this part here in gulfport, as you can see, has started to dry out a bit.ou could not drive up and down just off the coast out here because of some of these strong surge that we saw associated with this storm. some of the recovery efforts are well under way here on this same block here. a couple of businesses have already started cleaning up, making sure that their businesses might be in shape to hopefully reopen sometime tomorrow. we talked to the owners of that dog place right there, they sell some pet supplies as well as this greek restaurant and they told us they got several inches of rain because of this storm. considering how much of a threat this was, they're happy that right now it seems like they're city's mayor. mayor henderson. thank you for joining us. how are you, sir? we talked earlier today. how is the city looking elsewhere? >> rain and wind-wise, we did great. got way less than we expected. less downed limbs. the majority of the power is restored at this point. the city was well prepared. the one that got us was having the storm surge come

she is gulfport, florida. just southwest of petersburg.elly, see the wind you can definitely see it and hear it as well. you can see street flooding that's going on because of this storm. and because of the high tide. so we had high tide, king tide coincide with this storm's arrival. its approach as it passed by us. so it brought significant wind from the south pushed up plenty of water from the streets. this is downtown gulfport right now especially in the low lying areas. in sev some places several blocf downtown gulfport have been absolutely flooded out. some of locals tell me that's kind of typically when they have a big rainstorm that coincides with a major high tide. what is not typically is seeing damage like this that we are seeing out here in the bay. we see plenty of sailboats pushed up against the shore. this one that we are looking at here this whited and red one tipped over on its side. quite a bit of damage seeing here. very reminiscent what happened with hurricane ada. you can see one of these peers just rocking and rolling

let's go live to gulfport, florida where we find carlos suarez, the water where you are, appears to bewhat you are seeing on the ground there? >> reporter: so we are in gulfport, that's in pinal is county, where most of the city out here has dried out. this part, just a few hours ago, you could not drive up and down the street because most of it was covered. a few minutes ago we spoke with the mayor, and he was telling us this part of town was under about three feet of water. i just drove further that way for a couple of minutes to see if there was flooding on that side of town. it's all gone as well. that is good news considering where things were a few hours ago here in pinellas county. a few minutes ago the mayor of tampa and hillsborough, she had a news conference and said really, they didn't have much of any injuries and we know the mandatory evacuation order in hillsborough county has been lifted. it was lifted around 5:00 actually so about 20 minutes or so , folks were allowed to return to their homes, if they decided to go inland or if they decided to stay in one of the hurrica

with me now, carlos sarees in gulfport. carlos, can you show us what it looks like where you are?out here spent the day looking at all of this flooding. and tonight they are spending their time taking a look at these sailboats that washed ashore overnight. we are talking about at least three sailboats that broke three last night's hurricane between north. we are talking about a storm surge at the time of anywhere between 4 to 6 feet, we are told that one of the sailboats on the far end of the beach where we are right now broke free of its line, and when that happened it took out a second and a third sailboat, that third sailboat ended up taking your day part of the dock. and we began today over in hillsboro, county, that is home to the take the bay area. that is where we saw some of the more significant flooding. homes there saw anywhere between 3 to 4 inches of water come in overnight. the concern going into the storm, of course, was this storm surge. i'm not really did materialize. now as we made our way on to pinellas county here in gulfport, we came across yet another 3 to 4 f

. >>> i want to check in now with my colleague carlos suarez who's in gulfport, florida, at this hour. idalia leaving a path of destruction behind there as well. what are you hearing from folks in gulf port, and what are you seeing in terms of what will now be the cleanup? >> reporter: yeah, erica, so the folks out here in gulf port are taking a look at several sailboats that washed ashore overnight. we're talking about three sailboats including this one that broke free last night amid all of that storm surge. we're talking anywhere between 4 to 6 feet of it here in pinellas county. just on the other side of where we are is the culprit in this. that sail boat, we're told, broke its line causing that one to break its line. this one then took out that third sailboat, and this one came to a stop just near this pier here where you can see the damage it caused here in gulfport. now, erica, we began our day over in hillsborough county, that is home to the tampa bay area. that is where we saw some of the more severe flooding. that is where we saw several homes that saw anywhere between 4 to

and further south, this is the flooding overnight in gulfport, florida.t's near saint petersburg. we also want to give you a view from saint pete beach as that storm continues to approach. >> abc's em nguyen begins our coverage. she's in tampa. and let's get right to it. what's it like there? yeah andrew, good morning. >> you know, the winds are really starting to pick up here in tampa. and overnight there was heavy rain across the area and a hurricane of this strength has never made landfall in these parts of florida. there's even a tornado watch in effect for the state until 6 a.m. overnight. people in at least 30 florida counties placed under evacuation orders. coastal residents told to get to higher ground. >> you really got to go now. now's the time in cedar key in florida's so-called big bend region, people rushing to protect their homes and businesses here in cedar key, the businesses are boarded up. >> the sandbags are out here. they will have an absolute evacuation order in place. gas will be off. lights will be off later on this evening. residen

the current sure forecast showing it moving up to the, gulfport on track to strengthen to a categoryorning. the governors of florida, georgia, and south carolina have all declared states of emergency. some parts of florida's gulf coast under evacuation orders. as it winds pick up speed, the national weather service station in tallahassee warned that no major hurricanes have ever moved through the apalachee bay in recorded history. warning area resident, and i'm quoting them here, when you try to compare the storm to others, don't. no one has seen this. the storm surge could reach as high as 15 feet in some areas. that would be a worst-case scenario. the peak storm surge, similar to the peak storm surge for hurricane ian last september. national weather service warns, the likely be damaging storm surge up to 200 miles south of the idalia landfall, reaching down into tampa. that level if reached, could completely inundate many of the outlying coastal areas like cedar key florida. you could see how rough the waves are along the rebuilt sanibel island causeway, which of course, remember,

ken, with his dad as co-pilot, will fly more than 2,000 miles from boston to atlanta, then on to gulfportea turtles along the way in hopes that one day, they'll be well enough to be released. >> i've got some temps for you guys. >> reporter: 90% of the turtles that we've moved to rehab have ended up back in the ocean. >> wow. >> overall, everything looks good. all right, buddy, get out of here. >> reporter: these lucky passengers landed at the texas sea life center in corpus christi, texas, back in 2021, courtesy of turtles fly too. them? >> we could not do this without their help. no question. >> you're ready to go, huh? i think so, yeah. >> reporter: veterinarian tim tristan, the director here, says it took a while, but with good care and the help of volunteers, these turtles are now finally ready to go home again. >> if they can make it through our front door, we have a pretty good success rate of getting them turned around and back out to the wild where they belong. >> have you seen a sea turtle before? >> reporter: a crowd gathered at the beach of padre island. most never get to see