where the storm could make landfall thank you very much also, in the direct path of the storm franklin county, right. >> in the panhandle, again, part of that big bend area with me now is county commissioner ricky jones. commissioner. thank you so much for being with us. and as we were looking at the map before, maybe we can show it again you are right in the path of where this storm could make landfall. what are your biggest concerns right now good morning, john. >> thank you saw her biggest concerns are what we started doing on tuesday and that's getting people evacuated from this area because we are such a low line county really, it's about the health and safety of our residents and visitors the storm surge, how dangerous could that be? feet like they're saying, it's going to change the landscape in franklin county. i can assure you that it is not going to be a good thing. >> one of the things that the weather center says is that that much storm surge would be un-survivable what are your concerns for the people who may not have listened to the warnings you've been giving? >> there's always

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

we want to go now to franklin county, florida, where they've been under a mandatory evacuation since wednesday at noon, but some locals have chosen to stay put and ride out the storm. one of them is nancy plymouth companion. she is currently in st. george, ireland. nancy. thank you for joining us. first of all we just want to know, are you safe? and what is it like right now outside of those windows? >> we we fail say we we have a place in greenville, florida that has been thrown two hurricane passed here and here before. so we feel a lot safer being on the island, them being at the farm that would call it because of all the trees and all the way and it just cannot withstand boundaries. and when just do not go together. but, but here on the island, we feel safe. we're in a home that strapped down with hurricane straps and we're on pile monday and so we feel a lot safer here than we do downing in greenville. >> are you starting to see the effects of the storm where you are and what does it what does it look and sound like right now there's a lot of rain and the wind is starting to pic

franklin county sheriff a.j. smith joins me now. thank you very much for joining us.ht now for you in getting people out? >> well, it's -- any longer and it will be too late to leave. we actually had some really heavy rain a few hours ago, the rain has kind of stopped for a moment. the tide has gone out. i'm sitting under the bridge in appalachia, florida, the water has gone down a little bit. the storm is several hundred miles offshore, it hasn't arrived yet. it's going to get worse before it gets better. if you haven't left, you probably need to hunker down in your homes and stay off the road. that's what we're encouraging people now. don't get on the highways. there's standing water on the roads. there are some roads that are flooded, and i've seen a vehicle already this morning that flooded out, not far from where i am. like, why are these people here? if you're not public safety or something like that, you don't need to be out on the roads. you need to be home, and ha way, protecting yourself also protects the first responders. >> there could be 20 feet of storm

his time as sheriff has been defined by ensuring the safety of the people of franklin county. under his leadership, the franklin county sheriff's office was able to fully staff each school in the county with a school resource officer. sheriff quire's earned the respect and support of franklin county, due to his ability to foster strong relationships, and his commitment to the well-being of the community. sheriff quire's many years of service to franklin county make him the perfect choice for kentucky's sheriff of the year. i'm confident that sheriff quire will continue to serve as an exemplary role model for law enforcement officers all across the first congressional district and the entire commonwealth of kentucky. mr. speaker, this is national bourbon heritage month. kentucky one is home to the world's finest bourbon industry. including such distilleries as maker's mark, buffalo trace, jim bean, bullet, jefferson's, yellowstone and many more of the world's finest bourbons. the kentucky bourbon industry is a huge economic driver for my congressional district. in addition to h

franklin county, where i'm located is under a mandatory evacuation. so are so many other counties that line the big bend of florida. >> if you chose not to evacuate, not know, is not the time to get out and try to move out of harm's way, you have missed that for tunity, the storm is to close the conditions are too dangerous and it is going to go downhill with a vengeance. >> and at pace. and the reason i say that is because we can see let's say buoys in the gulf of mexico about 100 miles offshore from where we're located, with winds that have already topped 107 miles per hour. there have been waves measured at 26 feet on the western side of this storm. and that means that surge is getting pushed up with the strong winds that have moved over the shallow water, the shelf of the gulf of mexico. 1 mile per hour winds. that is a category four on the staffer saffir-simpson, that is the pothat will peel back the roof off of a house that will topple some sturdy structure sure that will also take down power poles snapped trees like they were twigs. so this is s

carter kidnapped a nitra and eventually took her to her grandparents trailer in franklin county. cobern's boyfriend kidnapped her from her pitt county home and murdered her after holding her hostage for a week. hello, what's the matter? what's the matter? doug, dog? "half a century has passed since the protests of american women in 1970, and now domestic violence has the voice of angelina jolie, a hollywood star who was also once victim. most of all, i want to acknowledge the children who are terrified and suffering at this moment, and the many people for whom this legislation comes too late a b'. partisan group of us senators has introduced a proposal to reauthorize a 1990s law that expands protections for victims of domestic and sexual violence. this law was dissolved in 2019 due to the opposition of republicans, which has led to the promotion and increase of violence and murder in american society. angelina jolie asks us senators to approve this law and says, i repeat, this is one of the most important. votes you will cast in the senate this year. when silence comes from a con

anitra kober, carter kidnapped anitra and eventually took her to her grandparents trailer in franklin countyom her pitt county home and murdered her after holding her hostage for a week. hello, what's the matter? what's the matter? doug? half a century has passed since the protests of american women in 1970, and now domestic violence has the voice of angelina jolie, a hollywood star who was also once victim. most of all, i want to agnowledge the children who are terrified and suffering at this moment, and the many people for whom this legislation comes too late. a bipartisan group of us senators. has introduced a proposal to reauthorize a 1990s law that expands protections for victims of domestic and sexual violence. this law was dissolved in 2019 due to the opposition of republicans, which has led to the promotion and increase of violence and murder in american society. angelina jolie asks u.s. senators to approve this law, and says, "i repeat, this is one of the most important votes you will cast in the senate." this year, when silence comes from a congress too busy to renew the violence a

we have so many threats associated with this storm in apalachicola, which were in franklin county and you could see most people have heated the evacuation warnings. we've got empty streets, but still have power for now. we're going to take advantage of that as we can but we've had spin up tornadoes that have made their way on shore. we have the storm surge component to this storm that will make landfall just to our east that catastrophic winds and hey, erin, there are so many trees in and around this part of the big bend and into the florida panhandle with the wind and the saturated ground, these things are going to topple over. it's going to take down power, it's going to take, it's going to land on cars and homes. >> this is going to be very difficult night and it doesn't stop here. >> we know that these hurricane force winds are going to extend far inland and that's really our greatest concern is just how impactful this will be for so many more people than just the coast. we know it's strengthened we know it continues to deepen and if we just look at some of the drone videos, that

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

a 40 drive south of harrisburg and place called chambers berg, pennsylvania, which is part of franklin county. it's absolutely trump country. it's about 70% republican. lot of working class blue collar jobs, dairy farm coming in orchards or bag hear lots of warehouse jobs along the interstate. so these are the kinds of counties that kamala harris is trying to not flip, but at least get some votes. i think it's going to be an uphill battle though for her. i mean, within blocks from my family's home. you see trump flags. they're ubiquitous. you see signs with trump let's face on it. you still see f biden signs that have been up since 2020 so voters are kind of activated in this part of the state. but of course, one of the big criticisms of joe biden in 2020 and particularly hillary clinton in 2016, was that she wrote off some of these areas. and i think that that's what kamala harris is trying to avoid. i usually don't bring props, kim, but these are the things that have come to my family just in the last week. eight of them kamala harris has failed week and dangerously liberal policies kamala

this is the storm that people within apalachicola, franklin county have feared under a mandatory evacuation within the entirety of this county. and the reason this area so susceptible to storm surge is because there is such a shallow shelf that extends off almost 50 50 miles out into the gulf of mexico over my right shoulder that you can be about ten to 20 feet deep and then that shelf drops off dramatically. so when the storm surge that gets pushed up by a massive storm like this reaches that shelf. it only gets pushed up dramatically into this apalachicola bay region. now, i want you to see this satellite loop because it is showing signs that it is really starting to strengthen. and we know that because of how defined this center of circulation as you can see it right on the satellite loop, there's a lot of outflow associated with the system as well. and this storm is just becoming its ballooning in size. that's the best way i can describe it. right now, tropical storm winds extend 345 miles from center by the time this makes landfall, it will be over 400 miles. this could potentially mak

. >> if they chose not to evacuate here in franklin county where i'm located, there was mandatory evacuationse who decided to ride it out and let can honestly say they got lucky but that is just not the case for so many its rampage northward, i75, i ten, these are the areas you do not want to be on the road. chad was talking about his or some of the regions that have these extreme wind warnings and think about the amount of truckers that drive up and down north and south and eastern west over those areas, getting buffeted by 100 mile per hour hurricane force, category two wins. that will topple jackknifed 18 wheelers in a heartbeat there's going to be trees down, there's going to be powered down. we're all have already reached 1 million customers without power and that number is going to continue to climb exponentially and as this storm interacts with an approaching front that we have been discussing for the past couple of days. it is going to squeeze out all of the tropical moisture that a carried in from the gulf of mexico. and you guessed it. it's going to form. and deposit that in the for

now we have an opportunity to speak to one of the sheriff's deputy of franklin county where we're located which is under a mandatory evacuation. and they talked about how the bridge behind me which connects apalachee ev electric cola to the eastern side of this epa electrically river of this has not closed down just yet, we actually need these sustained tropical storm force winds. and why i mentioned this is because tallahassee is just to my east and this bridge really connects us that lifeline of tallahassee. we want to talk about the threats that are posed to this area, not just the storm surge, but it is the potential for catastrophic winds. read along that immediate the coastline. a major hurricane approaching. we know that this can cause so much damage, especially considering the tree coverage that's in this area and the already saturated environment, just looking at this radar and satellite it is. just pushed up so much water. in terms of rainfall, just here alone and apalachicola, we've had over seven inches of rain since yesterday. so the ground is pretty saturated and the main ev

so panama city, we're reading easy, but we feel sorry for fellow citizens and franklin county, which is which is apalachicola. so they are going to get hit with some large, large storm surge, lots of wind. and as you're the people that you've had on earlier, there's a tremendous amount of trees over there in tallahassee and in apalachicola. there is going to be debris all over. it's going to be probably be very difficult to travel tomorrow. so we're in for we're in for a big night here, here this hurricane is very, very wide, hundreds of miles our residents in your city, heating the warnings that the storm surge from helene will be un-survivable >> i don't i don't expect much storm surge here. in panama city well, let's hope let's hope you guys are okay. good luck to you, mayor rowan. appreciate it very, very much and coming up, we're going to go live to the national hurricane center and get the very latest on when and how hard helene will hit florida and then move up the southeast, stay with us highest rated oprah winfrey show of all time. >> we're still talking about it she opened

. >> franklin county was put under a mandatory evacuation order at noon yesterday. do you believe most people heeded those orders? have you heard of anyone refusing to leave? >> there have been a good deal of residents that have gone ahead and left those being people that have moved here within the past 5101520 years, people that have been here their whole lives. there have been those that have been too stubborn to leave and still are here there are those of us that are staying because we do have a sense of obligation to stay here. we are a community that has a lot of elderly in it. and whenever events like this happen, there's not a lot of people left behind. they're able bodied, enabled to help out those raids residents that gets left behind, gets stuck or trapped i think the most important thing to remind people at this point is it if you are still here, you need to stay shelter in place getting contact with other locals that are still here, because the most dangerous thing you can do is try to leave too late and get stuck on those roads in those floodwaters are

he prioritized economic development throughout his career, serving franklin county, batesville, greensburg and eventually on the shelby county chamber of commerce. however, his favorite job was as grand ambassador at the horseshoe indianapolis and shelbyville, furthering community outreach and public relations. we will miss his joy, dedication and fun politics which he never forgot to share. my thoughts and prayers are with his family, my friend, and their children. mr. madam speaker, i rise today to recognize governor eric hol come who has served as governor of indiana since 2017. and indianapolis native and hanover college graduate, govern the governor is a life-long hoosier. after serving in the u.s. navy for six years, he turned to politics, working for indiana on staff in the house and the senate and as well as former governor mitch daniels. over his two terms in office, governor holcum has worked to strengthen our economy, infrastructure, education system and public health. under his leadership, we finally completed i-69. this success came from the work of a generation of hoosier lea

fema has granted individual assistance to a number of florida counties, including charlotte, citrus, dixie, franklin, hernando, hillsborough, jefferson, manatee, pasco, sarasota, taylor and others. we've been approved for public assistance for those counties and more and also have hazard mitigation grant programs. you are eligible. the counties in the state of florida to apply for those grants. now today we're pleased the make the following announcement. as you see, there is damage to homes but also damages to businesses and so you look at roy's restaurant. very important part of the community. very important restaurant here for so many folks. that got hammered by the storm. they are not able to operate out of the restaurant right now and they will need major rebuilding. linda wicker, the owner, has vowed to rebuild. in the meantime they wanted to figure out what options they have to stay afloat. they wanted to utilize a food truck that has been donated to them to be able to host restaurant operations from that site. i know a lot of people will rally. i know a lot of our first responders will eat th