on captiva there are a lot of vacation homes, but she lives there full-time. she'd been there for 18 years. completely alone, she was standing on her front lawn and a firefighters saw her and asked her, she had 15 minutes to grab what she could, and she has no idea when she will see her home. also she has nowhere to go at this point. that's where she lives, she doesn't have any resources in the area. imagine that. imagine being completely displaced from your home, having nowhere to go in an area that is severely impacted by the storm. floodwaters, no power, difficult access to any kind of emergency services. it is unfathomable for his residents to try to go through this. >> you know, we've been talking about the storm coming for days, but can you explain to us, the course of the storm kind of changed in the last day or so that caught people off-guard. because in new york, when we look at these images of marinas that are filled with boats that now looked like a boat graveyard, we figure why didn't people take them out of the water? but the really wasn't much ti

captiva, gusts of 126 miles an hour punta gorda, gusts of 124 miles an hour. and for a more prolonged period of time. so that's going to lead to all of the damage. orlando, we're going to start to see our winds picking up as we head through the next several hours. could be dealing with gusts up to 100 miles an hour even though this is another bull's eye there as we get towards savannah, we are expecting a second landfall as we head towards friday afternoon as ian continues to track off to the north. heavy rainfall going to create some flooding issues, inland flooding towards orlando and jacksonville, there's a potential of two feet of rain, locally more than that that will be doing some damage the fact that this is slowing down, ali talked about that, too. it will prolong the impacts. there's the second landfall friday afternoon and heavy rain and gusty winds. they make their way through the islands. >> adam del rosso, thank you so much back to the naples mayor where i'm told we have the technicals worked out theresa heightman is with us madam mayor, have you

same on north captiva. there's no cars. it's sort of a golf cart community. the working class folks live in prefabricated housing or mobile homes were so vulnerable, especially to a category 4 like this, laura. and the destruction there at st. james is breathtaking. you just -- it's -- you can -- these are human lives sort of spread out all over the ground. and if you forget that, you think, this place just has to be bulldozed. what can be salvaged here? but then you have to be reminded, these are people's lives. and some people did not want to leave the storm, and they certainly don't want to leave now even though the destruction around them is unlivable, frankly. >> did you see people when you were out there in the devastation that needed to be rescued? obviously you were on this location. you were able to get there. what were you seeing of people who were either unable to leave for whatever reason or desperately needed help? was there a way to get people rescued? those efforts are underway in other places. >> reporter: yeah, there are. there's both the coa

these are the remnants of the causeway and the bridge to the sanibel island, and beyond that captiva. it's the only way on and off those islands. it's now decimated five sections of the bridge collapsed. the road washed out, buckled, and torn apart and here's a satellite image of the causeway when it was still standing before hurricane ian removed it the deadly rampage is far from other. the storm has strengthened it is now a hurricane yet again gaining energy over the atlantic and expected to make a second land fall in south carolina, maybe georgia tomorrow forecasters at the national hurricane center say the storm is taking aim at the carolinas and georgia with life-threatening flooding, storm surge, and strong winds. we have news team coverage tonight. brian james, valerie castro just got back from witnessing the devastation. but first, perry russom in hard-hit fort myers tonight. >> reporter: these people are tired. you can see it on their faces. many of them haven't slept some of them were up to their necks in water, and now their journey is just gel started. we meet mindy collie

and the track is eerily similar to charlie which cut north captiva island in half, i assume something similar from hurricane charlie, and then pine island, and punta gorda, and charlotte, and charlotte harbor and the storm surge comes ashore, a tremendous amount of damage. the wind is one thing, 155 miles an hour, it's going to produce a lot of wind damage, roofs, trees down, but it's the storm surge, it's the water that creates all of the tremendous damage from these hurricanes. and when you look at the size of this hurricane, too, so much bigger than charlie was, wind speed the same, but the effect felt in a much broader swath of territory. sandra, i wouldn't want to be right in the eye of this storm but there's a lot of people who probably will be and will come back to see the damage left. just look at the incredible amount of water coming across sanibel island. >> sandra: and the governor making that the most firm point, if you have not left you cannot leave now and he did say there are a small number of people who did hunker down, referencing this as a massive storm that is comin

not recently, but i have not been to captiva and sanibel. our drone team and it looks like the windward sides of those islands took the brunt i was surprised to see how many roofs were still intact but could see a lot of deinstruction around them. >> there certainly is in pine island more of a middle class community. the buildings are older, so they're not built up to the codes that maybe they would be on sanibel i'm speaking in general terms. a lot of nice middle class folks who make a life there and we know hundreds and hundreds of them didn't leave. and looking at the destruction on that island, i'm pretty terrified that lee county is releasing no information about casualties, but eventually they'll have to and it's just horrifying. >> you covered enough to know the truth of what i'm about to say. i hate to be one of those guys but it's always the folks that have the least that suffer the most in these things and, you know, again, that's the gap we try to fill and hopefully we can touch as many people as possible. >> if people want to hel

they have that landfall, looks like just to the north of captiva here. of charlotte harbor, right around 2:00 to about 4:00 this afternoon. that looks like when the official landfall will be. and then it will move inland after that. the biggest thing we're concerned with is the storm surge. this is worst-case scenario for the entire coastline. we want to focus in on areas at landfall and just south. that's where the water levels are going to be the highest. that right now looks like it's pinpointed -- if we get that landfall right here, from captiva southwards to naples, that's the region, jose that if we're going to get an 18 storm surge, which would be catastrophic water, second level of homes, wave action on top of that with the high winds, that's as scary as it gets and that's the region of concern. >> bill karins, thank you very much. >>> i want to bring in fema's assistant administrator for recovery. thank you very much for being with us. we know the storm is bringing catastrophic damage and this is possibly going to displace a lot of -- not possib

about the barrier islands where this incredibly powerful storm came ashore we've heard little from captiva, little from santa bell, very little from the five barrier islands along charlotte county we know they had a storm unlike anything the coast had seen. we don't know what happened to anyone who stayed behind we begin tonight live in naples where we watched him all day long with remarkable stories ally, what are you seeing tonight? >> reporter: well, this is that parking lot that you were just referring to, which was flooded. it has now almost all come down. you can see those are the con dose across that i was showing on tv earlier. there's water all the way to those balconies. that's dropped by about 10 feet. and the gulf of mexico, what you see here is beach for the first time in six hours. there are a number of thing that is are still going on. one is we're in coullier county. they have people trapped in downtown naples that still have flooding in it they've also redirected the phone calls that are going to lee county which you were just talking about to here, and there are people de

these are the remnants of the causeway, and the bridge to sanibel island and beyond that, captiva, it is the only way on and off the island. it is now decimated. five sections of the bridge collapsed. the road washed out, buckled, and torn apart. and here is a satellite image of the causeway when it was still standing. before hurricane ian removed it. ian's deadly rampage is far from over. the storm has now strengthened. it is now a hurricane, yet again, gaining energy over the atlantic and expected to make a second landfall in south carolina, maybe georgia, tomorrow. forecasters at the national hurricane center say the storm is taking aim at the carolina and georgia, with life threatening flooding, storm surge, and strong winds. we have news team coverage tonight. meteorologist brian shane with the development on hurricane ian's track. valerie valerie castro just got back from witnessing the devastation in the small community. and matt leche, we'll hear from her. but first cbcs para-rest in hard-hit fort myers for us tonight. perry? >> reporter: these people are tired. you can see it

but on captiva island, north captiva island, which is one you can only get to by boat, again, better there that held out. there's over 30 people who rode it out and didn't want to be rescued. >> i spoke to the mayor of sanibel earlier, which is now cut off because the causeway is cut off. i asked her, are there services for people who want to stay. she said, no. >> no. that's the thing when you realize you have to give these folks some time to adjust to the reality of the situation. yeah, you don't want to be out there. it is -- we walked by -- there's downed power lines everywhere. there's toxic stuff that has spilled into the water. on sanibel island, there was a hissing sound as we turned the corner, and it's a natural gas tank. it's leaking out. and there was a house fire just over the horizon, no one to put it out. >> you're kind of the human embodiment of the three aspects of this storm. you lived through the wind in punta gorda when it was coming at you 140 miles an hour. and then this video we're looking at, which is of you in cape coral, which is a mixture of all of it. it's

myers, to the sanibel and captiva islands.for a second. this is 50 feet, approximately 50 to 60, maybe 65 feet of the bridge that has collapsed into the gulf of mexico during the hurricane ian that we experienced for the last 48 hours here. this is a monumental piece of the bridge. i don't know any other word than to say monumental piece of this bridge that collapsed. and paul, can we zoom in here to this actual piece of roadway? this one here, you can still see the guard barrier, kind of the jersey barrier, if you will. and you see the center line. it's just laying in the gulf. it's truly a breathtaking sight. wherever we walked up here in the middle of the night, it was kind of like one of those moments where you say, it can't be so, it can't be so. and you know, we're being as safe as we can. paul, can you kind of look down here and just show where it crumbled in the sand and in the concrete underneath this bridge that once held it up and carried travelers. you and me, your loved ones, your friends and family and all of our

the only road from the mainland to sanibel island and captiva island. do you get supplies to these people? how do people evacuate if they did not evacuate already? this is a very powerful storm and we don't know what to expect next as cleanup crews are just now going out to look at things and to answer nermeen's question, she was asking when power will be restored to people. we don't know but we did hear from duke energy florida who said they have to wait until the wind dies down in order to restore the power to these people. that might be this afternoon your st. petersburg, which is -- but who knows how long that is in orlando or cocoa beach, places where the wind is still howling. amy: sean kinane, thank you for being with his news & public , affairs director at community radio station wmnf in tampa, florida. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. as millions of florida residents in the path of hurricane ian were ordered to evacuate, advocates pushed authorities also evacuate of a what

near fort myers, search and rescue teams brought residents of sanibel and captiva to safety and scoured barrier islands for signs of life. >> people were surprised how quickly this storm turned and ended up being trapped. >> reporter: hurricane ian ripped apart parts of the sanibel causeway, cutting access by land. across florida the destruction can be seen from the air for miles around. at the storm's peak, naples fire and rescue had to break the window of this car to pull a woman to safety. throughout much of the state, people are assessing their losses and counting their blessings. >> i'm trying to be brave. >> reporter: after ian made landfall as a category 4 hurricane wednesday with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour, it tore apart this fort myers trailer park. >> i literally watched my house disappear with everything in it. >> reporter: in this central florida retirement community yesterday afternoon, airboats with rescue crews were a welcome sight. >> i didn't realize we had a storm until they told me. i was sleeping. >> reporter: here in kissimmee, near orlando, the city has

this forecast creeps towards fort myers, captiva, beautiful areas around santa belle island.storm, all day wednesday, all through the day on thursday, this storm is going to be up through central florida, orlando, dis234i complex, will have power outages, trees down. as far as friday, we're going to watch the storms heading up the coastal areas and then we'll have a storm surge to deal with. a second landfall by savannah. not a hurricane or tropical storm. this is at least three days in a row that we deal with the storm. the worst thing as far as life threatening is warmth. the storm surge and fresh water flooding eight to 12 feet. we don't know exactly where that's going to occur. just south, 10 to 20 niles wherever the eye makes landfall. if it goes up like this, areas like sarasota, you'll have a blowout, that wind will be clearing out to sea on the north side but if that southern onshore will pile up, very concerned from naples to bonita springs, sanibel, captiva, fort myers, maybe mobile here, charlotte and charlotte bay. that's high tide tomorrow, 6:00 p.m., that's righ

the only way on and off of sanibel and captiva. as we zoom in to here, you take a look and at this point in time right there, that is the toll bridge. here is bridge c, b and a. and this is the area that is no longer connected to the rest of the causeway. this is the problem we have now. that entire stretch right through here, here has to be rebuilt and i've even seen damage there at the toll booth as well. so a lot of this, you know, so many things are involved in all of these things. on the network with more 5g coverage. only from t-mobile for business. . . test. . nutrition for strength and energy. woo hoo! ensure, complete balanced nutrition with 27 vitamins and minerals. and ensure complete with 30 grams of protein. ♪ ♪ among my patients, i often see them have teeth sensitivity as well as gum issues. does it worry me? absolutely. sensodyne sensitivity & gum gives us the dual action effect that really takes care of both our teeth sensitivity as well as our gum issues. there's no question it's something that i would recommend. >

so sanibel there, captiva island here, north captiva, this area here, boca grande, which was hit very hard as well. this area here is placida, where steve was during the hurricane when it hit, bringing us incredible pictures. what's really kind of surprising is even though the hurricane went up this way and you would have expected storm surge to go up the gasparilla sound here, not a lot of water came up, and not a lot of flooding in pun da gorda. however, here in fort myers, a tremendous amount of flooding. marinas in here, lots of boats all broken up, and now on the ground again and they are going to have to be taken off as everything else is cleaned up. when you look at it, this is such an amazingly vulnerable area. again, as i was talking with the lieutenant general, these are called barrier islands for a reason. they take the brunt of a storm when it comes in off the gulf of mexico. those are developed now with billions of dollars in real estate and very much the same way here in the south carolina coast as well. when you take a look along charleston, there is kiowa island, folly

same thing down on sanibel island, captiva island, on some of the smaller islands, that's because they have these mandatory evacuations because they know in addition to the wind that will be whipping, there will be something called storm surge. so you see the water here behind me right now. the wind will be so strong at 100-plus miles per hour, it blows the waster, and that water comes up like this, and it sort of kind of goes in a dome, but it has nowhere to go, so it just keeps traveling. and the prediction is that the storm surge could be as high as 10 feet. so right now, i'm at sea level. i'm 5'5". ten feet is way up there. as we get closer to the homes, some of the homes are up maybe about 2, 2 1/2 feet, so it's possible here and on other islands like sanibel, captiva, it's possible that the water will actually wash over the islands. so there's a great amount of concern. the authorities said got to get out, mandatory evacuations. we know some people have decided to stay behind. and the police and fire say look, if you stay behind and you're in the middle of a hurricane and you do

sanibel island, captiva island, a storm surge, with a huge chunk of the causeway there, that is the only way in or out, in a state overall, more than two and a half million people are without power and look at where that deep red is, some counties in southwest florida are totally we're live with officials, from across florida, as well as somebody from part of the federal response to this storm. cabinet secretary, homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas, hallie jackson in washington and we have the team covering every angle, and every location, and steve patterson and pinellas park, florida and blayne alexander is here to start us off, along with somara theodore with us as well. let me start you with, steve patterson, because you have seen some of the destruction in pinellas county where you are. and as we've seen newspapers across florida today reporting on what is one of the worst storms in the state's history and look at low fast it made landfall, just 24 hours ago, we watched it here on this show, and talk me through what you're seeing. >> how fast, and the amount of rain, hall

>> we're seeing the eyewall of ian starting to move onshore, to places like sanibel and captiva.t's basically like take cover now. hopefully nobody is left in those islands. hopefully people are away from that right now. the eyewall will continue to move onshore and you're going to start to see the water levels rise as the big push of gulf water comes up. that's where we is see the 12 to 18 feet of storm surge inundation above ground level. that's three times as tall as i am. that's really an unsurvivable conditions. >> you know, we keep saying this is the most powerful storm to make landfall in recorded history on the west side of florida. you talked about the storm surge. when do you expect the worst, and how long will it linger at that height? >> well, the water levels will come up, as the eyewall of ian moves onshore, so you're going to have a huge push of the 150-mile-per-hour winds especially on the right side of that circulation. and then there will continue ton an onshore southwesterly and 10r8 flow that will follow that water up into the areas. i would expect elevated wa

they are going to look at it and see -- that is the only way on sanibel and captiva islands.isk is have been mostly by air. search and rescue operations -- it started in the wee hours of the morning. as soon as the winds died down enough to where it was safe, you had coast guard assets, you can't urban search-and-rescue teams, you had the national guard out assisting people. there have been more than 700 confirmed rescues and there's likely many more than that that will be confirmed as more data comes in. people have been rescued from places like fort myers, fort myers beach, sanibel. marco island as well. the islands in charlotte county. obviously there were a lot of calls coming in as a storm was really raging yesterday. people who did not evacuate were hunkered down. there was a storm surge and a lot of apprehension understandably, when initially the first responders came this morning, people would wave them down. whether they were by helicopter, boat, or high water vehicle. now what they are finding is in places like sanibel, most of the residents are weeping thank you fo

we've got brand-new evacuations for captiva and sanibel.noon a landfalling hurricane on southwest florida. so either way, waves are going to be piling at the coast in so many spots, many of the models now taking it south of tampa and watch as that shifts today. i would encourage anyone from naples all the way up to fort myers, venice and even farther north because of the up to 25 inches of rain that will wrap around this thing. that's the big picture. let's get a check now drew: i am abc 7 meteorologist drew tuma. more clouds give way to afternoon sunshine, cooler inland, low to mid 80's. 60's and 70's around the bay shoreline. mostly cloudy coast, partly cloudy away from the coast line. temperatures into the 50's. a change in the forecast tomorrow, a bit warmer thursday into friday but no intense heat. >>> here with "pop news" and lara. >>> lara is here with "pop news." >>> a very special edition of "pop news." the "dancing" edition. elvis night in the ballroom last night on "dancing with the stars" and the leaderboard, well, it's all shoo

>> well, the florida national guard has been great by delivering our teams across the captiva islands. as you have probably scene, the causeway has had a fatale collapse. the calls linking up the access traditionally, there is no ferry service to go back and forth. we are literally ferrying our teams going out door to door taking by helos. one of which has got a significant population. fort myers beach, the best way to describe it is very similar to mexico beach with hurricane michael. a much older community. older infrastructure. built with older building codes. so the devastation there is very similar to what we're seeing with hurricane michael in bay county. >> jimmy, thanks so much for all you're doing and thank your search and rescue team as well. they are, indeed, heroes for all practical purposes. >>>>> our breaking news coverag continues next with the latest on dramatic rescues sparked by this hurricane disaster. don lemon is standing by. he'll join us. is clinically shn in a 7 day study to cause fewer ulcers than immedie release aspirin. vazalore. the first liquid-filled aspi

interconnected canals so there are issues and reports of people's homes and barrier islands and c captivaands ad more are overwhelmed. stu: what response from the biden administration? >> right now it's all hands on deck. fema and the emergency department are working together and i was at fema getting a briefing about the status of their materials coming in. that information and work flow seems to be going very, very well and i know there are aerial assessments going on as we speak of some of the key infrastructure in southwest florida and they're being very supportive. >> stu: congressman, we feel for the people in southwest florida and we want to let you know that congressman byron donalds, thank you for being with us. appreciate it. >> thank you. stu: as the hurricane hit florida, joy behar on the view criticized governor desantis. lauren: she said a few things and showed no sympathy even in disaster, here's the first thing she said. >> i am not in the pu pews of te church of the global warming leftist and this is what he thinks about climate change and now his state is getting hit wit

. >>> so sanibel and captiva islands are cucut off from the florida mainland after the hurricane washedseway that connects the two. cnn's breaking news coveragege the impact of hurricane iaian continues after this very short breaeak. hi, we've both got a big birthday coming up. so we have a lot of questions about medicare plans. we've got a lot of answers! how can i help? well for starters, do you include hearing benefits? how about a plan with dental, vision and hearing benefits? i sure like the sound of that! then how does a $0 monthly plan premium sound? ooooooooh! [laughs] if you're new to medicare, call 1-888-65-aetna. we'll walk you through all your coverage and benefit options to help find the right plan for you. with angi, you can connect with and see ratings and reviews. and when you book and pay throug you're covered by our happiness check out angi.com today. angi... and done. (driver 1) it's all you. (driver 2) no, i insist. (driver 1) it's your turn. (burke) get farmers and you could save money with the safe driver discount just by having a clean driving record for three yea

this is what is left of the only connection between sanibel and captiva islands and florida's gulf coastles, buildings were completely submerged. boats sit between buildings. some parts of the city were under 3-4 feet of water turning homes and islands and causing severe damage. >> we got out the door, swam out the door. reporter: officials are asking people to stay home and off the roads. many areas are still unreachable. president biden mourned the death toll could be significantly higher. >> this could be the deadliest hurricane in the history of florida. the numbers are still unclear. early reporting of substanal loss of life. reporter: the florida governor -- >> this will require years of effort to rebuild and to come back. these are fantastic communities in southwest florida. they did not ask for this but they need our help now. >> here we are right after the storm. underwater. reporter: across the state utility crews prepare for the long work of restoring power. at one point as many as 2.5 million customers were in the dark. you stockpiled material here. >> we gather the material

see all the cities on the map, punta gorda, captiva, sanibel.vastating. in these warnings they're saying it is expected to cause catastrophic storm surge and flooding. we've already heard that punta gorda is not sending first responders out. the winds have begun and ian is here. drew: i'm abc 7 meteorologist with your accuweather forecast, sunshine heading your way with a fine looking autumn day on the bayshore line. at or slightly below average for this time of year. patchy fog, denson spots overnight the temperatures mainly in the 50's. your accuweather forecast, a minor warm up by the end of the weekend. the rest of the weekend will cool off >>> back to robin in west africa and she's in ghana's capital city of accra, there with danai gurira taking in the sights. how is it going, robin? >> reporter: oh, george, there is so much to see and do here. tourism, one of the most important parts of ghana's economy, so many from around the world, especially black americans travel here looking to connect with their roots and explore their culture so wha

reporter: exactly, neils we're looking at high wall starting to move over sanibel island, captiva island, the worst of the storm impacting barrier islands. notice how the impact is, newest advisory holding steady at 155 mile-an-hour winds, wind gusts 185 at sometime. those are sustained winds. look how healthy the storm is, look at eye core, plenty of electricity wrapping around this. at a portion this eyewall is clearing. that is another sign of strengthening mechanism, the worst of this getting pumped in as you see the northeast quadrant. when you see the storms set up you talk about the northeast quadrant as dirty side, strongest wind, heaviest rain, that storm surge. a category 4 storm before it moves inland early this afternoon. that will impact, looking towards orlando, daytona and then swanking up north. in the cone we have 25 million people impacted by that. the greatest concern still ahead is that storm surge. we have historic storm surge right now, in naples. they're closing five feet of water over land. just north of there, bonita springs, pun at that goard ga, caloosahatchee

of floridians are left without power and must assess the damage the storm brought on sanibel and captiva islands are cut off from the mainland after ian's storm surge washed away three parts of the causeway. officials estimate 98% of the residents in that county remain without electricity. >>> south korea's military says north korea fired two ballistic missiles towards the sea just hours after vice president kamala harris left south korea this was the third round in a series of launches by north korea this week as it continues to accelerate the pace of its weapons testing. scott. >> thank you, christina. let's bring in our half time editor now it's good to see you >> you as well, scott. >> things are mostly the same as the last time we spoke they're obviously unsettled. are we due -- are we going to get more than a one day bounce like yesterday >> it really tudoesn't appear that way we're still in that -- we've talked about this before that reset period and i know everyone has been talking about this, but first with valuation, we're about to get some earnings resets coming up some of the

along florida's west coast. 107 miles per hour at sasanibel island. 112 atat naples beach. 126 in captivaare wind gusts. what to expect as ian crosses the state of florida. that's next. stay with us. [acoustic soul music throughout] [acoustic soul music throughout] [acoustic soul music throughout] [acoustic soul music throughout] [acoustic soul music throughout] i was always the competitive one in our family... 'til my sister signed up for united healthcare medicare advantage. ♪wow, uh-huh♪ now she's got a whole team to help her get the most out of her plan. ♪wow, uh-huh♪ with coverage for dental... ...vision... ...prescription drugs and more. advantage: me! can't wait 'til i turn 65! aarp medicare advantage plans, only from unitedhealthcare. take advantage now at uhc.com/medicare all across the country, people are working hard to build a better future. so we're hard at work, helping them achieve financial freedom. we're investing for our clients in the projects that power our economy. from the plains to the coasts, we help americans invest for their future. and help communities thrive. >

under it didn't underachieve, cape coral hundred 35, captiva 1:26, and even in punta gorda, up to 1:24, and as i mentioned the, rainfall totals have been 17 inches, and some reports of as much as 20. by the time were down the hurricane center said we could have places with 30 inches of rain, two and a half feet. even with the sandy soil that will cause a lot of flooding. this is the current wind gust. not like it's done. sarasota still 74, even on the east coast the winds are still howling. and overnight, peak winds in orlando, daytona beach, titusville area, daytona beach could be upwards of 50 to 70 miles per hour. that means additional power outages. and here's the cruel part with this. we are not done. the storm will not die off quickly. it heads off the coast tomorrow night and then possibly a strong tropical storm or category one hurricane mates landfall friday evening from savannah to hilda head. sounds like a big deal when you got back to a three or four about when you see all the trees in these areas, that's a lot of power outages and the possibility of storm surge on top of i

the causeway is the only way to reach the barrier island of captiva and sanibel by car, meaning as of now, as of last night the island is completely cut off to any road vehicle access. they can only get to sanibel by boat. less than 200 miles to the north of sanibel, stunned orlando residents northeast really have been waiting to evacuate flooded areas which have received up to 16 inches of rain. cnn's don lemon joins us now live from orlando. and don, you've been out with some rescue workers checking in on residents. what are they finding? how are the citizens of orange county doing? >> reporter: hey, jake. this is what they're finding really. we're in a neighborhood, this is the middle of downtown orlando. and you can see the cars stuck here. this water actually has receded. and we're just a couple blocks from lake yola, and i believe some of this is from there. obviously some of it rainwater. but inland flooding. and they're seeing this all over the place. -- earlier -- they're seeing -- past the street signs here. the traffic signs in the neighborhood. we went out today to get on

that's the only way on sanibel and captiva island.eople there have been mostly by air. and all told, search and rescue operations, it started in the wee hours of the morning, as soon as the winds died down enough to where it was safe, you had coast guard assets. you had urban search and rescue teams. we had the national guard out assisting people. there have been more than 700 confirmed rescues, and there's likely many more than that that will be confirmed as more data comes in. people have been rescued from places like ft. myers, ft. myers beach, sanibel, marco island as well as the barrier islands in charlotte county. obviously, there was a lot of calls coming in as the storm was really raging yesterday. people who did not evacuate were hunkered down. there was storm surge, there was a lot of apprehension, understandably. when initially the first responders came this morning, people would wave them down, whether they were by helicopter, boat, or high water vehicle. now what they're finding is on places like sanibel, most of the resi

i wonder if there aren't even greater concerns now for cape coral and fort myers and sanabel and captivahat storm surge, no matter what happens now, is likely heading there >> that's absolutely correct, and so for to help people understand storm surge it's where the onshore push of winds strike land. so if you sort of project this forward, the onshore push would be in this area versus tampa so the storm surge threat in tampa has gone down a little bit, but, and this is an important but, you're not off the hook in tampa because the heavy rain threat is now maximized over you and the i-4 corridor >> it -- you talk about rain we remember with horror what happened in houston when that storm just set and spun. harvey just sitting and spinning for days this thing rains for that long in southwest florida where they're already super soaked, it's really frightening to think about what that could leave. >> yeah, and for your viewers who are maybe not familiar with the weather here in florida, we're at the end, the tail end of our rainy season. so the soil is already pretty saturated down here. and

captiva. then ft. myers, very low lying.pa hasn't been directly hit in 100 years and you're going to get two major hurricanes in about 18 years. wild. this is 2:00 p.m. tomorrow. already landfall here. right around this is the bay here. this is charlotte bay. port charlotte and we have ft. myers here. cape coral here. possibly landfall. if it's not there, maybe a little bit up the coast. a lot of our computers are hinting between sarasota and venice. that would be more like 7:00 p.m. a few of our computers have it headed toward the west. you're still going to get gusty winds, but the storm surge may blow out of that area instead of in. then the storm will slowly weaken thursday and into friday. still a strong tropical storm over orlando. right over disney world. we're going to have a storm surge of 4 to 6 feet in jacksonville and georgia because of this storm. now moving quicker across the peninsula and to the north. the worst case scenario if the landfall is sarasota, south of there is where we'll get the worst. a lot of th

captiva island sanibel island first areas in florida to take the eye of this storm.t the congressional district. we will know a lot more tomorrow. but it's a very tough time for southwest florida. please, if anybody can help us, donations are fantastic. please be careful with food because it's perishable. the united way and contacting our local agencies in southwest florida is the way to go if you want to provide help. >> bret: congressman, thank you very much. we appreciate your time. we will follow it closely. >> any time, thank you. >> bret: we are looking live or video of naples earlier of the fire sparks. remember, those lines some of them are active on the ground. try to stay inside as this storm continues to go up through. up next we will talk live with the acting director of the national hurricane center about hurricane ian. keep it here on fox news. ♪ alright, limu, give me a socket wrench, pliers, and a phone open to libertymutual.com they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need... and a blowtorch. only pay for what you need. ♪ liber

we actually had a reporter that took a boat ride to captiva island and was on the boat with three ofhe last people that were rescued from that island. we had reporters and photographers on jet skis today trying to get out to another island to see what the situation was there. there is no power. this applies, some of the guest stations -- the supplies, some of the gas stations have opened and the lines are around the corner. the frustration level for those that are only without the power and connectivity. but then there are so many people that have lost absolutely everything. and it's truly, truly a devastating situation. judy: it sounds almost unmanageable. we heard you say this is the worst you've ever seen. is it your sense that the relief efforts that people are going to need are going to be there? we heard the gentleman from the red cross saying they are still collecting information before they can go out and do anything. wendy: they absolutely are. the islands have been substantially cut off for the most part. we were on a boat where they will bringing some supplies out to a cou

sarasota, venice, inglewood, fort myers, beautiful captiva, sanibel island, cape coral, to fort milesach, that's the area that we are most concerned with for the storm surge. and that peak will be right towards landfall. so we think landfall wednesday afternoon, early evening. so as that high tide, which unfortunately, is coinciding with the landfall. sanibel has a high tide at 3:00, charlotte had a high tide at 6:00. so that's when this is making landfall. we're gonna add 2 to 3 feet on top of the storm, surge making it even worse when that landfall happens tomorrow. and you can see how that piles on to shore. >> so we have mandatory evacuations throughout the gulf coast here. in terms of the amount of rain, i'm seeing predictions of enormous amounts of rain. record breaking, in fact, it's already been a very, very wet month, in florida. what do we think the risk is there in terms of flooding? >> right in florida is interesting. i love, there i covered hurricanes for about four or five years. florida's has very sandy soil. that certainly. helps this is not like we had it in texas, or

i'm very concerned with the storm surge from naples -- and again, sanibel, captiva, fort myers, events of charlotte in charlotte bay. that's an area with high tide tomorrow as we go throughout 6 pm. that's right when the highest water levels could be surging. we're gonna add -- and another -- to high tide. so that's way up there. that's what we don't want to deal with. and i mentioned some storm surge even on the jacksonville coastline. the other problem with water is the high risk of flash flooding in central florida. someone's gonna get two feet of rain in that i-four corridor. this includes you, tampa, all the way through orlando back up towards daytona beach. alex, you get the idea. if the wind, it's the water, but even major hurricanes -- you're gonna have a billion dollar weather disaster unless it hits an unpopulated area. this is a highly populated area. i would be surprised if it ends up being a ten billion dollar weather disaster bites all -- by the time zones and done. >> terrifying. it hasn't got her. yet bill karins, you're gonna be a very busy man next 24 hours,. stay s

how do you reach or can you reach the people out in seminole captiva if there are a lot of people leftlls come in from various location where is people who chose to stay during this event left their first floor, went to the second floor, some are in attics. it makes it very difficult -- again, the bridge has been compromised and we're looking at all that as we speak. we have strike teams that are going out from all over the state thanks to all our partners and our brothers and sisters in law enforcement that are assessing these areas, going out in boats, in possible jet sees, using all-terrain vehicles. whatever we need to do, we are going to get there. it's just a matter of prioritizing the call and obviously getting to access the patients and people in need. >> sheriff carmine marceno of lee county, florida, appreciate you taking some time with us. i know you have to get back to work. check back in with you when you have a free minute. thank you so much for your time. we appreciate it. >>> again, the sheriff clarify ing a bit saying they don't have exact numbers about fate taties. or

boca grand, captiva, marco island. you know what the elevation is in sanibel island? three feet above sea level. think about the storm surge. they talked about this. you hold your breath that when this thing clears, you wonder what will be left down there. i think unfortunate for a lot of people, there will be nothing but destruction. >> martha: no doubt a lot of water damage, a lot of intense wind damage as we see these huge and very strong palm trees getting blown to bits in port charlotte, florida right now. i was looking at images of andrew in 1992 with strong winds and in some of these areas where you see large villages of mobile homes, which we see a lot of along the coast areas in florida. you worry about the nursing homes, which we heard governor desantis talking about and we heard the people for the state of florida in charge of them saying 100% of them have generators. i remember covering irene in houston. they tried to get senior citizens out on a bus. all of these lost their lives. these are the people that you worry about. you worry about the folks in the

people cannot get on or off of sanibel or captiva. 49% of all fatalities happen because of surge. easy to see why. and even the fresh water flooding is almost another half of that. the storm will continue to move off into the atlantic ocean. it is going to get stronger, possibly again. turn left for a third landfall. and i say third, because you probably put it out of your head that this thing already hit cuba once. so cuba, west coast, now east coast. and possibly could be a hurricane, but we're thinking about 70 miles an hour right now. the water is warm, but there's enough sheer that it's not going to rapidly intensify, like it did before. the rainfall comes in, the rainfall comes in for charleston, comes in for myrtle beach, for jackyl island. and with that wind pushing onshore, we could see some flooding there, especially charleston. fit rains in charleston, you can get flooding. you can get an onshore flow with the wind and a surge of 4 feet. that's a lot of water in downtown charleston. jim, poppy. >> chad, thank you. stay close. back to you very soon. >> if you want to hel

partway there, from the mainland, to pine island, and then beyond pine island there is boca grande, captiva island, sanibel, we saw some pictures. as we look on our screen from the international space station of hurricane ian, look at that storm. that gives you an idea how big this thing was. i know in boca grande, i've seen pictures of the south seas bar and grill that was just totally wiped out. what are you hearing about what happened on the barrier islands? >> more of the same. as a matter of fact, my photographer is just coming back from a little bit more of the marina areas of matt lachey island. buildings are collapsed, the boats are crunched on top of each other like they were toys, and the infrastructure is badly damaged. we just -- everything you have to try to go there by foot to a certain extent, then get in a boat and over the washed out roadways and then try to get to the rest of it. there are still people stranded there, so one by one you are hearing these coast guard helicopters come into the area to pick up people and take them out, that's the reality of the first, you know

but in some cases, like in sanibel, captiva and other areas that are completely shut off, the only waye is by helicopter. our coast guard helicopters with their air crews are getting in there. we're lowering our rescue swimmers, checking on people, and if they need pulling out, we're pulling out. not only are we saving people, we were able to rescue ten dogs, eight cats, and one bird yesterday, as well. >> ten dogs, eight cats, and one bird. admiral, that is something. again, you say you're out there ready to go, ready to help people. are there calls coming in? what is the process? do people call, contact you, or do you just spot folks from the sky? >> yeah, john, that's a great question. it's a little bit of both. first and foremost, if somebody is in distress, they need assistance, call 911. that is the best way to reach first responders. we'll get that call dispatched to us if they need a helicopter. but we've also got ground teams there. we've got boats in the water, shallow water boats. the coast guard has shallow water rescue boats working with our urban search and rescue teams.