and derek will get surge in apalachicola st. marks. absolutely. cedar key without how would a doubt and all the way along this little hook area through here that's 15 to 20 feet. that's the that's what that's talking about. the un-survivable city that's why if you're six feet tall and you got to waive or water over you another 14 feet above you you're not going to survive that. so why they're talking like that. and what time is it expected to make actual landfall? >> and and like, where do you think it will make landfall i think it will make landfall very close to st. marks. >> the good news about this area is from about apalachicola and then just points a little bit farther to these all the way down to about hudson. there's just a lot of natural land there kind of manga grove areas and not a lot of beach area. if you go to the beach shadow, i'm sorry. >> it'll beach they're just going to talk to about these pictures from out of tampa, florida. i mean these are people driving on the highway though the water i mean, it's just pouring over on to tha

from apalachicola, achieve. warning and franklin county where you are it doesn't look like people have heeded that warning a lot has some hatton pretty good bit of people has left. >> there's always a few to son strike i wonder what kind of assets do you have standing by tonight for anything that might need to happen either tonight or in the morning. several house says out where the county and the city and we just really wait until in the morning so we can see to assess the situation, so you see what all we got. i don't think we have a lot of damage i feel like we got pretty lucky this time around derek, you're still with us. >> go ahead and ask a question yeah. >> i'm just wondering what type of power did you have cross frankly and into apalachicola because we feel pretty forth right now have hour where we are just awful i don't reports. do you have coming up with the city i think most of the county has power. i know an apple pledge. >> everybody pretty much has power except one little section to traffic body i

we're 70 miles to the west offensive of apalachicola. so we're on the west side of the storm also and that's usually the least involves so i'm optimistic that we're going to we're going to survive i have this pretty well. everybody here in panama city remembers very well hurricane michael that happened almost six years ago to the day, and it really, it really devastated our town so people here, we started seeing people getting gas and a flashlight supplies as early as monday. so people were getting ready for this storm as of right now, we're not seeing very much here, maybe 20 mile an hour winds 33 inches or so of rain. and we have we have great meteorologists here in town. chris smith and ross whitley. >> they've been following noa and they've been giving us updates several times a day. >> actually, they predict did both of them predicted in advance how this thing was gonna look like it was going to hit us and then it was going to turn off to the east. and that's exactly what's happening. so panama city, we're reading easy, but we feel

he's tracking conditions and apalachicola, which is along the florida panhandle and franklin county in which quite frankly, derek, we have said a lot but here in recent hurricane seasons, we're hearing that helene could bring devastating storm surge there yeah, that's definitely true. >> and we're keeping a very keen eye to the sky around here because on top of that storm surge threat is the threat of waterspouts moving inland. there was a specific scotia in from the weather prediction center that highlighted this area, franklin county and apalachicola, where i am for these incoming water spouts. we've been monitoring very closely to see if any of these briefs spin-ups come through, but that's just one of a myriad of problems. threats that thinks this area you can see other vacant streets that line apalachicola, mandatory evacuations for all of franklin county. but i want to show you the pooling of the water. this is inland flooding because before helene's the arrival, we have already seen the rain overperform on one of the computer models have justin the worst of the storm hasn't even

now here in apalachicola, there no stranger to these hurricanes. they've done every precaution that they can were still under this measure it's already evacuation and franklin kaling. but they've put all the sandbags boarded up the homes and the businesses and their best preparation and their defenses against what is the oncoming major hurricane. but the flash flood potential needs to be discussed inland as well. so the storm has so much forward trajectory with it, so it's not going to have that time to weaken before it goes inland. so it will bring hurricane force winds into central georgia. and then the flash flood potential were facing unprecedented amounts of rain in and around ashville and western north carolina scenario, we need to monitor closely for a historic events brianna. >> all right. derek van dam. thank you so much. we are keeping our eye on. it's really something to see with how it's already so saturated that he, as he says, and they're just going to get more and more water hour-by-hour straight ahead. a rare and wide ranging interv

so we need to watch out all right. >> derek van dam and apalachicola, florida. thanks so much let's bring back meteorologist so that rafah and always i want to play something from georgia governor brian kemp today as he warned people in his state to get ready for the storm. take a listen unfortunately we're going to be on the state of georgia and it's dark counties are going to be on the dirty side of the storm, are the east side of this storm? >> so that's something else people need to be prepared for. be listening to your local media outlets for potential tornado watches and warnings so at least he mentioned georgia expected to be on the quote, dirty side of the storm. >> explain for us what that means. >> yeah, i want to show you where it is right now. you can see here so clearly when you look at the wind gusts, hurricane in the northern hemisphere, kind of spins itself counter-clockwise plus it's got this forward speed that's going north, right? so with the forwards be coming this way and the winds also coming this way, you get some of the fastest winds, rig

let's go back to cnn meteorologist derek van dam, and apalachicola, florida. you are in the big bend the area with a hurricane just made landfall. it's a category four what are the conditions there right now you know the list of superlatives that are going to be used to describe the storm is going to be long. >> it's going to be exhaustive and here i think we were really spared the worst because we're about 50 miles to the west of where the most powerful part of major hurricane helene made landfall there in taylor county, again, just to my east and now they're getting the brunt of the storm. the most intense part of the storm, just to put it into context, give you a little bit idea how powerful the storm was upon lip hurricane ian back in 2022, made landfall near fort myers beach. remember the devastation that came in. they're came in at 941 millibars. millibars. this is a central pressure of a hurricane a lower number means a stronger hurricane. this storm came in on shore with a low pressure of 938 millibar. so in essence, a stronger, more powerful deeper, m

and as your reporter, just 50 miles to my east, just said an apalachicola.is now son has said it's dark and the situation is going to continue to deteriorate. but again, we are very grateful. we actually have some of iran police officers and fire department officials that are already kind of staging to our north. and they're going to be prepared to head east as soon as the storm passes to assist our fellow floridians to the east, what are you prepared for though in terms of surge, which, you know, when they talk about and survivability that specific i mean, it referred to a lot of things, but specifically it was in reference to the surge which i know at its peak there saying could be at least 20 feet yes. >> so we won't we won't see that really on the west side of the storm over here, thankfully, because of that shift to the east here in the last half of the day but our crews over the last four days have been working very closely and to prepare, our city and working with officials at the county to be prepared for this. we gave out over 5,000 sandbags in 48 h

now, we're in franklin county here in apalachicola. we're facing a multitude of threats, storm surge warning. we have a hurricane warning in effect, but we also have a flash flood warning and also a tornado watch very near us. we've had over seven inches of rain in the past 36 hours. and this isn't even directly associated with hurricane helene. its tropical moisture surging north but the heaviest rain is still yet to come. i think once we look back at history books with this storm we're going to see that the catastrophic flood potential with it is going to be a big player. you can see on this map here the highlighted area and pink is known as a high risk from the weather prediction center. and it is so rare that they actually issued these is about 4% of the time, but 40 40% of the fatalities and 80% of the damage occurs within these very rare high risk events that stretches from where i'm located, the florida panhandle right through atlanta metro and into the southern appalachians, asheville, they're facing a one in 1,000 year flood e

thanks so much joining us now is adrian elliott apalachicola city commissioner. she's in florida's big bend that's the part of the united states where the panhandle of florida connects to the peninsula of florida and adrian extremely heavy rain has already flooded roadways in your area. how prepared are the residents of apalachicola for the next phase of this monster hurricane lot of residents, everyone's been stocking up. we're used to getting tropical weather in this area. many residents were here for hurricane michael. so that's kind of been our bar to gauge for this today downtown the last week preparations were finalized with business donor is getting things boarded up moved out some of our lowest lying areas in town have already been subject to a little bit of flooding from the rainwater, but our sewer systems and everything are still functional. this time. we do have some of the floodwaters starting to back a little bit, but the storm surge is not hit anywhere near what we're seeing in places to the east it's the best right now. >> franklin county was put

it only gets pushed up dramatically into this apalachicola bay region. now, i want you to see this satellite loop because it is showing signs that it is really starting to strengthen. and we know that because of how defined this center of circulation as you can see it right on the satellite loop, there's a lot of outflow associated with the system as well. and this storm is just becoming its ballooning in size. that's the best way i can describe it. right now, tropical storm winds extend 345 miles from center by the time this makes landfall, it will be over 400 miles. this could potentially make it one of the largest gulf of mexico storms in terms of its wind field in modern era, even eclipsing hurricane katrina. and we remember what that storm did as well. now the other threats about the storm is not only the potential of a storm surge and the attempts catastrophic winds that we're expecting right along the shoreline. but it's moving at such a clip that by the time it reaches florida law he saying goodbye to the system because it's going to move inland

then here in apalachicola, we need to prepare for the worst this shading of blue represents the potentialinundation from a category four landfalling hurricane, which we are anticipating here. this is for a category 43 in this shading of red is inundation with a category two hurricane. now, with over ten feet of storm surge right here where i'm located, that's what's in the forecast. you could see that that is nearly twice as high as how tall i am. this is the storm that people here have feared for their entire lives. and the reason this area is so susceptible to storm surge and hurricanes is because of the shallow nature of the gulf of mexico over my right shoulder. you can go 50 miles out into the gulf of mexico and have only 1020 feet of water underneath. you know, that shelf actually drops off very quickly. so an approaching storm pushes up the water from the eastern gulf of mexico and that hits the shelf and it has nowhere to go, but up, of course, inundating this portion, the low line area of florida's big bend now, we're under a mandatory evacuation here. now, we know that this stor

apalachicola. but again, we'll continue to intensify as we go through the day today. we already have tornado watches in effect for parts of the carolinas, georgia and florida, because we'll have some tornado spin up as the outer bands move on shore already have some tornado warnings near charlotte this morning. here's a look at that track hurricane warnings, apalachicola up through town glassy, even inching into georgia where we are looking at a major lease, at least category three hurricane that can make landfall. tropical storm force winds plow through georgia could cause a lot of problems even in atlanta hears that unsurvivable storm surge, again, up to 20 feet. that is why you need to evacuate. we also have these hurricane-force it's wins that will extend up to 400 miles out. so just lots of impacts across the southeast, jim? >> yeah, very scary stuff. john carlos and elisa. thanks to all he really appreciate it. let's bring in someone who knows about hurricanes all too well, democratic congressman jared moskowitz of florida used to serve as the state's emergency

we have reporters covering every angle of this cnn's derek van dam is joining us live from apalachicola. derek just tell us obviously you've been there all day a tracking this as the winds are picking up, tell us what you're seeing right now on the ground the most intense rain bands. >> and when that we've experienced so far with the approach of hurricane helene, and we know that it's only going to go downhill from here as we remain on the western side of this, i want to look directly into the camera. franklin county, where i'm located is under a mandatory evacuation. so are so many other counties that line the big bend of florida. >> if you chose not to evacuate, not know, is not the time to get out and try to move out of harm's way, you have missed that for tunity, the storm is to close the conditions are too dangerous and it is going to go downhill with a vengeance. >> and at pace. and the reason i say that is because we can see let's say buoys in the gulf of mexico about 100 miles offshore from where we're located, with winds that have already topped 107 miles per hour. there have b

the shading of red represents the water level calls for a category two storm here and apalachicola.t we're forecasting is ten to 15 feet, where i'm standing and that is twice as high as how i'm standing right now. this is just going to be an incredibly powerful storm, one that i'm talking to local residents here. they fear could be one of the worst storms that they've experienced and the reason this area so vulnerable is because of the shallow nature of the gulf of mexico, which is directly over my shoulder, anderson, you could go out 50 miles it's from here and still only have ten feet of water underneath you. then that shelf drops off very quickly so when you get a large expanding storm like this, well, it's going to push up that water once it reaches the shelf and it's going to inundate these very low lying areas like the appalachia bay region where i'm located now now this storm is not only strengthening, it is also growing in size and by the time this makes landfall, it will have tropical storm force winds extend over 400 miles from its center of this could rival some of the la

. >> cnn meteorologist derek van dam is on the scene in apalachicola, florida, just west of the spot where helene made landfall hurricane helene making landfall in taylor county in the big bend of florida just after 11:00 p.m. coming in with winds of 140 miles per hour this is the fifth hurricane to strike the state of florida since 2017. >> and it is the most powerful hurricane to strike the big bend region of florida. just to put it into context, this storm was stronger in terms of a central pressure compared to hurricane ian, which struck the fort myers beach region in 2022, that recorded a 941 millibar central pressure. this hurricane, helene, rolled in with 938 millibars that of course the lower the number, the stronger the hurricane. and we have seen anywhere from extreme storm surge values that have set records in cedar key we have seen extreme wind warning stretch from the coast inland into southern georgia. and we know that because of the forward speed of the storm, that the storm is not done it is moving quickly and it will impact several us states overnight and into the da

some of that damage, wind damage. 75-95 mile-per-hour winds for apalachicola. farther away, we're still talking at least tropical storm force, and that potentially hurricane-force winds working up into places like atlanta. so the power outages will be there. the wind damage will be there, and a whole wall of water is expected across parts of this region. 10-20 feet for the higher end. places like tampa bay, up to 8 feet of storm surge. that is life-threatening of course along the big bend area and south of that. the inland flooding is going to be a big deal. landslides possible for the appalachians. >>> now to breaking news. new york city mayor eric adams is expected to face federal charges as early as today, according to two sources familiar with the matter. it would be the first time in history a new york city mayor has been indicted while in office. the charges are not immediately clear. it comes after a federal investigation into campaign fund raising violations and foreign influence. and earlier this month, federal investigators searched the homes of sever

thursday just east of apalachicola along the florida panhandle. this storm is going to unfurl some very damaging winds and also significant amounts of rain just east of the point of landfall. there's potential for 140 plus mile per hour wind gusts and 8 to 12in of rain also into the southern appalachians. for accuweather, i'm jeff cornish for abc news. >> coming up, the delicate rescue mission as a car dangles off a parking garage. >> also ahead, the new legal battle over whether the plastic we're recycling is really being recycled. >> and an update on those bulls that were on the one day, your joints hurt. next, it's on your skin. i got cosentyx. feels good to move. feel less joint pain swelling and tenderness back pain and clearer skin and help stop further joint damage with cosentyx. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and a lowered ability to fight them may occur; some were fatal. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms like fevers sweats, chills

and what we're looking at is that dangerous storm surge, 10 to 20 feet from apalachicola to south of cedar key. tampa bay may see its all-time worst. wind gusts from 75 to 110 miles per hour along the florida panhandle. tomorrow as we move into georgia, 50 miles per hour wind gusts all along the i-95 corridor. a lot of damage. we could be looking at a major flood event across the appalachians, but down in the panhandle into the mid appalachians, we're talking, lester, 10 to 20 inches of rain. the flooding could be catastrophic, lasting right on into early next week. >> this is going to be a tough one. al, thanks very much. >>> i want to get now to that sweeping federal corruption indictment of new york city mayor eric adams. prosecutors laying out how they say he abused his power for years. adams maintaining his innocence and defiant today. here is laura jarrett. >> reporter: tonight, the first sitting new york city mayor in modern history indicted on federal bribery charges. >> i follow the rules. i follow the law. >> reporter: eric adams vowing to fight and stay in office as prosec

impacts well beyond that cone, and that's why we have widespread warnings including a warning from apalachicola to tallahassee, cedar key, crystal river. tampa bay is is in that hurricane watch. savannah, georgia with a tropical storm watch. let's talk about the number one loss of life and property, that is storm surge. 10 to 15 feet, steinhatchee, cedar key. crystal river, 6 to 10 feet. that's a lot of water in those low-lying areas. 4 to 8 feet around tampa bay, causes big problems. down to sarasota. and then, talk about the wind and timing. so, the wind will start to pick up, especially thursday. thursday night, when we see landfall. on this model, perry has a 120-mile-per-hour gust. then this thing cruises overnight, by 7:00 a.m. it's in western north carolina, with a 70-mile-per-hour gust at asheville. not just the winds that will knock down power lines and trees all the way up into southern appalachia, but that significant risk of flash flooding, greenville, south carolina in there, too. david? >> david: ginger zee, you'll have the latest on "gma" first thing in the morning. thank you. >>

this could be life-threatening in tampa saint pete and as you head up the coast with apalachicola and that 15 to 20 feet of storm surge possible. stuart: thank you very much. with me is a leading environmentalist involving green energy production, doctor andrew forrest. with this intensifying hurricane will hit the florida gulf coast. you say there will be a lot of liability claims out of this. who will be claiming against to? >> this is a predictable event. you've seen this coming for 50 years. the oil and gas sector has been pushing this information down, stopping the world from moving over to pollution free energy. that pollution is driving up humidity because of the increase in heat, that is causing massive storms. when we get destruction like we are likely to have in florida, these are predictable events. those who suffer loss and damage should claim against exxon, chevron, bp. these companies knew it was going to happen and didn't care. stuart: you are introducing high ambition climate transition plan. give me a minute on the plan. >> we know that the energy which can stop the t

apalachicola, the wind is blowing water out to the golf but up along the coast the water is trapped and rising quickly. cedar key has broken its record for the highest water levels they've ever seen. down in areas of tampa, water continues to rise. now, we are at 6.5 feet in clearwater beach. what these numbers mean is that if you are on the edge of the water with your toes, this is how much higher than the water should be. we are 6 feet now all through the bay areas here along the coast. we are seeing water going into businesses, into homes, and in coastal areas we have wave action on top of that, too. these are the latest wind gust. we just hit 76 and perry. we're going to disengage what will likely break here and still gusting 50 to 60 around it but that is where the eye is, in the center of it. as far as the hurricane center goes, this is the new update we just got in. landfall will be officially at 140-mile-per-hour winds, strong category four and the storm is flying. 20 mph is extremely fast for the speed that the storm is moving. as we go throughout the night, the storm races up

right now, we're targeting this big end between apalachicola and cedar key.hat. if we're going to have a hurricane go with least amount of damage, that's where you want it, for all of the people in the fishing villages or people in tallahassee, this storm is pointed right at you. this is where the tree damage would be more winds. st. petersburg, down to sailor sarasota. that's in case we get any shift. what's different about this storm, not only it's powerful, category 3 before. but this storm is huge. 400 miles across, 400 miles top to bottom. far from center. even like orlando, the disney complex, the universal complex, we could have tropical storm gusts which is enough to knock down trees and give power outages. and far from the center, we're going to have impacts. big storms are very good at moving water. storm surge is a huge area, even areas far from the center, that includes you in tampa bay, sarasota, pinellas county. and flooding issues. georgia is going to get hit hard. a lot of tree damage and flooding, too. this is everything you expect with a maj

you don't want to be caught in this environment here, especially from apalachicola down to chassahowitzka could see that 10 to 20 feet of inundation. that's going to really create an almost unsurvivable type of environment with destructive wave action. and evacuation routes can be cut off very quickly when that water starts to rise. so don't wait until the last minute. and, remember, you may only have to drive just a few miles, 10 or 20 miles, to get to a shelter outside of that storm surge evacuation zone and get somewhere safe. geoff: michael brennan with the national hurricane center in miami, thanks for being with us. >> thanks, geoff. ♪ stephanie: helene is close to making landfall in florida. it's bearing down on the panhandle region as a category four storm with sustained winds of 130 miles per hour. or than 600 thousand homes and businesses are already without power in florida. residents of panola county, some 960 thousand people, have been ordered now to shelter-in-place. states of emergency have been declared in florida, georgia, the carolinas, virginia, and alabama. president b

apalachicola, the wind is blowing the water out to the coast but the water is trapped and rising. cedar key broke the record for the highest water level they've ever seen. in tampa, the water continues to rise, we are 6 1/2 feet in clearwater. if you are on the edge of the water with your toes, this is how much higher than the water should be. so we are six feet now all through this region, so all through the bay area, along the coast, we are seeing water go into businesses and homes and in the coastal areas, we have wave action on top of that. we just hit 76 in perry, and we are still gusting 50 to 60 around it, that's where the eye is in the center of it, as far as the hurricane center goes, we just got this update in. looks like landfall will be at 140 miles per hour, a strong category 4 and the storm is flying, 24 miles per hour, that's extremely fast for the speed that the storm is moving. it'll be in and out, and as we go throughout the night, this storm races up through georgia, but it:00 tomorrow morning, it's over the top of atlanta or just east of atlanta, still with 65

deadly, catastrophic storm helene cnn meteorologist derek van dam caught these scenes and apalachee apalachicola, florida hours after hurricane helene made landfall as a category four storm of there keaton beach, derek, what's the latest where you are yeah. >> we are reporting live from this very tight-knit community here along the big bend of florida as coastline and what you're looking at behind me is what remains of keaton beach bombs, gasoline station that in just three days time was about to celebrate its five-year anniversary. you have been opened instead, it's left in ruins. there are bathtubs and roofs of homes from the homes that used to reside 500 yards over my right-hand shoulder as we maria, we got closer to the coastline, became increasingly more difficult for us to traverse the roads. there were down power lines, there was a strong sense and smell of gasoline as we approached the region. that's because of a gas tank that toppled over in the surge and broward county is actually responding to that particular incident over my left shoulder here. so it shows you that inner agency coord

it sounds obvious, but it goes from apalachicola all the way to the coast. and there is a lot of variety in north carolina, but abortion and the suburbs, the fast-growing suburbs, is a huge opportunity for the harris campaign and grit. >> gretchen the just mentioned some of the outrageous things that this lieutenant governor who wants to be governor has said also some very anti-semitic remarks. >> hitler disarming millions of jews and then marching them off to concentration camps is a bunch of hogwash. and it goes on and on. so you know, in any other pre maga time, i think it's fair to say it will be very hard for someone like this to get the nomination with one of those statements right? with any within any of those statements. but look, he does not have the endorsement of senator pat tillis, republican. >> he does not have the endorsement of the former republican governor pat mccrory, but he's on the ticket with trump? yes. he's on. but but north carolina has a history of ticket-splitting? yes. and so you have governor roy cooper winning as a democrat when

it is located 365 miles south of apalachicola, is expected to speed up throughout the day and it's expected to make landfall in northern florida for some time this evening maximum sustained winds are currently about 100 miles per hour. it is possible that this storm could make landfall as a major hurricane, as a category three or even potentially a category four, it is moving fast more rainfall is, of course expected. and it could lead to significant storm surge in our coastal areas. and so we are prepared for that. of course. and we'll see what happens in terms of the intensification. i think that these things can rapidly intensify. sometimes they become majors, sometimes there's changes. so we're just going to continue to do our thing and assume that this is going to be a major hurricane when it makes landfall this is a very large storm, so you're going to see tropical weather that's going to extend hundreds of miles away from the center of the storm, doesn't necessarily mean you're going to have a hurricane category three winds, say on the east coast of florida. but you are going to have

through here in the big bend region were ten to 15 feet of storm surge is possible west over towards apalachicolae five to ten feet, even once you start spreading south of spring hill, looking at six to ten feet, even tampa, saint pete, sarasota, looking at at least five feet of storm surge, the winds are also expected to be quite strong, obviously near landfall. but this system is going to move relatively quickly, which means it's going to spread a lot of those really strong winds, even as far north as places like atlanta, georgia all right. >> allison chinchar for us this morning. allison. thanks very much for that or 25 minutes past the hour, five things you have to see this morning. watch wow, that's dashcam footage of a high-speed police chase in miami beach that ended with the suspect's crashing into trees on i95. the chase reached speeds of 130 miles per hour. three people were arrested. one other suspect died trying to escape into a waterway a massive wildfire ripping through ecuador's capital authorities working to get the blaze under control. but a historic drought is not held helping.

running up very quickly here in franklin county and throughout the area that actually stage from apalachicola airport they turned up place into a small city. and that's the place they used to base out of during their response. there. and it's open to them again. so if need be, we have at least provided a place for them to do their work and we are confident that they can help us get up as quickly as possible commissioner, i want to give you one chance to speak to people who might be listening right now in franklin county, what's important most important message you want to send to them at the start of what could be a very challenging 24 hour period? so i'll say this. i do mean if you just stay for a local station in that interview, i told him and i had intended to ride this out because we were looking to two maybe three as of last night, my family and i've made the arrangements we're leaving here soon after this interview, we will not be staying. yes, there are still those that are first responders or sheriff's department all those people are still hearing in place those essential individuals

hurricane center, that shading of pink that's a hurricane watch from basically indian pass near apalachicola southward into inglewood. this does include tampa bay. and the reason we have these watches extending so far south, including seen a storm surge watches as because we anticipate the storm to grow in size as it approaches the florida peninsula on thursday and friday. so it will push up a lot of water. it will bring the heavy rain band. and of course, the storm surge threat along with it, which by the way, within the big bend of florida could reach between ten to 15 feet above normally high dry ground. we will anticipate up to nine feet of storm surge potential in and around tampa bay as well. so the storm still looking to shovel kind of disorganized in the western caribbean it's known as a potential tropical cyclone because we anticipate this to become a tropical storm and depression here within the coming hours. >> and you can see the storm intensifying into what is a major category three hurricane by thursday afternoon before making landfall thursday evening. one thing to note, this

you are looking at live pictures of apalachicola now it's likely to grow into one of the biggest storms in the gulf in the last century, bringing unsurvivable storm surge is the panhandles so be sure to stay with us for new metrics and tracking from the national hurricane center will of course, bring that to you shortly. in the meantime, this morning diplomatic talks are underway to prevent a wider war in the middle east israeli military saying it struck about 75 targets in lebanon overnight, forcing tens of thousands in lebanon to flee their homes and there are more calls for de-escalation after israel's military said it is preparing for a possible ground incursion into lebanon the u.s. and its allies now calling for a 21 day ceasefire between both countries. cnn chief national security correspondent alex marquardt is here with more details. outs what sense are you getting that this is, this is a possibility, a 21 day cease. >> well, it's not looking very promising. you've got the fighting there continues as we speak. we have netanyahu, who is on his way to new york who said that repor

amount of water we had flooding from naples, florida all the way up through past tallahassee and apalachicola. i mean, we have unfortunately we have people that they look at storms and say, oh, it's a category 12 or three, that's not so bad. instead of thinking about the storm surge so there's a massive amount of water we still have flooding we have hopefully we don't have any more deaths. i've been talking to sheriffs all along the coast and they're doing rescue efforts with the fire department's rescue teams so there i ask everybody stay out of it. don't be somebody who goes looking docket. what's going on? there's a lot of people out trying to go door by door to make sure people are safe. they rescued hundreds of people last night in harm's way. we also are out. we have a lot of people out of power, so we have 18,000 line workers that have come in so and then on top of that, we got a lot of water, so standing water don't drive into it, don't touch down. >> power lines are state is saturated with water. there's gonna be more trees coming down but here's the positive we've got shelters open.

lot of homes aren't built that high and then storm surge still will push that water on up toward apalachicola. it's kinda like a catcher's mitt. i was right there. you are on your way over to pensacola? i was in st. mark's for hurricane ivan. ivan, the water came up 15 feet and then we talking about this, how much rainfall could come down? ten inches everywhere. that's purple. anderson, this could be a flood maker, a saltwater flood maker, and obviously wind damage maker as well. >> chad myers. thank you. will continue to follow the news continues. the source with kaitlan collins starts now see tomorrow tonight, trump and harris couldn't be closer and brand new cnn polling, but not only number one issue that matters to voters also, there's new reaction tonight after trump told women, quote, i am your protector while a republican candidate for senate asked why women over 50 even care about abortion? >> the latest tonight on the news, sexual assault claims against sean diddy combs is latest accuser and tearful press conference today says that she was drugged right and filmed i'm kaitlan collins

lot of homes aren't built that high and then storm surge still will push that water on up toward apalachicolainda like a catcher's mitt. i was right there. you are on your way over to pensacola? i was in st. mark's for hurricane ivan. ivan, the water came up 15 feet and then we talking about this, how much rainfall could come down? ten inches everywhere. that's purple. anderson, this could be a flood maker, a saltwater flood maker, and obviously wind damage maker as well. >> chad myers. thank you. will continue to follow the news continues. the source with kaitlan collins starts now see tomorrow tonight, trump and harris couldn't be closer and brand new cnn polling, but not only number one issue that matters to voters also, there's new

what's to come with approaching hurricane helene than we need to prepare for the worst here and apalachicolais shading of blue represents where water could inundate this area with a landfall and category four hurricane, which of course is what we have in the forecast, this yellow represents the water levels for a category three that red, of course, indicating level too. but we have a forecast of ten 15 feet of storm surge that's over twice as tall as i am. this could be a once-in-a-generation storm for people here. and one that they feared the most. and the reason that's so susceptible is because of the shallow nature of the gulf of mexico over my right shoulder. you can go out 50 miles and is still only have about ten feet of water underneath you and then that shelf drops off considerably. so it doesn't take much of a storm to push up the water at reaches that shelf and it has nowhere to go, but inundate this very low line area known as the big bend of florida. i like to call it the catcher's mitt. i want to show you these graphics because the storm is looking very impressive on satellite,

homes aren't built that high and then storm surge still will push that water on up toward court apalachicolais kind of like a big catcher's mitt. i was right there. you're on your way over to pensacola? i was in st. mark's for hurricane ivan ivan, the water came up 15 feet and then we talking about this, how much rainfall could come down ten inches everywhere that's purple anderson, this could be a flood maker a saltwater flood maker, and obviously wind damage maker as well.

when you get these strong winds pushing in, that allows all this water to pile up from apalac apalachicola, cedar key and tampa. strong winds, cedar key could see gusts of 100 miles per hour into tonight on into early tomorrow morning. the system continues as a category 1 storm, augusta 60, 50 in atlanta. massive airport delays, airport closures as well. trees coming down, major damage along i-75. power outages from knoxville, tennessee, down to tallahassee, as far as widespread power outannals and flooding rainfall. we're talking about a high risk from asheville to atlanta, tallahassee, also montgomery, tupelo, memphis, major flood event. we're expecting some places could pick up to 20 inches of rain with life threatening river and flash flooding. this is a major flood event that will occur in through the appalachians and we're looking at heavy rain from nashville, tupelo, mississippi, knoxville, atlanta, albany, georgia, panama city up and down causing massive airport delays, road closures and flooding. this is going to be an event we're going to continue to track right through the weeke