it is not -- it is not one you can fight back against. >> jodie fiske, thanks again for taking the time with us. good luck in the days ahead. >> thank you. >> and now to the white house, where we are awaiting remarks from president biden expected in just the next few minutes. he just received a briefing on the federal response to these historic storms, first hurricane helene and now hurricane milton. nbc's aaron gilchrist is standing by for us at the white house. what are we expecting to hear from the president? >> reporter: the president has been receiving updates today, both from his national security team and we know now he's supposed to be in this meeting getting this update on the federal response to fema -- to the disaster that is already happening in several southern states, but also the hurricane that is coming in toward florida. and i think we can expect to hear the president say when he speaks today, first of all, that people should pay attention, listen to what they're hearing from local emergency officials on the ground. they are the first line for these sorts of incidents.

jodie fiske, the public safety director per manatee county. that's right between sarasota and tampa. thanks for being here with us on this busy morning. i wouldn't get your reaction to the woman we just heard from randi's report, who is riding out the storm and sarasota as randi noted, she's going to be on the ninth floor of a condo building with her family. what do you say to these residents who decide to make moves like that as the storm is about to bear down on sarasota in the area where you are right? now consider going to one of the shelters or instituting your plan to get to wherever it is that you were planning to go to ten to 15 foot storm surge? >> it's not just about getting high, it's about whether or not rescuers can get to you if you need them and with this type of storm surge, sometimes that is just not possible, especially with the wind there will come a point where we're not going to be able to run rescue vehicles. and so that becomes incredibly dangerous for anyone to try to say this morning, nearly one in four gas stations in