this is myrtle beach on your screen right now. you can see what the tides are doing and rolling over the seawall. tide levels are more than 9 1/2 feet there in myrtle beach. winds and rain already damaging some areas there. in charleston, the city's airport is shut down. and tornado watches are in effect for parts of all -- both of the carolinas and virginia. of course, in florida, we now see more of the pure devastation, the death toll from ian there at least 25 people and that number will probably rise. we have all seen the videos of the homes and the businesses destroyed, like you're seeing on your screen right now. this is all along florida's west coast. and yet it is still hard to describe the full aftermath. all of lee county is still without running water at this hour. in fort myers beach, it is even hard to bike through the destruction. the messages from residents there, if you can send help, we need it. sanibel and cap teva islands cut off from the main land, only accessible by boat or air after, as you know, ian destroye

and to the north, near north myrtle beach, but i haven't heard of a lot of water damage yet in myrtle beach, so hopefully that will continue to be the case. >> it sounds like from our nick valencia, who was just reporting from myrtle beach, it sounds like you guys did basically dodge a bullet, although it's hard to see that as we look at the ocean right now, but it hit near georgetown, which is south of you, rather than myrtle beach taking a direct hit. but we have also heard from so many people that this is an historic storm, like nothing they've ever seen before. i mean, was myrtle beach able to be prepared for something as epic as that? >> we did do a lot to get repaired. and mainly, our staff were out this week, lowering the levels of our storm water retention ponds, which is so important. so that they could hold the capacity for the water that we were expecting. cleaning out our ditches and other storm water ponds. so taking precautions like that will help. we have a great drainage system here in the city. we've invested a lot of money in it. and typically, when we see storms, an

>> myrtle beach is lucking out. they will get storm surge there, but we are waiting on the landfall. i drew a circle here to kind of estimate where i think the circulation, it's hard to tell with the storm disorganizing itself, but the landfall when the center of the circle, more or less, comes ashore, and you can see how close it is. >> john: bryan -- >> seems like the storm has stalled. >> john: hang on just for a second, here is the president. >> hours away from hitting south carolina. some parts have hit. update you on what we have done since i last spoke to you on this 24 hours ago. i directed that every possible action be taken to save lives and get help to survivors. because every single minute counts. it's not just the crisis for florida, it's an american crisis. we are all in this together and i have spoken to governor desantis on multiple occasions, as well as this morning, as well as mayors and county officials both republican and democrat from places most affected and i spoke with governor mcmaster of so

up in myrtle beach, that as well. but more so a lot of storm surge that has made its way past the dunes. we could see four to seven feet of storm surge, as the storm moves further inland, that becomes less of a concern and then we start to talk more about the rainmaker. here is a look at some stats. ranking on september 30, 2022, at 4.2 feet. still coming in under other hurricanes like matthew, but we are ranking pretty high with this, above four feet. and here's the rain i was talking about. so this storm is going to be widespread. it took over florida. and now, we're looking at it through the carolinas, with flash flood advisories for parts of the delmarva peninsula. we can see that as well. very heavy rainfall. seven plus inches of rain in some hot spots and finally the severe weather threat. that's an issue. we are looking for the threat for tornadoes possible from wilmington, through jacksonville, right on up to virginia beach, as we head through this afternoon and this evening. so we're not done with ian yet. an

and 53 miles per hour at north myrtle beach. the strongest winds will occur into this evening across the northern charleston tricounty area, up through the p.d. with areas along the coast near where ian makes landfall potentially seeing wind gusts up to 80 to # 0 miles per hour -- 90 miles per hour and 50 to 70 miles per hour further inland along the track. tropical storm force winds will extend west through the midlands. these winds have already downed trees and power lines across parts of the state and these reports should become more widespread as ian shifts inland and the destructive winds develop. storm surge flooding is already ongoing as well across much of the south carolina coast with respects of inuntkaeugs in many coastal communities, especially along the central and northern portions of the coast. peak surge values of four to seven feet are expected north of palms, with lower values south of there. up to two to four feet. storm surge flooding will be most problematic during the afternoon. but could linger through the

high tide in myrtle beach was at about 12:30 and so we know the water is hi there. the winds are high and as i said before a lot of water has been trapped inland and can't get out because of the winds and because of the currents. but right now when the storm seems to be receding in certain parts of the state and is moving on to others at hurricane speeds this is when people normally get careless, get hurt and, unfortunately, often lose their lives so don't forget that human error is the deadliest thing that we have, misjudgments, miscalculations, carelessness. so be careful and be smart to i spoke to president biden this morning. he was fully aware of our situation. he promised whatever help we needed, and you would like to know of course he's been here before. he says south carolina is a beautiful place and, of course, i agreed 100% with that. so that is our situation so far and we have a number of people to speak and provide details and we'll start with general jeffrey jones. >> thank you, governor. major general jeff jones, deputy adjutant general. right now the

i started to say myrtle beach caught a break because of the weather, but nearby myrtle beach they are getting very, very bad weather right now. a quick check of the wider view of the radar and you can see how far north this, anything that is yellow or red, and especially red, that's really bad, and up in north carolina as well, and one more thing on the storm surge, it's starting to come down a bit. it was over five feet at myrtle beach. the storm is still pushing the water in but the tide is coming out. so i think the storm has about peaked, pushing the water in. now the tide coming out is going to allow that to slowly, slowly come down because the tides are quite radical up there. about a 4, 5 foot swing in the tide as it heads to low tide. so, you know, mother nature, or the gravity of the sun and the moon are pulling the tide out as the storm is trying to push the tide in. so i think they have reached their peak there along the coast, although there is significant flooding, there is coastal damage that we have seen in pictures so far. john. >> gillian: what do you make, so this fo

you got a message for the people of myrtle beach tonight, travis? hing is, if you don't have to be out on the roads, please don't go out in them. our beaches are closed. so, even if you do want to go out today to the beaches and take some pictures, when the winds start gusting at 65, 70 miles per hour, that's pretty dangerous. so, we encourage everyone to stay indoors, wait until the officials say that it's okay to go outdoors again, you know, and hunker down, we'll get through this. >> travis, thank you, be safe. we wish you guys well and we appreciate you appearing on cnn. >> appreciate it, thank you. >> so, i want you guys take a look at this. this is near total destruction. it's in fort myers beach. cnn's randi kaye 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 se

in north myrtle beach is water has been rising and is past mailboxes. nick valencia is in myrtle beach. already seeing signs that things are going to get better? >> reporter: yeah, they're getting some reprieve, jake, and some welcome reprieve, for the first time all day the sun is out and it seems as though the worst of hurricane ian has come and gone. it made landfall a couple of hours ago just south of us in georgetown but it did bring significant damage to myrtle beach. thousands are without power still at last check with the emergency management, 13,000 were without power. portions of the pier have been broken off into the atlantic and there was localized flooding with roads inundated with water. as it stands right now, though, we do not know of any reports of injuries. we've been checking with the local emergency management here. so far it's just significant damage to the piers. there was cause for concern a short time ago, about an hour ago, as we were reporting, a shrimp boat appeared along the atlantic ocean, just really out of nowhere, getting

as of right now, there are no bridges or roads closed here in myrtle beach, but some around myrtle beach are closed because of the severe weather, and the landfall of the storm is imminent, and in the next few hours we will be getting hammered. i say that as we get another gust of wind, and e would like to get you a picture of the waves, but you ku see the gusts there, and the weather is slowly hour by hour creeping closer to the build wreg standing at. we are told that 7,000 people are without power throughout the county, and they are preparing for the worse tot come in the coming hours. ana. >> do stay safe, because in myrtle beach, the water and tide has been rising an hour or one foot per hour since 6:00 a.m., and so that storm surge is a huge concern along with the winds that nick is talking about, and you can see him experiencing. i want to get right to cnn weather meteorologist jennifer gray who is tracking the latest timing and all of that, and jennifer what is concerning you most about the storm right now? >> i think that it is what nick is hinting at which is the storm surge, a

gusts as afternoon reached 83 miles an hour at work center, 73 miles an hour at folly beach. 68 miles an hour at myrtle in the, 58 miles an hour at charleston airport, 55 miles an hour georgetown and 53 miles an hour at north beach. the strongest winds will occur this evening across the northern tri-county area through the grand strand and pd with areas along the coast near ian's landfall potentially seen when guests 80 to 90 miles an hour and 50 to 70 miles an hour in the along the track. tropical storm force winds will extend west to the midlands. the wind down power lines across the state report should become more widespread as the end comes in the end winds develop. storm surge flooding is ongoing across the south carolina coast with inundation in coastal communities especially along central and northern portions of the coast. four to 7 feet of inundation expected to north palms with lower values south of there are generally two to 4 feet. storm surge flooding from the most problematic to mid afternoon but could linger through the evening. in and around georgetown, pollys island, garden city, litch

nick valencia reporting for us from myrtle beach. from myrtle beach. let's head back to pauley's island right now. we're joined now by the mayor of pauley's island, ryan henry. he's joining us on the phone. mayor henry, thank you very much for joining us. part of your island's pier, as we just showed our viewers, has been wiped away. how badly as ian hit your community? >> well, wolf, thanks for having me on. and pauley's island is a place that i love and so many generations of people that have been coming here love. and the pier just symbolic of the damage that we have. we have not been able to fully assess the damage on the island, because the water is just beginning to recede to a point where we can go on to the island and assess the full damage. you know, it was a category 1 hurricane, and we are between myrtle beach and georgetown. and georgetown was where the landfall was. and being on the dirty side of this hurricane brought tremendous storm surge to the island. so we took a pretty good gut punch today. and we're trying to recover from it. and w

you hear about charleston today and myrtle beach and little islands like sunset beach across the border in north carolina. i know very well. i have been going there since i've been that big. we hope the best for the folks here still in the path of a category 1 storm. >> dana: such a pretty part of the country. devastating for them to have to deal with it. as florida comes to grips with record devastations groups are helping to prepare for what's to come. general scott spelman from the army core of engineers joins us now. they are trying to get the -- figure out what's going on with the water in some of those counties. what can you tell us this morning. >> first i want to say thanks for having us on the program this morning and i would start out by saying on behalf of the 37,000 men and women of the army corps of engineers our hearts go out to the people of puerto rico, florida and now north carolina and south carolina who have been impacted by this extreme weather. we will be working around the clock with federal partners, certainly our great state partners to help these families and co

and into myrtle beach. we will see an outflow through charleston. high tide, this may work in the favor of myrtle beach. high tide is occurring at 11:31 p.m., later than the storm is making landfall. this is still a hurricane. we are still looking at substantial storm surge possible in areas like myrtle beach. >> four to seven feet of storm surge is awfully dangerous. thanks so much. we will check back with you. >>> joining me now is charleston's mayor. thank you for being with us. charleston looks like it may be spared the direct track of the hurricane. you are seeing the rain, the wind. it's already looking pretty fierce from our correspondent just there. >> thank you, andrea. yes, i think south carolina is seeing the worst of what's left of ian right now. that convergence of heavy rain and the high tide that's really happening right now along with the storm surge is just a dangerous combination. although we didn't have an evacuation order, we have asked everyone to please stay in place. our public safety

we're looking at these pictures of myrtle beach. myrtle beach is taking the brunt of it there. it is about the wind and the circulation, that dirty side of the storm, which is the right side of the storm. i remember years ago a meteorologist saying it's like a right-handed batter. a right-handed batter and the most powerful part of the swing is there. as the bat goes around, it gets weaker. those winds are hitting there in that power point. this could be a problem the next several hours. >> yeah, yeah, for sure. i believe so. you're correct. you know, during these storms, the biggest priority for us is the safety of our guys. we get them prepped several days in advance and try to get the team out for their safety. not sure what the next couple hours will hold. like i said, we're hunkering down here in polly's island. it's kind of calm right now. it's coming and going. again, highest priority is safety and we're continuing to track this storm to figure out what the best moves are. >> martha: i have to go. polly's island, the pier there took quite a beating, krcramer. is that a f

cnn's nick valencia is in myrtle beach, south carolina.led this report. >> here in myrtle beach, residents are bracing for that impact from hurricane ian. right now where at myrtle beach de park where the waves are starting to look more rough than it usually is. in fact, there is a double red flag warning in effect. meaning the local officials here want no one in the water. it's surprising you don't see anyone in the water. usually you see one or two surfers trying to test their limits. there is a hurricane warning in effect, some gusts of winds. probably around some 20 to 25 miles per hour. it is a factor wind to this point. there's only a light drizzle. major hurricane expected to come in the early night and morning hours. shortly ago, i did speak to emergency management. they tell me that they are in wait and see mode. knowing that they are soon gonna see the impacts of the hurricane. i'm just getting hit by another gust of wind here. we know that there is going to be a potential for major flooding. especially along the coast. right now

left side of your screen, that's what it looks like right now in myrtle beach as the storm starts to move onshore. you've got the wind blowing nearly 100 miles an hour in some spots. the hurricane, dropping nearly a foot of rain so far. storm surges as high as seven feet. we have our team live on the ground in south carolina. and there in florida, too, where we are only just starting to really get a grip on the extent of ian's destruction. look at the pictures in front of you. this is what it looks like, including in lee county, where rescue crews, this is a live look now, a live look at that location, rescue crews are trying to get to people, with millions of floridians without power and water. we're going to take you live to the hardest-hit areas including lee county, which you're looking at now, for what is expected to be obviously a years-long recovery. i'm halle jackson in washington. let's get to shaq brewster live for us in charleston, south carolina, nbc news meteorologist janice is with us today. shaq ian has made landfall in the last 40 minutes. tell us what you're seeing.

it is not expected to make landfall near myrtle beach in the coming hours. dy killed at least 19 people in florida. the vessel is rising. fort myers beach, the official -- there's nothing to come back to. indians of people across the state still have no electricity. the community, devastated by high winds and flooding brought by ian. he takes us through some of the damage left by the storm surge. >> we are just on the edge of legacy harbor. we are not in a boat yard. this is not ever a boat yard. these boats are now on dry land. here is one, for example. these were now in the storm, but they ended up here. the high winds that came along with hurricane ian. i just want to show you. you can see you back here, from this size, there are about 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 boats. they are right next to each other. they weren't in the water. they are not where they are supposed to be. they're still supposed to be in the water, but they are on dry land. this is a huge piece of the dock. this is also in the water. the water is well on the other side of where we are area this giant p

myrtle beach going to see 39 miles per hour this hour. but as it gets closer and turns direction, that will be the problem for ore county, for waccamaw river, that's the possible flooding there. we have the hurricane warnings in effect right now. here's what the winds are going to look like. likely hurricane strength, making landfall, somewhere between maybe 2:00 to 4:00. but the winds will get there before the center of circulation does. so we have to consider that, too. winds will begin to pick up and there'll be nothing you can do after about 10:00 this morning. a lot of rainfall coming down, too, john. could be 4 to 6 inches of rain in places that don't need it. >> yeah, they don't need it one bit. chad myers, it's hard to believe that ian is not done yet after everything. it's done here in florida. thank you, chad. >> so back here in florida, i want to bring in brian todd, who's south of me, in maples. >> right, john! we've come across scenes like this, throughout the city of naples and throughout this whole region of florida. take a

look at this, this was myrtle beach earlier today. this peaked as the third highest storm surge on record passing, now it's coming down. you can see back into minor flood stage. that's the good news, we have the outgoing tide also helping the storm surge go down, and so we have already peaked and things are improving in that category. tornado watch in all of these areas until 10:00 tonight. tornado, brief spin ups a definitely common. we have tropical systems because of all of the rotation. this storm is going to be on the move throughout the rest of today and the weekend, we are going to have a rainy period for all of virginia, including d.c., west virginia, we're going to see some showers even pulling into portions of the northeast. so while this is pulling away from the southeast and conditions improved there, all of this rain will be soaking portions of the mid atlantic and the ohio river valley as we go through the weekend. so additional rainfall looks to be anywhere from say 2 to 4 inches. could see isolated amounts up to 6 and

hurricane myrtle beach and charleston remain in ian's path . and last night, south carolina's governor urging people to prepare doesn't make much difference whether this comes in and hurricane strength or below its storm strength or somewhere on the line because this could be blowing strong winds as google be all over the state at different levels. high tide in charleston is at noon, so we know there's gonna be water a lot of water in charleston at noon. president biden is already approved south carolina's emergency declaration clearing the way for federal assistance. now let's get ian's latest track from accuweather's melissa constand's er. and good morning. ian is on the move and expected to make its second u. s landfall here in south carolina . as we head through the day it's going to be late friday morning into the middle of the day here, and it's going to be about charleston to myrtle beach somewhere around the georgetown area with it. we do have the risk for tornadoes and some very strong winds. then on top of that, these winds of more th

learn more at viking.com >>> life pictures there in myrtle beach, south carolina. landfall in south carolina, and just a short time from now, and in the afternoon, you can see the waves there on the beach. first take you the naples, florida, one of the cities hardest hit by the monster hurricane as it made its way across the florida landscape. >> we did get a tip that the pier was damaged severely, and this is the main pier. we will train out on the last third of it that is going out to ocean, and the last third of it was knocked away by the surge, and the pylons are hanging on, but barely. the damage, and the storm surge was so intense and so high that was about 12 feet high, it pushed the water well past the houses here. i want to walk over here, and the photojournalist wayne cross is going to zoom past me into the courtyard of the house here, and the water pushed past here, and we were told by a contractor who came here to do some assessments that it is the waterline that was about 7 or 8-feet high here in this house, and swept all of the sand into the patio, an

i hesitate when this happened gets to myrtle beach. thank you. ten people are dead and 200 residents in the dark after carving a destructive path through the state. >> carley: extensive recovery after cat 4 laura naples south f fort myers. what is the damage you are seeing? we see a little bit of it behind you right now. is the town yet in recovery mode? >> all right. we have a little bit of an audio issue so if you could repeat what you said, that would be great. >> sure, carley, todd, what we see is a ton of debris on the roads. this storm toppled trees and flung toys like you can see behind me onto land and knocked out power. thankfully they have been able to restore some of the power. more than 2 million people in florida are without. and i want to show you something, take a look at this. it shows you what it looks like fort myers before and after. it gives you an idea what kind of a monster of a storm ripped through and wednesday. as you mentioned the search and rescue mission to find people stuck in homes and areas is a mess of one pier at

(soft music) >>> hurricane ian is moving in on myrtle beach, south carolina. eserted beach front. there are areas around there that have declared states of emergency. people hunk hadering down, worried about not just the increasing winds, butt possibility of flooding. the hurricane expected to make landfall in south carolina some time within the next hour or so. we're going to continue to watch that. meteorologist samara theodore just told us we are getting close. there you see those lights going in the wind. as the sun rose today, the devastation seen on florida's west coast is truly staggering. look at this video. it shows the horrific destruction in fort myers. this is a city of 83,000 people, put you wouldn't recognize 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

myrtle beach is the fastest growing area in the nation. we have so many new residents that have never experienced anything like this so i hope that and just encourage them to be aware and stay inside. this is not a time to be out looking to see what's taking place and not just the safety of ores don'ts but the first responders -- residents but first responders. neil: mayor, i asked this to some florida mayors in beautiful locals like your own and florida and lower taxes and lower crimes and this gives that pause. they sometimes get nasty storms like this and do you worry that that put as crimp in things. >> the storms are few and far between and i think the good outweighs the bad and thankfully we have so much support from our governor and our state, and we just have a great atmosphere here and you mentioned it and the low taxes, the weather, our government, we have much more people that move here that are positive than we do negatives. neil: i think you're right about that. mayor, hang in there and my best to your constituents and fellow

there's the myrtle beach high tide, 11:18. high tide at 11:41.the time we get through this evening, it's already inland. this is not hitting at worst-case scenario high tide, but we're still keeping an eye on it. it rightfully scares everyone. >> we're looking at 3:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m., eastern standard time landfall around georgetown, right, obviously the storm surge not expected to be what it was in florida. we were looking at a cat four, teetering on a cat five. now it's a cat one. if you look at the catastrophe that we're seeing now, the aftermath in florida, what expectations do you have now with this storm making landfall in georgetown north to myrtle beach with the storm surge of what we're going to see there? >> i think it will be something similar to 2017 when hurricane matthew came through this area. we saw damage to myrtle beach pier a portion of it got destroyed. we didn't see the water going over the dunes and into houses with wave action and stuff like that. we will see some damage on the immediate coastal areas right to the right of

again, cnn -- 's in myrtle beach, south carolina.rtle beach, residents are bracing for the impacts from hurricanes and. right now, we are at myrtle beach state park where the waves are already starting to look rough, you can see behind me, that's a lot more rough than it usually is. and, fact a double red flag warning in effect meaning that the local officials here want no one in that water. it's actually as a part to not see everybody in the water. you see one or two surfers trying to test their limits. there is a hurricane warning in effect some gust of winds around 20 to 25 miles per hour. it is a factor winds at this point. there's only a light drizzle, major impact of the hurricane expected to come into the overnight and early morning hours. short time ago, i did speak to the horry county management. they are in a wait and see mode, knowing that they are soon going to feel the impacts of the hurricane as i'm just getting hit by another gust of wind here. we know that there is a potential for major flooding, especially around the

will it make landfall in charleston, myrtle beach?ht now computer models are saying maybe somewhere in between. one suggested georgetown. still 170 miles to the south, southeast of charleston. it is northeast, 10 miles per hour. a category 1. it does show a little bit of organization finally taking place here. entire state of success under a state of emergency. top of the hour, the latest updates arrive. >> thanks karen, appreciate it. and hurricane ian carving a path of destruction in cape coral, tearing off roofs, ripping up trees, houses, businesses. many residents are now returning to homes affected by coastal flooding. >> i told pat, there is no way i am walking in that filthy water. there are snakes, fire ants, alligators and alligators. >> but this is still florida. >> they are here now. it is absolutely amazing what that water will do. >> my goodness . >> this is disgusting. i would say it's done. what do you think? >> i think so, i hate to say. i know that you were so hopeful. >> i guess there are people worse off than us. >>

to the north in myrtle beach they are concerned about the storm surge, the flooding, the beach erosion so there's a lot going on on the coastline to be concerned about but where we are is these high winds they are worried about. neil: incredible in the middle of that, if you are not in the bull's-eye, you're not missing this, just not as big a target as you were, pounding rain and wind and surge from four to ten feet, that's the range we have been given at this is not full throttle yet. that is still about 45 minutes away but keeping posted on that and other developments closer to every day americans and what they are dealing with, we are not going to have a government shutdown, the house passed a stopgap funding measure to avoid, keeping government lights on through december 16th when they will take up the same issues that brought them to the brink this time. they will deal with this all over again after this. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ this isn't just freight. these aren't just shipments. they're promises. promises of all shapes and sizes. each, with a time and a place they've been promised to be.

of 85 miles an hour in georgetown, south carolina it's a historic waterfront community between myrtle beach and charleston this was the scene on pawleys island right near landfill firefighters using a high water truck to rescue stranded residents after quick rising waters swamped the streets we'll take you to south carolina in a moment. >>> but in southwest florida, they're still digging out and coming to grips with the catastrophic widespread devastation. this is fort myers beach today the scale of destruction is staggering a popular beach town turned into a wasteland. homes and buildings gone at least 21 people now confirmed dead as of late today across the state. that number expected to rise more than 1.5 million floridians still have no power. this is video of people stepping up and helping firefighters pull a man out of a collapsed home in fort myers beach the area known as times square was a fixture on that beach. the before on the left here, a place that was home to live music, shops and restaurants, the after on the right wiped off the face of the earth. the fort myers beach pier ob

myrtle beach now experiencing some of its highest water levels ever recorded. hundreds of thousands in south and north carolina without power now and that is the case for almost two million people in florida. about a quarter of them in hard hit lee county. the sheriff of that county joins us in moments. and senator lindsey graham is as south carolina now feels ian's wrath. we begin with our chief

as bad news for myrtle beach, for litchfield beach and nor north carolina if this continues to slide farther to the north. right now it is almost on an exact east-west line with charleston which means this will be farther to the north and we're already seeing the showers and storms coming on shore. we had a marine warning for the cape hatteras area as possibilities of waterspouts coming on shower. that is where this is going now. winds are gusting 40 to 50 miles per hour. as it gets closer, those will go up. and hurricane warnings are in effect. and as it comes on shore it will bring the storm surge with it. does it go to live river, waccamaw river, we don't know. because they are just getting the bearings out there, showing the hurricane center where this is actually going. where it is headed. is it heading to the north? yes, it is. it is four to six inches of rainfall coming. this is still a fairly large event and we're not seeing the pressures drop, we're not seeing the winds go up. i suspect at 11:00 we'll still be at 85. but that plane has a lot of work to do. we'll see. >> thre

cbs' mark strassmann is in myrtle beach, where rescues are under way. >> reporter: that's the atlantic ocean right there, spilling here into the streets. >> o'donnell: the death toll in florida rises, and the miles and miles of devastation as people return to what's left of their homes. our team of correspondents is on the ground as florida begins its long recovery. cbs' meg oliver is in orlando, where sheriff's deputies formed a human chain to pull a woman to safety. vladimir putin defiantly claims ukrainian territory in a bizarre ceremony to rally the russian people. cbs' charlie d'agata reports from ukraine tonight on the new threats and america's response. and "on the road." cbs' steve hartman has the story of a 91-year-old super fan with a record to be proud of. >> this is the "cbs evening news" with norah o'donnell, reporting from the nation's capital. >> o'donnell: good evening, and thank you for joining us on this friday night. and as we come on the ear, ian is now a post-tropical cyclone but it is still bringing dangerous conditions to most much of the east coast. ian slammed

anyway from myrtle beach to georgetown, likely probably where the storm will land.eorgetown plus or minus 25 miles one way or another is where the center of the storm will make landfall today. >> i have been around there when a storm hits. it floods so easily. we will check back in with you. thank you so much. as i mentioned i went up with the sheriff over fort myers beach in a helicopter to see how extensive the damage is. watch. all that debris is littered everywhere. this was a building right there? >> there were buildings, restaurants, what used to be the fort myers pier. >> how far back does it go? >> straight to the bay side. >> every spot you see there were homes. >> on this beach there used to it be homes? >> you are going to see the empty lots. those were homes and hotels. those were real property. five stories high, washed away. >> you look to the right side here, there are boats thrown into the mangroves, vehicles inside the water submerged. >> there is a car in a canal right there too. >> this is like mexico beach. >> i can see the foundation of where th

stretching all the way up north towards myrtle beach.ion where you are going to be feeling the effect particularly of that very heavy rainfall. here is the hurricane track as this storm lifts through the atlantic. been out there for at least 24 hours. picking a lot more moisture. making landfall somewhere between charleston. getting up towards myrtle beach as you get into the afternoon hours. and then it continues to lift its way up across south carolina and north carolina and areas where you will see incredibly heavy rainfall. winds currently at 35 miles per hour. those are only going to strengthen in the hours ahead as we continue to track this storm. >> pete: we will, adam. thank you very much. intense water rescues are underway across florida today. >> jacob. [winds] that video from bonita springs, florida showing an elderly man who nearly drowned after his car was submerged in water. luckily a group of good samaritans saved his life. they call themselves the collier county cowboys and two of them lemme and his cousin ben join us now

south of myrtle beach. myrtle beach itself seeing strong surges. so pretty touch situation out there as we look up and down the coast. neil? >> neil: we go back and forth showing new video coming in to our newsroom here from florida. so i apologize. we're confusing folks. we wanted to let you see the latest video we're getting. i also wanted a sense of north carolina took in some damage as well. we're told 77,000 are without power. do we the know much more about how north carolina fared? >> well, one of the big concerns about north carolina, as the storm moves up, it will dump water. it's western north carolina that might she a lot of that water. that's something to look out for as this storm continues to head -- as its heading inland. this isn't over yet. right now we're seeing less rain and wind here. the storm is still moving. ian isdropping a lot of water and went. remember super storm sandy that hit as well. that moved inland and did a ton of damage. we'll have to assess what ian does in the hours ahead. >> neil: and i remember sandy hung arou

it will not just be charleston to myrtle beach, will be tracking this inland that will take us all the way to virginia, north carolina, all these areas and may be even parts of georgia will see flooding from the range of, just the leftovers. >> kayleigh: it is extraordinary to watch as we pray for south carolina as we have been doing for florida this entire week. as we have been discussing hurricane ian's landfall in south carolina as now marion and we are tracking the deadly storm as we wait to hear from south carolina governor mcmaster and governor desantis gimmick to santa's moments from now. stay with us if you think you have dupuytren's contracture, there's a simple test you can take—from anywhere. try to lay your hand flat against a surface. if you can't, you may have dupuytren's contracture. talk to a hand specialist about your options, including nonsurgical treatments. mass general brigham -- when you need some of the brightest minds in medicine. this is a leading healthcare system with five nationally ranked hospitals, including two world-renowned academic medical centers. in

we're towards georgetown and myrtle beach. but the max winds, 96 mile an hour wind gust is going to cause damage. there's a lot of beautiful trees in this area of the coastal plain here. we will see problems with trees down and it's raining so much now that loosens the soil up. that makes it easier for the trees to tip over. this is probably worse than if it was dry 96-mile-per-hour wind. so we'll see how that plays out even farther to the north, we'll have scattered power outages. even charlotte to raleigh towards the coastal areas. there's the 15 million people under the flood watches. and now we have new flood warnings starting to pop up here. as far as storm surge, you're watching the damage, that's all from storm surge. that's where all the water rushed in with the wave action on top of it. naples it was around 4 to 6 feet high. that's possible today. if you have seen the damage in naples, that was significant. so to the right of the center, so if we take the center on shore here to the right of that up around georgetown,

efforts here, but the front side heading north, it's bad news all the way. 40 miles northwest of myrtle beachsouth carolina, heading into north carolina. most of the action north of the center. we have the tornado watch up through virginia beach. the northwest quadrant of this storm continues to be a strong one. charlotte, raleigh durham, roanoke, all getting heavy rain. more power outages will be happening. d.c., baltimore, and then on the coastline, atlantic city, wind gusts over 40, 50 miles an hour. early morning into new york city and up the i-95 corridor. heavy rain here. three to six inches of rain, down through philly and york. that's enough to flood urbanwise. not as bad as ida, but everybody on the east coast getting a piece of ian. >> rob, thanks to you and your crew, please. you guys have just done tremendous work for us, thank you. >>> as we mentioned off the top, the death toll rising dramatically tonight. and what our team witnessed just today when they were finally able to make it out to sanibel island, florida. cut off because as with you showed you, part of that causeway is

it is between myrtle beach and charleston. that is the area that will see the greatest amount of surge moving into the estuaries. it is called low country for a reason. these are very low marshes through across parts of south carolina. and we're seeing that spin on the radar, not that far from charleston right now. going to slide to the north. but there has been a tremendous amount of tropical rain this morning. somewhere between 4 and 6 inches of rain prompting flash flood warnings even for charleston, charleston, you're probably about 7.5 in the harbor and that is not the nine that we talked about an hour ago. because this storm is going to slide to the east of charleston and pnot put it on the bad side or the dirty side of the eye. 50 to 60 mile per hour gusts along the beaches and water is coming up. we're going to see this water into the poly island area, into georgetown and myrtle inlet and surfside and all the way as far north as myrtle beach and farther into cherry grove. that is where the water is going now. and i'm e

a little bit to the north, as you can moving in toward myrtle beach, maybe just south of myrtle beach. that's actually a better place for it to come on shore. it's more sparsely populated in that area. but myrtle beach certainly get hammered by that storm as it moves on shore with the models. well, here's a because spaghetti forecast its numerous models trying to forecast where it's going to go. watch. it happens. you see all the lines here. those represent all different kinds of models. they've all began to move in that general direction, taken a further north of charleston. so we'll keep our eyes on that. still an extremely dangerous hurricane. of course, not coming on as a category before, but a category one can do plenty of damage to guys. back to you. thank you, lawrence. here in the bay area, urban search and rescue team is standing by to >> head to florida any moment today, the battalion chief of menlo park fire protection district showed us all the kinds of equipment that they have prepared for the aftermath of hurricane ian. all of these members are members of the california

along the coastline near myrtle beach, near surfside, near the island. near models and let's.hat region. even a public shaded area here that suggest possible up to 20 inches of rainfall. now some of the rainfall totals that we have seen in the south florida, that is turned deadly now. probably those fatality numbers will be going up. we had about 16 pace tally so far in puerto rico. but now the third landfall, this sometime along midday,, all that central or northern coast of south carolina. that looks to be a given. it is not a classic looking hurricane. it is a category one hurricane. but in the last few hours,, we have seen some of these deep convection that seems to be organizing a little bit more. but it's still so close to land we are not gonna see a whole lot of organization here. but it is still pretty warm water. right now, 85 per mile winds and before i go, i want to say, if you are watching me, stay until the top of the hour at least. so we can tell you what the national hurricane center is telling us. the new update. does it increase intensity? it is there more of

nick valenencia in myrtle beach south carolina. ththanks so much.ing up, we're going to talk with the mayor of onone of the hardest-hit cities in flororida fort myers. after touring the damage the county sheriff there said there were no words to describe what he saw. stick around. who create your new bath, it just fits. bath fitter. visit bathfitter.com to book your free consultation. kevin: i've fought wildfires for twenty years. here's the reality we face every day. this is a crisis. we need more firefighters, more equipment, better forest management to prevent wildfires and reduce toxic smoke. and we need to reduce the tailpipe emissions that are driving changes to our climate. that's why cal fire firefighters, the american lung association, and the california democratic party support prop 30. prevent fires. cut emissions. and cleaner air. yes on 30. >>> the death toll from hurricane ian is now at least 17. and that number tragically could rise as we learn more about the damage and devastation. you're looking right now at aerials from the fort my

a live look at myrtle beach, south carolina. up to virginia. states of emergency have been declared. this is not over yet as we haven't even begun to assess the damage in southwest florida. we'll be continuing to follow that throughout the show this morning. it's time now for a look at the morning papers. in missouri, the fulton sun reports that six republican-led states are suing the biden administration in an effort to halt its plan to forgive student loan debt. according to court documents, the republican states argue the administration's plan is not tailored to address the effects of the pandemic on student loan borrowers. it is at least the second legal challenge this week to the proposal laid out by biden last month. in massachusetts, "the boston globe" leads with the fda's decision to approve an experimental treatment drug for als or lou gehrig's disease. the newly approved therapy is designed to slow the disease by protecting nerve cells in the brain. and spinal cord. the fda's decision was based on a single clinical tri

we have 56 still in myrtle beach. a lot in the 40 range.be minor power outages, minder tree damage with winds like this. the highest we had was 92 miles per hour in charleston and that's significant. then, of course, flash flooding. once the winds come down, this will be the story tonight into tomorrow. who gets the heavy rain today? charlotte, raleigh? your area possible? there will be significant area tonight. even in virginia. it has been so dry, we don't expect a lot of flooding but you will wake up to soaking rain tomorrow, even in areas like new york city. >> bill, have you had a second to reflect back? florida, they're still digging out. we are still seeing what this storm did to people's lives, to their livelihoods, to their homes and businesses. we are still getting news of rescues. is there anything in terms of your knowledge on what you saw on the models and what happened in the state that surprises you? >> as far as surprises, unfortunately, not. we've been through so many of these in the last five, six years that, you know, whe

myrtle beach, charleston, pretty much the entire state of south carolina. into the mountains, that's going to be a big issue. we're at least estimating 4 to 8 inches locally a foot of rain is possible wherever the storm comes inland. all of our friends in south carolina, the message to you is, listen to your emergency managers and do exactly what they're saying. even those barrier islands, they could be asking some people to leave and evacuate. >> bill karins and shaquille brewster, thank you so much. >>> as of this morning, about 200,000 people in polk county, florida, did not have power. the video of a store in the city -- the city of lakeland shows just how bad the wind damage is there. emergency crews are out trying to clear down trees and power lines off the roads. i want to bring in shawn sherrouse, city manager of lakeland, florida. thank you for being with me this morning. now that you've had a little bit of time to reassess and assess the extent of the damage, what are you seeing? >> yeah, good morning. we've started our damage assessment early thi

the national hurricane center predicts landfall between charleston and myrtle beach. life threatening storm surge expected. officials are warning people to get to higher ground. south carolina senator tim scott has a serious warning. >> stay home. stay indoors right now. we are literally just beginning this hurricane. the truth is with high tide culminating at the time when the storm is hitting is a time to stay indoors. if you go out, you put more first responders in danger. if you do not have to leave your home right now, don't do it. >> harris: great information for people. don't become a burden for the first responders who are already willing to put themselves in harm's way to save you. mollyline is live in charleston, south carolina. molly. >> hi, it is now and the next couple of hours are thaw are the most critical hours. there is a flash flood warning here for charleston. concerns about the storm surge coming and high tide which is happening at 11:40. we're standing along the ashley river here. this is one of the marinas along the river and watching the boats b

the hurricane warnings were extended last night towards the wilmington area, so it's the myrtle beach, wilmington area, southwards to north of savanna. we've had flashflood warnings for charleston, the virginia beach area. they have the tide coming in. there will be damage done because of water as we go throughout the next 24, 48 hours. will it look like southwest florida? no. but if your house gets ruined, that's what matters to you, right? 2:00 p.m. this afternoon, there's the landfall. it looks like the hurricane-force winds kind of small. i don't expect to see houses ripped apart by the wind. we'll have roof damage, trees down on houses. that's what you'll see north of charleston and south of virginia beach. but the tropical storm-force winds will be 40 to 70 miles per hour, still enough to knock down trees. that goes 265 miles. moorhead city down through emerald isle, carteret county, wilmington and savanna. that's the area of wind concern. the storm dies out later on tonight. as far as storm surge, the worst of it will be to the right of the center like this one. it was just sou

they lost their house as well and by the way is expected to arrive near myrtle beach, south carolina today later this morning, in fact, with winds of at least 80 mph one more hurricane coverage straight ahead. he kept the receipt, all right, a new roadblock this morning for the crush of men leaving russia. to avoid the draft. finland has closed its border to russians with tourist visas. it comes as vladimir putin is delivering a major speech today as he officially claims more of ukraine. abc xeon panel has more just days after we saw russian forces with assault rifles going door to door ordering people to vote in russian occupied ukraine , vladimir putin poised to take those results and illegally declared those areas parts of russia. the formal signing ceremony takes place behind the walls of the kremlin tomorrow. annexation is stoking fears of further escalation. russia warning an attack on the occupied areas would be an attack on russia. states will never never never recognize russia's claims on ukraine sovereign territory. just days after launching a counter offensive to push russ

likely just to the north of charleston toward myrtle beach. the worst weather happens on the northeastern side. wherever we see landfall the winds will be worst on the northeast side of the storm where the storm surge will be the worst and winds worst. it will lift into north carolina, virginia, a lot of rain as this system works that direction. we have hurricane warnings from savannah stretching to myrtle beach. a large area here where you'll talk about at least tropical storm force conditions, heavy rain consistent winds. fox model does a really good job of showing that center of circulation showing that heavy rain as it moves onshore. i'm taking you at 2:00 p.m. still looking at the center of circulation at the coast getting into kind of that borderline there of south carolina, north carolina, all of that wind running into the outer banks. very heavy rain across the large area. it lifts further up as you get into friday evening. rain going to be a problem well off the coastline. the real strong winds still lingering into 5:00 and that will