for landfall, somewhere in areas near port charlotte, just as you get south of tampa bay, into the early afternoon hours of wednesday. with that win point sustain, 130 miles per hour, pushes inland, drops down to a tropical storm, reemerges over the eastern side there on thursday into friday. and possibly makes another landfall there across eastern georgia, come friday into saturday. but the model guidance that was initially pushing it well offshore, then gradually closer to tampa bay has now entirely moved it, about 75 miles or so so the tampa bay but port showers, at port -- siesta key, these are the reasons we are watching. and again, notice the variability and the track. we often talk about this. you do not just fall in love with one model, one line, and one track. you look at guidance within every single model run. and in every single round, we want to bring this little bit further to the south. it shifted it, by the order about 75 miles before it's all said and done. and as we stand, here with a pretty good handle on where we think this system will end up. and the likelihood scenar

the 1st half of the storm was bad, especially for areas sound port. charlotte, we're talking a naples, we're talking fort myers, which other highest storm surge ever recorded at more than 22 and a half meters was completely inundated the coastline where i was, we saw significant winds in the order, i'd say, a 140 plus kilometers per hour. implants, it's lorraine saul, then we got the i ordinarily the 2nd half of the storm is weaker. in this case it was far stronger. from a wind standpoint. we saw winds gusting close to gosh, 172190 kilometers for our. we saw absolutely plentiful rainfall to the point where even beyond storm surge, every place that we were trying to drive through or around was an inaccessible due to extreme flooding. with rainfall rates of 5 plus to 6, perhaps centimeters per hour. it's extremely difficult situation. and now this is the 1st life i looked out, the window and can't find a single lights anywhere. the only lights we've seen all night long. we're actually hunker down in a garage right now. are from transformers blowing. so power flashes. why was the 2nd par

matthew kofuji is meteorologist for the ap my radar speaking to me from port charlotte, florida. he gave me this assessment of the extreme conditions. personally, i've never witnessed the storm at least 1st and this intense store thing right now . conditions are beginning to die down here where we are, which is good to finally have a break in the wind in the rain and everything else. the 1st half of the storm was bad, especially for areas of south the port. charlotte, we're talking naples, we're talking fort myers, or some other high storm surge ever recorded at more than 22 and a half meters was complete. inundated the coastline where i was, we saw significant winds in the order of i'd say, 140 plus kilometers per hour implant this will rainfall, then we got the i ordinarily the 2nd half of the storm is weaker. in this case, it was far stronger from a wind standpoint, we saw wind gusting close to, gosh, 172190 kilometers per hour. we saw absolutely plentiful rainfall to the point where even beyond storm surge, every place that we were trying to drive through or around was an ina

inundated well known cities, fort myers, port charlotte. we spoke to people on marko island who rode out the storm. i spoke to a fireman who was in naples who said he was unnerved as the water was flowing up into their fire house. 4 to 7 feet. they couldn't get out to help people because they were trapped inside as their building was flooding. only now are we beginning to get a sense of how much damage was done in this storm. brianna, i do believe as the light does come up >> yes, and that is about to happen very soon. ian may have weakened to a tropical storm. it's not done with florida, in fact, far from it. the storm continues to pummel parts of the state on a slow, this is really an issue, it's churning on the destructive crawl north. orlando now in the crosshairs of this historic storm that's produced record rainfall and storm surge. power outages are a major problem with more than 2 million customers in the dark across florida. water is just everywhere in many communities. in port charlotte, the storm blew the roof off of a hospital a

i'm joined now by matthew caputo cheese, a meteorologist with the app my radar, and is in port charlotte, florida. could you bring us up to date on our, what's happening there? i believe there are people who are still trapped after the storm swept through. most definitely you know what, what we're hearing right now. it appears that a major bridge that connects sanibel island with the coastline washed out during the height of the storm, both as a result of very high storm sir. water pushed ashore and significant winds. so those people are iceland have no ability to get back to shore unless helicopters are brought in. and of course it's been too windy to do that as of late. and so this could be a humanitarian crisis for them. in the meantime, the storm is now a weakening hurricane is still pushing off shore, the east coast of florida soon to march over the atlantic. we will recur of becoming strong once again, impacting the carolina as, believe it or not yet another hurricane. what about the situation for rescue work is i believe it's also been extremely dangerous, but then because of the

it is expected to make landfall on the gulf coast near port charlotte. meantime, the house select committee investigating the january 6th insurrection has postponed wednesday's hearing because of hurricane ian. the last hearing which is likely to be the last is expected to be announced soon. it's expected to announce how allies expected to claim victory regardless of the outcome. >>> a federal trial that could pose a major test. five leaders of the oath keepers are charged with seditious conspiracy in that capitol attack. it's the first time in over a decade that the justice department will argue a group of americans plotted to violently oppose the u.s. government. all five defendants have pleaded not guilty. >>> meantime, thousands of men are trying to leave russia after president vladimir putin's announcement of that partial mobilization or draft of russian citizens. the european border agency said 6600 russians entered the european union last week. that is a 30% increase from the previous week. george begans say the number of russians arriving daily h

earlier in forecast, possibly wednesday afternoon between sarasota and port charlotte.ng residents in the hurricane's pass the time to leave and get to safety is now. >> i urge everyone that is in an evacuation zone, that has been asked to evacuate, the time is now. you must evacuate now. there will be a point in time where you will not be safe to travel the roads. the time to evacuate is now. get on the road. >> right now to cnn meteorologist pedram javaheri on more on these storms pass. the question is, how bad will it get in those areas, you know, in the evacuation zone once the storm arrives? how dangerous will it be? >> the national hurricane center, john, is saying this will be a category 4 on landfall. and recall, about 48 hours ago, the storm system had a potential to be maybe a category one or category two at landfall. because the forecast stalling right off shore. the models have chains. remember, these storms do not work their way in a straight path. they wobble back and forth with every single motion here. so, the system sits 100 miles south of naples right.

between sarasota and port charlotte.are warning the president and evacuations of who are still there, potentially get to safety is now. >> i urge everyone that is in an evacuation zone, that has been asked to evacuate, the time is now! you must evacuate now! there will be a point in time where you will not be safe to travel the roads. the time to evacuate is now! get on the road! >> right, now generation in cuba is practically zero. officials are hoping power will be resorted in the coming day, but admits it'll be sometime before the fourth set of the damage from hurricane and is known. i met in havana's cnn patrick oppmann. >> cuba and it's 11 million inhabitants are currently in a nationwide blackout. officials said late tuesday night. after a hurricane ian battered this islands according to officials, it damaged the islands electrical system, to a degree, that it led to rolling blackouts, across this island. even in central, eastern, cuba, it was not affected by the winds in the rain, from hurricane ian. to the west o

bailey joining us on the phone from port charlotte to tell her story.ley, thanks for joining us. first of all, how you are, where you are? >> i'm doing okay, in my inlaws house in port charlotte and doing the best we can right now. >> is that where you rode out the storm? >> yes, we rode out the storm in their house, which thankfully is boarded up. >> tell me about that, because i understand, you didn't have enough gas to try to get back to where you lived just outside of tampa. tell us what has happened and what this experience has been like for you. >> yes, well, we thought we were doing everything right, we got, you know, the mandatory evacuation in tampa, and it was supposed to hit us and we went south to our inlaws in port charlotte and we couldn't find gas on the way, it was sold out in tampa and when we got here, it was sold out here as well and then we realized the storm had turned, and by the time we started to look at, you know, going to shelters, we were getting conflicting reports with shelters being shut and others saying they were open but

matthew capuchin meteorologist with the my radar app, who is in port charlotte in florida. thanks. the wide has denied it. does outrageous. the so called referendums, health held by russian proxies in occupied regions of ukraine. officials installed by moscow say, up to 99 percent of residents said yes to being annexed by the russian federation. un secretary general, antonio quoterush has called a votes, a violation of international law. they were arranged that short notice last week after ukrainian forces, successfully liberated large areas of their country from russian occupation. these people are fleeing russian. occupied easton ukraine, about a 1000 people arrive at this check point in supper regia every day. the number of those leaving has only increased since the so called referendums, calling for a formal annexation by russia began last week. they describe a procedure that is anything but democratic. we run into soldiers. they asked if we had voted. we said yes. they said, let's do it again. some say they were forced to vote at gunpoint and soldiers checked their ballots. sp

i think g meteorologist with the my radar app in port charlotte, florida. thank you. thank you. let's pick up on some of those points with iran, john from d w environment as it, as we heard that not a text book, storm the way seeing that what, what's different exactly. what are we seeing here? so i mean, this was one of the strongest storms in us, recorded history, but it's definitely not going to be one of the strongest storms in the u. s. future . i mean, these sorts of events are becoming stronger because of climate change than not becoming more frequent. i mean hurricanes generally, but these kind of category 3 to 4 to 5 storms definitely are. and so this is the kind of projection the climate scientists are saying. we've got all sorts of new factors that we've brought in by burning fossil fuels and heating up planet. like sea level that rhythm higher, the more warmer can hold, more water vapor in it. so when it does rain, it rains much harder. and on top of that, you have all sorts of other factors that are maybe a bit more difficult to plot out. but one thing that we're see

matthew capuchin meteorologist with the my radar app, who is in port charlotte in florida. thanks. all right. well, late on choose day hurricane ian hit cuba killing at least 2 people. it left a trail of destruction and knocked out electricity across the whole island. plunged into darkness in the wake of hurricane ian cubans in havana and all across the island were left without electricity. after the countries entire power grid collapsed. following the storm western cuba took the brunt of the hurricane. with a storm pounding the region for more than 5 hours, many residents have been left with next to nothing. you know a couple, how are we terrified to see what we have here? we don't even know what to do. everything has been shattered. look at the state of this out with the owner. much of the tobacco for keep is iconic an economically important cigars is produced in the western pinado. ria region. but tobacco farms that have been devastated. the european union has proposed new biting sanctions against russia, targeting trade, russia's military and the people who organized annexation

matthew computer meteorologist with the my radar app, who is in port charlotte in florida. thanks. the european union has proposed new biting sanctions against russia, targeting trade rushes military, and the people who organized annexation votes in parts of occupied ukraine. brussel says russia must pay a price for escalating the crisis by holding sham referendums. you commission president ursula founder line, explain the rationale behind the additional measures. we isolate and it rush us economy even more. so we propose sweeping new important bands on russian products. this will keep russian products out of the european market and deprive russia of an additional $7000000000.00 euros in revenues were also proposing to extend the list of products that cannot be exported to russia anymore. well, earlier we asked to dw correspondent terry schultz for her take on european commission president earth the founder line statement. the european commission and her cell of underlying herself have been threatening for some time to bring forth this 8th package of sanctions against russia. and n

a storm surge of 16 feet in some places, particularly concern in the port charlotte area. 16 feet couldo blocks, in some cases miles inland. that's well over the roofs of some of these mobile homes and houses that might be on the coast. and then the rainfall. that's what we've been experiencing here in tampa overnight, it's been pouring much of the overnight hours into the morning, expecting anywhere from 12 to 24 inches of rain here. dire flood warnings for most of the entire florida peninsula. as far as hurricane-force winds, you can go up the entire peninsula, yes, it will make impact, landfall sometime in the next few hours south of here, but then they could feel hurricane-force winds here in tampa, orlando and then as the storm moves further east into the atlantic itself over the next day or so. so millions of people right in the path of this storm, could very well be one of the worst storms ever to hit the u.s. coast. expected to make landfall near punta gorda, again, about 100 miles south of here. let's go right to randi kaye who has been there all night, all morning long. okay,

port charlotte going to see this is 9 foot above or more because there is not a 12 foot number. this is as high as they go. 9 feet over where you are, that's bad enough. fort myers and fort myers beach, all seeing the same thing. right at sea level, got to go. there is the heavy rainfall for orlando. we expect that. here is the rainfall. here are storms coming on shore for pierce, west palm. you're 150 miles from the storm but they are rotating, coming on shore. this is the largest storm we've seen in almost 20 years. sure, make call was wind and -- but it just -- it happened so fast. this is the storm that was in the water, john, so long it built this surge bubble and these areas, these canals, these he estuaries, port charlotte. >> that is an ominous forecast. chad myers, please stand by and keep us posted. >> you're welcome. >>> i'm here in tampa. as you just heard from chad, may not get the worse of it, they are trying to see the hurricane winds. >>> with me now i want to bring in the sheriff. you're an important person, you are smart enough to bring an umbrella. farther sou

the port charlotte area, punta gourda, not far from fort myers, so many populated areas, right here the water, it could be underwater soon. you have storm surge, wind speed and also rainfall. we're in between rain bands here in tampa but it has been pouring all night and all morning long here. they could see 12 to 24 inches of rain before all is said and done here. and so much of the florida peninsula could feel the impact of this hurricane. it could make landfall the next several hours and then work its way up the peninsula slowly, very slowly, bringing hurricane force winds here to tampa, to orlando before it heads out over the atlantic on the other side maybe sometime later tomorrow. obviously millions of people feeling the impact of this, a life threatening storm in some ways a near worst case scenario for some of the people south of here. there was an 8 a.m. update just in from the national hurricane center. i believe we have michael brennan at the national hurricane center to give us a sense of the very latest. sir, if you can hear me, where is ian, where is it going? >> it's loca

we're in port charlotte to do a live shot. port charlotte, i mean the hurricane came right over this area. this gas station just completely ripped apart. he's closed, obviously no gas available but look at this. i can pick up part of the roof here. it just sheared off from the roof right above me and as i move over to my left, your right, we can see a gas line over -- could be a gas line. it's a loose line that is attached to the gas pump so clearly, you know, whether you're going to a gas station, a store that might be damaged or you're home, this is the kind of stuff you have to watch out for. look at this cable hanging down. power lines that are loose, gas lines like this, these cables here. you know, we have officials from tampa all the way down to naples and elsewhere in florida warning residents, do not rush back to your houses so quickly because of things like this. there are still a lot of dangers around. first responders still have to concentrate on rescue efforts. collier county, they've said they had to do at least

ft storm surge around port charlotte, also for four yeah. fort myers. so that's that's the key here. lot of the water has been going back out to sea has been been pulling out to see charlotte harbor and tampa are showing that that's a sign that team being drawn out by the hurricane. then not far away. you can find the storm surge which could be 12 to 18 ft. not only that. a tremendous lightning show this morning over las vegas. it has been lit up from that cell that went right over las vegas this morning. so there's a lot going on here. today we get some partly sunny. partly cloudy skies. a weak system is dragging across this. this will keep us in a pattern here. 60 seventies, probably upper seventies are very low eighties on the 10th. we don't have the fog coverage that we did. but still we are looking for temperatures to be in a pretty from small range here. the city 66 averages 71 so another below average temps for san francisco and temperatures right now are mainly in the fifties. but there were a couple of forties this morning. so kind of a cool day

you can see it churning away over port charlotte. i want to go to robert ray standing by in fort myers. you can see that on the map as well. obviously a dangerous zone. that's where we find robert. how are you doing and what can you tell us? >> yeah, martha. i have to say? the past half hour, we have experienced probably the strongest winds thus far. you can see the debris that is being whipped around the street right now. a lot of it from that giant oak tree up there, a lot of tree debris coming off. that is dangerous. it's projectiles. it's branches, it's leaves. when leaves are flying at 100 miles an hour, believe it or not, they can cause damage. you can see, it swirls, the counterclockwise right now. ian made landfall at approximately 3:10 eastern, west northwest 20 miles from where i'm standing right now. we've seen power outages all afternoon. transformers blowing up and trees falling. the marina down there with boats that are tied up. too dangerous to go back down there to check to see how they're faring. earlier, they were s

this is port charlotte hospital. wind from the storm slicing the roof of an intensive care unit clean off. >> the storms can be pretty bad, however we weren't quite expecting it to be this bad. about 160 patients inhouse and our roof blew off, part of the roof on the icu, above the icu. so, of course, we had torrential rains coming in, which went down the staiairwell and to other flfloors. >> there were 160 patients in that icu. one of the doctors telling cnn, folks are in surprisingly decent spirits. o create your new bath, it just fits. bath fitter. visit bathfitter.com to book your free consultation. becoming a morning person starts the night before with new neuriva relax and sleep. it has l-theanine to help me relax from daily stress. plus, shod ashwagandha for quality sleep. so i can wake up refreshed. neuriva think bigger. the first time you made a sale online was also the first time you heard of a town named... dinosaur? we just got an order from a dinosaur, colorado. start an easy to build, powerful website f

it looked like this was going into port charlotte. between north port and port charlotte. it looked like it was beelining right for you. what was that like and how did you communicate with your people >> yeah, it kept us guessing for the last 24/36 hours it just sort of spun up the coast like a corkscrew you just were hoping you were on the right side of the arc as this corkscrewed up the coast. unfortunately for people down in naples and fort myers, they got that shore storm surge we kind of escaped that from now and are hoping the storm heads out of our area before the tail can swing around and bring all of that storm surge up the harbor. >> hey, brian, i was just watching from punta gorda maybe last hour, the back side of the eye wall was coming across punta gorda. that was some of the worst looking stuff i have ever seen i started trying to make calls to people in punta gorda i couldn't get through and i got quite worried. what do you know about what the back side of that eye did to punta gorda? >> i've been telling people the lucky folks in charlotte county have minor

omar villafranca, cbs news, port charlotte, florida. >>> well, ian is now headed toward the carolinas and georgia, threatening millions of people there. officials have warned that the darker is far from over. michael george is south of charleston with more. michael, good morning. >> reporter: anne-marie, good morning. we're on the south carolina coast line. where we are, we're feeling the wind pick up in intensity hour by hour. ian is on the way. it's expected to make landfall right here where we are as a category 1 hurricane around midday, and it's getting stronger. right now the wind speeds are at 85 miles per hour. seeing the damage ian has already done, residents just north of florida are doing their best to prepare as the storm heads their way. >> it's going to be blowing strong winds, and it's going to be all over the state at different levels. >> reporter: the national hurricane center warns ian could produce life-threatening flooding, storm surge, and strong winds from georgia up through south carolina. >> this storm can still be dangerous and even deadly. heavy rains up to 7

it's past port charlotte and moved. the winds are starting to come down a little bit, but we're seeing really dangerous storm surge. we're seeing the hurricane-force winds spread inland. they're going to continue to spread inland across central florida tonight, reaching places like orlando. so, going to have really dangerous conditions overnight. in addition to the heavy rain thafl's going to develop across florida tonight and thursday. >> you mentioned the storm surge. you warned of catastrophic surge, 8 to 12 feet possible in some places, even more. we've seen the images now, cars disappearing under the sea water. homes destroyed. families trapped. this was a really serious situation. it's the kind of situation you cannot survive if you don't heed the warnings. >> yeah, that's very true. we were seeing -- expecting storm surge of 12 to 18 feet above ground level, so, that's really not survivable in these areas along the southwest coast of florida. those water levels are going to stay high well into the day on thursday

inundated well known cities, fort myers, port charlotte.to people on marko island who rode out the storm. i spoke to a fireman who was in naples who said he was unnerved as the water was flowing up into their fire house. 4 to 7 feet. they couldn't get out to help people because they were trapped inside as their building was flooding. only now are we beginning to get a sense of how much damage was done in this storm. brianna, i do believe as the light does come up >> yes, and that is about to happen very soon. ian may have weakened to a tropical storm. it's not done with florida, in fact, far from it. the storm continues to

myers and south of port charlotte. the storm surge, we have been talking about that the deadliest aspect of a hurricane. at the moment, we are anticipating that region from sarasota to ft. myers to see from 8 to 12 feet, possibly 18 feet of storm surge. this is not rising tranquil water. this is a wall of rushing water pushing in. the higher the water, the farther inland it can go. we are in the final hour. we don't have a lot more time with this. we will continue to see the progression of the storm move to the center of florida. conditions will continue to deteriorate as far inland as orlando. the other thing i want to mention is the flooding. we are talking two to three months of rain in two to three days. this is going to be copious amounts of rain. we have our graphic. we will give you visuals and add that here. we have an extreme wind warning issued for areas out towards ft. myers. this is the eye. i know you think, that's close. we still have to give it time. it's moving to the northeast at nine miles per hour. t

down towards naples, 112 miles per hour. 105 at port charlotte. sanibel island, 106 miles per hour. this has been a strong storm and it remains strong. the red is denoting the hurricane-force winds that will continue to extend into central florida. near lakeland we're talking. as we push forward, even southern tips south of orlando could see hurricane-force winds as we head into thursday. beyond that with the latest updates, we are seeing the threat for a hurricane watch that's been issued for parts of south carolina and georgia coastline, as we could see re-energizing. it could be a tropical storm as it moves into the carolinas, bringing heavy, wet, chilly rain into parts of the carolinas through the weekend. and beyond that, you know, the power outages, that's going to be a big concern tonight. we're expecting power disruptions throughout much of the state, as you've already seen. that could stick around for weeks in some isolated regions, but especially the swath here in red from the coastline to day toe in a beach. we could be looking at extensive power failures. we're tracking

cbs's omar villafranca joins us from hard-hit port charlotte.eah, it is amazing how everybody was looking out for each other. >> reporter: good evening, norah. we traveled almost 60 miles down the florida coastline, and we saw heavy rain, damaged trees, stranded cars and flooded homes. but we also saw dozens of people helping each other. >> don't ever leave me again. >> reporter: an emotional moment amidst the ruin. kim silva reunited with her family after riding out her first hurricane alone. what was that moment like when you finally see them and everybody knows you are okay. >> i start crying. >> reporter: after ian flooded her northport home, michelle robinson waded through waist- high water with her bulldog daisy riding her kayak, both desperate for dry land. >> we slept on the bar in the kitchen, like, the island. >> reporter: up top? >> yeah, all night. >> reporter: neighbors helped neighbors salvage what the storm didn't destroy. but the things saved were not as important as the lives saved. rescue and recovery scenes played out across f

we've already had that in punta gorda and port charlotte. so, here you go. that will be going into central florida before 8:00, 9:00. then we should see some slow weakening. but even with weakening overnight, we've still got that tornado watch that includes a big chunk of highly populated east coast of florida, includes the space coast, it includes orlando. this is in effect until at least 1:00 in the morning. rain and wind on the northwest flank of this storm where i stand, that is very intense. it's very far-reaching. and when this thing moves north and east tonight, tampa, orlando gets the brunt of it. jacksonville tomorrow. a strong storm surge on the east side of this. it comes off the atlantic as a tropical storm. a strong one making another landfall in south carolina come friday. with that, we'll have more rain in south carolina, but up to 15 to 30 inches of rain here in central florida, because, david, it is so slow moving. we are far from done with this hurricane. >> wow. potentially 30 inches of rain. that could bring the second wave of this emerge

va from hard-hit port charlotte. and good evening, omar.ing out for each other. >> reporter: good evening, norah. we traveled almost 60 miles down the florida coastline and we saw heavy rain, damaged trees, stranded cars and flooded homes. but we also saw dozens of people helping each other. >> don't ever leave me again. >> reporter: an emotional moment amidst the ruin. kim silva reunited with her family after riding out her first hurricane alone. what was that moment like when you finally see them and everybody knows you're okay? >> i started crying. >> reporter: after ian flooded her northport home, michelle robinson waded through waist-high water with her bulldog daisy riding her kayak, both desperate for dry land. >> the dog and i slept on the bar in the kitchen, like the island. >> reporter: up top? >> yeah. all night. >> reporter: neighbors helped neighbors salvage what the storm didn't destroy. but the things saved were not as important as the lives saved. rescue and recovery scenes played out across florida's west coast. srm's peak

well and it's making its move onshore around sanibel island heading towards port charlotte, fort myers, so that that gentleman was correct . it looks like it is coming in right around fort myers. the amount of lightning strikes around the eye. the magnitude of that is just unbelievable. which tells us that and he has been 9000 strikes. i think overnight here which tells us the eye is not weakening. if anything, this might be strengthening your intensifying a little bit. it is just on the edge of a strong, strong category for almost a category five. category five would be 157 mph. it's 1 55, if not stronger, some of the hurricane hunters flying in have come back and said, it's a it was an unbelievable ride one of the worst ever so lots of reports of hail lightning will be tornadic activity. and now you have to include the long duration. it's a slow moving system, along with maybe two ft . of rain possibility. remember this went from a three to the 4 120 mph to 155 and about 2.5 hours from four a.m. until 6:30 a.m. this morning, they caught many, many, many people by surprise, starting t

it's expected to make landfall about 100 miles south of here in the port charlotte area.ain 12 to 24 inches across much of the florida peninsula, challenge create freshwater flooding. the impact of this will be felt by millions in florida. already 200,000 people without power. that's before the storm even makes landfall. this will uproot people's lives. its a life-threatening storm. this is the sunshine skyway bridge that we have pictures of. you can see the winds kicking up. it will have an enormous impact. let's go to chad myers first at the weather center. the 11:00 a.m. advisory out now. what do you see? >> still see the 155-mile-per-hour eyewall winds. inside the eye it could be down to 5 or 10 in the middle, but we're working our way onshore. the eye is not onshore. the eyewall is coming onshore. this is what it looks like from space, this is called the visible image. when the sum comes out, you can truly see how large this storm is right now. the eyewall is very big around. that's good news. the smaller the eye, the higher the wind speed could get. it doesn't look

ian is expected to make landfall in florida in the coming hours near port charlotte as a category threeor possibly category four hurricane. storm surge warnings have already been issued for the lower florida keys. we join the meteorologist petronella in the cnn what is in the coming have been tracking this path and to get to something that you have been warning us about four days. florida, you have told us, is already saturated, and now, all of this water will be dumped on the state. what are you seeing in terms of totals, there? >> it's incredible. rainfall amounts are staggering but of course, we have talked about the storm surge threat which has been so significant for so many days, but this is really an element worth noting here, because we are seeing the outer bands making their impact felt across naples, cape coral, sarasota will begin to see some heavy rainfall in the coming hours. of course, if you take a look at what the system has in store, here, you can see the hurricane warnings which extend quite a ways out because far north as orlando, as far south as naples, and, as the s

myers to port charlotte, where we could see up to nine feet of storm surge. that's where people were told to evacuate. this is the rainfall map. you can see the areas shaded in white. that's more than 20 inches of rain. that's going to mean major flooding for these areas around tampa and points to the south. even well inland and we're talking about the storm leaving the east coast of florida and then impacting portions of georgia, south carolina by the weekend. we have a long way to go. but this is going to be a storm to remember across florida. >> thank you so much. on that note, let's go right to the danger zone in florida. cnn's randi kaye is on the ground covering the new warnings and evacuations underway tonight. >> this is the type of storm surge that is life threatening. >> reporter: with hurricane ian barreling toward florida, many here aren't taking any chances. guadeloupe gomez has been boarding up his home for days. he says at least 12 of his family members will take shelter here. the concern with hurricane ian is not just the wind, but the rain an

. >>> i want to go to brian gleeson, official in port charlotte, florida.ow very powerful storm will make impact. hurricane ian now with sustained winds of 155 miles per hour. brian, if you can hear me, give me a sense of how ready you are there. >> we're ready and waiting. we are expecting the early tropical storm force winds to be here a few hours ago. a lot of folks woke up, we're still not at sustained tropical force winds. we're still in the 30-mile-an-hour range. once that threshold is hit we're locked down for the duration and hoping and praying people get through and hoping everything is okay on the other side. >> talk to me more about that just so we're clear for people who are listening. you are very close to the time where you are saying to people there, you're on your own. there's nothing that you can do, correct? >> right. at this point with tropical storm force winds imminent, nobody should be out on the street. nobody should be out in their yards. it's time to hunker down and stay safe. if you've made the decision to stay, stay put. don't go

from port charlotte all the way up the peace river, already in areas of the peace river has seen doubled the average rainfall in the last couple of weeks. they are already at flood stage now. but it extends far to the south. this is going to do some massive damage to this area. now, we've got dry air though, trying to come in through the southwest. that's good news for rain totals to the south. but it's bad news to the north, where convergence is occurring with a trough. that is going to squeeze out tremendous amounts of f rain easily ten, 20, would not be surprised to seeee 30-inch totas from areas around brenton, -- , up through orlando all the way to the coastline multi faceted storm, one for the books. and again, so good to hear that so many have been moving to shelters and evacuate for the coastline. it's gonnae a rough go for the next couple of days. agn, landfall sometime early afternoon, don? >> tom sater, thank you so much. and thank you for watching everyone. our coverage continues. [ sleep app ] and the end. you have now reached the end of the sleep app. you're the first perso

>> we were driving and we were trying to get to port charlotte and charlotte harbor. i couldn't even see. i'm not exaggerating. i'm going 5 miles an hour. the truck started going backwards. my buddy phil's with me, and i was like the truck's moving. so we parked it at the dollar general. we hid there for a while. it was relentless. i've never seen anything like it. i went to ida last year. we went to delta, zeta and eta. i've never seen anything like it. this storm was big, it was wide, it was strengthening at landfall. and i've been doing a long time. and the gulf, the gulf is hot, and we see these storms just explode in the gulf lately. they go from nothing to cat 5. this is probably likely going to be a cat 5. >> mike, thank you very much. pretty incredible to get your context on this that you've been doing this for 18 years and still sort of -- >> i don't exaggerate. i just can't believe it. i told phil i want to go home, i've seen enough. i can't imagine what people are going through right now that are inland. we're talking a major hurricane well inland. and ther

in port charlotte, the monster winds blew the roof off the intensive care unit at a hospital and alsolooded the er, just really scary moments playing out in many different parts of the state. florida's governor gave an update this morning and the way he put it, he says, ian is producing a 500-year flood event for cities far from the coastline where ian first made landfall. the city of orlando got more than a foot of rain in just a few hours overnight and right now, more than 2.5 million customers are without power which is a huge problem and a major focus as this day, this first light comes up and the day continues. let's start with chad myers right now. he has the very latest on this storm for us. chad, ian is not yet done. >> it's not. it's going back to be a hurricane again and the hurricane warnings are now posted for the entire coast of south carolina. yes, this thing is getting into the atlantic. getting into the gulf stream, into the warm water of the gulf stream and it will try to reintensify. 75 miles per hour for now but that's not on shore yet. there is still time between t

port charlotte nearly drained ahead of landfall as the water in that area was sucked by the ocean and then of course it will push forward in that storm surge. emergency services doing all they can at this hour to preserve life and limb. video of power lines down in naples causing fires on the ground where the fire department can't get close at the moment. they've got to wait till the situation calms down and the energy story, utility story in particular driven largely by the storm and a surprise drawdown in oil and gasoline stockpiles. we get the drop down numbers or buildup every wednesday and this wednesday we saw definitely less supply, which means higher prices, crude oil up 4.5% and nat gas up 3.25 and heating oil getting a big bump of 6%. now we want to dell you about 9% of oil production in the gulf of mexico shut down at this hour as the storm was forcing oil companies to evacuate the offshore platform workers and refiners rallying. that's a nice move there for pbf energy. up 8.25%. sinclair, hf sinclair corporation up about 6% and phillip 66 up 5.6%. now, you know, there are

in port charlotte, flooding at a hospital icu. >> we have people out of the icu. the problem then ended up being that this water went down to the stairwell, as you see there and two other. flores >> sanabll island breached in several places, anyone staying there, cut off from the mainland. more than 2. 5 million customers lost power with the repair crews beginning to fend out. officials warning residents that hazards remain. >> there are things that could truly hurt you in the water that could be electricity, there could be downed power lines. >> please stay off the road, unless itÈs an emergency. >> it's not just the west coast. damage extending well into central florida. orlando saw more than a foot of rain, prompting high water rescues. >> holy mackerel, the first trailer here was actually underwater. >> residents at a nursing home evacuated. in kissimmee, trapped victims brought to safety with airboats. this family say they lost everything before taken out a window. another woman wishes she had evacuated before the storm. >> i was screaming, i looked at the wi

that means that tampa and port charlotte, you are right in the middle of it. i know we're talking about the storm surge, significant surge. ten feet or more in some of these bays, even up towards tampa bay. making a huge difference whether the storm is here or off the map to the south. then there wouldn't be as much surge in the tampa bay but in port charlotte, fort myers, back into punta gorda where there was so much damage back in charlie, i was there with anderson cooper. i know you're trying to get away from the surge, but spots across florida with 20 inches of rainfall. so if you're in a flood-prone area you need to keep that in mind as well. not just saltwater surge, sut-of-but certainly freshwater rainfall making significant flooding across your area. >> storm surge coming in. freshwater flooding going out. a lot to worry about sitting here this morning. chad myers, thank you. much more on this ahead. >>> in just a few hours jury selection begins as five members of the oath keepers, including their leader, go on trial for seditious conspiracies stemming

. >> in port charlotte, a hospital there, an icu division, just with the roof ripped off. doctors and other personnel having to wade through flooded hallways. >> we had about 160 patients in house and our roof blew off, part of the roof on the icu. >> oh, my god. >> it is important to note, it is very early, these are just the earliest images we're seeing. many communication lines remain down. it will be some time before we see the full scope of the damage. we are covering every angle of this dangerous storm this morning. >> let's begin with our colleague, randi kaye, who joins us in ft. myers, where, randi, you have been. you have rescue workers there out trying to help survivors. crews beginning, right, as the sun just came up to really see what hurricane ian has wrought. >> yeah, good morning, poppy and jim. we made it here to ft. myers. we drove here from punta gorda earlier this morning to see what kind of damage. we found quite a bit of it. in this community, the caloosahatchee river flooded this community. if you take a look, some of the water has actually gone down

the official forecast, most likely is landfall between sarasota to venice down north of port charlotte. 2004 category 4 hurricane charlie made landfall in this area. this is where the worst of the damage was. we could be seeing that same places with the worst storm surge and the worst conditions. what are our computer models saying? i left the cone of uncertainty on it. we could see landfall here, just south of port charlotte, that would be tomorrow afternoon, almost right now. that's how soon it could be moving inland. if it's a little more up the coast, like the european computer model, that would be near sarasota at 7:00 p.m. that's close to what the hurricane center is saying for tomorrow early in the evening hours. we have a couple models that are more off the coast. if those happen to be correct -- that's within the cone of uncertainty -- it could be closer to tampa. that would be early thursday morning. the landfall timing, because of the angle of approach, differs. after that the storm will move inland. it will weaken. it will be a wind event. it's a strong tropical storm over

port charlotte, other places, and 2.5 million people without power. spoke to a power official who said in some cases it may be weeks and that may be optimistic if the entire power grid is wiped out there and there is a distinct possibility. joining me is ddeanne quislo. what the is need this morning? >> good morning, john, i spoke with the state, working on the ground, the area hit the hardest certainly what we're hearing is lee county. we know there was significant storm surge there. we know that their water system has been impacted. and we're focused right now in getting some search and rescue teams who have been out since 4:00 this morning and get into the area and identify who might need assistance, who might need to get rescued. that's just one area. we know where you're at, along that western coast, we've had significant impacts. again, we've put together a very comprehensive capability that been out to understand where the needs are and start rescuing. our focus is on saving live. >> what reports do you have on fatalities? >> i don't have any c

. >> in port charlotte is just north of where ian made land fall. they were hit from above and below. the storm surge flooded the emergency room and tore apart the fourth floor roof which is where theic intensive care unit is. doctors there forced to evacuate the hospital's sickest patients. >> the top of the hour, ian is posing a serious flash flooding risk. it movesin closer to orlando. the he feblgts are being felt along the west coast. this is video here from daytona beach. this morning we haveon an nbc tm covering it all over florida. standing by to give us live updates of the impact of ian. >> we're getting a clear look at just how hard hurricane ian hit cuba. let's bring in our reporter. what more can you tell us about the conditions on the island. >> good morning. what's going on in cuba is an unmitigated disaster. and as we remember that ian slammed into cuba, a cat 3 hurricane focusing primarily on this area. it is the center of cuban f cigars. it was devastating. as of today, this is cording to the cuban government,di the cub government i

port charlotte, other places in your county got similar rain totals.juries in your county? >> we're in the early stages right now. we've only had daylight for about an hour and a half now. we're just starting to get out there. we're finding a lot of the roads are impassable. we have a lot of power lines down. a lot of flooding going on. i don't want to speculate on fatalities, but we've had some reports called in to us in relation to some potential bodies being found. we're trying to make our way to those areas. we have aircraft in the area now to do an overall assessment of the county. >> sheriff, this storm did take a turn in your direction. the initial projections were for the tampa/st. pete area, it moved south right towards you. do you believe most of your residents followed ordered to evacuate or are you concerned a lot of people were still there? >> i'm very concerned that a lot of our residents did stay. a lot of people get complacent because we get hurricane notices all the time and it always passes by and misses us. the last time we had a hur

we're on our way back to the port charlotte area, though, to start getting some relief and assistance to those that are in need down there. >> so what are some of the biggest challenges you've faced with this storm in the aftermath? and how does it compare to other storms? >> the unpredictability of this one has really been a challenge. and combine that with this thing holding water in florida, which is not something florida is used to. it's really been tricky for us to get a handle on where we can be most effective. and compared to other storms, it's -- it's -- each storm is so different, but this one really is incomparable. the damage is just far-flung and severe, and the local reactions, though, have been great, which is the communities in south florida have been so prepared and so on the ball, just like that last mayor that you had on, while i was listening to you. we were talking about him and how impressive he was. and i think that's been a really great indication of how great the people of florida are for this storm. >> yeah, he's terrific. and he's done a nice job here in ft.