it's it's not only about florida with jackson is sent to accomplish in florida. is is part for the course when it comes to slavery when it comes to land acquisition when it comes to negative peoples. so jackson as i mentioned earlier at the end of the creek war and forces the muskogee the seed 23 million acres of land. it's basically two thirds of the state of alabama. jackson is also heavily involved in forcing land sessions from the chickasaw the choctaw the cherokee at this point. the seminole are going to be kind of the end of this process and when you map all of that out, florida becomes sort of the last piece of the southern what today is the southern united states? that is still dominated by native peoples unclaimed by the united states and and clearly fitting into this established example of the south as an agricultural region. okay, so florida for jackson in many ways is representing kind of the end of a process and all of these land acquisitions and land sessions are happening concurrently with the seminal war while jackson himself is in florida and yet

this is in fort myers, florida. a storm surge, a big component to the devastation that we did see there. and unfortunately, this woman's home, her grandparents home felt in the destruction of the storm surge, the hurricane force winds that came into fort myers throughout the day today, peaking in the afternoon and really doing the damage when you saw that home there next door to where her grandparents home was absolutely devastated. and that first floor of the home was buckled in. and that's what happens when we're talking storm surge. imagine yourself just standing, wading into the ocean at the beach and you can tell those winds or the waves, rather, continue to lap . and all of that energy and that pressure is what really brings in the destruction to our buildings. now, as we go into the night tonight, i know we're in these overnight hours. we do have a hurricane warning that still stretches both coasts. we still have the potential for those hurricane force gusts. i mean, we still have a category one hurricane and

the state of florida, what today is the state of florida, certainly the territory of florida, is a very unique arrangement. compared to -- first of all, slavery i am, sorry player -- where it enters north america. the first african slaves brought to north america happens under spanish rule in about 15 12 six. esteban co was the man. he was a member of the expedition i'm very sorry to speak spanish. the catholic church in spain and the spanish government had agreed that the enslavement was a proper response to those people who had not been converted to catholic faith. estevanico he is cannot buy his home in -- and then brought to north america as part of the expedition over narvaez. he dies in new mexico. fernando de soto, so many others are familiar with him. i grew up in tennessee. that's where he dies. he's always been part of this mythology of memphis. this is where the soto dies. the soto is bringing a sizeable numbers of african descent slaves and indigenous people. it is the site of the first emancipation of enslaved people in north america. it happens in florida. the first settle

florida between 2:00 and 4:00. cape corral florida is around the fort myers area. if you were to draw a line to the northeast up towards sarasota, it is about 70 to 75 miles. so that's where our forecast center at the moment is able to best pinpoint what we believe will be the first landfall in about three hours and 15 minutes. we have that and we'll get more right after this break here on hurricane ian after this. the new subway series menu. the greatest sandwich roster ever assembled. for more on the new boss, here's patrick mahomes. incredible - meatballs, fresh mozzarella and pepperon- oh, the meatball's out! i thought he never fumbles. the new subway series. what's your pick? 80% of couples sleep too hot or too cold. because quality sleep is vital, the sleep number 360 smart bed is temperature balancing, so you both stay cool. our smart sleepers get 28 minutes more restful sleep per night. save 40% on the sleep number 360 special edition smart bed.now only $1499. only for a limited time. >> bill: we're a few m

still hurricane warning for central florida and tropical storm warning for coast of north florida to georgia and the carolinas. we're not done with this storm yet, dealing with a category one storm and expecting it to weaken as we go through the next couple of days and making another landfall on friday, we think in coastal south carolina. here are impacts, we're dealing with hurricane-force gusts as it moves through the rest of florida and into georgia and south carolina. we're dealing with heavy rain, hurricane-force winds and power outages, heavily populated neighborhoods friday and saturday. flash flooding in georgia and carolinas heading into the weekend and getting into saturday and sunday, will this impact you in the mid-atlantic and northeast? yes, the appalachians will get a heavy track. impacting north florida to georgia, carolinas and this mountainous terrain in portions of the virginia and west virginia, tennessee and kentucky, flood alerts for the morning, afternoon and weekend for much of the state of florida and into coastal georgia and south carolina. rain still to com

the florida coast?about those who have decided to hunker down, this storm is a life taker. panama city, florida, i saw what hurricane michael did with a cat five storm, this just became a cat four. it breaks my heart we'll put our first responders at risk because of people's stupidity and reluctance to seek higher ground or safety. >> carley: that is happening in florida, tell us about that. >> sure, whether utility workers, urban search and rescue, my office will deploy 60's0 urban search and rescue members, five teams are the same team that responded to hurricane michael and the surfside building clans. there will be trauma surgeons, engineers, dogs and boats. as soon as it is safe, they gallon from door to door to start saving lives on their life-saving missions. >> carley: the president did speak with governor desantis, do you know when that took place and how it went? >> i was with the governor yesterday afternoon, the call had not taken place yet. you pointed out, i was watching fox, and i saw bid

once it gets out of florida, it will be taking up a lot of water and that will impact northeast florida, st. john's river,, do ball county. -- duvall county. major category for impact, the storm surge will be severe, a water and flooding for slow-moving storms. very severe impact in southwest florida, but those impacts will continue all through the state. this will not leave the state of florida until sometime friday morning. this is a lot of nasty weather we are in store for the next few days. kevin guthrie is here, i will let kevin come up. >> appreciate your continued leadership on this response to hurricane ian. hurricane ian is currently bringing hurricane force winds and rain to the keys and south florida. our meteorologist just mentioned before coming in here that tropical storm force winds may extend 300 plus miles to the northeast. as the governor has already mentioned, this will be a statewide event. this is going to cause conditions for flooding. as the governor has mentioned, we have started seeing tornadoes form. i urge floridians to monitor alerts and seek immediate shelte

and northeast florida. so tomorrow's going to be another terrible day for florida for people in eastern central florida all the way up to the northeast part of the coast, even as we begin to see the images emerge tomorrow from southwest florida and the damage that was done there, these flash floods over the next few hours and into the early hours of tomorrow are nothing to play with, they're very significant, the threat is very high, probably the highest it's ever been certainly that i can recall in such a wide swath area. >> sean: i know there's's been a lot of coordination between you governor desantis, senator rick scott, you have mobilized every single agency within the state of florida preparing this, knowing that it was likely going to be this bad. i was pretty impressed, i saw an ap picture today, and it had what looked like three or 4--look at this poor guy swimming inside his living room. that home is probably going to have to be rebuilt. but you pre positioned and staged all these electric company

to make landfall in florida later today. a news conference on hurricane ian, it is expected to make landfall in central florida sometime tomorrow. gov. desantis: we have two radar indicated tornadoes in palm beach. as well as in hollywood in broward county. the most recent update for the track of ian places landfall at the juncture of charlotte and lee counties. if you think about where we were 40 eight hours ago, it was a much different track. 24 hours ago looking a lot like tampa bay, each model and now the performance of the storm is causing the hurricane center to move it southeastward on the west coast of florida. people in south florida, this is likely going to make landfall as a category four hurricane there will be catastrophic flooding and storm surge on the gulf coast region, and the highest risk will be in the southwest florida region from naples up to sarasota. there is also potential for flash flooding and river plumbing with 10 to 20 inches across central and northeast florida. if you are in an evacuation zone,

central florida area. i want to emphasize the storm still poses a major threat to the state including central florida right now and northeast florida. orange county fire rescue is actively conducting nine wide-area search responses on the water for rising water in the central florida area. that is happening right now as we speak. at this time, the division has received more than 1,500 resources -- i'm sorry resource requests from our local impacted partners, and we have filled or are in the process of filling 1,300. as the governor said, there are 300-plus truckloads of food and water that have been loaded out and they are mobilizing to leave to the southwest florida area right now. in addition to portable -- in addition to the issues with cell phones, we are deploying cell phone towers as the governor mentioned, over 100 assets in that arena alone. we want to reinforce and we appreciate the fact we have received over 1,500 inputs to our shelter in place system. so we want to encourage you, if you are shel

in florida, right now we have 600 professionals. that's corps of engineers, civilians, our military and our contracting partners moving generators forward to assist the state of florida to provide emergency power. we're assisting the state of florida to provide assessment of the infrastructure. many of you've seen the pictures, media that shows what's been damaged. we're providing backstop support. currently, we're working on nine hospitals as well as helping lee county determine where its water distribution system is currently leaking. and then finally, we've got great partnerships with our tribal partners down in florida. we've been asked by the miccosukee tribe to assist them on a canal that's currently flooding. and we've got engineers on site and pumps leading or moving to that location. and thank you for your time here today. >> all right. thank you. with that we'll take questions. reporter: hi there. i'm nicole. cbs news. thank you so much for connecting this briefing. if you'll indulge me, i have a question for you. assistan

association and leading age, florida senior living, and the florida assisted living associations. we've activated working with them, the patient movement mission. we know that facilities are currently bracing for impact as hurricane ian is anticipated to make landfall here shortly. following the storm, the agency for healthcare administration stands ready to immediately deploy our surveyors for on site visits to the impacted facilities. during these visits, we will ensure that each facility is maintaining an appropriate temperature for residents and that all other conditions in those facilities are safe for residents. if you are a patient or resident or family member of someone in one of our long term care facilities or other healthcare facility and have experienced any issues during the storm related to that facility or your stay there or the service, please know that you can lodge a complaint with the agency for healthcare administration on our website and that's aaca.myflorida.com using our online complaint portal. if you are a licensed healthcare provider and experience any is

in northeast florida. it's important those folks have the ability to get assistance if they needed. odie over 87 or people of already registered with fema. if you are going to make a claim take a picture but if you've had flooding take a picture of the floodlight on your house. make sure your document the damage. our chief financial officer is going to be doing insurance villages on these disaster recovery sites. it does not need to go into get fema assistance you can do it online if you have questions and go in you can have people from different insurance carriers, jimmy is also going to help people have an ifp flood policies be able to file those claims and get those claims paid as soon as possible. we expect that will be done without much delay from the insurance carriers. we are happy a lot of businesses have committed to provider first responders with sustenance. colors, forever smoke house, anna maria oyster bar texas test we think many, many more want to, and also offer assistance. for those were co

it's over orlando, florida, but it is drenching the area central florida right now. next for hurricane ian, could it regain strength as it turns north. we'll be looking at power outages and how are hospitals holding up through this, and what about the people who decided to stick it out. we'll have all of those questions straight ahead on "morning joe." ll of those questions straight ahead on "morning joe." the new subway series menu. the greatest sandwich roster ever assembled. for more on the new boss, here's patrick mahomes. incredible - meatballs, fresh mozzarella and pepperon- oh, the meatball's out! i thought he never fumbles. the new subway series. what's your pick? blendjet's summer sale is on now! cool off with this hot deal on blendjet 2. it packs the power of a big blender on the go, and it crushes right through ice. just drop in your favorite ingredients, even frozen fruit, and make a smoothie any time, anywhere. blendjet cleans itself. just add a drop of soap, water, and blend. recharge quickly with any usb port. order now on blendjet.com and kick off the

bad enough that florida congresswoman val demings is tracking the response in florida right now. this is fresh off her official visit to puerto rico which is where a u.s. civil rights commission found fema did not do a great job in serving the poor and disabled after hurricane maria, demings who chairs the committee with direct oversight over fema wrote this, our fellow americans puerto rico deserve the response and rebuilding they did not receive after hurricane maria. we cannot repeat the mistakes of the past. that's not all, gillian. i actually got to catch up with mayor nick hunter of lake charles in louisiana who says his town really suffered a humanitarian crisis after lrn laura in 2020. he said he applauds fema for responding immediately to the crisis, bringing in temporary trailers for displaced residents who live there, but took nearly a year for that agency to even figure out where to put the trailers. he also told me that fema's approval process for repairs are so cumbersome that work on buildings like city hall were delayed for 12 to 18 months. he thinks the agency is

now and northeast florida. orange county fire rescue is actively conducting nine wide area search responses on the water for rising water in the central florida area that's happening right now as we speak. at this time the division has received more than 1500 resource request from our impacted partners and filled and in the process of filling 1300. as the governor said there are 300 plus truck loads of food and water and mobilizing to leave to the southwest florida area right now. in addition to portable -- to the issues with cell phones, we are deploying cell phone towers as the governor mentioned, over 100 assets in that arena alone. we want to reinforce and appreciate the fact that we have received over 15,000 inputs to our shelter in place system so we want to encourage you, if you are sheltering in place or know someone who has sheltered in place and we need to check on them, please register that individual or yourself at florida disaster.org/report. florida disaster.org/report. we have made it more specif

, the state of florida.ernment has extensive experience with this. does that help in a situation like this? they can build on the last time that they did this. >> it does, i think that some of the characteristics of hurricane response are pretty much always the same without regard to the intensity. you know you're going to have wind, you know you're going to have water. a former director for the hurricane center said that typically you plan for wind but you run from water because it is the water, it is the storm surge and the flooding that poses the greatest danger to life. there are similar characteristics for each hurricane event. but it is the unique aspects particular to this area that are going to have to be taken into consideration. >> you were the southeastern regional director of fema so you are in hurricane alley. you had more experience with hurricanes in your district than anyone else in any other district. how, with that experience, what can you tell us about what to expect as the week wears on a

in addition, all 67 counties and 50 tribes, indians of florida & tribe of florida, they are eligible for emergency protective measures as well including search and rescue efforts. before i turn it over to my partners i want to remind everyone the storm is not over yet. just because skies are clear does not mean it's safe. water can be electrified, but in the other hazards, stay safe and continue to listen to local officials whether it south carolina, florida, georgia puerto rico, alaska, we will be there to support those impacted by disasters. we have the resources, the result and we remain ready to lean forward to continue to help those in florida and elsewhere jumpstart the recovery. thank you and i'll turn it over to daniel the spanish update. >> thank you so much. [speaking in spanish] [speaking in spanish] [speaking in spanish] [speaking in spanish] [speaking in spanish] [speaking in spanish] [speaking in spanish] [speaking in spanish] [speaking in spanish] beginning in spanish. [speaking in spanish] [speaking in spanish] [speaking in spanish] [speaking in spanish] >> good after

florida is good doing this.t federal response is to provide the state whatever the state need or might need. so far what i heard, no florida request has gone unfulfilled. whatever florida asked for, it's they have it or prepositioned. it's now it's wait and see where it's needed. i do think that the individual assistance that fema provide for people, that process is one that we trying get people ready for there will be people damaged and left outside their home. we put up a graphic yesterday and sent it around to local stations about the kinds of documentations people would need. >> ainsley: thank you so much for coming on. we're praying for your state and good people down there. thanks for coming on this morning. he mentioned the hospitals, i know they evacuated 15 hospitals. the mission supports the evacuation of 100 healthcare facilities. more "fox and friends" just moments away. >> okay, hurricane ian is expected to make landfall near fort myers in a couple of hours. >> the governor will give another update

in southwest florida., charlotte and counties even beyond that, major flooding in places like collier county, san bell, fort myers beach. it's going to be behind only the labor day hurricane, hurricane andrew, hurricane michael, in term es of intensity. it's going to rank as one of the top five hurricanes to ever hit the florida peninsula. david: wow. here is a live look at orlando where the hurricane is now heading, about 1.5 million if floridians are now without power all over the astronaut. -- state. even rescue personnel don't feel safe to eventture out, so we won't know the full extent of the damage perhaps until daylight. joining me now is fox weather correspondent max gorden. what is the extent of the damage from your perspective? >> reporter: so right now we are, as you mentioned, along old tampa bay. the wind is whipping, the rain is coming down where we are. but really we are just on the edge of this storm. originally, it was thought that this storm was going to make a direct impact into the tamp

power outage tracker looks like at least 75% of the coastal areas of florida into central florida are out and storm system affecting the northern and eastern part of the state. we look at the storm size, 40 mile per hour plus is a huge wide swath, over 300 miles wide of possibility of tropical storm force winds and will affect coastal south carolina friday into saturday, still strong winds with this and storm surge is going to be the biggest concern going through the next couple of days. tropical storm warning up and down the coast and hurricane warnings even though the storm has been downgraded to tropical storm. hurricane watch in effect because of the hurricane force gusts and what happens if it does intensify back into a hurricane when it gets into the warm water of the atlantic. here are watches and warnings, the storm surge we've been talking about is most deadly part of a hurricane, in effect for coastal areas, west coast of florida and now toward the northeast florida coastline in toward georgia and carolinas toward myrtle beach, here is latest tracking as we go through time.

>> like you said, it is not florida's first rodeo and we'll be working closely with florida's agenciesn operation centers to identify unmet needs. >> todd: jacob, next busy 24, 48, 72 hours, please stay safe and thank you for what you are doing on behalf of the people of florida. we appreciate it. washington state sheriff says politicians have lost control of the homeless camp they set up in his city and he's here to tell us how dangerous the situation is. >> carley: that's right. hurricane ian 100 miles off the coast of florida, we'll be covering it all morning long, don't go anywhere. why do nearly one million businesses choose stamps.com to mail and ship? no more trips to the post office no more paying full price for postage and great rates from usps and ups mail letters ship packages anytime anywhere for less a lot less get our special tv offer a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again * * >> carley: back with headlineups, starting with this. u.s. officials investigating apparent sabotage of the nord stream 2 gas peep

florida search and rescue teams are staged in miami and also in central florida.s to bear. we have fema teams that have come in from out of state. virginia one and two that just literally came back from puerto rico in miami also there to assist. out of the eight teams in florida five are activated. they will have search and rescue dogs. they will have swift water boats. they will go from door to door with engineers and trauma surgeons as soon as as it is safe for them to make access to those neighborhoods. they goal from door to door to administer life-saving support to their missions. when it comes to hurricane response. i will put the state of florida up against any of the 50 states. we have the best professionals and, governor, this the largest response i have ever seen in this state. it's amazing work you and your team have have done. training for their life for this mission. stay safe. as the governor said hunker down. now is not the time to hit the roads. so we'll be, of course, monitoring the impacts as soon as those -- as soon as the storm moves its way in

florida.r. storm surge 18 feet. gulf of mexico literally pouring in -- fort myers a bullseye. >> growing in strength overnight and velocity by 50%, it started as a category 3 to the brink of a cat 5, spanning the entire width of florida, i hurricane ian tied with hurricane charlie. tornado watches from daytona beach from orlando to west palm beach, and live team coverage for you on hurricane ian. we have fox news jonathan life in atlantic beach with the latest. reporter: you are talking about hurricane affecting the state. case in point. it made landfall in southwest florida. i am in northeast florida and you can see how blustery it is, not yet hurricane force wins but blustery -- winds but blustery, behind me heavy surf, natural dunes protect much of the coastal city. but you have public access points, a couple hours ago some heavy equipment came in and moved sand to temporarily block this low low lying point in hopes of preventing some hef heavier surf from getting in. here in florida the co

florida. how you doing down there? >> we're feeling the winds starting to whip up in st. petersburg. you can see the trees blowing behind me. the palm trees have been going nuts all afternoon. we're expecting hurricane-force winds in the st. petersburg area. a big concern is the rain. we're expecting up to 2 feet of rainfall here in st. petersburg, as well as parts of inland florida. that's a major concern as we move throughout the evening hours into tomorrow. one thing that i want to talk about is the reverse storm surge we've seen in tampa bay. initially we thought the storm was going to be hitting tampa bay right on, but it hit farther to the south. because we've been on the northern edge of this storm, the winds actually push the water out of tampa bay it was surreal not seeing water in there. people have been walking along the bay. that's not advised. but the water many return to the bay. you know, we're going to see storm surge, a very intense storm surge, kick up in the next few hours a

we will still be dealing with this in central florida in the northeast coast of florida and then theoutheast u.s. long after it was left southwest florida. >> jesse: is there any chance it could get squirrely and wiggle east or west in a more dramatic way or do you still think it's going to heading up the southeast coast? >> yes. it shouldn't be too dramatic. but there are these wobbles that happen and we have seen that and these last few days a track change overall. people watch the models all the time, trying to figure it out ahead of time. but the general idea is that this will exit north of daytona beach, and when i say it, the center, the storm or hurricane itself is enormous as has been talked about. the center of escalation should exit north of daytona beach and get out to the atlantic before curving back in maybe towards georgia or south carolina. but that's the center. again, we have to keep that very point in mind here that the effects extend well out from that center and they will go all the way up into north carolina, those impacts. >> jesse: forgive me if i sound like an

please stay out of the area in central florida and southwest florida. let the crews do what they need to do. coming in full force and we need you out of our way so we can get our job done. >> thank you. >> and know as this exits the state it's going into the atlantic ocean and it's going to impact other states in our country looking at georgia, south carolina, north carolina, may have impacts and it's a lot of water and you're going to have flooding in those other states as well. of course, they're not going to have to deal with the catastrophic impact that florida suffered on the southwest coast, but this thing is not done creating damage. this thing is going to continue to move. so, i know they've declared state of emergencies in many of those states and they're going to have to deal with this storm, which is reeking havoc across our state, but it's going to end up wreaking havoc in communities across the southeastern part of the united states. yes. >> governor, you made a comment about a pattern for the 911 calls and the surveys. is there an area tha

and said federal aid is on its way to florida. >> this could be the deadliest hurricane in florida's history. when conditions allow it, i'll gonna be going to florida. >> will you be talking to florida ron desantis when you're down there? >> the answer is yes if he wants to see. >> let's go right to nbc meteorologist, michelle grossman. i know michelle, that we got the 11 pm update from the national weather center just moments ago. what did you learn? >> hi there stephanie great to see you. well it's strengthened even further, so back to a category one storm. we're looking at 80 mile per hour winds. it did weaken earlier this morning to a tropical storm, dropped into the atlantic, and gain some strength. it will make landfall as a category one storm sometime tomorrow afternoon. we are looking at a camera at a hurricane once again. we had a little break, but once again the chance for life-threatening storm surge, life-threatening flash flooding, , winds that could cause power outages. it's moving northeast to ten miles per hour and we do expect it to pick up some speed as it goes to t

petersburg, florida. bill, let me begin with you. just because ian has weakened to a tropical storm doesn't mean it's any less dangerous. >> it's not the catastrophe that we've seen in those pictures. those are the first images that i've had a chance to look at where the worst of the storm surge was. that's unfortunately what i was afraid of when we knew a category four was going to make a landfall. the causeway there, the bridge collapse, they can't get anything out there. all you can see is aerial pictures out there right now. that's the only way out of the island. the new update from the hurricane center, it's back over water. they made it over the warm waters of the atlantic. it's been a rough morning north of orlando, the lake mary, sandford area, daytona beach. still gusting to 71 miles per hour. there's some storm surge. we're approaching high tide. it's not pretty in northeast florida this morning and the hurricane center just brought this back up to 70-mile-per-hour winds. we're almost back to hu

the hurricane is slamming florida.ohn kerry thought it was the perfect time to tout biden on the climate. >> the inflation reduction act will be an accelerator of action. it has really serious money as incentive for the deployment of renewables. for the manufacture of renewables. for the deployment of electric vehicles, the infrastructure for it. this is a job creator. >> laura: mollie? >> there is this wide held conspiracy theory on the left that manmade climate change is the cause of hurricanes, which is just absurd on its face. we've had hurricanes ever since the dawn of creation. they average, you know, i think the average number of hurricanes from 1851 to 1860 was 19. that was the same number that we will had between 2011 and 2020. there are more people living in coastal regions, that does mean that costs go up when haines hit. but there's just no evidence for this theory that people keep holding. and then also, the number of years -- even if you believed all of sort of the propaganda that comes with the legislati

we had it north florida and that has been consistently moved maurice into the florida peninsula. yesterday evening a lot of solutions bringing it into tampa bay. now it is bringing the landfall into the sarasota area. there is still uncertainty with where the exact landfall will be. just understand the impacts will be far, far broader than just from the eye of the storm happens to make landfall. in some areas, there will be catastrophic flooding and life-threatening storm surge. if you are on florida's gulf coast from naples through the tampa bay area and counties north of that, that could be something that happens and will certainly happen in some parts of florida's gulf coast. i know there are folks in southwest florida who remember hurricane charley, was projected to make direct impact into tampa bay and then it turned and went into southwest florida. i would just say the track may end up doing something similar but this is a much different storm. charlie was smaller. it was a category 4, most of the damage from charlie was from wind and wind destruction. what we have here is

towards north florida. and then in towards the carolinas. we are not done yet. that's the bottom line. and we are still going to see the potential for storm surge warnings. the storm surge high for southwestern florida and northeastern florida in towards the southeast. we will keep you up to date, of course. back to you pete and brian and ainsley. >> ainsley: thank you, janice. >> brian: state emergency virginia. governor youngkin said that yesterday on the couch that they know is going to be heading to them shortly. right now it's about northeast florida where the focus is going to be. we are going to get it all revealed in about an hour when the sun comes up. >> ainsley: my sister-in-law south carolina i was writing her. how are high rise condo on the beach. they were sending us pictures of the tennis courts down below. and you could could see some water on the tennis court they said gosh the waves on our tennis court. a few hours later, here it is. this is the first picture they sent me. and then they se

i am happy that volunteer florida is now activated the florida disaster fund.es people say, hey, we want to help, what can we do? there are two things you can do. one, send some donations, money. the other can be donate your time. what's not helpful is sending items and sending things. we have a lot of stuff prepositioned. if there is a need for other stuff, kevin and his team, fema, these groups can work to provide that. but if you provide money to volunteer organizations and charity groups, they make a big impact in people's lives. if you are willing to volunteer your time there will be a lot of people that will need help on the back end of this thing. if you want to contribute go to florida disaster fund.org or text disaster to 20222. for those who want to volunteer, we have an official volunteer portal at voluntary florida, www.volunteer florida.org to find volunteer opportunities. this storm is to go a number on the state of florida. it is going to continue to move through this state today and through much of tomorrow and there is going to continue to be a

cnn knows of ten other storm-related deaths in florida. officials expect that number to go up, as does president biden. >> this could be the deadliest hurricane in florida's history. the numbers are still unclear, but we're hearing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life. >> florida senator rick scott also noted yesterday many times more people die after the storm than during the actual storm. that's because of falling power lines, falling trees, electrical accidents from items such as generators. the risk from ian is nowhere close to over. it has weakened to a tropical storm but it is expected to gain strength over the atlantic and become a hurricane once again before battering south carolina tomorrow. our teams are spread across the hardest-hit regions of florida to cover this historic storm. let's start with our brian todd who has been surveying the damage traveling down florida's west coast from st. petersburg south to naples. brian, water has started receding where you are. what did the water leave behind? >> reporter: t

along the southwestern florida coast.acking 150 miles per hour sustained winds. more than 1.1 million people are already without power. those who chose not to evacuate are now riding out the storm and water may really be the biggest problem as you just heard from authorities, the biggest problem to come in the form of both storm surge and pounding rain. florida's governor said just moments ago the surge has hit 1. we are watching that closely. we have correspondents stationed all over florida tonight. we will bring you the best video, the live images, and all of the video through the day showing the force of this storm and we will speak live with lawmakers and emergency officials throughout the hour. correspondent will nunley of fox weather is in fort myers, florida tonight. still getting battered by hurricane ian. will? >> and, bret, no doubt. you are looking on with misbelief unimaginable emergency taking place across the state of florida. we are about 10 minutes outside of the immediately downtown fort myers. we had to

florida. hurricane ian just made landfall in the last hour. this hurricane, which is currently just shy of a category 5 with winds of 155 miles per hour is exceptionally dangerous even by the standards of hurricane-battered florida. the storm measures 600 miles across which means hurricane-force winds will be face across 80 miles of coastline. the storm is moving so slowly that parts of the state are expected to get two to three months' worth of rain in two days. the big threat right now, that massive storm surge. areas just south of where ian has made landfall are bracing for 18 feet of water. here is the scene in hard-hit naples, florida, where cars are submerged in florida waters. this video from sanibel island just south of where ian made landfall shows water rapidly flowing into the streets. officials say the storm surge coupled with the rain are the top safety concerns for the millions of floridians in this storm's path. those who have not evacuated are urged to shelter in place immediat

they want a bit in the florida governor a bit six hours now. we are live now in tampa, florida. and tempo was spared, not the worst, but what does tampa look like at this hour? >> reporter: that's right. the worst of the storm was expected to hit this area of tampa, where we are right now, but the reality is that, over the last few hours, the situation here has been very lenient, and very windy. things are slowing up a bit right now.the worst of hurricane ian happened about 90 miles to the south you were describing the conditions there, fort myers, 90 miles away from here.fort meyers, the area of naples. releasing historic flooding, massive destruction, as hurricane ian rolled into its path. hurricane ian, slamming the florida gulf coast with near category-5 strength, with life- threatening floating. >> overwhelmingly, that surge has been the biggest issue, and the flooding. >> reporter: the monstrous trumm, making landfall with winds of 150-miles-per-hour. >> i've been here since the mid- '70s. this is by far the worst storm i have ever seen. i can tell you, i'm looking at this

in northeast florida.t is important those folks also have the ability to get assistance, if they need it. over 8700 people have already registered with fema. if you're going to make a claim, take a picture. if you have had flooding, take a picture of the water line in your house. make sure you are documenting the damage. our chief financial a is going to be doing insurance villages at these disaster recovery sites. so if you go in -- you don't need to go into get fema assistance, you can do it online,, but if you have questions you can have people from different insurance carriers. jimmy is going to help people with nfip flood policies to file the claims and get the claims paid as soon as possible. we expect that that will be done without much delay from the insurance carriers. we are happy a lot of businesses have committed to provide our first responders and volunteers with sustenance, culverts, firehouse subs, the smokehouse, and we think -- thank many more who will come and offer assistance. bucky's is

president biden has approved a major disaster relief or florida. he says he will visit the area when conditions allow. both he and potential republican rival, florida's governor, are downplaying the politics surrounding the storm. white house correspond to jacqui heinrich tells us what is happening right now. good evening, jacqui. >> good evening to you, bret. thanking fema, the national guard, and the red cross for their response, president biden said florida has washington's full attention and he will meet with governor desantis, if desantis wants him to. even as biden works more broadly to keep those from desantis 'party from getting elected. >> this could be the deadliest hurricane in florida's history. >> president biden painting a bleak picture of hurricane ian's destruction, pledging florida will have all of the federal assistance it needs to recover, paying all costs of the debris removal and the majority of public building repairs. >> the folks in florida who have destroyed or damaged homes, you don't have enough insurance, it means the fe

it is just inching across florida now. eight miles an hour, moving very slowly toward the very populated orlando area. could still be a hurricane when it gets there. images of the eye wall that came ashore in pine aland, florida. video of the fierce wind and storm surge from just before the hurricane made landfall. in fort myers, evidence of that storm surge just ahead of the hurricane. cars and backyards in this neighborhood disappearing. in fort myers, that powerful wind ripping the roof off of this home. the moment the eye wall hit, the pictures right here. the rains. winds destroying this building. a traffic camera capturing landfall in punta gorda. trees blowing and the gusting rains. tonight, more than a million and a half customers in the dark. and look at the sparks flying in downtown naples. there in naples and in other communities tonight, curfews now in effect. first responders finding it very difficult at this hour. the storm surge flooding this naples fire station, in fact. the hurricane as we said, now headed

meanwhile, florida governor ron desantis says 5,000 florida national guard troops have been deployed as 2,000 other guardsmen from across the country. 40,000 linemen and other personnel are on stand by to respond for power outages. already we've seen power outages across south florida. more than half a million without power. this is a powerful, destructive storm and we'll keep you updated throughout the day on it as it makes landfall. here in st. petersburg, we're on the north end of the storm. it's going to be moving up into our area the next couple hours. we'll keep you updated. back to you. >> martha: thanks, max. we heard from governor desantis saying some people left the tampa area and went to fort myers to be safe. and then it swung more towards fort myers, which we're watching play out right now. you can see how fast it's moving and how i enormous it is. makes it hard to get out of the way of it. steve harrigan has been handling decades of hurricane coverage for us. steve, right now you're in placeda, florida, northwest of forth myers. tell us whats going on there. >> the last

florida's history.aring early reports of what may be substantial loss of life. >> now let's go to hard-hit fort myers florida. a community devastated by high winds and heavy flooding. randi kaye is there in florida with the latest. >> when hurricane in hit, this woman was alone in her home. >> when the search took up my sliding glass doors, it was within ten seconds that the water was up to my armpits. at that point, it was just struggling to try to get out of the house. >> gail sims is 85 years old. she did not evacuate her home and the rivers edge mobile home community because she thought the hurricane was heading more towards tampa but when it didn't -- >> we got clobbered with all the furniture and stuff that was floating. that's how i got this, i got shoved into a wall. anyway, when i got the front door open, and there was a surge, it took me to the middle of the yard. i fought to get back on the porch. >> gail suffered some bumps and bruises, but luckily, her neighbor, tom podgormy, was just a few

at least 17 people in florida are dead.nd a monumental recovery effort lies ahead. joining us now, the fema administrator ana bank. thanks for all you and your colleagues are doing. tell us how the federal government is assisting the rescue and recovery efforts under way right now. >> absolutely. wolf, thank you so much for having me on so we can talk about life safety measures that can help the residents of florida as they recover from this catastrophic incident. we are on the ground with the full force of the federal government working nonstop on search and rescue missions by land, air, and sea, to save as many lives as we can in the aftermath of this storm. there's no doubt it is of historic proportions and we're here to support the state at this time. >> how does the damage from ian compare to other catastrophic storms in recent years? >> so this was a large storm system that covered the entire state of florida and has just recently left the state. we've seen significant impacts in the eastern part of the state as recen

you will not just see storm surge on the western coast of florida. ian hurricaneian --hurricane ian 's will bring storm surge to the daytona and jacksonville area. in addition we will see significant rainfall the possibility up to 25 inches in isolated parts of florida. as always there is a possibility for tornadoes, the main message i have for everyone in florida is that this will impact everyone. in different ways, you need to stay focused, i did speak with governor desantis on friday to hear his main concerns and response for the prepare nest actions. we immediately began moving resources and personnel in, his pre-landfall declaration request was signed. the preparations for this storm have been extensive and it has been coordinated, it has been a coordinated effort between ima, federal, state, nonprofit partners. a little bit about some of the forward leaning posture we put in place. search-and-rescue, we know this will be a priority. we have established a search-and-rescue coronation group that will be in miami. that includes members from fema's