it is good to be back with you on this second hour of "chris jansing reports." at this hour, a storm like nothing they have seen before. dire warnings that hurricane milton could bring double the storm surge and even stronger winds than helene when it slams into florida. millions rushing to get out as the window rapidly closes. we have al roker standing by. plus, a bustling city turned ghost town. tampa clears out ahead of a storm surge that could reach 12 feet or more. multiple tornadoes reported in that state. the dramatic new video that's coming in. our nbc news reporters are following all the latest

developments, but we begin at the weather map with al roker. as if the threat of this potentially historic storm isn't enough, we're already seeing tornadoes. >> that's right. and this was kind of the worst case scenario, chris, because we were talking about this for the last two days. we were going to see these tornadoes, especially as it approached, and sure enough that's what happened. let's show you what we've got going on right now. as far as our map is concerned, we are looking at a category 4 storm. 150 miles now southwest of tampa. it's got 130 miles per hour winds. it's moving northeast at 16 miles per hour. now, as we look, you can see we have tornado watches now from daytona beach all the way down to key west. we've had reports of 50 tornadoes so far in the last couple of hours. and now we have numerous, multiple tornado warnings going on to the west, i should say the east of tampa and sarasota, to the west of west palm beach, and

right between west palm beach and fort myers. these are dangerous storms. we've had the last two hurricanes, chris, have actually produced at least one ef3 tornado. that's never happened before, and we do predict that there probably will be another ef3 with this, and that would be really unheard of. in this hatched area, this is where we're looking at tornadoes from this afternoon on into the evening, and the danger with the evening tornadoes, these are rain wrapped, and harder to see, and maybe become more numerous as we start to see milton approaching. now, as far as landfall is concerned, currently we're thinking it's going to make landfall as a category 3 storm. does it matter if it's a category 3 or a low 4? no. the damage is going to be done because of this. with winds of about 120, 125 miles per hour. now, if it keeps on this track, it will push water toward the coast, and then draw water out of the tampa bay on the other side of it, and so for that reason, we're looking at more

troubles for port charlotte on into fort myers if it stays on this path, less so for tampa bay and st. pete. if it moves to the north, this would create really historic storm surge for tampa bay and sarasota and new port ritchie not seeing as much. if it goes to the south, st. pete, tampa will be spared. fort myers to bonita springs will be looking at extreme surge impacts, as far as the surges are concerned. 8 to 12 feet around tampa/st. pete, another 8 to 12 down to bonita springs. as much as 3 to 5 feet tomorrow as the system exits and we get that return flow. the storm surge, of course, this is where we see the most damages, the most problems, and unfortunately the most fatalities. these powerful winds start whipping up against the coast, and as those winds drive that water on top of high tides, which tomorrow will be around

6:51 a.m. in tampa, water piles up, rising up on and into the land, can go in several miles, and so we're going to be watching that very closely where this is going to set up. now, as far as the rest of this forecast is concerned, we also have other impacts to talk about, extreme damage from winds. i mean, we're talking like in the tampa area. we could see windows blown out of high-rises, they've got grains out there. that could be a big problem as well for all of that construction that's going on. also, with all the winds blowing and trees coming down, we're looking at widespread power outages, sarasota, tampa, fort myers, orlando, some of these could last, these power outages could last for weeks. and of course the rainfall, we're going to be looking at, this is going to be epic rainfall, upwards of a foot and a half. some places may pick up more than that. life threatening, catastrophic flash flooding with rainfall

amounts, generally up to 10 inches, as we said, could be higher than that. this is a storm that has unfortunately everything, chris. it's got tornadoes. it's got storm surge, it's got high winds and just life threatening rainfall, and you put that all together, it's just really hard to imagine if people are those areas where they were told to evacuate that they're going to survive. >> help us to put that in perspective a little more, al. very few people have been doing what you have been doing for as long as you have been doing it, 40 plus years. you've seen a lot. you've been to a lot of places, and there are comparisons being made to ian, most obviously, to katrina. different kind of storm but the population density here is very different as well. so give us some perspective over your decades of experience about what the folks in florida are facing right now. >> well, look, we're not trying to scare people, but we're trying to keep them informed. >> and safe.

>> and safe. we haven't seen landfall yet, so -- and again, when we talk about that path. it can wobble, i mean, we can see a wobble of 10, 15 miles, and that's going to determine, where, as we showed you, the storm surge is going to set up. i can tell you, i don't recall, and we go back in the records, i think we can find it. but i don't recall in this age of satellite reconnaissance of seeing a storm, not just rapidly intensify, but extreme rapid intensification, over 100 miles per hour increase, and a drop in pressure in less than 24 hours. it went from 85 miles per hour or 80 miles per hour to 180 miles per hour. and so -- and now it's come back off of some of those numbers, but make no mistake. when it comes in, whether it's a 3 or a 4, i don't care what that is, it's still going to have a major major impact. not just on infrastructure, but

probably the topography of that west coast. >> al roker, you're my local weatherman back in the '70s in cleveland, ohio, all these years you were damn good then for a young kid, all that experience, we're very lucky to have you. thank you, appreciate it, al. we can take a look at tampa bay, there's already some flooding we're seeing. early on, we're starting to get some indications of the storm that is moving in, and i want to go to tampa now where nbc's stephanie gosk is standing by. the mayor there, stephanie has made it clear, this is not a drill. this could be the biggest storm in a century for them. what are you seeing, feeling, tell me what you know from there? >> well, i'll just give you the lay of the land right now, chris. it's already raining heavily. there are gusts of wind, you have all of the major bridges, which are vital to this city, getting back and forth to places like st. petersburg, all of them are shut down, so people who are not in place are going to have a tough time getting to where they

want to be at this point in tampa. but, you know, listening to al, you can understand why this city is on tenter hooks because he talks about the wobble, and a wobble of just a few miles here and there, and the truth is that those few miles could be what decides the fate of tampa. 10 miles to the south, it's not going to be as bad, 10 miles to the north, and suddenly you have the worst storm in a century, and that is why the mayor is so concerned about this storm. you could have the possibility of a foot of rain on top of potentially a foot of storm surge. listen to what she had to say to residents and to people who live in this city. >> wherever that storm surge comes, if it's 10 to 15 feet, and people are trying to ride this out in single story structures, there's no place to go. and once the winds get up to hurricane speed, there's nobody to come and get you. >> you listen to her, and she is

speaking in very stark terms there. this is a stark situation. it is a life and death situation. officials are doing their best to make sure that people understand that. you already have people from hurricane helene who are already nervous and anxious. it does appear, we were in st. petersburg today that people have heeded the warnings. we didn't see anyone in any of those neighborhoods we have been looking at the last few days, and they have all the furniture and belongings out from the flooding then. it does seem people are listening. >> let's hope that's so. we appreciate you being there for us. further inland, the orlando area could see 12 to 18 inches of rain. officials have shut down that airport, along with disney world and universal studios. that does not happen often. nbc's priscilla thompson is in orlando for us. what's the latest from there, priscilla? >> reporter: yeah, chris, well, this is one of the few businesses that is planning to remain open. as you can see, a lot of cars here right now filling up on

gas. there are lots of folks inside, grabbing water, grabbing whatever snacks and nonperishables they can get their hands on as folks prepare to hunker down. we spoke to two women filling up. terry's home was destroyed during hurricane helene and st. petersburg. they just got into orlando last night after several days of working to gather what she could from her home, and right now, everything she has is in a ten by ten storage facility on the first floor in st. petersburg. and she was literally clutching a rosary as i talked to her. she said she has been praying nonstop that this storm will not be as bad as expected and they can begin to put their lives back together. i want to play a little bit of our conversation. >> we slept last night like for the first time. we drove at 4:30 yesterday from st. pete, and we got here at 6:30, and then, you know, we've just been. but i just pray that everyone will be in a safe place for the

storm. i think we just don't know what that wind is going to be like coming at like 1:30 or 1:25 when it actually hits, so that, just a lot of unknowns, you know, but, there's so many people in its path. >> reporter: and right now, the winds here are projected to be up to 80 miles per hour, but they're also looking at that up to 18 inches of rainfall, which could lead to devastating flooding here. we saw it during hurricane ian a couple of years ago, and milton is expected to be far worse for this area. a lot of people sandbagging, stocking up on water and food, and bracing for this to ride out, and hope it will not be as bad as currently projected. >> hoping against hope. priscilla thompson, thank you. thousands have moved into shelters from homes surrounded by debris after hurricane helene. nbc's jesse kirsch is live in

sarasota for us. walk us through what you're seeing. >> reporter: it's eerily calm. we've got no wind, just a light breeze going through the palm trees behind me, and no rainfall. we're seeing dripping water in the parking garage where we're going to be bracing throughout the storm overnight. we also had some flooding in the street, and there's still a little bit, but it's receded a good amount. compared to what we're going to be seeing potentially, light rainfall, and well before the storm surge we're already seeing some side streets flooding in sarasota. when you think about the fact that we could be seeing as much as 10 to 15 feet of storm surge and just beyond the buildings is sarasota bay, we could be seeing quite a mess in the downtown areas. i can tell you as we look at the tornado threat currently bearing down on florida and the powerful wind gusts that we're expecting, possibly close to 100 miles here in sarasota, there's a lot of debris, and that's the big variable with the hurricane. so many people are in the midst

of cleanup from hurricane helene less than two weeks ago, and there's a lot of trash on people's lawns, on sidewalks, on street, and what i call trash is frankly people's lives, many belongings that have been destroyed. mattresses, cook wear, an envelope with a person's name on it. a good amount of lives have been ruined from hurricane helene. all of that could become projectiles in the wind. the governor has been talking about this throughout the week. here's part of what we heard from ron desantis. >> so in a little over 48 hours, and they were working all through the night and the wee hours of the morning in places like manatee, sarasota, and pinellas, they were able to remove 55,000 cubic yards of debris. so that's over 3,000 truckloads. >> reporter: the governor's estimate is around 50% of debris on barrier islands being cleared

away, chris. that still leaves half of that debris. and i can tell you that here in sarasota county, and city officials have told us the dump stopped taking debris yesterday, and we were still in areas under evacuation orders looking around, and i can tell you at that point there was still a good amount of stuff that i'm worried about what's going to happen as it goes in the air. >> jesse kirsch, thank you so much. let's take a look at key west, starting to see the effects of the milton. the second hurricane to hit florida in two weeks, and the ongoing question about the resources. will there be enough to go around? i'll ask a top official with the department of homeland security next. security next your shipping manager left to "find themself." leaving you lost. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. sponsored jobs on indeed are two and a half times faster to first hire. visit indeed.com/hire

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these are live pictures from fort myers beach, florida, as hurricane milton bears down. president biden is delivering a clear message to people in its path. if you need help, the government will help you, no matter what you've heard. >> i want to be clear about something. over the last few weeks, there's been a reckless irresponsible and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies that are disturbing people. >> one of the false narratives is that the federal employees who are actually delivering assistance will take an individual's land, and that is causing individual survivors not to approach the people who are there to help, and obtain the

relief to which they are entitled and that we have available to them. >> i want to bring in dan watson, assistant secretary for public affairs at the department of homeland security. let me start there because as was said in the federal briefing just a short time ago, words matter. what is your message to people who are believing some of this stuff? what is the role of any federal employee, any member of fema or any other relief agency who is there to help? >> chris, we have been very clear about this, and we're going to continue to be very clear about this. the federal government is -- has assistance that's available to individuals who have been impacted by helene, and right now, we're working in support of the state of florida to prepare for what is a very serious, major hurricane that's about to make landfall. >> let's talk about preparations for that. where are your people? are they ready to go? >> fema has about 900 personnel

that are on the ground. if florida, there's more than 1,000 coast guard personnel that are there too. two days ago on monday, the president approved a request of the governor, an emergency declaration, and what that does is it provides funding to support the evacuations that we're seeing, first responders, all of the life saving activities that we're going to see over the next 24 hours. fema's deployed urban search and rescue teams, swift water rescue teams deployed now in preparation for what is a really serious situation. >> you probably heard what the fema director said a short time ago, she's never had to deal with this many disaster happening all at once. is there a limit to how much the federal government can handle simultaneously? >> well, i want to be very clear. there's about 8,000 personnel across the region, and 900 fema personnel in florida. so we have teams in place that are available to support the

response to both of these storms. when i was at fema, we would always say, you've got to be fema flexible, and fema is flexible today and responding to these historic and more disaster than ever, as you noted. >> dan watson, thank you for taking the time to speak with us. thank you very much. >> thanks, chris. coming up, a fierce trump critic, yes, a kamala harris voter new york city. mitt romney explains why he's not joining other high profile republicans supporting the democratic ticket. that's next.

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today a big push by the harris/walz campaign to show off republican sport. at this hour, tim walz is in arizona where he's scheduled to appear at an event with jim mccain, son of john mccain, and liz cheney hosts an event in pennsylvania, arguing against trump's reelection. but former presidential nominee mitt romney said this when asked if he would endorse harris. >> i made it very clear that i don't want donald trump to be the next president of the united states. and you're going to have to do the very difficult calculation of what that would mean. all right. and my own view is that i want to continue to have a voice in the republican party following this election because i think there's a good shot that the republican party is going to

need to be rebuilt and reoriented, either after this election or if donald trump is reelected, after he's the president. and i believe i will have more influence in the party by virtue of saying it as i've said it. >> matt gorman is a former aide to mitt romney who served as communications director for the national republican congressional committee. michael hardaway is former communications director for house minority leader hakeem jep -- jeffries, and i'm going to get to republicans and kamala harris. we have breaking news, matt. we just got new fundraising numbers. kamala harris has been running for president since the day, essentially, that joe biden stepped down and almost immediately said he was backing her. so 80 days. she has crossed the $1 billion mark. she has raised $1 billion in 80 days. my very complicated question for

you, matt, is what? >> yeah, i think what i'll say is this, joe biden was acting like a proverbial dam on democrats' money and enthusiasm. what you saw in the first 60 days when kamala became the nominee was a flood of stuff being held back. when it comes to presidential politics, money matters less than say if you're a house candidate the spending disparity in a house race, it would be a big deal, but really in a presidential race -- >> but you would rather be kamala harris's bank account than donald trump's. >> just like all of us. we would rather have more money than less, of course, but when it comes to what it can do and move the needle, there are fewer ways, funny enough, when you get to the presidential level because it relied on earned media than it does on paid

media. what killer ad are you going to put against donald trump that's going going to change the race after he spent ten years in the spotlight. that's hard to do. >> he is right about that, michael. earned media is something donald trump has done extraordinarily well since the day he came down that golden escalator, but what can you do with $1 billion, and so help us get it into some perspective? what does it mean given this very different landscape that we're in right now? >> the biggest value of all of that money is she should give it away. she has done this to some degree in writing a check to the dccc, and she should write larger checks. if she wins or loses, we need to have a majority in the house. we need to have a majority in the senate. and there are local groups that are doing that work, and so the answer to your question is, in less than a month, she can't spend that money, obviously, but she said give it away to the groups that can help democrats control the house and the

senate. i think also the cbc is doing good work on the ground, and i think that's another opportunity for her to spread out some of that cash. >> we're going to be watching. go ahead, matt, go ahead. >> that's a very good point by michael. you're going to see this on the republican side too. you see trump doing a rally in coachella, california, obviously not a swing state. an event at madison square garden, new york, not a swing state. the reason of those two states, same thought as michael, they want to juice up republican turnout in house races. california, new york, some of the most competitive house districts in the country. again, they're looking at down ballot races, trying to help them if either is elected president. >> okay. and i think there are actually three big venues, all not in battleground states where he's going to be doing those kinds of events, but let me ask you about mitt romney because you know him so well, matt. any surprise that he said, kind of do the math, but he wouldn't say i endorse kamala harris.

>> i love mitt romney, i will never say a bad word about him, a great man, a great boss. i think he's playing it smart. if you go out, way out on a limb, and make a big scene like liz cheney and others have done, is it right, it's a lot harder to come back to the party afterwards. trump could win or lose, but, you know, the party is moving in a populous direction. if you want to be a voice, you want to stay in the tent proverbially. >> and let me ask you about something the "wall street journal" wrote about, they talked to an nbc pollster who said this, in combined nbc polls this year, republicans led by 2 percentage points over democrats, 42-40% when voters were asked which party they identify with. that compares with democratic leads of 6 points in 2020, 7 in 2016, 9 points in 2012. what to you make of that, and

does it tell you anything about november? >> we're all getting old. i think as people get older, vote republican. at a functional level, there are many democratic policies that americans support. i think, you know, when you take a step back, people that are answering that question probably are looking at personality, and the way they feel currently about perhaps the economy and other areas. if you break out sort of obamacare and a number of policies that democrats have delivered, there is significant support on both sides, i think, for those policies. >> michael hardaway, and matt gorman, it was good to get politics in, as we continue to cover hurricane milton, thank you for being with us. still to come, the grim instructions to those refusing to evacuate before the hurricane. what they want people to do if they're not going to leave. always dry scoop before you run. listen to me, the hot dog diet got me shredded.

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we are continuing to see a tornado outbreak in florida, spawned by the outer bands of hurricane milton. this is new video, a tornado right next to i-75, just feet away from someone who was driving on that highway. that's incredible. this is alligator alley, the stretch that connects fort lauderdale to naples. you can see the funnel getting closer and closer as the driver

tries to evacuate east, ahead of that storm. that is terrifying video. there we go. wow. the message today from the naples police department is we will get through this together. nbc's dana griffin is on the ground in naples. what are you seeing there ahead of the storm's landfall? >> reporter: i just want to mention. we are at least 71 minutes from i-75. i know that was in rural collier county, but this is the same county that we are in. we were actually at the beach on naples, and we got tornado warnings on our phone. we were there, shooting interviews. we had to leave because we also saw lightning in the area. so there's obviously a major concern about the sort of systems and the sort of impacts you ahead of milton as it makes landfall. i want you to listen to surfers we spoke with. they were out there catching those gnarly waves. they are much bigger than they usually get in naples, especially on the west side of the state. listen to what our conversation, how our conversation unfolded.

>> reporter: is there ever a moment during the storm where you say, this is too dangerous, i'm leaving. >> not until we get kicked off. that's about it. >> reporter: this is a cat 4 hurricane, this is a serious deal. >> this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. we never get surf here in naples. whenever there's a hurricane, we try to make the best out of it and take advantage of the storm. >> reporter: any concerns, fears about what happens? >> no concerns, no fears, you know, whatever happens, happens. we love to surf and this is what we do. >> reporter: well, you heard them. no fears, no concerns. they said they were going to be out there for about two hours, and that was about two hours ago. hopefully they left the area. things are going to get a little bit dicier here. we are here in naples, which is south of where that impact zone from milton's landfall will make, but we are expected to get storm surge here, 5 to 8 feet possibly. this is a major concern even in the city. officials warning people in the evacuation zones to leave. we have seen several people bring their cars to garages, like where we are to move to higher ground because of the potential life threatening storm

surge, and again, there's still a threat for other impacts, whether it's tornadoes, rain, we've seen some rain bands already from milton. we're seeing some gusty winds, up to 50 miles per hour so far. so it's a sticky situation, and this is only the beginning. chris. >> dana griffin, stay safe. let's hope the surfers are heading somewhere safe. the message to florida residents is stark and dark. if you refuse to evacuate, at least write your name on your body so it can be identified if you don't survive the hurricane. now, some people can't evacuate, for lack of money or transportation. for them, officials have set up hot lines and they can request help. but for those who just refuse because they've survived other storms, vice president harris says milton is a different story. >> i know there are a lot of tough floridians who have waited out many hurricanes, and may think that they can do the same with this one. this one's going to be different, and so i ask anybody who is watching, if you are in

florida, in the predicted path of this hurricane, if you got a family member who might be, you know, thinking they can wait it out, please get in touch with them. tell them it's not going to be like the ones we've seen before. >> joining me is the mayor of sarasota, liz albert, and brian gleason. mayor, you and i spoke yesterday. you said then a lot of folks who stayed behind for helene came to regret it. you thought they were taking this evacuation order seriously this time. do you have a good handle? have most people left? what can you tell us about the people of your city? >> from what we can tell, i think most people have vacated the barrier islands, and a lot of people, you know, that i know have actually left, people who have never left before in other hurricanes, so i don't think

anybody is thinking that this is going to be easy and just, you know, like any other hurricane we've seen before. so they're taking it seriously. >> brian, i understand you're at the emergency operations center in your area. what resources are available for people who can't evacuate, whether because they don't have money, they don't have transportation, or they just feel as though they don't know what to do right now? is it too late? >> we still have occupancy open, available at two shelters in charlotte county, at kingsway elementary school and at babcock school, and we had been transported people for free using our local transit operation, and that had to shut down. the last rides on that offer is going to be 3:00 this afternoon. we stopped taking reservations at 12:00. but uber is offering free rides to folks via a promotion that they're doing. if you don't have transportation

to a shelter, log on to the uber app and use the code that is available on our web site. charlottecountyfl.gov. it's milton relief. >> say that again, i'm sorry. i cut you and i want to make sure people hear that. >> yeah, milton relief is the code for the uber ride. >> okay. good to know. you know this, a lot of folks have ridden out a lot of storms, and you know, i think, brian, there is and can be a sense of complacency. in fact, one guy told "the washington post" this, in 30 years here, nothing has happened. that's why we're not scared. you see too many hurricanes. you see nothing happen. you have to feel safe. is there anything you feel like you can say to people, whether it's where you are or elsewhere in florida who may still have time to go to a shelter, to call an uber, to get somewhere safe. or do you think at this point there's no convincing folks who have decided to stay home?

>> i think our experience with hurricane helene two weeks ago is going to make a lot of people take this storm more seriously. we got 5 feet of storm surge, and hundreds of homes had to throw the contents of their homes out on the street. the folks who went through ian, debbie, other storms in the carry, as far back as charlie, we didn't have any storm surge with any of those storms. so helene was a wake-up call, and everybody is taking this one very seriously. the amount of storm surge is projected to be as much as twice the amount of storm surge we got with helene. we saw a lot of compliance with our evacuation orders for our coastal zones, our b zone, our c zone. we evacuated well over half the county of 210,000 people. >> this place is like a ghost

town. >> yeah. i mean, we've been seeing pictures of roadways that are just empty, and obviously beaches that are empty. and you hope that that's the case, right? mayor alpert, we have new video. i don't know if you've gotten a chance to look out the window, but we already see flooding on the streets of sarasota. to say the worst is yet to come is an understatement. there was a briefing earlier, both from the state, we heard from governor desantis, and federal officials from dod to army corps of engineers, the forest administration, hhs, all of these folks talking about how they're positioned to help. do you feel that you're as ready as anyone can be for what's to come, and that help will be ready to go? >> we absolutely are. we have been doing everything we can. we've got all of our police

officers on duty until the end of the storm. we've got our public works and utilities debates at the emergency operations center so that they're poised to go to work immediately when the storm passes. fpl is ready. and also ready to take action as soon as the storm passes. i think we've done everything we can. we're as ready as we can be, and we just want everybody to remember to just stay safe and stay sheltered and stay strong. >> sarasota mayor, liz al pert, brian gleason, both of you continuing to do life saving work, we thank you. and coming up on "chris jansing reports," florida isn't just running out of to evacuate, nearly a quarter of all the gas stations there are running out of fuel. are running out of fuel.

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or, if you prefer, you can take a refreshing shower. all-in-one product! call now to receive a free shower package plus 15% off your brand new safe step walk-in tub. governor ron desantis says there is still time to get out, but that window is rapidly closing. in tampa, which is in the direct line of hurricane milton, nearly 60% of gas stations have no fuel left, according to fuel tracking web site, gas buddy. one man whose home was battered by hurricane helene is desperate to get out of florida. >> last night, no gas. i tried to get gas to fill my

truck, just in case my flight got canceled, i could get out. restaurants were closed. most of them. i had a reservation at a hotel. i get to the hotel, the hotel is closed. boarded up. >> now, he was able to make it out on the very last flight out of tampa's airport before it, too, closed its doors. i want to bring in former director of the florida division of emergency management, joe myers. he was responsible for the state's emergency response plan after hurricane andrew. also with us, former fema administrator, craig fugate, together they designed and implemented florida's emergency management system, which is the foundation that is in use today. good to talk to both of you. you're both veterans of dealing with natural disaster. craig, you and i have spoken many times, but rarely in a situation like this. is it possible, even with all the work that's been done, to be ready for a storm of this

magnitude? >> well, i think everything that can be done is being done, but the part of this we're not talking about yet is the immediate response after the storm, and this is where we've seen time and time again, we talk about first responders, but the thing that's going to save lives are neighbors checking on neighbors. this is over such a large area that the fastest response is going to be the public helping each other while the responders are trying to get back in these communities. >> you know, joe, governor ron desantis says this is the largest mobilization of the national guard in advance of a storm in state history. but are people who are on the ground on the front lines, whether they've evacuated somewhere, whether they're in a shelter, or whether they're among the handful of people who have decided to stay behind? >> yes, that's correct. the national guard is there to help them throughout this event. i think there's, like, 6,000 guards from florida and another 3,000 that were brought in

through the emergency management assistance combat, which craig and i, it's part of our building the plan in the beginning, a lesson learned from andrew, where we could bring in resources from other states. and they'll be supporting people in shelters, and helping get people out of the area, and providing a lot of valuable transportation. >> my colleague talked to a couple in a mobile home community in st. petersburg. they say they're just not leaving. >> none of the assistance we have applied for has even came in. so, it's left us, you're picking and pulling straws here, you know, is it stay with your ship and sink with it, or go abandon ship and go somewhere else that might be worse, you know. it's a two-headed coin. >> scary either way. >> i don't know if you could hear the end of that, joe, she said it's scary either way, and

now we're seeing tornadoes picking up. is there anything that you would want to say to folks like that right now? >> i would hope they would have time to get out because this storm is -- we haven't seen anything quite like this. the storm surge is going to be awful. i know two weeks ago, i was sitting in tallahassee, thinking about a cat 4 coming down, it causes a lot of anxiety. >> the ”the new york times” was looking at a big picture and in a story, they say these extreme hurricanes that we're seeing now are just the beginning. i want to quote from that article, we are witnessing a new reality, super charged hurricanes are no longer outliers, freak disasters or storms of the century. fossil fuel pollution has made them a fixture of life arounds world, and they are going to get

worse, with millions of people in their cross hairs. many americans refuse to believe that a major hurricane could hit them. is that, indeed, the new normal, and are we ready for it, craig? >> it is. and we're not. climate change is deep. we have to think about adaptation. if you think about the standards we use to build our infrastructure, it was based upon the past. you know, with these record-setting events occurring almost weekly across the globe, our infrastructure wasn't built for it. when these storms hit, we need to make sure when we rebuild, we're not just building it back the way it was. we need to build it for the future risk our communities face. >> what you're saying is technology has come a long way, but we either don't have the will or the money to make it better? what has to happen? >> we're going to have to get used to this idea that a lot of

times we hear pushback when local officials try to improve building codes, it's going to make homes unaffordable, and we need to develop to grow our economy. we can't do that irresponsibly. we have to build for the risk. we have to change how we're building and where we're building. we're seeing the insurance industry is no longer able to insure many of these weather-related risks. we cannot continue doing what we have always done and eke by through these storms. we're going to have to fund mentally think how and where we're going to rebuild. it's being shifted from the taxpayer to private insurance. the environment has changed and our systems and infrastructure are not keeping up. >> and we haven't even talked about the fact of how many people can't get or can't afford insurance. that is a conversation we will have on another day. craig fugate, joe myers, thank

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find the perfect fit at untuckit.com and more than 80 stores worldwide. good to be with you. i'm katy tur. in the words of governor ron desantis today, this will be a monster. hurricane milton, now a category 4, is expected to