people saw the images of fort myers beach and that was catastrophic. you would go hundreds of miles away. you had major flooding, erosion on the east coast of florida, places like volusia county, the structure is falling down because of that. it had massive impacts. anytime you do this you would want it to impact this small amount of places as possible. >> if you are a resident in florida, there was one that commented. gov. desantis: my concern is protecting the people of florida, being ready to go. we have done that. in florida you have to do this. it is something we put a lot of time and effort to through the course of each year, knowing there will be times when you will have to activate it. we had a major one last year. one of the most expensive on record. we were hoping not to have any this year and we would get off lucky but that was not in the cards. it has been our focus, getting all of the stuff ramped up. the county is by and large i think have done a good job. things are going to happen over the next few days that will require a lot of suppor

that is three feet higher than what was predicted for hurricane ian at fort myers beach. heed the warnings. if you are in the big bend area, your emergency managers are calling for evacuation, please do it. i was on the phone with john mcdonald, he is greatly concerned about -- 12-13 feet of storm surge there. we have to act now. we have launched our state assistance information line. 800-342-3557. residents can call and find out about how to prepare. road closures, alternate routes available, open shelters. shelters designed for medically dependent individuals and reentry information once it is safe to return. you can get up-to-date information on our website. we were with the cfo and i would reiterate what he said earlier today. take pictures of your home now. so that when the storm happens if you have damage, you have before and after pictures. take pictures of the interior part of your home as well. then please do not be taken advantage of after the storm. make sure you don't do any cash transactions, don't sign anything. if you have any issues when it comes to insura

the outer bands also reaching fort myers beach, which, of course, is the last place that needs this. that's where hurricane ian did so much damage nearly a year ago. the winds also picking up in sarasota tonight. and in florida's big bend region, where the hurricane may very well make landfall, north and west of tampa, the vulnerable barrier island of cedar key boarded up. most everyone is gone tonight. at this hour, the newest track coming in just late today. a slight shift in that track. ginger will take us right through it. where it will now hit. hurricane idalia now about 200 miles from tampa, moving at 16 miles an hour. expected to make landfall north of tampa. so, let's find out where, and of course, we always know that this path could still shift. let's get right to chief meteorologist ginger zee, where the winds are already whipping tonight on treasure island, florida. ginger? >> reporter: hey, david. we'll be with you for every wobble of that track overnight. bull right behind me, the darkening skies, the outer bands of idalia. the center is 150 miles to my southwest. that t

let's take a look now at fort myers beach that. area too is still recovering from hurricane ian, which hit last year. these record warm waters in the gulf and even in the southern atlantic have really helped to fuel the storm's intensity. it is projected to be a category 3 hurricane by the time it makes landfall. remember, a category 3 is winds of at least 120 miles per hour. and this current track here has the storm striking florida's vulnerable big bend area. the national weather service is warning that you really can't compare this storm to anything because, quote, no one has seen this. a particular concern is cedar key. it's now at the center of this storm's track, about a hundred people in that island area are still refusing to leave even though officials fear that the town itself could be completely cut off from the mainland by a storm surge of some 8 to 12 feet. tampa bay also bracing as much as 4 to 6 feet of storm surge, anticipated there. and it isn't only florida. georgia and the carolinas also under a state of emergency

it was fort myers beach last year that had the storm surge events.the storm surge events. these low-lying coastal areas. and people do live there, but it's every year, every couple years where you're seeing this devastating destructive storm surge. how does that factor in to where people, do you think, choose to live or how they build along the florida gulf coast. >> yeah. well, what happens, unfortunately, from an economic standpoint, when a storm comes through, i'll give you an example, monroe county, it destroyed all the mobile home parks, everything that was down there back in 2018. and what's going to get rebuilt is not just going to be up to code. meaning up to modern code to withstand that kind of event, but it's going to be a lot more expensive because the cost of building it at that level. if you're the owner of a land that has a mobile home park and now you can sell it to someone who is going to develop it, dw you're going to go with the million dollar townhome offer. you can literally identify which were the house that is were build up to

in that's those pictures you saw from fort myers beach and north fort myers beach. had the opportunity to go down there via helicopter a couple weeks ago there are still entire houses off the pads. people living in rv trailers. we still have a long way to go before -- >> ainsley: some people are still living else where inland until their houses are finished. >> yeah. because they have been destroyed or flooded. if the house wasn't destroyed, the house was flood, so everything is having to be repaired. >> steve: sure, this video actually a live image from tampa, it shows part of the bay right there on i-275. we just saw an emergency vehicle but, i know you can't see it, congressman, but there is some normal traffic. you know, the one thing you are absolutely right. the thing about a hurricane is you can see it coming for days, and people can plan to get out and they do if they are smart. but you know a lot of people they figure it's going to wobble like the last year and i'm going to just ride it out and unfortunately, it's too late if they are stuck in their house.

here is a live look right now from our camera down by fort myers beach, florida.me areas which fema now said could be the most dangerous part of this storm. let's bring in once again nbc news meteorologist bill karins. what do folks need to be prepared for. >> another hour we'll get another update from the national hurricane center including the intensity and the path of the storm. it is still strengthening and the path, i this i they'll shift is to the west. a lot of our computer models are hinting at that. just a slight nudge. but for the people that are up here in the big bend area, from perry to tallahassee, they are saying don't send the eye to my community. it rips roofs off of homes and power outages for weeks and that is not out of the question for this area here. from cross city to perry toward tallahassee. the storm surge is moving in today and tomorrow morning. we've have about a 2 foot storm surge in naples and now the water levels are starting to drop again. so they won't come back up again until roughly about 4:00 a.m. in the tampa area. so that will

places like fort myers beach are already experiencing flooding.area is still recovering from hurricane ian that landed last fall. florida's governor, ron desantis, who is urged people to evacuate. he is warning that the damage here could be severe. >> you really have got to go back to the late 1800s to find a storm of this magnitude that will enter where this one looks like it is going to enter tomorrow. so we don't really have a historical analog in anybody's memory, so it is likely to cause a lot of damage. >> joining us now is cnn senior producer, victoria kennedy. she is with hurricane hunters who will be flying through the storm in just a little while. victoria, you're about to get on this plane with a hurricane hunters. tell us, what are you going to be looking for when you are up there? with >> high, abby, thank you for having me. i am here at keasler air force base in biloxi, mississippi. this is home to the 53rd whether recon -- also known as the hurricane hunters and we are on the runway right now. or about to get ready to board the big

in fort myers beach, there were fatalities because of the storm surge, no question.if you are out the day after the storm picking up debris from your yard and someone has a fatal heart attack, episode, does that count as i storm related death? they are reviewing these things backwards and forwards. there are no confirmed fatalities. the fatalities will be put out by the authorities. there is a process that goes through with that. there have been unconfirmed reports of traffic fatalities. that may be storm related, it may not. that will be with the time that the storm was approaching or was on target in these various parts of florida. more updates as the day goes on. we will probably end up visiting some of these areas as soon as it is safe to do so, and we will be assessing on the ground and mobilizing any additional resources that will be necessary. thank you. >> this afternoon, president biden wl give an update on the fedel government's response to hurricane idalia and of wildres in maui. watch the president's remarks live at 1:45 on cpan. you can watch on c-span now, our free mobil

. >> reporter: the keys and fort myers beach already seeing flooding crystal river is now in the cross hairs. this is somewhat new territory for you guys, right? a major hurricane hasn't come through this area, i've been told, ever >> we haven't seen anything like this in a very long time >> reporter: idalia threatens to wash away parts of the florida coast with record-setting storm surge, a hurricane's deadliest threat the initial rush of water comes quickly. at six feet it breaks through doors and windows. at nine feet, it moves further inland a 12 to 15-foot storm surge would be catastrophic. that roofline is about 15 feet right there. look where the water is already at high tide, inches from the back yard. now a double threat from mother nature a king tide expected, when the sun, moon and earth align to produce tides one to two feet higher than normal the view from the space station shows idalia's monstrous size. but its destructive power needs to be seen up close. look at these villages in western cuba, submerged by rains. >> very few people can survive being in the path of major

i talked to representative adam botana from fort myers beach this morning about 3:00 a.m., he said it'st a lot of storm surge, not a lot of damage, but certainly not ian. but he says it's reminiscent of what they experienced in hurricane irma. happy to hear that and appreciate him giving me a call to give me ground truth. we are here, we are ready. we will deploy our response and recovery teams as quickly as we possibly can. you know we like to move very quickly here at the division. we are ready to provide the needed support to our big bend communities as well as communities with standing impacts from the other bands of the storm, under the governor's leadership. we have certainly amassed a great team here at the division, and with state agency heads that have moved bureaucracy and red tape to get things done where we're restoring 100,000 accounts in less than eight hours. so, please rest assured we will do whatever it takes to help our communities recover from idalia. i've got general -- we have general haas here this morning, again, john,ky not tell you how much i appreciate you and

remnants of last year's hurricane ian, which cost lives, homes and businesses, still litter fort myers beachy with how governor desantis responded. i'm olivia, i'm 2a years old and i'm the president of the southwest florida young republicans. olivia grew up open to both political parties but during the 2016 election, she couldn't afford to attend a democrats rally, while donald trump spoke for free. she sees the overturning of roe as a positive moment for local democracy. i never really felt that the federal government should have a say in, like, reproductive rights and so, when you bring it back to the state level, you're bringing it back into the hands of the people. olivia is supporting desantis�*s bid to be president. what would you say to people who think governor desantis is just trying to out—trump trump? he wants to be the next president and he doesn't really care about the people in florida? i would say that's completely false. you can just look at his response to south—west florida during the hurricane, and even after. he's always very concerned about the constituents. his number o

. >> reporter: the keys and fort myers beach already seeing flooding. crystal river is now in the crosshairs. this is somewhat new territory for you guys, right? a major hurricane hasn't come through this area i've been told ever. >> correct. we haven't seen anything like in a very long time. >> reporter: idalia threatens to wash away parts of the florida coast with record-setting storm surge. that's a hurricane's deadliest threat. the initial rush of water comes suddenly. 3 feet is considered life-threatening. at 6 feet, waves cause significant damage, breaking through doors and windows. at 9 feet, the floods move farther inland. a 12 to 15-foot storm surge would be catastrophic for low-lying communities in florida. that roofline, that's about 15 feet right there. and look where the water already is at high tide, inches from the backyard. now a double threat from mother nature. a king tide expected wednesday. that's when the sun, moon, and earth align to produce tides 1 to 2 feet higher than normal. the few from the space station shows idalia's monstro

around tampa general hospital to hold back any storm surge and to protect the patients inside fort myers beacheady flooded. it's the same community devastated by hurricane ian last september. coastal communities are at the highest risk. but inland residents, people as far as georgia and the carolinas also bracing towns in and around gainesville and tallahassee could see destructive winds. >> we could see hurricane force winds as far inland and as far away as savannah. this is now a high speed, high impact hurricane. >> and though idalia wasn't even a hurricane yet, when it slammed cuba, the storm triggered massive flooding, displacing tens of thousands of people back in florida, 5500 national guardsmen are on alert, ready to assist more than 580 search and rescue personnel while an army of utility workers also on standby. 20,000 are at the ready right now. >> we have about 5000 resources at the villages. we have over a thousand trucks there, several hundred trucks that are right now staged at the tropicana field. and of course, throughout the state of florida, 30,000 more are on the way, some

you also have the fact that that was so fresh in the minds of floridians, those images from fort myers beachin. a lot of people here remembered that, and you sort of hope that people heeded those warnings and that is why we are not seeing huge loss of life. cristian, what are the stories of people you have been talking to who have been affected by this? well, one big thing that is happening here is, there has been concern about contaminated fuel. in fact, about 29 gas stations along this region are thought to have had unleaded fuel that was potentially mixed with diesel, and so that is now further compounded by the fact that we had a hurricane, and when is the gas going to be delivered? now, we haven't heard of any specific stories of people unable to get around because of it, but it has been on the minds of floridians now. there are published reports about what some people have lived through, particularly here in cedar key. about 100 people of those 700 full—time residents, officials say, remained here through the storm. there is the story of a woman in the new york times who said that she

venice, fort myers beach a devastating hit.f schedule from where you are seeing that direct onshore push. hurricane idalia makes landfall this morning but continues through southeastern georgia and coastal carolinas through the day into tomorrow. flooding rain and tropical force wind. >> ian: we are minutes away from the 4:00 a.m. update thinking this is a stronger hurricane it's already category 3 perhaps even category 4 as soon as we get that update we will bring it to you. it is definitely closer to the right edge of the forecast so each little wobble from here this will dictate who sees the worst-case scenario. >> jane: looking at the cycle of the eye with the potential landfall. so maybe that convection is filling in, it will be interesting to see. i think some of this is that deep convection around the eye what we are seeing are those spots into the center. >> ian: we have been showing you that camera all night of cedar key this is citrus cou county, that little dot right there you can see how exposed that is. and as you

this was the scene this afternoon at fort myers beach as the gulf coast gets ready for heavy rain andtrong winds. governor gavin newsom is sending search and rescue teams to help those in the past of that storm. meantime, in georgia's some living near the coast are questioning if they should stay or should go. reporter even hodges, talk with some residents getting ready for a dalia. >> plan for the worst and hope for the best gene miles needs one doesn't sandbags to secure his house from the flooding that's expected on the southside of tybee island. >> if it's a >> minimal amount of water, we can keep it to get out higher than that. there's not much we can do 2 or 3 feet of water in his living room is super. it will be like hurricane irma all over again. we just upstairs and watch the water come in and furniture float around the miles isn't the only time the island are learning from history. olivia ashbaugh told me she's been scrambling all day. was sitting at the yard getting propane icing, her groceries and packaging her water. while the tap still running actually been doing that al

in fort myers beach, people there were fatalities because of the storm surge, no requesty question.e out day after storm and picking up debris and someone has a fatal heart episode, does that count as storm related death? they argue these i think things. when confirmed, fatalities will be put out by authorities, there is a process. unconfirmed, i think unconfirmed report of traffic fatalities and that may be storm related, it was happening within the time the storm was approaching or on target in various parts of florida. we'll have more updates as the day goes on, we will visit some areas as soon as safe to do so and will be assessing on the ground and mobilizing additional resources. >> dagen: governor ron desantis giving the people of florida and the country an update on the aftermath of hurricane idalia, including kevin guthrie, florida division of emergency management chief there. we are waiting for a white house pres briefing that could start any moment from now. the headline out of governor desantis, touching on it there, no confirmed fatalities at this point in the aftermath

it took that dogleg turn in to fort myers beach region down there. so anything is possible.is why we do all that we can to prepare our community. as far as evacuation routes, we work very well together here in the tampa bay area. but really pinellas evacuates through hillsborough county through the tampa area. so those individuals in clean water need to get out soon. that's where the traffic will start to pile up. but, you know, those individuals that although we don't have a point of reference having been hit over 100 years ago, the lessons that we learned from the impact of ian last year i think are still on everyone's mind. they understand the significance of this storm and the unpredictability of it as well. >> neil: absolutely. mayor, best of luck to you and your constituents and all floridians as you get through this. you will get through it as you did last year. we'll focus again. thanks, mayor. jane castor. want to update to the mayor's point here. a lot of tolls, all tolls across the state of florida now have been waived on highways particularly out of the danger ar

there's 22,000 living in fort myers beach alone, fortunately for us, the financial impact to those carriersthat area is not going to be nearly the 750,000 claims that her akkadian generated last year. stuart: but you are going to face rising premiums. i don't know what you can do about that but the cost of insuring a home in florida especially on the gulf coast, not going to say astronomical but it is going to be way up there, isn't it? >> i tell people all the time if your insurance hasn't got a 50% in the last two years you don't own a home but it's not just unique to florida. rising interest rate environment and rising inflation environment, the fact that your roof is costing 25% more no matter where you live, when capital costs more in these carriers are trying to expand their ability to write risks, the cost of business, cost of money becomes more expensive to the policyholder. the environment of florida is not unique. applicant louisiana, texas, thank god we don't have the mess california has got, the financial markets are adjusting. widgets the cost of business, fixed our litigation

generally speaking that magnitude of storm surge, if you are looking at fort myers beach, it can take weeks to months to get back on your feet after something of that magnitude. >> these storm surges, they can be pretty toxic to people. right? it's not just ocean water filling the streets, you have sewage, hazardous waste, i remember touring new orleans after the levees failed after hurricane katrina, and that water was nothing you would ever want to step foot in. >> this is a really great point, and it speaks to why it's so difficult to communicate by storm surge is so impactful and why we have to evacuate for it. it's not just the water and the immediate push, it's the aftermath that comes with it that creates an unsafe environment within the community for days and sometimes weeks afterwards. you know, that water is really dirty and a lot of people will go wading through it and if they cut themselves, you are talking about creating a series of problems for them and they may not be able to get emergency services or help right away. >> thank you so much, i appreciate it. >> the head o

remember, almost a year ago hurricane ian hit areas like fort myers beach in south florida as a categorystorm, are it flattened homes and businesses, left billions of dollars in damages in the week, causing over 140 deaths. that was superbad. of course, just because it didn't do the worst this time doesn't mean it won't be next time. the next time is the real question, because of course there will be a next time. there will be more storms like adalja and like iain. when the habitants of the peninsula of florida have known that for hundreds and hundreds of years. we have records of a storm and 15 53 that killed 700 people. but something is different. something is also happening. 150 years ago we started pumping carbon into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels. during that time, the average global temperatures increased by over one degrees celsius or two degrees fahrenheit. two thirds of that warming has happened in just the last 50 years, since 1973. we are starting to see the destructive effects of that warning. today, hurricane idalia became the eighth major hurricane category three o

it knocked out fort myers beach and got to be worried about that happening again. >> absolutelyment that'sready and leave the low lying areas now, don't wait. get out there before the traffic gets heavy and talking about evacuation, don't have to evacuate out of state, don't have to evacuate hundreds of miles, 10 miles, 15 miles. get to a friend's house, a hotel or shelter or pet friendly hotels and shelters. get to higher ground and ride out the storm. the worst we're going to have here as everyone has been saying is going to be a storm submersible. that's going to be probably peaking about 2:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon, 4-7 feet of storm surge on our pi pinellas county, clear water beach. stuart: the schools are closed and the airport is closing this afternoon. are you now formally telling people or encouraging them to evacuate as opposed to telling them to get out? >> absolutely. that started at 7:00 p.m. last night a mandatory evacuation from level a areas across the tampa bay area. i have a story to tell you about a friend that stayed in sanable. he didn't think the -- sanibel. the did

last year hurricane ian, the storm surge devastated fort myers beach in punta gorda. is where gloria pazmino is tonight. gloria, what are you seeing? >> john, i was speaking to people who were walking along the beach just about two hours ago as the sun was coming down, they were walking, taking in the scene, taking in the waves that were coming in. and they told me that they were riding out the storm right here in clearwater beach even though this is a mandatory evacuation zone. they said they live about five miles inland and that was giving them a little bit of comfort about what might happen in the next several hours. now, you talked about the storm surge. you are about 200 miles north of where we are. we are to your south right now. so the storm is moving in your direction. and here we are starting to feel -- it's raining steadily now. the wind is starting to increase. but we are expecting conditions to deteriorate here significantly over the next several hours. now, we have spoken to residents who told us that they were staying put and riding out the storm while ot

i remember ian not too long ago, it was aiming for tampa and then took a turn and clobbered fort myers beacha couple of bullets in the hurricane season. >> stuart, we are so lucky. i mean, literally in a hundred years tampa has not taken a direct hit. but i can tell you if we ever do, it will be catastrophic. my office, the mayor's office in downtown tampa, would be 15 feet underwater if we took a direct hit from a cat flee storm. stuart: in a big picture sense, do you think these make florida a less attractive place to move to? >> you know, stuart, i think it's the cost of doing business here, it's the price we pay for living in paradise. i don't think it will slow down anybody from moving here, a although rising insurance rates that might. can and they are directly tied to storm damage and the cost of storm damage. but i think people are going to continue to come. you know, we're averaging about 1,000 people a day in the state of florida. this is a wonderful place to be. it's just something that you have to get used to and train for. stuart: can you get flood insurance if you're a homeowne

for example, in fort myers beach, people -- there were fatalities because of that storm surge.t the day after the storm and you're picking up debris and somebody has a fatal heart episode, does that count as a storm-related death? they always argue these things backwards and forwards. when there are confirmed fatalities, those fatalities will be put out by the authorities, but there's a process that goes through with that. the unconfirmed, i think there have been unconfirmed reports of traffic fatalities and that may be storm related, it may be not. it happened during the time that the storm was approaching or on target in these various parts of the state of florida. we'll have more updates as the day goes on. we probably will end up visiting some of these areas as soon as it's safe to do so and we'll be assessing on the ground and mobilizing any additional resources as is necessary. thanks. >> you were just listening to florida governor ron desantis and his team who are dealing with the hurricane that is there, that made landfall earlier today and is there dealing with the aft

look at what happened last year at fort myers beach and parts of southwest florida where we had a 10urge that killed dozens in that area. now the forecast is again for 10 to 15 feet -- >> up to 15 feet? >> up to 15 feet according to the 11:00 a.m. forecast from the national hurricane center. the only saving grace here is it would hit in an area that is much less populated than southwest florida, which is densely populated from naples through fort myers and port charleston and other location. >> the dirty side of the storm. what is that? >> the impact of hurricane idalia will extend well beyond the cone of concern that you see on the loop on tv. the cone is narrowing because our confidence level is narrowing as to what the path will be. we are confident it will be hit in the big bend of florida, as you can see there. the impacts, look how large the system is on the satellite image. there are feeder bands moving right now into key west, and they are moving into naples and those feeder bands have the risk of tornadoes and flooding rains and the storm surge is not just going to hit where

for example, in fort myers beach, you know, people, there were fatalities because of that storm surgestion. well, if you're out the day after the storm and you're picking up debris from a yard and somebody has a fatal heart episode, does that count as a storm-related death. so they always argue these things backwards and forwards. but when there are confirmed fatalities, those fatalities will be put out by the authorities, but there's just a process that goes through with that. now, the unconfirmed, i think there have been unconfirmed reports of traffic fatalities and that may be storm related, it may not, or was on target in these various parts of the state of florida. okay, we'll have more updates as the day goes on. we probably will end up visiting some of these areas as soon as it's safe to do so, and we'll be assessing on the ground and mobilizing any additional resources as is necessary. thanks. >> governor ron desantis and his department of transportation and emergency management team there saying that so far they have no confirmed fatalities, but he did acknowledge that there

it's not fort myers beach because it's not a city, but all of these small communities are under waterorth of tampa and especially in the coastal areas. we still have damage that's being done. we industrial trees that are falling down. we still have people losing power. the area now of concern is valdosta, georgia. if we're going to see the highest wind gusts there, possibly up to 90 miles per hour, that would happen in the next hour. the winds are lighter now in perry. where maggie was located in tallahassee, just lighter rain for you. madison, the heaviest rain is over. you're still under that extreme wind warning for a couple of more minutes. from lake park, georgia, to valdosta where interstate 75 heads down to florida, that's where we're seeing the strongest winds left with the storm. we have a new tornado warning north of new brunswick, in between new brunswick and savannah. the on and off tornados will be with us all afternoon and especially late this afternoon early this evening, in the carolina areas, you have numerous hazards, tornados, and the current wind gusts in valdosta

. >> the keys and fort myers beach already seeing flooding.his is somewhat new territory you guys, right? a major hurricane hasn't come through this area, we are told, ever. >> correct. we haven't seen anything like this in a very long time. >> idalia that's to wash away parts of the florida coast with a record setting storm surge. a hurricane's deadliest threat is a surge of water that can suddenly, three feet is life-threatening, at six feet waves cost significant damage, breaking through doors and windows. and nine feet, the floods move farther inland. at 12:15 foot storm surge would be catastrophic for low lying communities here in florida. that roof line, that's about 15 feet right there. and look where the water already is at high tide. inches from the backyard. now a double threat from mother nature, a king tide expected wednesday, when the sun, moon, and earth to produce tides won two feet higher than normal. the view from the space station shows a dahlia is a monstrous size. but her destruction power needs to be seen up close. look at

causing so much death and destruction, certainly the hurricane that we covered last year in fort myers beachat caused so much death and destruction. i can tell you that florida is like a place where people know that they live in a hurricane area, and things really do work, and the planning does have its effect. you know, 5,500 state of florida national guard. they have been deployed. 30,000 plus linesmen deployed. the coast guard put on standby to see if they needed to come in and help those 5,500 florida guardsmen. things, chris, are really organized, and we see it at the state level, and, you know, just listening to your conversations with mayors and executives of different cities, they're just -- they plan for things like this. they really take this seriously, and when things like this occur, they really do react. >> jose diaz-balart, your reporting has been amazing. i think i saw you at 4:00 or 5:00 this morning. take care out there my friend, and thank you for being here. >>> i want to go to nbc news meteorologist angie lassman. this threat has already crossed state lines. >> yeah. >> w

remember, almost a year ago hurricane ian hit fort myers beach, as a category 4 storm, where flattenedses, left billions of dollars of damage and causing over 40 deaths. it was super bad. and just because it didn't do the worst this time does it mean it won't the next time. next time is the real question. because there will be a next time. there we be more storms like idalia and ian. inhabitants of the florida peninsula have known this for 100 of years. there was a steep dorm in 15 53 that killed 1500 people. 150 years ago we started pumping lots of carbon into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels. during that time the average global temperature has increased by two degrees fahrenheit or one degrees celsius. two thirds of that warming is happening in the last 50 years, since 1973. we are starting to see the real destructive effects of that. today hurricane idalia became the eighth major hurricane to make land fall in the united states in the past six years. over the previous six years they were zero major hurricanes. the last 2017 was hurricane wilma in 2005. a lot of this is complic

like, people saw the images of fort myers beach and obviously those were catastrophic images. but you would go hundreds of miles away and had you major, major flooding. you had erosion on the east coast of florida in places like volusia county, the beaches and things like that. you had structures falling down because of that you had massive, massive impacts. any time you do this, you want it to impact as small amount of places as possible. >> what do you think about trump, you know, he is a resident here in florida, he hasn't commented on vidalia at all yet? >> it's not my concern. my concern is the people of florida being ready to go and we have done that and, look, in florida, you just have to do. this this is something we put a lot of time and effort into throughout the course of each year knowing that there is going to be time where you are going to have to activate it. now, we had a major one last year. one of the most expensive on record. we were honing not to have any this year. maybe we would get off lucky but that just -- that wasn't in the cards. so you deal with it.

look at your screen this is the view from someone driving through a flooded street in fort myers beach, florida. the national hurricane center is warning of life threatening storm surge and flash and urban flooding. the keeping hospitals safe, that's a big priority right now. the florida national guard installed a flood barrier around the major hospital in the city of bradenton. it's along the gulf coast. this barrier can be set up real fast. it serves as an alternative to putting up sandbags. and look at this video recorded by a homeowner in marco island, florida. it's in the gulf of mexico, just off southwest florida. the rain just pounding the woman's home. and this is looking out from an indoor pool and jacuzzi. it's just powerfully hitting. several tornado warnings have been issued for marco island. all right. 510 is the time keeping an eye on that. steve, are, as we said, keep an eye on both coasts. pretty powerful storm. and you know, we talk about just that area but a lot of us have family, friends, college students back there. this could affect quite a bit of area back there.

water, again this is a swampy area, not going to be like last year with'ian going downtown fort myers. a beach community, cedar key, we're concerned what that will look like when all is said and done. lot of pieces to this puzzle. every storm is different. >> ian when it turned, we think this isn't going to turn. >> it doesn't look like. we're worried about the people in tallahassee if it keeps going north. >> bill karins, thank you >>> the preparations in tampa, nearly 400,000 people live there and they're getting ready for effect thes of idalia. >> up to 7 feet of storm surge. marissa parra has the latest. >> reporter: the conditions in tam are kind of unique, here for about 24 hours and from my observations, the people who were most concerned, the people who wanted to leave have largely already done so, yesterday we saw the mad rush to the stores the mad rush to get those sandbags in place before they left, and today, i would say it seems like the people who are left are the ones who are relaxed about this storm, people going on bike rides. i see people running and going on walks. when i ta

like, you know, people saw the images of fort myers beach and obviously that was a catastrophic thoser, major flooding . you had erosion major flooding. you had erosion on the on the east coast of florida in places like volusia county, the beaches and things like that. you had structures falling down because because of that. so it had massive , massive that. so it had massive, massive impacts. and so any time you do this, you know , you would want this, you know, you would want it to impact a small amount of places as possible . places as possible. >> what do you think about trump? you know, he's a resident here in florida and he hasn't commented on italia at all yet. it's not my concern. >> my concern is protecting the people of florida being ready to go . and we've done that. and go. and we've done that. and look , we in florida, you just look, we in florida, you just have to do this. i mean, this is something we put a lot of time and effort into throughout the course of each year, knowing that that there's going to be time where you're going to have to activate now, we had a to act

people saw the images of fort myers beach and obviously that was a catastrophic -- those were catastrophicou would go hundreds of miles away and you had major, major flooding. you had erosion on the east coast of florida in places like volusia county, the beaches and things like that. you had structures falling down because of that. so it had massive, massive impacts and so any time you do this, you know, you would want it to impact as small amount of places as possible. >> what do you think about trump, you know, he's a resident in florida and hasn't commented on idalia at all. >> not my concern. meyer concern is protecting the people of florida, being ready to go and we've done that and, look, in florida, you just have to do this. i mean, this is something we put a lot of time and effort into throughout the course of each year knowing that there's going to be times where you have to activate it. we had a major one last year, one of the most expensive on record. we were hoping not to have any this year. maybe we would get off lucky but that wasn't in the cards so you deal with it but that

but let me ask you, you know, i mentioned before -- a place like fort myers and your house got blown away or you know, atlantic beachain, we don't know what's happened on keaton beach, there were a lot of mobile homes there, i'm sure a lot of those succumbed to the storm's fury. just the fact that the alert goes out, you have to pick up, you have to leave, you have to go find a hotel somewhere, you have to find a way to safe ground. as aishah and i said, these are beautiful places in the world to live but you also have to learn to live with hurricanes and being uprooted, and that's going to take a psychological toll on you. >> yeah, that's assuming that you do everything the right way, and as you and aishah both say when you leave, and i say you take your medications that you go slowly, that you try to limit your exposure to contaminated waters. these are contaminated waters, and then maybe you are staying at a shelter, or staying at a hotel, and all of that is going down the line to cause post-traumatic stress and the immediate period following this you are numb, in shock, you are not going to be thinking clearly a

beaches up and down pinellas county. >> reporter: mayor, you told an important story. fort myers well from hurricane ian, which was devastating. this storm is going to abcategory 3. we remember what happened in louisiana in 2005. that was a category 3 storm. people need to remember it really is the water that is the danger here, that storm surge. so incredibly powerful. you cannot fight it. sir, thank you so much for taking a few minutes us. i know you are a busy person trying to make sure your residents are safe at this moment in time. i do want to quickly ask you one last question, and that is about schools. there are several school districts that have closed. can you give us a sense of what is happening in clearwater so people understand how long they may be close d as far as their children? >> all schools are closed today and tomorrow. they hope to be able to reopen on thursday. all city government and county governments are closed today and tomorrow. other than, of course, the emergency operation centers. everything is closed starting now or by noon today. >> reporter: wonde

fort myers. it went all the way up the interior of the state all the way out to the atlantic ocean around daytona beach. the sheer number of people without power and suffered severe damage was probably as much as ever happened in a hurricane in the history of the state of florida. this storm, the bands, there's obviously i'll pacts far and wide and we've seen tornadoes and things hundreds of miles away. the bulk of the storm going through north central florida, what you'll see with all the wooded areas, you'll see a lot more trees, you'll see a lot more debris. there was debris, of course, for hurricane ian. but it was more diverse array of debris. it wasn't all just trees. different pieces of structures and boats. in some cases, that was a big challenge. i think this, we know where the debris is. we know there's a lot of debris. so we'll be working with the local communities. you know, some of these communities in this part of the state have never necessarily been hit with a major hurricane before. i know there's some in like north central florida. they may not have a debris removal contract in place

it down to fort myers in a caravan a year ago, and now it is these residents, this town that need the help. boris. >> our hearts are going out to hope and those residents in horseshoe beach, and we hope they get the help they need. vic micolucci with wjxt, thank you. >>> this just in, just as clarence thomas is revealing new details of the private ships that were paid for mega donor harlan, we will have more on that. >>> and now, a look at what the judge agrees as to the length of sentence the proud boys will serve with their role in january 6th. >>> and a group that is going to be traveling to the u.s. frorom canada. my most important kitchen tool? my brain. so i choose new neuriva ultra. unlike some others, it supports 7 brain health indicators, includinmental alertness from one serving. to help keep me sharp. try new neuriva ultra. think bigger. i'll always take care of you. ♪ i'm gonna hold you forever... ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ be by your side... ♪ ♪ i'll be there... ♪ ♪ vicks vapostick provides soothing, non-medicated vicks vapors. [exhales] easy to apply for the whole family. vicks vapostick and try vaposhower for steamy vicks vapors. hi, we've both got a big birthday coming up.