good morning. it is 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm ryan nobles. i'll be joined by my colleague jose diaz-balart in moments, he's reporting from crystal river, florida. he and his crew are moving to higher ground and to safety. right now, hurricane idalia is pounding parts of the southeast, with heavy rains and high winds. and we just learned that this

storm has turned deadly. the florida highway patrol says that one person was killed in a weather-related accident on interstate 75 in pacifico county. the national hurricane center just put out its latest update on the storm. and right now it is a category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of 90 miles per hour. idalia made landfall around keaton beach, florida, around 7:45 a.m. eastern time as a category 3 storm. the strongest to hit florida's big bend region in more than 125 years. idalia's biggest impact appears to be storm surge, which topped eight feet in some places. and in cedar key, florida, part of a bed and breakfast collapsed and washed away. nearly 300,000 homes and businesses are now without power in florida and georgia. florida governor ron desantis urged people not to go out if they don't have to. >> please hunker down, wherever you are, don't mess with this storm.

don't do anything that is going to put yourself in jeopardy. and there will be a lot of help coming on the back end of this storm. >> and we have now just learned that the storm has now been downgraded to a category 1 storm. and nbc's maggie vespa is in the middle of it. she joins us from tallahassee, florida, the state capital. maggie, what are you seeing where you are right now? >> reporter: we're kind of a metaphor for that downgrade. things have lessened in intensity here in tallahassee, which is good news for people here. not before these wind gusts topped nearly 50 miles per hour, knocking out power across the region. thousands of people in tallahassee lost electricity throughout the morning. power crews miraculously already back up out here across the area. restoring power. we got sandbags in front of business doors here, people did their best to prep. with roughly 24 hours notice here in tallahassee they were suddenly in the midst or in the path of this storm.

it was initially tracking -- it wasn't going to come this far west as tallahassee, and then in the last 24 hours, yesterday morning, they got a heads up they were going to be impacted by the worst remnants. this is a rare event for the capital of florida, for a major college town, florida state university, florida a&m, 200,000 plus people in the path of the storm in this city. it appears and again we have now been downgraded to a category 1, which is great news, it appears the worst of it is behind us here in tallahassee. that being said, thousands of national guard soldiers and airmen across the state assessing the damage and some of the harder hit areas and first responders responding to some of the more tragic events during the storm including the car crash you mentioned near tampa. they confirm that has indeed turned fatal. one fatality in the midst of this storm that is just still slamming parts of the florida coast and moving inland. ryan? >> and, maggie, i covered the hurricane in tallahassee where you are in 2018.

the big concern then was all of the trees in tallahassee. very proud of their tree coverage there. that also is dangerous with the high winds. has there been any sort of concern about damage related to trees falling down there? >> reporter: huge concern. we haven't seen a ton of confirmed reports of damage. a few buildings damaged according to local officials, city officials, county officials. you're right. that was a key fear going into this, because of possible damage to buildings, cars, danger to people, and then also possible power outages. that was a major issue for first responders and for local officials going into this storm. and big reason why they were asking people even though they were on the outer bands of the storm here in tallahassee, you see people are back out on the roads, good sign that things are calming down. we're on the outer bands, again, of this storm, they wanted people to heed those warnings. the trees could fall at any moment, when the ground is this saturated. and that's something that right now crews, we have been told, are just getting out to assess

the damage here in the area. we could hear reports about just how many those fears actually came to fruition here in tallahassee in the next few hours. brian? >> maggie vespa, continue to stay safe. great work out there. we appreciate it. we're going to get a closer look now at where things stand with this forecast. the national hurricane center forecast's latest update. joining us is michael brennan, the director of the nhc. thank you for being here with us. it has been a busy couple of days for you guys. explain to us where things stand right now, where is the storm and where is it going? >> sure, right now the center of idalia is moving into southern georgia, located about 15 miles south, southeast of valdosta, moving toward the north, northeast at 20 miles per hour. maximum sustained winds of around 90 miles per hour. we're seeing considerable impacts spreading inland. high water values along the big bend coast and the tampa bay

region and the stage is set for a heavy rainfall event across interior portions of the southeast coastal plain and the piedmont and then expecting tropical storm and hurricane conditions along portions of the southeast coast and storm surge as well, three to five feet of inundation along portions of the georgia coastline and south carolina. >> talk to me about the speed of this storm. 20 miles per hour seems relatively fast for a hurricane. sometimes the slow moving storms are more deadly and dangerous. where does this compare to past hurricanes we have seen? >> idalia is moving pretty quickly. there is a trade-off. the fast motion tends to limit the rainfall impacts because it doesn't rain as long in any one given area. the fast motion of idalia allows the winds to travel further inland before the storm has time to weaken very much. we'll get more in the way of wind impacts farther inland. the trade-off is we get a little less rain maybe. still enough rain to cause considerable impacts from flash and urban flooding, especially as we go into tonight and

thursday. >> and what do you consider at this point to be the biggest dangers of the storm? a real concern about storm surge. we did see pretty high levels of storm surge along the florida gulf coast. is that the biggest concern now? water is always a big problem? the wind now. what is your assessment from what we have seen at this point? >> it depends where you are. along the big bend coast of florida, we'll see elevated water levels through the day today. not a safe place for people to be out and about yet. we have the potential for storm surge along the georgia and south carolina coast. three to five feet of inundation, similar to the inundation in the tampa bay area earlier this morning. the wind threat is a big threat. and then the rainfall flooding threat is also a threat for places like wilmington, fayetteville, columbia, south carolina. and we also have a tornado threat that is making its way across the southeastern united states, especially on the coastal plain area from

savannah. people are going to want to be in a safe place as we go through the day today and into tonight. as we get to the carolinas tonight and early thursday, have multiple ways to get severe weather information through your phone, through apps, through a weather radio, connected through local media as well. >> and how would you assess what things have been like on the dirty side of the storm? >> well, you know, the east side of the storm always has a lot of impacts. so that's where we tend to get the strongest storm surge, we had storm sturge along much of the west coast of florida. that's the biggest risk for tornadoes. the highest risk of heavy rainfall is on the west side of the center. so it is going to be spread across different locations depending where you are. even if you're west of the center, valdosta, georgia, columbia, south carolina, wilmington, fayetteville, north carolina, potential for significant impacts as we go through the day today and into tonight. >> we talked about the confluence of events here, the super moon, the king tide, and also these warmer waters in the

gulf coast. talk about the warmer water. what role did that play in the storm's development? >> warm water is the fuel for hurricane. in a normal year, by the time you get to august, most of the hurricane season, the gulf of mexico waters are warm enough to support significant hurricane strengthening. even anything above that is going to potentially enhance that potential. but there is certainly enough warm water we saw the rapid intensification we expected with idalia. and that is what is bringing those impacts to bear today on everyone in the southeast. >> okay, michael brennan, thank you so much. appreciate all the work your team is doing and we'll check back with you as the storm continues to make its way across the country. we're going to turn to dixie county, florida, facing a tornado watch as hurricane idalia makes its way inland. ahead of landfall, officials ordered mandatory evacuations for all the coastal communities. joining us by phone is mandy letterman, the dixie count yico

florida, fire rescue battalion chief. you are relying on a generator. what can you tell us about what you're facing at this moment? >> yes, so, about a little after 5:00 a.m. this morning is when we really started to get significant impacts and then it just deteriorated rapidly from there. we finally made it out about 9:00 to be able to start answering emergency calls and doing pushes into the coastal communities. but between that rapid deterioration between about 6:00 and until 9:00, we met substantial winds of about 80 to 90 miles per hour. that is sustained for two and a half hours. we had to shut down our fire trucks and law enforcement and

couldn't respond to any calls. it was just kind of a sit and wait game and then once daylight hit and we started receiving even more calls of downed tour lines and trees, and car wrecks and stuff like that, we were able to start sending emergency responders to -- we lost power at most of our emergency stations that are now operating off of generator as well as our mercy command center here. we're running off of generator power. so we got emergency crews out working as hard as they can with the local power companies. national guard went in with our local fire rescue crews to start getting into our coastal communities who, you know, we were reported to have at least 10 to 15 foot of storm surge. we haven't made eyes on the coastal communities yesterday, but they're en route to do the push now. >> talk to me about the storm

surge. is it impossible right now to assess just how great that storm surge was because you can't get to those areas quite yet? >> they're en route now down there. we, prelandfall, we were able to get support from the florida national guard. 200 guardsmen with heavy machinery and equipment for move in, debris and high water trucks, so they could get into the coastal communities and just put eyes on to see how bad it was. they're going to push as far as they can and recon and try to get us an update of what other resources we might get to see. they're going to start checking for houses because we did order a mandatory evacuation, however we had a lot of citizens that

they adhered to it. we had those that were adamant they didn't want to leave in each coastal community. we do have search and rescue strike teams waiting for the recall to get done and the ability to get in there. we haven't got reports back yet of just how bad or devastating it is down there. >> and you talk about the folks in your community that decided to ride it out. nerve florida is prepared for a hurricane on some level, but your community hasn't dealt with a direct hit like this in more than 125 years. do you think your residents fully anticipated how bad it could be? >> you're right. we have not seen anything close to this magnitude in a while. the closest thing we came to any possible storm surge was back in 2016, with hermine, and that storm surge was maybe four or five foot. and so when we started prepping for this last week, and

throughout the weekend, we realized this was going to be a lot more intense and we needed to ramp up and we started pushing out this as much information as we can to make our citizens aware. we even had multiple meetings with the county manager and the stakeholders to impress on our citizens how important it was to evacuate. and we ended up having a lot of great success with that. and we were actually surprised at the amount of people that did evacuate for a small little town. however there was a small group of people in each community that was just really, you know, dead set on we're staying and that's our major concern now is just seeing how many people truly did stay and the destruction that it caused. we're kind of waiting to make the push. >> the storm may be making its way out of your community. but the hard work for you and

your team is still ahead. mandy, thank you very much. we hope you and everyone you're working with will stay safe. >> thank you. >> we're back in 60 seconds with more of our coverage with hurricane idalia. we'll speak with someone who road out the storm. with someoneo road out the storm i told myself i was ok with my moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. with my psoriatic arthritis symptoms. but just ok isn't ok. and i was done settling. if you still have symptoms after a tnf blocker like humira or enbrel, rinvoq is different and may help. rinvoq is a once-daily pill that can dramatically relieve ra and psa symptoms, including fatigue for some. it can stop joint damage. and in psa, can leave skin clear or almost clear. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin cancer;

death, heart attack, stroke, and tears in the stomach or intestines occurred. people 50 and older with at least one heart disease risk factor have higher risks. don't take if allergic to rinvoq as serious reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. done settling? ask your rheumatologist for rinvoq. and take back what's yours. learn how abbvie could help you save. 6.2 feet in cedar key, an island city in the big bend region of florida. the winds and rain on the island are beginning to recede, but the area is experiencing high water levels, flooding and damage. this video shows debris from a hotel that collapsed as the storm battered the coast with heavy rain and winds up to 55 miles per hour. most of cedar key's residents have evacuated.

joining us is michael butler, resident of cedar key, still riding out the storm there. and it looks like we're already having technical difficulties -- you're back? are you there? >> i am. i'm here. i'm here at cedar key. >> great. give us a lay of the land. what does it look like right now as the worst of the storm appears to be beyond you. >> it doesn't look good. all the commercial buildings downtown are under water. a huge percentage of the homes have been inundated with water. i'm standing in the middle of state road 24 right now. and it is completely under water. i came here to check on a 43-foot houseboat i was worried that had broken its moors and was going to bounce through some people's fences. so i'll try to tie it up a little better. in general, our structures are in trouble. the roads are in ubl interest, but our community here is strong. the handful of folks that stayed behind stayed behind because they knew no help would be

coming for the folks that might need it. the chief of police, one deputy, volunteer fire department, the mayor and me. and we have been out doing everything we can to help folks like cedar key has always done. >> talk to me about the experience of riding the hurricane out and where were you, how did you stay safe and was it worse than you thought it would be? >> no, the winds were not so bad at all. i was worried because i was in a 117-year-old house and i was worried it would flood. we had a backup spot at an episcopal church made out of stone that was at the highest point of the island, so we felt like we were being as safe as we could be while taking this calculated risk. and already folks are working to clean the island up. our bridges are inundated, so people can't get on the island. it could have been a lot worse. >> how big of an area are we talking about here in general?

how big is the island? >> well, there is 700 of us. and cedar key is a collection of islands. so the main part of what you would think would be cedar key is three small islands, but we're talking about a two-mile by one mile square area. it is not terribly big. >> so you said at this point, the bridges are impassable. so people are not going to be able to get in or get out. do you have enough supplies to ride out the process until the island is accessible again? >> i think the water by tomorrow will make it so bigger trucks can get over the bridges. i don't have any reason to believe that the bridges are out, just that they're under water. i think we'll be all right. governor desantis, send us some of the public trucks, we'll take them. >> you talked about just how big of a mess you're going to have to clean up there. talk to us a little bit about

how you think this is going to impact the future of what seems to be an idyllic place that you live. how much work is it going to take to get things back to normal? >> i mean, i think it will be measured in months and not weeks. but cedar key has the unique feature of being the only coastal community in florida where tourism is not our primary economic engine. it is aqua culture. our clams and our oysters, we'll get right back to work in aqua culture. it will take us a while to get the hotels and restaurants back up and going but this is a resilient bunch and we'll do the work, we'll do it together and we'll be open for business as soon as you know it. >> you were in cedar key during hurricane elsa. what was that like and how does it compare with what you went through over the last 24 hours? >> hurricane elsa was an afternoon shower.

i watched the hotel break apart and drift into the gulf. so hurricane elsa didn't tear any of our buildings apart. >> all right, well, michael, we are so glad you're safe and we wish you the best of luck with the recovery there in cedar key and thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. godspeed, cedar key. good news that jose diaz-balart and his team have now found a safer location from which to broadcast live. so i'll send it back to him and crystal river, florida. give us an update to what your situation is like. >> reporter: thank you so very much. let me give you an yip date of where we are right now, just outside the hotel we have been setting up camp at and it just has been flooded and we were talking earlier about the fact that folks here tell me it has been about 6 inches for 20 minutes growth in the water. so this is our live truck. this is our satellite truck. the nbc truck that is

responsible for getting our signal out. and as you can see, this is on the other side of the hotel where the -- we're as far away from kings bay that we can be and the water keeps going up. we have to strike it. i think you need to go, right? let me ask him. do you need to move? you need to move? now? no? he's got a couple of minutes. so, while we have a couple of minutes, we're coming out of this live view kind of different signals that we have, but i want to introduce you to phil and his wife brenda, who just drove up. he's got an elevated jeep here. phil lives 3 1/2 miles from here. and brenda and phil have been kind enough to say hello and how are you guys? >> fine. >> nice to see you. so you live very near here. >> yes. about three miles that way. >> and tell me how that is. >> well, pushing water with the

hood of my jeep, people swimming out of their windows. >> are you talking about people swimming out of their windows? >> swimming out of their windows. >> literally. >> of their homes. >> from their homes. oh, yeah. we dropped one fella off down here, he's down there rescuing right now. >> how many people are there? >> we don't know. we got out of it. i would say half a dozen or so. >> how is that water? quick, right? >> oh, gosh, this is what i done, when i got where i could get to high ground here by the sea hag deli, i put a thing in the side of the road and it came up this much in ten minutes. >> a marker. >> wow. >> that much. i said we got to get out of here, we're fixing to get flooded out. we came here. we work here. we said let's check this out, we came here to see y'all and we see that y'all are flooding too. >> this is the flooding. right behind here, where the bay comes in and the canal, that's all under water, maybe three

feet. >> oh, yeah. >> how are you doing, brenda? >> i'm doing good, you know. we're fine. we're alive and we're safe. >> the water is probably -- >> i think we lost everything. but i don't know. when we left, it was -- >> i called my brother-in-law. he's bringing an air boat down here and we're going to the house. i'll take some pictures and shoot them to you. >> you're thinking the water is up to your roof? >> up to my roof. >> i don't know. >> we live on an island. i'll show you. >> oh, boy. >> let me pull this up. we're on camera, i can't show the picture here because i'm kind of far. i just want you all to know how much we care about you. >> oh, yeah. >> and let's hope that everybody is all right. >> oh, yeah. >> and let's hope that that boat gets out there and gets people -- >> we talked to the fella -- we came back this morning. >> we came back this morning. thought everything was okay.

now it's not. >> guys, all the best. thank you so very much. this is a tough car you got here. all right. as they're going to head on out, you heard what the reality of that, that's one moment in time for one family. and there are a lot of people who no doubt are experiencing that very same thing as we speak. we're going to take a short break and be right back. you're watching special edition of "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc live from florida. n of "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc live from florida. sometimes jonah wrestles with falling asleep... ...so he takes zzzquil. the world's #1 sleep aid brand for a better night sleep. so now, he wakes up feeling like himself. the reigning family room middle-weight champion. better days start with zzzquil nights. power e*trade's easy-to-use tools, like dynamic charting and risk-reward analysis help make trading feel effortless. and its customizable scans with social sentiment help you find and unlock opportunities in the market.

e*trade from morgan stanley. (fan #1) there ya go! that's what i'm talkin' about! help you find and unlock opportunities in the market. (josh allen) is this your plan to watch the game today? (hero fan) uh, yea. i have to watch my neighbors' nfl sunday ticket. (josh allen) it's not your best plan. but you know what is? myplan from verizon. switch now and they'll give you nfl sunday ticket from youtubetv, on them. (hero fan) this plan is amazing! (josh allen) another amazing plan, backing away from here very slowly. (fan #1) that was josh allen. (fan #2) mmhm. (vo) football season is here. get nfl sunday ticket from youtubetv on us.

a $449 value. plus, get a free samsung galaxy z flip5. only on verizon. for too long, big oil companies have bought off politicians so they can get away with ripping us off. that's changing now. joe biden passed a plan to jumpstart clean energy production in america. it's creating good jobs that can't be outsourced and will lower energy costs. $1800. that's how much a new report says the inflation reduction act could save just the average american family on energy costs. [narrator] learn how the inflation reduction act will save you money. [sneeze] (♪♪) astepro allergy, steroid free allergy relief that starts working in 30 minutes, while other allergy sprays take hours. with astepro's unbeatably fast allergy relief you can astepro and go! have fun, sis! ♪♪ can't stop adding stuff to your cart? get the bank of america customized cash rewards card,

choose the online shopping category and earn 3% cash back.

29 past the hour. and right now where we are at least, it is just a little bit of wind, the rain has subsided, the clouds are still out there. but the water just doesn't go anywhere. floating speed scientist and

nbc meteorologist is with us. angie, you have studied and know so much about hurricanes and what is this like and where is it right now? >> yeah, so, as expected, jose, we knew that this was going to weaken significantly as it crossed that florida/georgia line and the latest update takes it to category 1. they thought it would stay a category 2. it is still moving at a pretty good pace, 20 miles per hour, that, of course, limits some of the really heavy rain. but we already have seen reports of folks being rescued, some water rescues going on right now in places like valdosta. we have flash flood concerns in valdosta as well. you can see some of the radar returns bright red, that means they're dealing with very heavy rain. that's that northern part of the

eye that continues to track farther to the north, now in portions of georgia, crossing that state line. when it comes to the impacts down the line here, again, over the next day or so, still dealing with -- as you saw where jose is that inundation of water across parts of the big bend area, stretching down into places as far south as tampa. we have seen multiple roads like baseshore boulevard completely covered. we have seen i-275 in tampa completely covered with water. and that storm surge conditions are going to continue for a little while longer. we're going to start to look, though, to the southeastern coast of the united states. georgia and the carolinas for impacts here as this system continues working across the state of georgia. still remaining likely a cat 1 as it crosses over savannah and moving over charleston and offshore. between now and then, as we get into friday, it will eventually be out of our hair. between now and then, we'll see still the same kind of impacts. the closer you are to the eye, places like savannah, we see stronger wind gusts, 76 miles

per hour, charleston, 71 miles per hour. these numbers are isolated power outages, a lot of trees down, coastal flooding, but places like savannah and charleston, you're going to deal with storm surge and we're expecting anywhere from 2 to 5 feet. if you think that's nothing compared to what they dealt with, places like charleston could potentially end up in the top ten of water levels on record for that high tide time is happening around 8:24 p.m. tonight. unfortunately we're also going to see some of the worst storm surge potential at the same time as the system gets closer to folks in that area. savannah, 7:37 is the high tide time. both time frames are crucial when it comes to the storm surge people are dealing with in those locations and up and down the coast. we have a tornado watch. this has been in effect all morning long. that's going to last until 3:00 p.m. parts of florida, extending into southern portions of georgia, but what you see from savannah

to wilmington, that's been added and will last until 10:00 p.m. this evening. that is a tornado watch. so what does that mean? as the system moves to the farther to the north and east this area is going to have the best chance to see some of those tornadoes, brief maybe, but still impactful. developing and potentially rain wrapped as those feeder bands work through. anywhere from wilmington, cape hatteras down to orlando, i think, you know, those are the spots that you want to watch coming in with the feeder bands leaving us with the potential for some of those tornadoes to develop well after dark. we know when tornadoes happen after dark, it is very difficult, a lot of people may have left their guard down at that point. we want to stress that's important. the tropical alerts extend into places like georgia and south carolina with hurricane warnings as that system continues to work towards those communities, that's where we'll be watching over the next 12 hours for impacts for them. >> thank you. quick question. i know i'm asking you a very

specific kind of area location, we were talking to phil and brenda, his wife, who were just living on one of the little islands, 3 1/2 miles from where we are and he feels some of the houses, people are having to swim out and he fears his house may be the water is to the roof. i'm wondering, we have had to move locations here. we had to move the live truck. is this water going to be here for a while? >> it does look like the water is receding on the west coast. even from tampa to points north up to cedar key, we have seen those numbers slowly ticking down. but still coming in upwards of six feet. it is going to take a little time. we have seen places starting to see the reveral of the storm surge. that's going to make some major improvements. inland flooding, that water came all the way in over a significant period of time and will need time to go back out. they'll likely be dealing with it for a little while longer at

least. >> angie lassman, thank you very much. we have the second confirmed fatality because of this hurricane here in florida. one person lost their life in gainesville. apparently an automobile incident. another person in pasco county lost their life on i-75 area also involving possibly a traffic or an auto incident. so we have now confirmation of two fatalities here. i want to bring in marcus coleman in fema. marcus, i thank you very much for being with us. i'm just wondering what is it that you all are seeing and doing because this has to be a, you know, local, state and federal response. >> yes, thank you for having me. to your point, we are working very closely with our colleagues at the local level and at the state level. we have more than a thousand federal personnel throughout

florida and prepositioned throughout the course of the other states including georgia and the carolinas. the key thing we want to make sure every person is continuing to do in florida is stay alert, stay vigilant, follow the guidance of local officials. we still have a lot of impacts and things we're anticipating and we want to make sure for those in florida, they're staying alert, and you still have time to prepare if you're in georgia or the carolinas. and so going back to some of what was just shared by the prior person that was providing some of the weather impacts, we know that we still have a few more days to go. but really want people to continue to listen to the guidance of local officials and know the federal emergency management agency will continue to work closely with our state counterparts to make sure that we can be prepositioned to provide life saving and life sustaining operations in the days ahead. >> and, marcus, just in the area where i am, maybe the different communities, i'm thinking up

north, maybe a 5% to 7% of the population here is latino. certainly as we go into -- go into georgia, there is a substantially larger latino population there. some of them may be people that don't have their documents. and i'm wondering, how is it that they need to know that there is some assistance that they can have access to? >> so, at fema, we're committed to making sure any program we deliver considers the unique needs of communities who have been historically underserved. so what that means for us is we're working with communities from the latino community, haitian creole community, we want to make sure we're doing three things, one, making sure we provide information that is accessible in language and making sure we're working across a full suite of not just government partners, but nongovernment partners to meet the needs of those communities.

we have been in touch with organizations like the red cross, salvation army, operation barbecue and others to make sure that we are coordinated and prepositioned to meet needs of families that have issues in the immediate moments, but of course in the weeks and months after. fema will continue to provide information and guidance for those who may be seeking additional assistance, recognizing that, again, different families have unique needs in situations. but right now, we want people to continue to stay vigilant, stay prepared, and listen to the guidance of local officials. >> marcus coleman, thank you very much for being with us. this is such important information you're giving us. i appreciate you being on with us this morning. marcus, thanks. we're going to take a short break. we'll continue with a whole lot more. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. a diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. my frequent heartburn had me taking antacid after antacid all day long but with prilosec otc just one pill a day blocks heartburn for a full 24 hours. for one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc.

one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. ♪i've got home internet from t-mobile.♪ ♪it only costs $50 bucks at t-mobile.♪ ♪just one cord to set up.♪ ♪say goodbye to that truck.♪ ♪oh, what a beautiful mornin'...♪ ♪oh, what a beautiful day...♪ ♪they won't raise your rates at t-mobile...♪ ♪you'll get a great deal every day!♪ home internet from t-mobile... just $50 bucks a month. ♪ shelves. shelves smart enough to see, sense, react, restock. so caramel swirl is always there for the taking. why didn't we do this last year? before you were preventing migraine with qulipta®? remember the pain? cancelled plans? the worry? that was then. and look at me now. you'll never truly forget migraine.

but qulipta® reduces attacks, making zero-migraine days possible. it's the only pill of its kind that blocks cgrp - and is approved to prevent migraine of any frequency. to help give you that forget-you-get migraine feeling. don't take if allergic to qulipta®. most common side effects are nausea, constipation, and sleepiness. learn how abbvie could help you save. qulipta®. the forget-you-get migraine medicine™.

this water is still, you know, everywhere here. there is a parking lot here. our live truck has gotten a little bit of a higher ground. folks are moving their cars. some of them are just under water. and doesn't seem to be receding anytime soon. but i want to bring in lieutenant jeffrey yarborough, who was with us this morning. lieutenant, thank you very much for being with us. i would like to know what is it that you all are right now most focused on and most concerned

about? >> well, thankfully for our county, we were spared the worst effects of the storm. our concerns are starting to kind of abate at this point. our biggest task in front of us, what crews are working on doing now is making sure we're getting all the roadways clear. we have a fair amount of downed trees and then allowing power crews the ability to get out there and start restoring power to our county. >> so if you would, give us a picture of where your county is and what are the requirements that you're talking about, especially about the issue of clearing the roads. >> okay, so, the county is directly south of leon county, where tallahassee is. we're a coastal community, directly south of tallahassee. we were in the direct line of the storm for much of last night. our great fear is we would receive a direct hit and

unfortunately for the people in dixie and taylor and the counties east of us, they bore the brunt of that. but when the path of the storm shifted early this morning and started moving east, it put us on the side of the storm where we did not receive that many severe effects. about 6:00 a.m. this morning, we started to get tropical storm force winds and those were sustained in the county for two, two and a half hours, that did bring some trees down, specifically brought a lot of trees down in our roadways. and so the main goal of the sheriff's office and emergency personnel currently is we want to get the roadways cleared so people have avenues to return to their homes, emergency services can return to normal, commerce can return. it is hard to get a community up and running if people can't drive and move around in it. >> sure. so are there issues with power outages and you're talking about

a coastal community. what kind of -- what kind of effects did it happen and, you know, you're very fortunate that you weren't on the dirty side of the hurricane and that you weren't, you know, directly impacted by it, but you were certainly there. what were some of the biggest impacts you're seeing now that the sun is out? >> it is really for us -- it is just the trees at this point. we were concerned initially when things started to shake up yesterday afternoon and the timeline was evolving and that cone was shifting westward. it looked like the arrival time was going to coincide with high tide in our community, specifically the community of st. mark. again for us, with the shift that the storm took, at one point we were looking at the potential of 14 to 15 foot storm surge, which would be devastating for our community.

when that cone began to shift and the storm moved some, those storm surges never really materialized in our county. that allowed for high tide to go down. when we started getting winds, they were coming from a better direction for our coastal communities. they weren't blowing water up into them, it was going parallel or out into the gulf at some point. and our next high tide is going to be later on this afternoon and so the storm is going to be largely long gone from our specific area. so, you know, we were really worried about storm surge. but it didn't materialize for us. >> well, that's a bit of good news in all this very difficult news that we're covering. i thank you very much for being with us this morning. and i want to welcome craig fugate, former fema administrator and someone who has a long, vast trove of experience in covering these

types of things. good to see you. i'm wonder, what is it that you're seeing right now as a kind of -- again, realizing that even though it is downgraded, it is still out there, but how do you see what happened here in west florida, northwest florida? >> well, it is unfortunate that we expected. and this is an area that the only good news you pointed out is it is not high populations, it is agricultural wears small towns along the coast. keaton and all these other small areas, you're driving 20 or 30 miles off of u.s. 19, 27 to get to them. those routes probably have debris and water, hard to get to. so the primary focus now for the state is getting into these communities, doing search and rescue as well as beginning now that the storm is moving

through -- this isn't over. we still got significant rain bands coming across the state. you still got on shore winds that as the tides go up and down you'll see flooding recede and come back up. until the storm moves out of the region, we're still getting impacts in florida. >> yeah, i was just talking to a little bit ago phil and brenda, his wife, who live just about 3 1/2 miles from where i am right now and he just came up with his jeep, which is really elevated but he was telling me that people are swimming out of their windows of their houses and he thinks that his house may be gone because of the water. this is really significant and these are areas, craig, you know this better than anybody else, this is very low lying areas, and this is areas that are surrounded by florida, you know, state parks. this is just, like, it is still going on. >> yeah. this -- again, i think the important thing is just because

it made landfall, the impacts didn't stop. it will continue until the storm moves out. one of the things you brought up earlier, we are seeing -- as you get inland, up around perry and places like that, we have a large agricultural workforce up there. and you did point out some are undocumenteds. fema has financial assistance directly to undocumented people. but as a child born in the u.s. is a u.s. citizen. we have done this with a lot of storms in florida, we work with red cross and others, catholic charities, if we can find a child born in the u.s., they can register on behalf of their family for fema assistance. and those that can't, that's where we go to our volunteer agencies to meet the needs. it is -- it will be a challenge, but these are -- there is large agricultural workforce up here that i don't think people realize that are also impacted. >> absolutely. craig, thank you for bringing it up because there are as you know

millions of mixed status immigration families in our country. and many, many people here that are many ways the backbone of the economy are finding themselves with little place to turn. but it is -- just to recap, craig, so if mixed status families, if it is a child born in the u.s. of undocumented parents, that child can register and do it and if not, then those people can go to ngos? >> yes. and, again, that's part of the thing we learned back to hurricane andrew in florida. you got to triage and figure out who can help who. the other thing is this is going to cause a lot of unemployment issues in the agricultural industries. the crops will be destroyed, jobs will be short, and, again, a lot of our programs weren't designed for the undocumented populations that are, again, very much the workforce in a lot of these communities, and so

that's going to be, i think, another challenge as we peel back the layers of the immediate damage of search and rescue and getting the power turned back on, how many people are the programs going to be able to help and who gets left behind. >> thank you very much.much. appreciate your time. an important matter to discuss. i want to go to gainesville. guad is there. we just learned a little while ago that one of the two fatalities that has been confirmed because of this hurricane were in the gainesville area. what are you seeing there now? >> reporter: that's right. the information provided by the state highway patrol informed us there was an accident as a result of the storm. whenever we cover these storms, not just hurricanes but winter storms, usually there's a lot of danger on the roads because of the increase of rain, whether it's cold temperatures or whatever it is. there's always dangers when people go on the roads during

the storms. authorities had informed about the dangers. now they are saying that as a result of the storm, there was an accident caused here in the county that resulted in a death. what we are seeing is still some wind. a little bit of rain. authorities confirmed that they have downed trees in the area. they are asking residents to remain in their homes. we are seeing a lot of people come outside. in fact, the hotel where we stayed last night that's just to my left had a lot of local residents that decided to evacuate because they felt like their properties were vulnerable to the storm. i spoke to a lady a few minutes ago who said she had a lot of trees around her property. that's why she decided to check into this hotel with her cat. she says she's been through so many of these storms -- she used to live in tampa. now she lives here in gainesville. she brought enough water to fill her bathtub just in case there was an issue with the water here. of course, when she saw that the

worse of the storm passed, she packed up and went back to her house after confirming the power was working on her property. we do have power outages here. the last time i checked, we had 13,000 customers in the county that were affected by the power outages. authorities say that the crews are out there working to establish the power here and in other parts of florida. keep in mind, we still have a tornado watch in effect here that's going to extend through 3:00 p.m. local. we have also this change in temperatures. that's part of the climate here and the weather that creates this tornado watch. we were here overnight. it was cold and immediately after most of the rain and the wind made its way through, we are feeling the humidity. we are feeling that heat as we remain under that watch. authorities telling people as they come outside to be patient and be careful with trees and also the possibility of power lines that could have been damaged when the worst of the wind came through.

we are still getting some of the wind and light rain here in gainesville. >> guad, thank you very much from gainesville. you are so right. so many times the fatalities occur after the storm passes because precisely what you are talking about. the fact that you come out to your backyard and you don't see the power lines that have been covered up by leaves and debris. you step on them. they are hot. there are so many potential dangers, even after the storm has passed, including the issue of water, which in our case hasn't subsided much in the last two hours that we have been here. i want to go to marissa in tampa. how are things there? >> reporter: you can see, we talk about water, i'm surrounded by it. this is bay shore boulevard.

if you know tampa, you know this is a main thoroughfare. there's no difference between tampa bay and the streets here. it's completely flooded over the seawall which tampa bay is no stranger to having a little flooding. people here are telling me, one, this is more than they are used to. two, this is coming at a time -- we call it king tide. they see it once or twice a year. extremely inconvenient. the tampa mayor has been -- she's been talking about what this means for the city. when you look outside right now, honestly, the sun is about to come out. it's disarming. you think everything is good. it is for right now. we are going to see the bands come through again. we will see those gusts of wind. we are going to see heavy rain come through. then we're going to see the tide start to raise. we expect the king tide to hit between 12:00 and 2:00. they are expecting several feet, by the way. we have storm surge from the

hurricane rainfall plus the king tide that's supposed to come through. that's something -- that has been the primary concern here in the tampa bay area pretty much from the start. tampa bay was not in the line -- the direct path of idalia. the big concern is the storm surge. we have a peninsula to the west of us. we are talking about st. petersburg and clearwater. we are seeing a lot of flooding. you might see video right now. treasure island being one of those areas. we also saw some water rescues. we know st. pete fire department had to rescue someone from a mobile home park over there. we know there are other rescues happening. we are working on getting a final number. >> thank you very much. i very much appreciate it. i want to go to barbara tripp, the chief of tampa fire rescue. thank you for being with us this morning. talk to us about what it is that you are seeing and what is it that you are focusing on at this hour.

>> the biggest thing we are focusing on is that surge and the flood that's going to come through. as stated, we have areas that are low lying and are seeing three to four feet. when king tide comes in, that's going to add to it. we want all residents to make sure if they have been evacuated, please do not go back to their home. of course, the sun is out. it's a little brighter than a normal rainy day. we don't want them to think that that's false home, let me go home and get stranded by the flood. but it's coming. we are preparing for that. >> i thank you very much for being with us this morning. there's so much to do. you all are doing an extraordinary job. i thank you for being with us this morning. i'm being told that any minute now we are going to be going to a news conference that the governor of georgia is going to be holding.

a news conference as we have been talking about there morning the remnants of this hurricane that is still very active is now heading into the georgia area and other parts of the south. georgia seems to be now getting the bulk of this storm. here is the governor of georgia. >> others who are helping georgians in the state prepare and now respond to the hurricane. i also want to thank our private sector partners who we have been working with as well as our utility companies. just a few quick updates. the director will give you logistical information. if will has anything to add on the weather, we will let him chime in as well. on our private sector utility partners, we have about 61,000 without power right now that we know of.

we have folks standing by and ready to move as soon as it's safe to do so. the director will fill you in on that here at the end the briefing. as you all know from current events, idalia made landfall as a category 3 this morning before dropping to a category 2 and currently a category 1 as it continues to move throughout georgia. we feel like that will fall to a tropical storm by the time it leaves us and heads into south carolina. it entered georgia around 10:00 a.m. we are thinking it will get to south carolina between 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. this evening. there's been a heavy impact in south georgia with heavy rainfall and winds. most of the people across the state of georgia will not feel the impact of this storm. for those that were in the line of the storm, it is very hard hitting. we are certainly watching that as it continues to move through

the state. we had multiple counties in the effected area that are seeing winds in 70 to 80 miles an hour and some gusts up to 90. we know by radar, we may have in some areas nine to ten inches of rain. the good thing is this is a narrow storm and is very fast moving. it's not sitting on us and dumping even more rain than that at one time. we are thankful for that. just to give you some logistics on what the director has been doing at my direction, we activated the state operation center, as you know, early monday morning, to monitor the storm's progress and coordinate closely with all relevant agencies that i mentioned earlier, not only the state but also at the local level. we certainly have been in touch with our partners at fema. the state of emergency was issued yesterday making state resources available to all local governments and organizations within the hurricane impact area.

we have assets stages and our personnel are in the effected areas. we are coordinating -- >> the governor giving an update on what is being done as the storm goes through georgia. back here in florida, a lot of work needs to be done. we will, of course, stay here reporting on this storm. that wraps up the hour for me. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," hurricane idalia now a category 1 storm, after slamming into florida's big bend region as a category 3 this morning. idalia now barrels fast northeast through georgia after making landfall in florida at 7:45 eastern this morning. two fatalities have been confirmed with officials continuing to warn of life-threatening storm surge. the super moon and hurrica