolina, by this evening. and at that point, we will see it begin to weaken, and we will see the low pressure remnants through the weekend, look where it's driving, straight through north carolina, into parts of southern virginia, and then that is when it is really going to become a rainmaker. and flooding is going to be an issue. let's talk a little bit about the storm surge. that's a big concern for those up in myrtle beach. they've already seen over four feet of storm surge. so they are now placing that third on the record books for highest storm surge in myrtle beach. the better news is, we are starting to leave high tide now, so we've got the tide lowering that way. and the reason that is, is because we're seeing the storm drive the water into myrtle beach, where as, you know, in charleston, we just saw on that live shot, the water is moving away, but they are seeing some

of the stronger winds on that side of the storm, so we've got 92 mile-an-hour wind gusts being reported out of charleston harbor. here, we're going to see a lot of downed trees. a lot of power outages. up in myrtle beach, that as well. but more so a lot of storm surge that has made its way past the dunes. we could see four to seven feet of storm surge, as the storm moves further inland, that becomes less of a concern and then we start to talk more about the rainmaker. here is a look at some stats. ranking on september 30, 2022, at 4.2 feet. still coming in under other hurricanes like matthew, but we are ranking pretty high with this, above four feet. and here's the rain i was talking about. so this storm is going to be widespread. it took over florida. and now, we're looking at it through the carolinas, with flash flood advisories for parts of the delmarva peninsula. we can see that as well. very heavy rainfall. seven plus inches of rain in some hot spots and finally the

severe weather threat. that's an issue. we are looking for the threat for tornadoes possible from wilmington, through jacksonville, right on up to virginia beach, as we head through this afternoon and this evening. so we're not done with ian yet. and as it does make that landfall, flooding is really going to start to become a concern. >> thank you very much. and the eye of the storm is headed a bit north of charleston, it's raggedy, as she said, so it is a bit hard to track, just south of myrtle beach, joining me is the mayor of myrtle beach, brenda bethune, madam mayor, thank you very much for being here with us. what's it like where you are right now? >> thank you for having me. it is getting a little dicey outside right now. the wind gusts are picking up. the rain as well. and i'm right across the street from the beach, so i'm seeing that the waves are moving in, and you know, it's still coming. >> what do you need in order to make sure that everybody gets

through this okay? i mean obviously, it doesn't have the wind speed, it is a category four, as it did when it hit the western side of florida but again, the water, there is still concern about the storm surge and the flash flooding, et cetera. do you have what you need? >> we do. as long as people will stay inside. and i can't encourage that enough. i'm watching cars on the road, and it's just so dangerous to be out right now. so people need to stay inside. for their own safety. as well as for the safety of our first responders. you know, there may be cases where we can't get to people right away. especially when there's flooding. >> madam mayor, i'm sorry to cut you off so quickly, but the fema director, deann chriswell has just started a news conference and we will go to her right now. >> thanks to governor desantis and florida's director of emergency management kevin guthrie for their leadership during this difficult time. before i provide informational updates and an operational pros

posture here at fee marks would like to kick it over to the national weather service for an update. >> appreciate that introduction, and that update. we got the latest information, the director of the weather service. first of all, wanted to say appreciate the relationship with fee marks the coast guard, the corps, national guard, it is just when you and in these disasters, we come together as a family and we get these things done, unfortunately, we come together too often in recent years. we wanted to give you the latest information on hurricane ian. i got the latest, just a minute ago, just to bring you an update, 85 miles an hour, on the coast, getting close to the coast of south carolina. it was moving north at 14, now 15 miles an hour, and continuing to get a little faster. so it is moving, getting faster and that will continue as we work our way inland. now it is really important to realize, it is not just that center point, it really is, it has been a large storm, for most

of its lifetime, the hurricane force winds extend out 70 miles, in the latest i saw, tropical storm force winds, 275 miles out from the center. so it's not just the folks right around the center, there's quite a few communities that see some of these strong winds. i did want to say it still remains flooding in florida and some of the water does not drain fast and some of those rivers can stay at flood stage, for several locations, record flood stage, to be that way for days and even a week. it is something that will happen with time and it is not over yet. the rain bands have already started. there is already tornado warnings issued, usually on the right front quadrant, is where you get 90% of your tornadoes. and so that is as far away as hatteras and communities in north carolina, so well away from the center, it is really important to think about that. surge. water is 90% of your fatalities

in these tropical systems, it comes from the water. that's why we spend so much time talking about the dangers of water. isle of palms, rivers inlet, four to seven feet potential storm surge, four to seven feet in those areas. that's just not on the beach. that sneaks up rivers and canals and it can get inland as well. so really listen to the local officials and just be really careful in these situations. not just there. look how far it goes away from the center. it is just incredible. it is just an an important point. little river inlet, cape fear, three to five feet storm surge potential. cape fear, north carolina, two to four feet. and when i say those numbers, that's inundation. that's above ground. that's water up your pant leg. and i say, almost every one of these media events, i'm 6'5", 6'6", so when i'm talking seven feet of storm surge, you can see

it right here. that's about a foot above my head, it is really important to think about it that way. inland rain, not just along the coast, but inland rain, four to six inches in some areas and some places 12 inches of rain of what is left of ian as we move inland. that's huge. charleston, charlotte, wilmington, roanoke, hatteras, any one of these areas could see significant rain. there's terrain here, too. so it is not just pounding water. the terrain. the flash flooding, and well inland, some of the mountain communities, you can see that fast flowing water kind, incredibly dangerous. and the last reminder, the direct impacts, and just a strong reminder of the biggest reminder that i could give here, it is just dangerous after the storm, too. so for communities watching, just you got to be careful getting outside, as the power lines are down, and there's debris, and so dangerous to be on the roads, don't drive your car if water covers the road. half of those fatalities inland

from the flooding, half of those come from driving automobiles over the water. half of them come from cars. you have to stay out of the water. the last one is, you know, generators have become readily available in these communities. i just can't urge this strong enough. be careful with generator. when the power is out, be careful with the generators, don't put them in the house, don't put them in the garage, well away from your house. it is just a dangerous situation. a lot of these hurricanes, i've actually seen more fatalities after the fact, especially with the generators than we do with the direct fatalities, so something to remember as we go through this storm. so i appreciate everybody being here with the latest update on the hurricane. >> thank you, ken, for the important update on the weather and the critical safety tips. as we've just heard, hurricane ian still presents an extreme threat to everyone in its path. we're already seeing the impacts

of the storm in south carolina, as i speak. and in georgia as well. now is the time for the residents impacted to execute the hurricane plans. and closely ploirnt local media for forecast updates, and also follow the directions made by local officials. that advice we get from the national weather service and the hurricane center is what drives those local official alerts. please follow them. they will keep you safe. all the hazards that we've seen in florida can impact those further up the coast. just as ken mentioned. strong wind, storm surge, flash flooding. fortunately, the president approved governor mcmaster's request for an emergency declaration for south carolina last night this. declaration authorizes fema to provide emergency measures including federal direct assistance and we urge residents of south carolina and the everyone in the path of the storm to remain vigilant. >> that was not deann, my apologies to the audience.

that is ann, the administrator for the response and recovery for fema. right there, they're talking about a lot of water that's coming in to south carolina. and again, it's not so much the wind of the hurricane, but the water that it brings with it, that flash flooding, the storm surge, and all of the rain. let's go back to myrtle beach's mayor. brenda bethune. brenda, when you're looking at all of the flooding that is being, that there is a concern about, do you feel there should be a mandatory evacuation, are you confident the people staying there will be able to be okay as this storm rolls through? >> at least in myrtle beach, i think everybody is going to be just fine. our numbers look good so far. we have no reports of any trouble with the roads. we have one bridge that has been kwloez. but that goes into a private neighborhood and that is really the only thing that i have heard of so far. >> once it does come through,

and if there is any significant damage, do you have the shelters in blase? do you have the emergency response in place, the water, the hot meals that people might need? >> yes, our horry county emergency manager, and his team, are doing a fabulous job of keeping everybody informed through social media, through their website, so and through local media, so i encourage people to stay tuned to the local media, and that's going to be the best place to get up to date information, as far as what's happening here in our area. >> anything else you want to tell the residents down in in myrtle beach for the coming hours? >> well, first of all, i want everyone just to keep praying for florida. we're not going to experience that type of devastation. so we need to just keep them in our prayers and do everything we can to help them. but leastly stay inside. i'm still seeing cars on the

road. people need to stay inside. stay safe. it's not worth the risk for you or for our first responders. >> brenda bethune, thank you very much. the mayor of myrtle beach. again, this is as we are watching hurricane ian. a hurricane again, a category one now, making its fourth landfall, the second in the united states, the seconds landfall in the united states, after all of the devastation that it left behind in florida. let's go now to shaq brewster who is in charleston, south carolina. shaq, what's it like there right now? >> you're seeing the wind gusts and the tropical storm force rain coming down here and this is what officials expected in charleston, south carolina, and fortunately for them the storm is a little farther north than expected but there is still the flooding concern. because of the conditions you're seeing right now, we heard from the charleston police department, as it currently stands because of these

conditions, their officers are currently sheltering in place, in their substations. they said for the time being, they're only responding to critical calls so that is the sense that you're getting from the police department, and that is the guidance that you're getting and they're giving to their citizens, that people should not be out on the roads right now, that they should be staying inside, hunkering down, as these bands from the storm continue to hit this area. now, one other thing that we're seeing is when you go about 60 miles up north of charleston, that's really where you're seeing the true effects of that storm surge. you're seeing some of the piers collapsing. flooding that one police official described as catastrophic. so in this entire area, there's concern as we're getting these rain bands, and as these wind bands continue, and also the winds leading to power outages. we heard from county officials here, that about 70,000 people, just short of 70,000 people are without power. that was about 45 minutes or so ago. so he said that number is expected to rise, in the next couple of hours. so you're dealing with tens of thousands of people without

power, and that flooding risk, as we just wept through a high tide, and also, the consistent wind and rain, as you see, in the charleston area, again, prone to flooding, but they say they're ready and they're telling people to hunker down as the conditions continue. >> they call it the low country for a reason. shaq brewster, thank you very much. still ahead, what it looks like right now in fort myers, florida. we are on the ground, with the cajun navy, as it looks for survivors. also, sanibel island is completely cut off. we will show you what it is taking to get people off the island, and emergency crews on it. later on, the storms are getting stronger, but we are not willing to move. what the future looks like for beach towns. 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. >> tech: at safelite, we take care of vehicles

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they left their house and they came back to nothing. >> my family is safe and i'll

worry about all of that other stuff later. >> i am 67. lived here five years. now it's gone. and it's under water. >> as you can see right there, they left their homes and came back to a lot of damage or nothing left but a foundation. fort myers is so bad right now. look at this. one person told the tampa bay times it looks like someone dropped an atom bomb. and that's the mainland. the hurricane hit the barrier islands first, including san bell which is now completely cut off. you can see the causeway here in a second. or what was the causeway. it is impassable. now, the only way out is by boat or by helicopter. joining me now from fort myers is nbc's blayne alexander. show us around. >> reporter: yes, unfortunately, you're seeing a lot of what you're seeing right here behind me, this quite frankly is just the power of ian. i spoke with the owner of this business, this was a rental shop. this was a popular place where

people would come, along this entire marina and really kind of get boats and kayaks and things to enjoy water activities, and you can see right here, how the power of that storm literally just ripped off the front of this building. i want to show you something that stood out to me. you can see right there, that's what is left of a bathroom. you can see the toilet there. you can see some of the cleaning supplies, still in their exact place and everything else around it is completely decimated. this is really kind of an economic, a strong economic place. this is where a lot of people make their money here. i talked to a couple that was walking nearby and they said they have a store not too far from here, and the entire thing is gone. what really stood out to me, in talking to people, is they did not expect it to hit this hard. the owner of this place tells me that he actually really tried to anchor down his kayak and tried to secure some of their things, but came back and he said he had to dig out a lot of the materials, because they had washed clear across the street, clear across the road, and were not too far away. and look back here, you can see this boat, katie, this really

kind of tells the picture of what you're seeing when you're driving down the street. a number of different boats, just littering the street. and it used to be in front of me, in the water, and not too far ahead of me, and now a lot of them have simply blown back that way and even further. that's what we're seeing in terms of damage. what we're seeing in terms of rescue and recovery, we're seeing a lot of those efforts, too. that is certainly going on. the governor says there are about 800 individuals, national guardsmen, different people who are going out, still performing the search and rescue, crews performing search and rescue efforts and keep in mind the water is not working and the power is not working and thousands of people still spread out, trying to restore running water and trying to restore power. at the same time, there are basically resources here that people don't have. there's no access to bottled water. all of the stores are completely sold out. as we drove down from orlando, this morning, our team and i, we looked around and we actually saw a number of trucks, kind of carrying small trailers that had

pallets of bottled water or gas canister, distributing resources that people need to move on to the next phase of trying to rebuild. the other thing that we're noticing as well, is that yes, there are not any places for people to go. it's hot out here. we're talking about close to 80 degrees or so, without any sort of electricity, without any sort of running water, and that's also a concern, as people try and help those who are sifting through their belongings here. >> blayne alexander, thank you very much. let's go now to the director of the cajun navy, he and his team are in fort myers as well, to assist with rescue efforts and also trying to get to sanibel island, where the mayor says some 200 households chose not to evacuate ahead of the storm. i saw some interviews with. so folks who were getting air lifted off of sanibel island, people with their kids, just not expecting it to get that bad, what are you hearing? what are the efforts like to get over to that island right now? >> our crews are actually

participating in the transportation of individuals to and from the island, you know, that bridge is out, so the only way to get to it is by boat and our crews are participating in that effort. and they're going and they're pulling people out of homes, and they are delivering supplies, they're bringing people off the island, and they're also helping those individuals connect with family and friends because there is no cell phone coverage there either. so they're performing multiple services and that effort, just about three miles from here. >> what is it like on that island? you said crews are helping rescue folks. do you have any idea about the number of people trapped and what the damage assessment is over there? >> i don't have that information. my crews do. they are so intent on what they're doing, and we have a completely separate operation going behind me. you know, if i can talk about another area here, i can attest

to what your reporter said, i'm worried about being sunburned, there is a shortage here in fort myers of supplies, water, and food are badly needed down here. and if you look at the peninsula, fort myers is way down the coast, i think well-meaning people are bringing things in but what is happening is they're stopping in sarasota or venice or port charlotte before they get here and people are driving in from around the country, and it is fantastic but you got to get stuff down here, too. and i feel like there's a shortage, we have, we have an active camp here, with a lot of people looking for supply lass we don't have. . traffic is bad. people are not looking for things and there's no water. i haven't eaten today. i haven't had water. near has our crew. we need people to send supplies. we need corporate america to step up. send supplies, send water, send food, send ice, we could use a couple of truck lodes of ice. we'll give it away. we have a very efficient distribution center set up here.

we're on highway 41 in big lots parking lot, right at a busy corner, and we just need the supplies, and we're going to taking care of a lot of people from here. >> that is good to know. glad you sent out that alert just now. you've been to a lot of disaster zones. i've seen you guys working to rescue people in a lot of flooding. what you're seeing right now, do you have any comparison to it? >> yes, you know, my hometown is lake charles. that was hit by a hurricane two years ago. this hurricane will match the wind speed of laura, as these are three of the worst hurricanes in u.s. history that happened in the last three years. we had hurricane ida last year. you know, the damage is equivalent. the homes here are built, i think better, there's not as many tall trees but the damage here is equivalent. it doesn't matter how well you build your home, when you're flooded, that home becomes unlivable. so these storms, you know, the news cycles cover it for a week

or so, but the crisis is really just beginning for thousands, tens, hundreds of thousands of people, and you know, the important, the darkest, their darkest hours are ahead, and we really need the american public to realize, we're getting more of these storms, more frequently, more intense, and we really need to be paying attention to that, and thinking about how we can help across the country, and provide support, here in florida, and for these other communities. i can tell you, we could be an hour from my house, repairing homes today. and that was a year ago, and it is incredible, and it is getting worse. >> we're going to talk about that in just a second. if you don't mind, could you just show me where you are right now? >> yeah, i'm at a busy intersection, there's, it's been really busy, we have an installation here, we call safe camp, we are getting our first supplies in, we take them in, and we turn around and we donate them, right back into cars, and so i'm showing you, you can see

that tent over my shoulder. that's our tent. it is highly visible. we make it apparent to the public. it makes it easy to see us and know what's going on. we take supplies in on one side of the tend and we stack it under the tent and we hand it out. that tent in a day or two will be loaded. that's what we need to have happen. and we'll back traffic up for a mile down the road here, with cars, needing supplies, we've had people come in here all day asking us if we just have water. and we don't. we have nothing to give. and we can change that. >> water. ice. food. medical supplies. basic necessities. >> yes. >> thank you so much for joining us today. good luck out there. and coming up, we're going to go inland, and what ian left in orlando. plus after andrew, florida strengthened its building codes. what will be the state do after ian? and will that be even safe

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winds but the water of ian, it flooded the entire neighborhoods, 16 inches of rain in some places, and unlike the shore of this inland city, the water has not all receded. joins us from orlando is jesse kirsch. you can see the water behind you, and i heard you earlier say you spotted an alligator. >> yes, and the alligator has made another appearance behind us recently, don't worry, i want to make clear, we have our team watching for this, and it did not come close to us, but we can see with our own eyes, and also the team has given me a heads up, if we see it, we can try to show it to you, and right now it is hiding in there. we are seen people walking down what should be a street recently and we shouted to them, to remind them that there is an alligator out there. and they turned around promptly, thankfully, and i hope they are okay. i want to give you an idea of how much water we are looking at in this neighborhood, off to the side here, we have a toefer

-- we have a photographer here, and we have a basketball hoop here and you can see the water up the side of it, and what appears to be knee-deep water here and the water is higher than that on some people. unfortunately, the water has not fully receded here, and i know that there are people who are trying to get back to their homes to see what might be salvageable. we met some women trying to get to their home, it's right there, but again, their front yard is currently being occupied by an alligator. they don't expect to be able to live in the home again. they want to see what they might be able to finds inside. what is so important to stress here, this is more than 100 miles from where ian first made landfall in the united states. orlando was not in the direct path and yet we still have this kind of damage. i will back out of the way and we will push in what should be the middle of a street, i believe, can you see it, that is an alligator, we believe. yes, so that is what is in the water. obviously, whenever we cover floods, we're always trying to stress that you do not want to

go into the waters, and this is about as good of a reason why, as you should not go in the water. we do not know everything that is in there right now, but we know that that is a problem here. and i do not know if that is the same alligator that had been hanging out in the front yard right near us, but that is the situation here, in orlando, right now, and again, this is a neighborhood. it is right along some bodies of water, but this is where people should be able to be driving their cars, going for a walk, and you know, again, there's a street sign, partially submerged here, it says slow, children playing. not right now. and hopefully no one is out there trying to go check on their properties. and where that alligator is swimming through right now, it is where we saw people walking earlier. so that shows us the treacherous situation right here, we know rescues by boat have continued well beyond when the rain stopped and even though it is dry and sunny here now, the water is receding but it is still holding a good amount. it is not draining that quickly

here and we know there are 27,000 people, just under that number of people, who are without electricity, according to officials earlier, and it is getting warmer out, so what is going to be a concern here as well, katy. >> very scary. >> jesse kirsch, thank you very much. for decades scientists modeled worst case scenarios for what would happen if a hurricane approached tampa. wednesday's storm did not have a direct hit on tampa. the damage modeling was not far off from what fort myers ended up experiencing. part of what is making these storms so much stronger and more destructive is, say it with me, it's climb change. and that is exactly what happened with ian. the climate change added at least 10% more rain to that hurricane. joining me now is "new york times" columnist david, the author of "the uninhabitable earth, life after warming," and

climate change, they get so powerful so quickly, and four landfalls from this storm alone. >> and how scary is how quickly they are intensifying and we had a few days warning and there are storms out there, but they can go now from a pretty modest tropical storm to a category five hurricane in under 24 hours. it happened with this storm. it happened in the pacific just last week with a storm, and that means when you're staring at the eye of a storm coming at you, you don't have that much time to prepare. so even in a place like florida that is culturally and historically, they know what to do, it is really hard when the hurricane intensifying this quickly, and giving so little advanced warning. >> how does it work? is it the water is warmer? so they can get more powerful more quickly? >> that's the basic idea. that's how hurricanes draw water. and obviously, they can hold more water vapor and the basic idea is the warmer the water is, the more intense they can get. >> and after, as we said

earlier, after andrew, florida did have much stronger building codes and all meant to withstand hurricane force winds and people are still building in low-lying areas and building in flood plains and building up against the ocean, which means their there's still going to be a lot of damage to those even stronger buildings and a lot of loss of life for those who try to stay hine. can we build our way out of this problem? >> well, i think the systems that we have now, the sort of soft touch incentives that we built around land use and building codes are not efficient. but we have to look globally and see everywhere there are climate risks, people are still moving toward them, rather than away from them, and that suggests to me, we need a much bigger paradigm shift around how we think about risk, how we navigate around risk, and how we build around it. is it theoretically possible to build human settlements that withstand hurricanes, yes, it is very expensive and it is a different approach to how we

think about infrastructure and settlements. >> and it is not just florida and living in a hurricane zone, it's what we're seeing in california, and people still building in malibu, even though malibu burns down every couple years, and parts of it. >> and i think it is important to keep in mind, it is not even those places, but places like pakistan, where there are many, fewer resources and that country is still heavily under water two months after massive flooding. it is intense mere but other parts of the world are also suffering from the intensity. >> and focuses here, fema changed its policies for how they were going to ensure homes in flood areas and it is not just a zone now, but it is individual policies, and they will decide how prone you are, where you are, to flooding. and that's meant a lot of the policies have gone up quite a bit and the idea if you see how expensive it is to ensure your home for flooding you might think twice about moving. >> there the effect was a lot of

people decided not to get insurance at all, this additional fema insurance. >> yes, i think that's the sort of dynamic that we're seeing across the country for insurance. there's been a similar story all across the gulf coast with flood insurance. and we haven't really solved the problem. we can't just raise the price a little bit. people feel comfortable going off the insurance. they feel comfortable living where they live. and if we want to have them think seriously about moving, we will have to do something a little more aggressive. >> and for people talking about the storms, it seems like the acceptance of climate change is much broader than it used to be a few years ago. we had the gentleman on from the cajun navy talking about how the storms are getting stronger and more powerful, and acknowledging this is different than it once was. our awareness of it, as it broadens out, is that helping our ability to confront it, to make better decisions? >> i think to some degree, i think basically, we don't see climate denial anymore, and that means we can take seriously, or try to take seriously many of these risk. but i think in a lot of cases, we replace climate denial with climate delusion and climate

delay, and we think this is not such a big deal, we think we can get around it and we think a 500 year storm will hit once every 500 years rather than once every decade. >> tell us about a 500 year storm. >> it reminds us from how far from the historical average we really reflex and in the u.s., just in the last couple of months, we had something like seven or eight storms that were either called 500 or 1,000 year storms and we take that number seriously. it's just a reminder that however normal your daily life may feel today, and our climate is so out of whack that we're seeing literally millennia of extreme weather condensed in a few years and in some cases a few weeks. >> david, thanks for joining us. and for calling it what it is and talking about what we can do about it and what we cannot do about it. i appreciate your time as always. and coming up, ian has made its fourth landfall, this time in south carolina. we are live in charleston. are . (vo) with their verizon private 5g network, associated british ports can now precisely orchestrate nearly

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speed means it is a category one. the water it is bringing with it as we've been saying is extremely dangerous. back with me now, on the ground, in charleston, is abc's shaq brewster. so shaq, we left it last we spoke, with just the acknowledgment that they call it the low country out there, for a reason. and explain what that means. >> well, what they mean is because it is sitting so low, it is more prone to flooding, i mean these are areas that get flooded on a regular basis, and when you're talking to residents in this area, asking how they're preparing for this storm, well, they say they're used to it and setting up storm drains. and i was talking about the tropical storm wind gusts and the tropical storm level rain that we're seeing and you can see now the skies clearing out, the sun trying to peak out from behind the clouds, and while the rain, it is a couple of drizzles, it is much different than what we saw a half hour ago. back then, that is when we heard from the police department. they said that they were

sheltering in place, for the time being, because of the conditions of the storm, we know that even two hours before the hurricane ian made impact, we know that nearly two dozen roads in this area were closed. intersections were closed. because of what they saw with the wind gusts over the past couple of hours. it looks fortunately like those wind conditions are coming down. we are about two hours away from the previous high tide. so we know water in some areas is receding at this point. so positive news so far. but you're still seeing from officials and hearing from officials that they want people to stay inside, because we know the bands can still whip around and it is still not over quite yet. >> shaq brewster, thank you very much. with thousands displaced and neighborhoods demolished and power out and water contaminated or not running at all, getting people fed is a huge undertaking and we heard the gentleman from the cajun navy talking about this, and fema and state governments provide what they can but in disasters like the

one they are seeing down in florida right now, it is often the little guys who get the food to people fastest and the next guest, you're seeing a photo of them doing that, does just that. gary is the head chef, founder and ceo of mercy chefs, he has been making food for the hungry in disaster zones for 16 years. he says this is the biggest job mercy chefs has ever had to undertake. thanks for joining us. what are you seeing right now? >> we're seeing a lot of folks that have lost everything. it's heartbreaking to see them down, and food is gone and flooding in the streets. and we sent hot meals to the shelters and it is folks that they had just taken out of sanibel island by helicopter, they arrived to the shelter wet and stepped off the bus and greeted with a hot meal. so these folks have taken a great deal of damage down here. this is devastating. i know that word gets used a

lot. but there's not a whole lot of other ways to describe it. >> what are you making for folks today? >> tonight, we're doing a beautiful beef and sausage italian pasta bake, with roast green beans and we're serving that with a fruit plate, tropical fruit compote and we're having nice hearty healthy hot meals and we have been asked to feed 20,000 and we will ramp out to 30,000 a day to send out in the community. we're sporting victims and volunteer -- we're supporting victims and volunteers and search and rescue teams. >> it sounds delicious. you started this after katrina. so you know what you're doing. what do you need to make sure that you can deliver as many meals as possible right now. how can the folks back home help? >> well, you know, it all comes down to our ability to operate very quickly.

we need something we have to be able to get it, we have one tractor-trailer of groceries on-site. another two coming in tomorrow. and then another two on monday. when you get your groceries by the tractor-trailer truckload you know you're doing a lot of feeding. you're running up a pretty big grocery bill. folks can find out how to volunteer with us and ask questions in realtime or support us financially by going to the website mercy chef.com. >> that's good to know. so you're thinking about 20,000 people a day, and in this devastation, i know you've seen so much, and you said that the devastation gets overused but it is pretty bad there, can you help us, we're seeing the images but can you help us understand the need? >> well, when you lose power, when you lose water, when you lose part of your home, and that happens to people for 60 miles in either direction, a lot of folks don't have cell service, they have no way of getting out.

cars were flooded. and folks are just trapped in the middle of a horrible disaster. and the only way to get them any hope, or any compassion is to go right to the heart of the need. and that's what mercy chefs does. >> we heard from somebody a little bit earlier, one of the volunteers outs there, who said that they have not eaten at all yet. how do folks find if you they're hungry and they need a hot meal. >> we're posting meal times and locations on our website. they can find it there. or facebook. just call and let us know. we're getting phone calls. i mean. so hospitals here, without power, we're delivering water and hot meals. we're just finding the need, just the phone is ringing and we're taking care of it in any way that we can. >> and what town are you in right now? >> we're in fort myers. >> all right, where it was hardest hit. i have a question, why, i know you just started doing this after katrina, why did you

decide to be the one that goes in and helps directly? >> you know, new orleans was my hometown, i lost a grandmother in katrina, my daughter lost a home, and all of the restaurants and hotels, and i came up in the business and we were affected. and i volunteered down there. and i just thought there was a better way to feed people, to do a higher quality meal, and this higher level of sanitation and food safety. so that was the genesis of mercy chefs, to serve those high quality meals. and you know, we believe amazing things happen over a shared meal. and we're dedicated to doing that, with people that have had the very worse day of their lives. >> well, bless you for what you are doing, sir. a hot meal does a lot to make a person feel better. and we're glad you're down there. thank you so much. >> thank you. that's going to do it for me. hallie jackson picks up our coverage next. ie jackson picks coverage next. twelve irresistible new subs. the most epic sandwich roster ever created.

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as we come on the air, hurricane ian making landfall again. this time, hitting the coast of south carolina near georgetown. left side of your screen, that's what it looks like right now in myrtle beach as the storm starts to move onshore. you've got the wind blowing nearly 100 miles an hour in some spots. the hurricane, dropping nearly a foot of rain so far. storm surges as high as seven feet. we have our team live on the ground in south carolina. and there in florida, too, where we are only just starting to really get a grip on the