is that what it was like in fort myers as well? >> not so much in downtown fort myers.had about four feet. i could actually look down toward the river. there was a fedex box that i use as a gauge. and the water got almost to the top of that box, which would be about four feet, before it started to recede. >> all right. kevin anderson, the mayor of fort myers, florida, thank you so much. please stay in touch with us so we can continue to shine the light on whatever you and the citizens of fort myers need. >> thank you so much. >>> new video just in to cnn. this is s the flooding lefeft bd by hurricane ian in hardee county, florida. that's southeast of tampa. water nearly reaching the roofs. cars flooded. streets that are basically now rivers. our breaking news coverage continues next. stay with us. smart bed, now only $1,499. plus 0% interest for 24 months on all smart beds. only for a limited time. to learn more, go to sleepnumber.com. as someone with hearing loss i know what a confusing and frustrating experience getting hearing aids can be. that's why i founded lively

myers. kim, right now i'm showing -- and i hope you can see these aerials of the devastation on sanibel. it looks completely decimated and of course that causeway, the only way in and out, that long drive, you can't do it. the only way in is by boat and very few have been able to get there. can you even process what you're seeing right now? >> no. it's total devastation. i never dreamed i'd see anything like this in my lifetime, especially in sanibel. >> it's a gorgeous play, one of the most beautiful places in the state. you had sent an image, kim, from a doorbell camera that i know is at your condo building. my understanding is this is from the third floor and you live just below it on the second floor. let me just show this. you live right below this? >> yeah, i was staying there. >> the water looks like it's above -- what are we looking at here? wow. >> it was -- actually i was staying there as a vacation rental until my new condo i was moving into next week was ready. and i evacuated we

will, fort myers got hammered today. i have friends down there, they've been sending me videos all day and it's been really bad. >> and i wish we could say that it's finally getting out of the way, but it's not. you can tell just by the wind that's hitting me right now, i'm in a section of fort myers, interstate 75 is just about two minutes away from me this direction, downtown's about ten minutes or so this direction. so we're not necessarily on the water front which has been hit much harder even than where we are right now. but we have pieces of the building that we're taking shelter in falling off around us. this is concrete tile or terracota tile, the roofing material that just crashes down. parts of this goes through windows. gas stations, unfortunately we can't show them to you very well because the power's out all around us. we have a couple of street lights that have managed to stay on. but, you know, the roofs of these buildings are coming apart. we hear the tin slap the street here behind us and just take off a

myers. all the bridges have failed and massive sections of the sanibel causeway were washed away by the storm surge, severing the only connection they have to the florida mainland. search and rescue crews have been deployed, including the u.s. coast guard, to check on people who chose to stay behind and ride out the storm. almost every person in this county, lee county, is currently without power. just a small fraction of the 2.6 million customers in the dark across the state of florida right now. lee county sheriff says he cannot give a definite assessment of the number of deaths, but he believes at least five people have been killed so far. 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 p

and i and i want to ask you, because you're in fort myers, fort myers, we saw that southward steer of ian and then we saw some evacuation orders come in place. from what you're seeing, did most people evacuate in the areas that they needed to evacuate as we head into tomorrow? what are you anticipating is going to be the scenario that you're going to be walking into, especially in areas that were particularly hard hit? >> yes. so, you know, you know, we came out with our evacuation aid and then moved quickly to zone c, as are zones of evacuation. but we did notice that there was only about 4000 people in our shelters and those shelters actually hold somewhere around 40000. so about 10% of those shelters were full. so we don't know if people want other places where anticipating that a lot of our residents did not evacuate. we're anticipating a lot of residents actually stayed home. we're hopeful. we're prayerful that we go out and start doing some of these daylight urban search and rescue and looking into the different houses complexes that everyone's, you know, found. okay, some of th

myers. first, though, let's go to cnn's miguel marquez, live in charleston, south carolina. miguel, it's coming for you. >> it is coming. we don't know how much punch ian has left, but it is already start to pour here. they have issued a flash flood warning here in charleston. i want to show you what the bay looks like here. this is the area that will flood here in the city. this floods on a good day, but what they are expecting is a 9-foot tide around noon, around noon, is also when that storm is going to sort of come into this area. they're not quite sure where it's going to hit. so if you have a 9-foot tide, where it floods around 7 feet here, on top of that, a storm surge and water coming down from the sky. you're going to have a real problem here. there goes a police officer through roads that are starting to collect water here. several roads have already been shut down in charleston. they are at their highest level of alert here in the city and the county, ready for anything that ian c

he brought us to downtown fort myers. >> i mean, this is a it's a beautiful development of fort myers, a wonderful vacation destination, great spring break destination. >> for the college kids. >> right. but, you know, when he took us there and he was showing us the different landmarks that we're all familiar with seeing ,at one point he was on fort myers beach before crossing over to get back into like downtown area and knowing what has happened on fort myers beach. >> i'm , you know, with with sunrise is that's going to reveal a lot. >> and , you know, of course, you know, robert ray is going to be down there and crossing over the bridge if he can safely do so. >> i am expecting the imagery to be startling. >> and the one thing i have to say that i think has been more on the positive light for us is that hurricane ivan made landfall during the day. and so a lot of the worst conditions that came through fort myers or when we still had daylight and so you could see the flooding, you could see the damage in front of flooding could be a real and present danger, the storm surge is someth

entire neighborhoods under water in fort myers. the lee county sheriff surveying the devastation, capturing these images tonight. the shoreline decimated. plumes of thick black smoke in this neighborhood. the sanibel causeway washed away, cutting the island off to the mainland. from the ground, fort myers beach leveled. the pier gone. the catastrophic damage. power lines catching fire. nearly 2 million still without electricity tonight. 20,000 florida power and light crews racing to restore power here across this state. florida governor ron desantis. >> the impacts of this storm are historic and the damage that was done has been historic. >> president biden in touch with governor desantis again today. the president speaking of the enormous human toll here, and the real fear that that toll could rise dramatically. the president from fema headquarters today. >> this could be the deadliest hurricane in florida's history. the numbers of still -- are still unclear, but we're hearing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life.

myers. along the coast.of florida this morning, looking for their homes and this is what they're seeing. imprints of homes in many cases. all that is left. >> you have other people stranded on islands with no water no, power. desperately drying to get out. liz bell matthews is a spokesperson for the city of ft. myers, florida. i know this goes without saying but we are so sorry. we know the pain and devastation that everyone is going through right now. do you have a sense of how many people may still need to be rescued? >> well, i did know that in the city of ft. myers, we are just responding constantly. we have been since the evening before yesterday. and it has been literally nonstop. in terms of a number, i don't have that yet. we also don't have a number nor casualties at this time yet. we're still just moving forward and trying to make sure that we're there when they need us. the calls are still coming in. although we don't believe there is anyone in the city of ft. myers stranded any more. we do have a

: fort myers beach now a debris field. in port charlotte flooding in a hospital icu. >> we got people out of the icu. the problem is the water rush down the stairwell that you see there and on to other floors. >> reporter: the causeway wedged in several places. anyone who stayed there now cutoff from the only link to the mainland. more than 2.5 million customers lost power with repair crews just beginning to fan out. officials warning residents that hazards remain. >> there are things that could truly hurt you. in the water there can be electricity. there could be downed power lines. >> don't go on the road unless it is an emergency. >> reporter: damage extending well into central florida. orlando saw more than a foot of rain haunting high water rescues. >> this trailer here is actually underwater. >> reporter: and residents having a nursing home evacuated. this family saying they lost everything and were taken out a window. another woman wishes she had evacuated before the storm. >> i heard the neighbors screaming. we tri

myers, to the sanibel and captiva islands.for a second. this is 50 feet, approximately 50 to 60, maybe 65 feet of the bridge that has collapsed into the gulf of mexico during the hurricane ian that we experienced for the last 48 hours here. this is a monumental piece of the bridge. i don't know any other word than to say monumental piece of this bridge that collapsed. and paul, can we zoom in here to this actual piece of roadway? this one here, you can still see the guard barrier, kind of the jersey barrier, if you will. and you see the center line. it's just laying in the gulf. it's truly a breathtaking sight. wherever we walked up here in the middle of the night, it was kind of like one of those moments where you say, it can't be so, it can't be so. and you know, we're being as safe as we can. paul, can you kind of look down here and just show where it crumbled in the sand and in the concrete underneath this bridge that once held it up and carried travelers. you and me, your loved ones, your friends and family and all of our

it shows the horrific destruction in fort myers.ognize it. located more than 15 miles from the beach and it's one of the hardest hit parts of the state. entire neighborhoods were wiepd out. "the new york times" describes it this way. the storm pulverized roads, tommed trees and set cars afloat. leaving a soggy scar of ruined homes and businesses from the coastal cities of naples and fort myers to inland communities around orlando. i want to go to fort myers. the city's mayor joins me now. mr. play your, i know you have said this is by far the worst storm you have ever witnessed. let's start with lives. are there people who need to be rescue asked have you lost any of your residents in the storm? fbz. >> i have been told we have not had any reported loss of life in the city. s we have conducted upwards of 200 rescues. >> 200 rescues, and i understand there's a lot of people who are displaced in the health system. one of your county's largest health system announced it began evacuating patients. what is the the status of hospitals in

myers right now?> partially, there were about 98% of the city was without power yesterday morning, after the storm moved on, and now, i think someone in the 15% has been restored. so we've got a long way to go with power but local utility and some of the forces that have moved in to help are making good progress and we think that will even ramp up over the next day or so. a lot of our city is without water service or either has very low pressure, so some residents actually have no power or no water at this time. but, both utilities are making significant progress in getting that rectified. >> marty, i was just in ft. myers beach and ft. myers six months ago, visiting a friend. we had a wonderful time. i was going around the pier there, looking at all of the, you know, adorable beach shops. and i saw all of the development that was going on. and all of the construction. is that still going to be able to happen in ft. myers now? >> yes. and i think it may slow them down -- slow the construction down for

>> see nbc's perry meyer in fort myers. stay safe. >> joining us now is fort myers city manager marty lyon. mr. line thank you for joining us i know this is a terrible time for your community. fort myers got some of the worst of the storm yesterday. can you tell us how recovery efforts are being coordinated today? >> okay, well first we got started late last night about 11:00. a preliminary assessment team went out into the field to try and get an idea of what we would see this morning, and then bright and early this morning they got it and started their assessment work to assess not only damage of city owned facilities but private property as well. they came up with estimates to be used for various purposes for fema et cetera. we've got a very storm savvy team, in the city of fort myers, an experienced team of directors and staff, they know what to do and how to do it. so we're being proactive going forward, we have an action plan and we are going to carry it out. >> i think a lot of people will be happy to hear the you ha

and this in fort myers proper. a cluster of boats floating through a neighborhood, floating by piles of debris already so much damage and forecasters are worrying hurricane ian is going to hover over the state dumping more heavy rain and causing more flooding cnbc's perry russ some is live in estero just down the tamiami trail on the road to naples. you rode out with a group of people in shelters how was it and how are they? >> reporter: so we stayed at the hertz arena. as ridiculous as this sounds, it felt as if the arena was buzzing as that storm went over. you could just feel the pressure in your body start to move i've never felt anything like that before in my life we're hearing the wind going there's a hole in the roof of the arena with the water coming down our phones were buzzing with seek shelter right now we're in a wind advisory the next one was, we are not coming for you do not call 911. think about this, they were trying to calm down the children playing toy story 2 as our phones are going off saying,

fort myers beach has been devastated.en out in the community, and you've taken some pictures of the aftermath. how extensive is the damage, sir? >> i've made it about 2/3 down the island. i would say 90% of the island is pretty much gone unless you have a high rise condo or a newer concrete home that is built to fema standards today, your house is pretty much gone as well as businesses. it's pretty devastating. >> 90%, dan? wow. >> that would be my estimate. i walked, like i said, probably four or five miles down the island. from what i saw just -- and our island is only seven miles long. about 2/3 of it, every home pretty much on the beach is gone. there's craters where the main road that runs through our island has caved into the craters that have been sucked out into the gulf. some of the homes on the side streets are completely gone, and there's nothing but a hole with water. some homes just have pillars standing there, some concrete grade level homes, the block is completely gone, and just a pile of rubble. it's like

especially in fort myers.ve this is going to be perhaps the most costly storm in america's history. >> pete: if you have less insurance options and the risk remains high. then those premiums probably continue to go up. >> stuart: almost certainly. i don't see any way around that at all. >> brian: let's talk about what is happening in naples you know that area quite well. tell me about it. >> stuart: the real heavy duty damage came fort myers 20 miles north of my house. similar damage or strong damage also in naples near my house my house dodged a bullet. i have to say. we had a couple of trees down. lost power. no internet. no phone, no cell. and my daughter emma was in the house throughout the storm. >> brian: your house? >> stuart: my house throughout the storm. she had her son with her, 16 month kenny. they are putting a brave face on the storm. that picture was taken during the storm. and the house was ratling and rolling and shaking sounded like a train going through but no serious damage to our house. >>

it struck a barrier island west of fort myers and cape coral in lee county and this is fort myers beach as winds and water slammed the city forecasters warned the storage surge would be unsurvivable, up to 18 feet in some spots a short time ago, lee county officials said people were calling for 911 help, but they were stranded in high water and had to hold back their rescue teams because conditions are still too dangerous. to give you an idea of how ferocious the winds there were, look at this, anglewood beach shortly before it made land fall this webcam did not last long after this moment. it froze and got knocked off line just minutes later. and this is a parking lot in naples during the peak of the storm. this topping a record-breaking 9 feet there flood waters picking up cars and smashing them together, the water reaching the balconies of second-story beach condos, and this refrigerator removed from a home and bobbing violently in the waves. again, this is normally a parking lot. and look at this fire station. the storm surge swamping fire rab trucks and ambulances. fire fighters sc

myers also enables.it's going to be not only slow duration only moving north northeast at nine miles an hour, it'll be a long duration because it's moving so slowly. extreme wind warning has been issued. that's very rare. that's sustained 115 mile per hour winds and stronger looks like heading in right now between fort myers, fort charlotte here should be coming in or in between the low tide and the high tide. but around the entire wall, there have been just prolific lightning strikes, which tells us it is not weakening. if anything, it might be intensifying a little bit. it had what's called eye wall reconstruction, where the larger iowa overtakes the smaller one. that happened yesterday when it was a category three and became a category four in 2.5 hours from four am to 6:30 a.m. and now what you're starting to see is the movements that slowly taking place here inching towards the coast here. it looks like again around ports. charlotte cape coral, fort myers is where the landfall is going to take not y

the worst damage i saw was fort myers beach.ight up to the bridge, the causeway to the beach itself. law enforcement is not letting anyone across. it is some of the worst hurricane damage i have seen. i have been in a cat 5 hurricane michael. definitely cat 5 is the worst storm surge damage i saw on mexico beach. next to it here fort myers beach was some of the worst damage i have seen. houses completely gone. boats. unbelievable how many big boats were moved around in 15 feet of surge was pummelling that area. >> i am standing in the middle of boats, big boats that were pushed in here in fort myers. here is the dock. we are right in the middle. i had a chance to fly over fort myers beach to see. it is horrible. people on the ground and viewers around the country. do you think there terror people unaccounted for? are there people that might be trapped in the disruption? >> yeah. i talked to law enforcement yesterday. they are in full search and rescue mode yesterday evening at 5:00 p.m. there are people that did ride it out ther

>> right now in lee county, which is where fort myers is. we moved here because the cell phone service is abysmal. in lee county, there are 92% of people without power, what we have here behind us is some place that has power, and this is just lined with palm trees. you can see all the way down the road here, all of these palm branches that have been taken down. these are massive branches, in some places they have to be ten plus feet? these things have been lining the streets here. we have woken up in fort myers this morning, we realizing that the storm is starting to curve north east. we went to one of the shelters that -- there are 14 different shelters, people have been going to their shelters, everyone else has been going north or east. at the shelter where we were, minor league hockey facility, a kind -- somewhere sleeping on the periphery of the arena and, some in the chairs. some of them are destiny because people haven't used them in quite some time, but there is this interesting just a bit -- toy story to -- put every hour, your pho

for example, fort myers, where the hurricane first hit last. 2.5 million people are without power. >> i can tell you specifically for florida power and light, we have just over 1.1 million customers across the state at the moment, that said, we've been out and about throughout the storm, it's been safe to do so restoring power to our customers and we've already restored power to 500,000 customers, but majority of lines are still above the ground and that will take time to assess. we'll use drones to figure out where biggest damage is and that will allow us to get power back on as quickly as possible. >> ainsley: ian is hitting central florida and we expect to hear from governor ron desantis 8:45 and will bring as it happens, meanwhile, live across the state. senior meteorologist janice dean is standing by and brandy campbell is back in orlando and fox weather correspondent robert ray is live. we are learning the sheriff in the area is saying he's confirming hundreds have died. >> that is just the worst news we could possibly hear this morning here in southwestern florida and that is w

it's in fort myers beach.is on the ground there, one of florida's hardest hit areas, we're gonna hear from her next. zero-commission trades for online u.s. stocks and etfs. and a commitment to get you the best price on every trade, which saved investors over $1.5 billion last year. that's decision tech. only from fidelity. hmmm. -good morning jen. shall we see how you slept? all right, sleep tracker, let's see the damage. oh! that's not good. you sound... tired. oh, thanks. what? when did i- morning! oh, great. there's two of them. good days start with good nights. so i would ask your doctor about both. calling doctor johannes. no, please, i can do that. all right? so, hurricane eta is causing catastrophic damage in fort myers, and tonight, the mayor saying upwards of 200 people rescued by the fire department, and that search and rescue operation appears to have come to an end. and despite the extent of the destruction, the mayor says that fort myers is not reporting any fatalities. cnn's randi kaye is there f

robert ray in fort myers. let's begin in tampa where the eye of the storm is off the coast. >> the big event will soon be impacting the tampa bay area in just a matter of hours. the story of the day now hurricane ian now a cat four rapidly intensifying. the power and strength and devastation potential. it was 120 mile-per-hour winds at 2:00 in the morning. 5:00 a.m. up to 140. they're now at 155 miles per hour. that's on the cusp of a category 5. that's, of course, the worst of the worst. it does appear most people in the region have sheltered in place. this is a busy street in downtown tampa on a wednesday morning. we have hardly seen any traffic all day. it will make emergency measures easier. the storm is 55 miles west of naples. from there it will make landfall somewhere on florida's west coast later today. with charlotte county looking like the spot at this moment, punta gorda, port charlotte where hurricane charley hit causing massive destruction in 2004. an hour ago florida's governor addressed the new

here's the high tide, low tide for fort myers. the land fall will coincide with high tide and that is going to be devastating for some of these areas. there's the rainfall, 8 inches plus. it's really the storm surge which is the killer. seeing 12 to 16-foot storm surge, you pray for the people that did not evacuate. >> ainsley: great advice. if you want continuing coverage, you can down load the fox weather app or stream fox weather. let's bring in governor glenn youngkin from the great state of virginia >> thank you for having me. we're right here walking with everyone in florida. governor desantis and his team is doing a great job getting ready for a great storm. i encourage everyone to heed his words. they have the best professionals in world dealing with hurricanes. i've been pleased to send some of our teams from virginia down. we have an incident response team that's been deployed. this is all hands on deck moment. we should continue to lift up everyone in florida in our prayers. >> todd: i know you been briefed. while you w

. >> the damage i saw was on fort myers beach. but they have been more than 700 confirmed rescues and is likely many more than that. >> ainsley: florida's governor will give a press conference, at 8:45 a.m., with an update on ian. we'll bring you that life. you will see some before-and-after shadows showing the intent of the damage fort myers. a crew is being sent down to prevent all the looting. can you believe that people would actually steal from other people when they are out of state? >> brian: more than 2 million people across florida still have no power. we have team coverage this morning. fox weather correspondent robert ray is live in fort myers with a look at the damage. what he sees as the sun comes up. and adam klotz's stay in here with ian's latest track in south carolina. first we go to charleston. doug? >> good morning. we are seeing things intensify, and it's up to see on tv, but these clouds are flying across as the outer bands of the storm arrived. you see all the boats behind here on the marina, people have chos

and this is the city of fort myers. large boats a washed ashore strewn all over the place after coming out of the colusa hassey river. before the hurricane made landfall, there were people that told the local newspaper, the fort myers news press, that they were planning to write up a storm in their boat. the outlook appears to be grim for people that stayed on the island who took the brunt of the storm. you see that? this was the santa causeway. these are the remnants of the causeway, and the bridge to sanibel island and beyond that, captiva, it is the only way on and off the island. it is now decimated. five sections of the bridge collapsed. the road washed out, buckled, and torn apart. and here is a satellite image of the causeway when it was still standing. before hurricane ian removed it. ian's deadly rampage is far from over. the storm has now strengthened. it is now a hurricane, yet again, gaining energy over the atlantic and expected to make a second landfall in south carolina, maybe georgia, tomorrow. forecaster

myers, florida. you're in ft. myers now. tell us what your city is dealing with. >> well, jake, i'm standing at first and henry street, which is in the center of downtown about two blocks from the river. i'm watching this fedex box. when i got on the call it was two feet within the top. within that period of time the water has risen six inches. >> six inches in that brief amount of time. your city could experience a storm surge anticipated up to 16 feet in the county just north of you. the sheriff says the storm surge could be life changing. are you anticipating something similar where you are? >> i can tell you looking at the businesses downtown. it's going significant. it already is. we got to wait and see. we're coming out of the edge of the eye and who knows what the next couple hours will bring. >> now at first, it was the tampa area and are you worried that means residents may not be able to evacuate in time? >> there are always residents who choose not to follow the evacuation orders and to hunker down. they're stuck.

>> reporter: we are in downtown fort myers. this is downtown, these are the streets that were completely flooded yesterday, and here's what we found. this is a piece of seawall. just look at the size of this. we are a few blocks off the water. so that's how far this traveled and those pieces back there traveled in the water. and you can imagine the force that it would have taken for this kind of piece of stone to move. and if you just look at downtown fort myers, there's metal that's been strewn around, there's more pieces of concrete as we were driving through. none of the stoplights are working. there's stop signs that are down. here is more debris. this is going to take quite some time. all the way over here, another giant piece of seawall. trees down all over downtown. it is such a mess here. and also on the way we had to cross a bridge, and there was -- i don't know, half a dozen, maybe a dozen boats that had also been lost in the storm. they were just piled right on top of each other. but we also spent a little bit of tim

we are in north fort myers.he caloosahatchee river came through here and just walloped this community. people here we spoke to were describing it as a wall of water, came crashing through their door, crashing through their windows, you can see it's still pretty deep. their personal belongings are just all over the place. even right here, there's a pair of pants just missing -- just laying there in the street and a lot of neighbors have been helping neighbors, the cajun navy here as well and boats have been all around. people rescuing their neighbor, fire rescue was here searching, knocking on doors seeing if they could do some search and rescue, see if people had stayed here during the storm. we have a drone shot too we could show you just overhead of what this community looks like. you can see how much water. the problem is people were surprised by this because they thought, kate, it was going toward tampa and then it ended up coming this way. and if you take a look here, you can see just how strong the winds w

chad myers, thank you very much. we'll check back in with you shortly. >>> to back here in florida, i want to bring in cnn's carlos suarez, who is in englewood, not that far from where i am. carlos, what are you seeing there? >> reporter: well, john, good morning. parts of englewood this morning are drying out and it seems like there is access to some of the barrier islands out here. it is quite dark in our drive in from i-75. understandably, because the power is out. debris litters the roadway out here. you can't get too far without running into some sort of law enforcement officer. there was a curfew for a part of englewood, and that's because the city is between two counties, that includes charlotte county, charlotte county does have a curfew in effect, since about tuesday. and that is going to continue on into the next couple of days, probably into the next week or so. there are some signs of folks trying to get some sort of routine back together here. there are some signs of trying to get back to somewhat of a n

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

fort myers mayor is here with us. all thoughts and blessing to you. >> thank you. >> harris: as you brace for this you have done everything you can do. so your constituents now are doing what? >> some have evacuated the area. others have gone into shelters. but still we have some who are hunkering down and riding the storm out. >> harris: they've been through this many times and so for people who would question why not leave, some folks don't have very many places or options. but there are shelters around you and i understand those were filling up. >> yes, we have had several thousand people have gone for the shelters. >> harris: that's a lot. talk to me about the conditions right now. i can't tell where you are exactly but it is very quiet where you are. i think you have gotten to a storm-safe situation and not near any windows because it's so quiet. >> i'm just outside and there are some wind gusts and the rain and because of the noise from the wind i stepped back inside. we're experiencing the wind and the rain, as

perry, to you and your crew in fort myers, thank you. our valerie castro and her crew made their may to matlacha today. helps connect the mainland to a drawbridge that's washed away. valerie, as far as i know, you're the only tv crew to make it in there. what can you tell us about it? >> reporter: well, shep, the downed trees that you see behind me, this is just a fraction of the damage we saw today. it's not far from where i'm standing, and the people we spoke to there today said they didn't think it would be this bad. some decided to stay and ride out the storm. others say they had a feeling this time would be different, so they did leave, and today they came home to find total devastation. matlacha, florida is unrecognizable, even to the people who live here the community left obliterated by hurricane ian >> it was so much worse than we expected so much worse than we thought could ever happen. >> reporter: john lynch has lived here for 25 years. he and his family evacuated from this two-story home. his uncle lived here next door. >> t

an island off of fort myers. it's catastrophic. more than 800,000 homes and businesses are now without power in florida. parts of the state getting hit with wind gusts up to 126 miles per hour. this report coming out of redfish pass, a sform surge up to 18 feet is threatening important charlotte and the fort myers area. we have fox team coverage with steve harrigan where ian is making the direct hit. robert ray is in fort myers on how folks are dealing with this and rick reichmuth is in the fox weather center on how long the heat could last. given the slow movement, quit awhile. welcome. i'm neil cavuto. a busy day right now and a monster of a hurricane that is big and also slow. that is the problem. it hangs around awhile. steve harrigan with more. steve? >> neil, we had the illusion for the last 15 or 20 minutes that things might be dying down. that was the eye of the storm. part of that eye passed over us. the skies got lighter, the heavy rain which has lashed for hours stopped completely. the winds died down. now the tail end o

thanks, robert, in fort myers. steve harrigan is in placeda, florida where the devastation is just as pronounced. steve, how does it look there? >> neil, it's 77 degrees, a beautiful sunny day here. yesterday this was somebody's kitchen behind me and their freezer. i can see frozen strawberries and chopped broccoli. this used to be a neighborhood yesterday. it's a sat sight. there's one volunteer plowing through the aluminum and the wood. all of these mobile homes destroyed street after street here, this neighborhood is gone. usually after a bad storm or a hurricane, quickly the next day you can see people coming back, picking through the wreckage, looking for lost items, momentos, valuables. we're not seeing that here. either it's too hard to get back here or there's a sense that this neighborhood could be gone forever. the destruction really almost total street by street. 100% lack of electricity. no communication at all. no running water. we've seen helicopters, we've seen a sheriff going door-to-door. we've hea

>> reporter: ana, we came to downtown fort myers. we were seeing all those pictures yesterday of flooded streets here in downtown. it was quite shocking. so we came here, we wanted to see what was going on. to really illustrate how forceful this storm was, this is a piece of the dock, all of this. this is a piece of the dock which is several blocks away in that direction. we drove by, the water and along the dock area and marina, that's how we know how far these huge pieces of dock travelled. we also saw a whole bunch of sailboats stacked up on top of each other and all kinds of other boats. here is another piece of it right here. it's no surprise that these travelled, given how much water there was and how much force there was in the streets here, and with that storm, of course, we made our way here from north fort myers, where we were earlier. we talked to a whole bunch of residents there in a community that had been completely flooded out. many of them rode out the storm, including a family of five, and then an 85-year-old woman w

now it's a show somewhere between fort myers and tampa, favoring fort myers at this point.to orlando where there hurricane warning is in effect for hurricane force winds before it heads to the north. this is extreme situation that's going to affect the entire florida peninsula and may be part of the panhandle as well. >> tucker: doctor, what does storm surge mean? what does that mean and how threatening is it likely to be? >> it's the deadliest part of the hurricane because the golf water that gets lifted up over the shore and then surges in. if you're caught in a storm surge, you will not survive. the forecasts broadly for the fort myers area but extending up the coast is eight to 12 feet above normal high tide, that's what how we measure storm surge. how far above your head it be, it's eight to 12 feet. >> tucker: that's hard to imagine. >> that's daunting. it'll go over the barrier islands as well. it's not a long distance, but where it comes in, there are these islands just offshore. this will cross those islands in those areas. >> tucker: thank you so much for that dr.

myers beach is gone. this is the causeway leading to sanibel island to the west of for the murz beach. it's the only road to that island. it impassable. all the bridges to pine island also failed. this evening nbc "nightly news" anchor spoke with the mayor of sanibel for her concern about the people that didn't evacuate before the storm and maybe trapped there. >> we have significant numbers of people contact us, people they knew that were on the island. we've been logging those meticulously and getting those out to our first responders. we had about 200 household that's didn't evacuate on the island that we know of. and the search and rescue teams are going to those areas that they can get to right now trying to help those individuals. and make sure that they're safe and there have been some people that came off the island. >> as you heard the mayor of sanibel describing there, a huge issue today is that the infrastructure damage is making it difficult for first responders to reach many areas where peopl

this is fort myers beach here south of downtown. the reason why we point this island out is because this image here. this was fort myers beach before wednesday afternoon and this is largely what looks to me a pretty fancy rv park. a lot of structures are made of aluminum. you see what happens when a cat four storm comes and stays for hours with winds packing 140, 150 miles-per-hour. the aluminum scatters. it looks like a tornado more than a hurricane. i see all these structures have been ripped apart. these homes here on stilts are still standing. this homemade of brick is still standing as well. they took the brunt of it in that area here. we talked about fort myers, this is a harbor area, a lot of boats. this is the before and after picture. no chance, everything goes inland and with the wind. this is fort myers beach on what you would consider to be an idyllic southwestern florida day, pre-storm ian and this is what you have at the moment. you have structures still standing. all of the debris goes for miles. that's what the flori

>> fort myers. >> the bridge is out.t ready to go. >> the area reveals plenty of hazards, including a hiss from the natural gas tank. but some of the structures have held up which is in stark contrast to pine island. look at, this flattened. especially mobile homes of the working class and retirees living in st. james city. >> before we go, new images showing the rescues of very, very valuable family members of the storm. and plucking dogs and cats from the floodwaters, and the message on facebook, pets are family, period. and now, try to have a peaceful weekend. ana cabrera is going to pick up our coverage right now. >>> hello and thank you for being with us. i'm ana cabrera in new york, a right now, the people in south carolina hunkering down with hurricane ian poised to make landfall again soon.

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 inland. orlando now bracing, where many took cover in hotels. and we have told you here, this could be a category 1 hurricane still when it arrives. then as you can see there, tracking north, and there where states of emergency tonight in georgia and in the carolinas, as well. our team across the storm zone. senior meteorologist rob marciano leading us off tonight from st. petersburg, florida. >> reporter: tonight, entire buildings swept away. families trapped by flood

we're in fort myers, right? this continues to move. i know a lot of focus is shifting toward orlando, through the heart of the state, but we're not out of hurricane-force winds where we are here. we've been in these winds since 10:00 this morning. this is an unreal scene. we'll have harrowing images tomorrow when we get our drone teams up in the air, our ground crews, to get to some of these areas, hope, again, that we have the cell signal, hope that people needing rescue are able to reach emergency officials in time. it is a tremendous emergency that continues to unfold. tucker? >> tucker: will nunley, thank you. thank you for mentioning communications. if viewers are watching, have family and friends down there, particularly in the barrier islands down there, you can't reach them, that's why. thank you so much, will. ron desantis is the governor of florida, watching all this very, very intensely. he's declared a state of emergency in florida tonight. he joins us right now. governor, thank you very much for coming on. you're seeing th

we're certainly getting a much closer look at the devastation on fort myers beach.opular hangout and tourist spot now a waste land here's margaret kelner. >> reporter: this is what remains of fort myers beach. it's the warm waters of the gulf of mexico which bring people here but yesterday, they carried the full fury of hurricane ian a wall of water 10 feet high washing away homes and businesses in the exact spot where that video was filmed, these stairs are all that's left of the orange house on the beach front. the story of its occupants told by a neighbor. >> it was floating, and they got swept away the one guy ended up in a palm tree right across the street there at that house. he was there for about a minute, and then he was gone. >> washed away by the force of -- >> yeah. >> do you know what happened to them >> they're dead. there's no -- the storm continued for at least another six hours. there's no way they could have survived, and there was nothing we could do. for us -- for me, that's going to be the hardest thing to live with you know, i'm alive, and i'm

between fort myers now and fort myers beach. we stopped at this mobile home park.uffered the wrath of this storm. there were some people that did decide to ride things out here. one man that i spoke to said he was in the inner most part of the structure and watched it collapse around him. there's nothing left of that. he said there's places that -- and structures that are gone. they're no longer here where they were before. you can hear in the background the sound of ambulances around me. we have frequent helicopters taking off as they continue their search and rescue missions. and there's lines of traffic for miles in either direction at service stations. they have to bring out police to control gas stations at this point. that's how much in demand everything is. the same goes for the grocery stores that we're seeing. people lining up in their vehicles for almost a mile in each direction to access food and fuel at this point. some of the roads starting to be cleared a little bit. the linemen and women very -- working very hard to try to get some poles stood up. as

up the bridge from us is fort myers beach. according to the governor who flew over all the barrier islands he described fort meyers beach the worst of them all. a total disaster. one person said it's wiped off the map. a lovely place. honeymooners, vacationers, white sandy beaches, condo towers decimated by the storm surge and the sand pushed up across a low-level island. now next door to us is captain mike, he is a boat captain, the guy that owns the two big airbnb boats. doing it his whole life. he rode out the storm on the boat and was in the water and now ended up in the boulevard. he said the storm surge is something to be reckoned with. take a listen. >> when the second wave came in all hell broke loose. next thing you know you're on the road cruising across the parking lot fast. >> you were scared? >> no, not really. this boat is solid steel. we weren't really thinking there was any risk there. >> at least he had the confidence. his wife, by the way, did not stay with him on the boat. she stayed further inland in a litt

maybe fort myers. that's really where it's going to get to go to fort myers. that's what they're saying. i just talked to my friend. so it's not going to be good for anybody to enjoy your son's wedding and we're going to do the best we can. god bless him. he's a great kid. so we weren't going to miss this for anything. airlines including american delta, jetblue, southwestern united, are offering waivers because of ian . we have you covered here on the air, and we have uninterrupted coverage of hurricane ian on the fox weather app, including live coverage from florida. you can use your phone to scan the qr code that's now on your screen or simply head to fox weather .com. well out of this story. after an hours long standoff, police in pleasant hill have not found the person they were looking for. it started around 6 30 last night when i wanted man ran into the northern breck here. sun valley mall. ktvu american. donna brings us the latest the crime scene tape that was blocking off part of the sun valley mall parking lot is gone, and police have packed up after