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joining us this morning is allison barber from tampa, florida. and john morales, hurricane specialist from southern florida. i start with john. what's the very latest? >> reporter: the very latest is the center of this major hurricane now with 125 mile per hour winds is emerging off the north coast of cuba and heaing into the southeastern gulf of mexico at this very minute. it is expected to continue on a northbound track, but then take the northeast turn ever of so gradually so that, yeah, anywhere from tampa to fort new york yers, that looks to be the area where the most likely landfall would occur. that means that for really the entire state of florida, there's going to be inclement weather that's already happening and will continue to go downhill pretty much for the entire state with a possible exception of the western panhandle in places like pensacola have less of a risk. but several inches of rain have already accumulated. there's a risk of 24 inches of rain in the state of florida, plus the storm surge that could be as high as 10 feet abo

allison barber joins us from puerto rico. what's it like there this morning? >> reporter: it's challenging for a lot of people in part because it is so hot. there are about a million homes and businesses that are still without power on this island. for many there are also trying to deal with the process of cleaning up. now they have the added concern of worrying about this heat as temperatures just feel like they keep on climbing. i want to show you where we are. this is one neighborhood in puerto rico. we were talking to the owners of this house. they said when the storm started, and all the rain started to come, the rivers started to overflow and water rushed in. they were at one point concerned that their home was going to collapse. you can see how it just moved the car in here. all of the mud. they went out into this boat and stayed in it because they thought this was the only way to survive through the storm. they were rescued from this boat at 2:00 a.m. they were out here yesterday trying to just clean up. but they said at one point, we have to work quic

>> allison barber, thank you very much.mmonwealth of pennsylvania in the political spotlight this labor day weekend which is, you know, considered kind of unofficially the general election season kickoff, right? as it relates to the midterm with the current and former president getting ready to make stops in pa. you have former president trump in wilkes-barre. he's hoping to boost mehmet oz, and jonathan from the philadelphia enquirer joins us now. we talked to you at the top of the show meredith mcgraw who covers donald trump. what's he going to say in his public appearance since his search of mar-a-lago and that's one piece as it relates to the bigger story ahead of the midterms. what are you watching for? >> well, as you mentioned, this is the start of the homestretch of the midterm election season and ostensibly, trump is coming to pennsylvania to rally for mehmet oz, a senate candidate that he endorsed and put, fort behind and doug mastriano, a fervent supporter of trump, but given that this is the first appearance sin

and allison barber is in tampa this morning. what's expected from hurricane ian and what's its path? >> well, on the short-term here, it is expected to intensify rapidly, as you just said, because of very warm water and favorable winds a loft. the circulation has kept it from reaching 90,s 100, 110-mile-per-hour wind speeds just yet. right now it's a minimal intensity turk. but the expectation is before it reaches western cuba, it is expected to ramp up to be between a category 2 and category 3 hurricane. beyond that, a cat 4 is not out of the question. that would be in the southeastern gulf of mexico. then the question is when does it make that turn slightly towards the north and northeast to potentially threaten, well, from sarasota to tampa. i would say the entire west coast of florida is being threatened by what is expected to be a widening wind field which is going to bring that storm surge, in addition to the rain and the risk of tornados and very high winds. . >> and so, john, looking at that trajectory, i wonder what you