it will pass over tallahassee is a pretty powerful hurricane in leon county, where tallahassee is the event vacua orders were really just for an bull home and was in manufactured housing, not the widespread evacuations. you see further closer to the coast, but the difference is the number of people who live here, right? taylor county where this storm could make landfall, the whole county has 20,000 people. tallahassee alone, which is in leon county county, has some 200,000. so a lot more people here could be directly affected, even if down along the coast they may see the areas of greatest danger, but abby i do think people are paying attention to the sense that maybe they didn't leave the city, but certainly at this point they're at home and they're going to have to wait this out throughout the night. >> yeah. i hope every everyone does listen because this is not one of those things that you want to just go with your gut. i listened to the officials that are telling you what to do here, john, we're going to get back to you soon. as you continue to wait for this landfall, which we are

and the florida capital tallahassee bracing for what they're calling a dead on him tallahassee. in fact, this is an interesting thing, least in known history, has never faced sustained hurricane force wind and that of course has officials fearing complete destruction in this moment, thousands of trees could come down massive power outages just an absolutely chaotic and horrific scene possible in tallahassee. and there are new warnings tonight across all of the south tennessee, georgia, the carolinas. all right. now, preparing for life-threatening flash floods in georgia people being told to stay off the roads in asheville, north carolina. 100 miles inland evacuations are already underway. they are being told that they will be seeing one of the most significant weather events to happen in the modern era. we do have reporters across florida tonight. chad myers also standing by with latest forecast as the storm is about to formally hit near tallahassee. i want to start with derek van dam joining me now though from apalachicola on the florida panhandle. and hurricane helene, derek h

tallahassee to perry, 45 miles wide. if we take that eye in the middle here, we can get tallahassee on the backside and perry on the front side. 140 mile-per-hour wind gusts possible even as far inland. you can get why it is such a serious situation. these are areas that weren't evacuated. they will be in their bathrooms. they will be in the tub with pillows or blankets on top of them. as this storm rolls and races through in the next couple of hours, scary as it gets. almost like being in the middle of a tornado when this blows through. we also if you have seen the pictures, we have storm surge increasing rapidly. near record levels. i know these numbers don't mean a lot to you guys but we have never really seen higher than 50 in the tampa area. that's how high the water has risen because of the storm, six feet. east port, all through tampa bay here, water in places that people have never seen before. and this water is still going up. so again, that 10 to 20 feet will be an isolated remote areas, where we get that eye m

estamos en tallahassee, ya sentimos rÁfagas de viento.tos sigue siendo un poderoso huracÁn que se intensifica. cuenta con vientos mÁximos de 140 millas por hora. es un huracÁn de categorÍa cuatro. esta a 90 millas de tallahassee donde estamos nosotros. harÁ su toque de tierra a las 11:00 de la noche. a partir de maÑana avanza sobre georgia como huracÁn de categorÍa 2. a partir del fin de semana estarÁ estancado sobre el valle de tennessee. la pared del ojo a medida que se acerca trae vientos extremos bajo un aviso de vientos huracanadosse encuentra la florida, incluye ciudades. hablamos de vientos de mÁs de 100 millas por hora. a esta hora sentimos rÁfagas en la capital de la florida. el riesgo de agua significativo, la marejada que se espera en el Áreaes de hasta 20 pies. esta marejada es amenazante y puede ser mortal. para la bahÍa de tampa de hasta ocho pies. ademÁs, la lluvia puede ser catastrÓfica para ciudades como tallahassee, atlanta y estÁ Área donde hablamos de un evento que podrÍa ser catastrÓfico y sin precedentes. estaremos v

we have been preparing in tallahassee for the past week. both with the city as an institution and the community. we have been stressing how important it is to be prepared for this storm. as mentioned, if we take a direct hit from a category 4 hurricane, it will be the most powerful storm in the history of the city of tallahassee. and i think for the most part, everybody is taking it seriously and have done a very good job preparing. as for the city itself, we have spent the whole week checking aspects of municipal government and services that we provide to make sure everything is up and running, top peak, as the storm comes in. we have tripled our workforce by calling in mutual aid agreements from all across the united states, from as far away as oklahoma, driving in to help us. they are all here, we had our assets spread out throughout the community with personnel and we are ready for the storm. >> mayor, can you talk a little bit more about what your most immediate concerns are? because it sounds like you have done all the preparation, an

there's tallahassee, 200,000 people call that home and about 50,000 students. perry is right in here, these are the areas of greatest concern. the eye itself is roughly about 40 miles wide. why is that important? because when we project that north wards, tl to perry is 45 miles wide. if wes take that eye in the middle here we could get tallahassee on the backside and perry on the front side, 140 mirp wind gusts possible even as farss inland. i mean, you can get why it is suchge a serious situation. these are areas that weren't evacuated by the way. there's going to be people in tallahassee to perry that i-10 corridor that will be in their safe rooms, bathrooms, in the tub with pillows or blankets on top of them as this storm rolls and races through in the next couple hours. scary as it gets. almost like beingy in the midd of a tornado when this blows through. we also iflo you've seen the pictures, we have storm surge that'ses increasing rapidly. we're getting near record levels in areas like tampa up towards cedar key, old port is near 4 feet. clear water beach

a saying in tallahassee we're tallahassee-strong. no matter what mother nature brings we're going to get at it and we're going to restore. i talked to the mayor in tampa today and communicating with the mayor in st. pete and aware what their communities are going through and other communities up and down the west coast of florida. and we're all going to pull together and we're going to make it, but it's going to be a lot of work and we have a huge storm heading our way. >> and, mayor, that's the seat of government for the state where you are. just the coordination with the state has been, you know -- talking about how tallahassee is unfortunately used to how we prepare for this. the state is unfortunately very well versed in these kinds of incidents. >> yeah. and let me tell you. hats off to all the levels of government. i've had the opportunity to speak with the white house and i know other communities have as well. i had a chance to speak to governor desantis yesterday, a great working partner during these storm events as well. i s

so a direct hit on tallahassee, it could be much worse than that. they've got power crews stage already again, that wind is really starting to pick up in the rain coming down, down here. but the power crews are staged, ready to work on repairs tomorrow morning. the worst of the storm still a few hours away from tallahassee, but really bracing for a direct hit, the likes of which anderson, they just have never seen before john berman. >> thank you will check in with you again, joining us is the superintendent of leon county schools rocky hannah superintendent. >> what's the situation now in the school shelters? obviously, the schools are closed, will be tomorrow, i assume been turned into shelters. how many people? would you estimate are now seeking shelter in schools yeah. >> anderson, we're just all collectively holding our breath from cedar key to apalachicola i've lived here my entire life and to your earlier comments that were made in mid 1980s, we had a small category one hurricane kate they came through tallahassee and leon county it devastate

tallahassee, florida, mayor, full throttle here.l keep you updated as the mayor wasn't wrapping up, we have learned it's making official, shutting down oil production around the gulf of mexico. this as a precaution that a lot of big energy companies take had a storm, in this case many doing to so as of yesterday, chevron completing that shutdown. that can sometimes lead to a corresponding run-up in oil gasses -- oil prices, in the chart and will eventually reopen. so far no real impact on energy prices, you would feel that nationwide if you are in the path of this or not. we will have more, right afterth this. cj stroud putting up points with mylowe's rewards. he is really cleaning up. c'mon, man. 'cause the cart, he's got all the cleaning supplies in his cart. in store. online. our lowe's team has you covered. a mystery! jessie loves playing detective. but the real mystery was her irritated skin. so, we switched to tide free & gentle. it cleans better, and doesn't leave behind irritating residues. and it's gentle on her skin. tide

people getting out of the tallahassee area. there's quite a bit of traffic.standing in front of 10. 15 story hotel in is completely sold out every room here is booked from locals. visitors here, national guard members at media. i'll just trying to find a safe place to ride out the storm. you know, there isn't this scary words put out by some of the county emergency manager saying if you decided to stay, write your name on your arm, in sharpie just in case, you know, having for bed. >> we need to identify you. so it's very there's very strong language coming from officials, including the weather service, you know, saying that this is unsurvivable. storm surge impacting parts of the florida big bend tonight. so you do hope that people took took that warning seriously and got out of the storm's way. >> well, that's common morning. i want to get a message across. i guess that'll do it >> tallahassee's obviously not along the coast, but when did you get to the capitol? and how quickly as the weather turns since you >> you know, we're actually based out of austin,

that lifeline of tallahassee. we want to talk about the threats that are posed to this area, not just the storm surge, but it is the potential for catastrophic winds. read along that immediate the coastline. a major hurricane approaching. we know that this can cause so much damage, especially considering the tree coverage that's in this area and the already saturated environment, just looking at this radar and satellite it is. just pushed up so much water. in terms of rainfall, just here alone and apalachicola, we've had over seven inches of rain since yesterday. so the ground is pretty saturated and the main event hasn't even begun yet. so we anticipate the worst of this system finally move in with that heavy rainfall, flash flooding, the threat of tornadoes, the storm surgeon catastrophic winds that are all typical with a landfall in hurricane of this magnitude. but i'm going to highlight this because this is so important. this, catastrophic, and they're using words like unprecedented coming out of western north

he is in tallahassee. john what is it like for you right now very wet. >> the water was getting into more wires, which is why we lost audio before and it's down now in my boots, you mean you can't wear rain gear that keeps rain out like this? i mean, it's just coming from every direction now, the winds are picking up. it is going to get progressively worse over the next several hours once the storm makes landfall south of here, it will really speed right over a tallahassee in tallahassee while there have been names storms that have passed over the last several decades, none that seem like they're going to be as strong as hurricane helene is with sustained a hurricane force winds over the city of some 200,000 people. this city has got the beautiful live oaks everywhere in what they're most concerned about here. >> in tallahassee. >> he's isn't the storm surge that's going to happen 25 miles south of here. they're concerned about the winds bringing the trees down, knocking power out, closing hundred of roads

that area right near tallahassee. that's where obviously the storm makes landfall liz and we'll have a lot of rain with that too. >> reporter: on top of all of that. there's a storm. >> tropical cyclones they make landfall. some produce a lot of tornadoes. some produce hardly any. we're thinking this is a one that will likely bring us possible tornadoes up toward savannah toward hilton head. that's the area of greatest concern. has a chance for isolated tornadoes. that's always a wild card liz. we won't really figure that one out when that threat materializes. >> all right, bill. we know you'll be tracking this. thanks so much. >> as bill mentioned this storm is expected to hit very close to the capital city of tallahassee. it could be one of the largest storms to hit that city ever. kathy, what are you seeing. what are folks doing. what's the latest? >> liz, good evening. right now folks are literally bracing for impact. you heard bill mention just a few moments ago. that tallahassee looks like we're in the bulls eye

all we know that eyewall was east of where tallahassee is, especially where we are here in downtown tallahassee, but maybe that back those back bands, outer bands coming back again, giving us a little bit more of that heavy rain fall, a little bit stronger winds here where i am here elevated a bit of a hilltop area, get a great backer background of the city here, of tallahassee still see some areas for years with power that are on here where i am just on this street couple of minutes ago, these street lights went all out a couple of minutes later, we saw them come back gone, but it's sort of been like that throughout the evening now, it's been a lot calmer earlier now it's getting a little bit stronger. and you mentioned that the mayor mentioned that as well. the big threat that they were facing also was the when and how strong that was going to be if we were going to see trees toppled over power lines down and then the whole mess that it was going to make to then try and get power restoration back on because we know they can't start doing that until they clear all of these roadways. and then t

has closed all its locations in tallahassee. and if you know anything about hurricanes waffle house is the last place to shutdown they like to be a haven as long as they possibly can, but it's just not safe for them as this storm moves in, we are beginning to feel first wins that we felt so far in tallahassee, the rain has been coming down in bands pretty steadily. the next five or six hours though, will going to be dicey here students at florida state university, fsu obviously potentially endangered like so many other millions of people in that whole area. >> however, the conditions john change there in just the last hour or so yeah, it's a really good question. >> well, for the first time i'm beginning to feel the wind pick up. as i said, the rain bands have been coming for several hours, but not the wind so much. now, it is starting to be a sort of a steady gust coming our way that will pick up and intense the fbi. and as i've said in recent memory, tallahassee has never been hit by a hurricane itself by the time the storm's

tallahassee is in the direct path of the storm. forecasters are warning there could be an unsurvivable storm surge, possibly up to 20 feet, higher than the typical one- story home as the monster storm comes ashore. bill karen's is tracking helene's past tonight and joins me now with the latest. bill? >> does not look like this will make it a category five but a category four storm will do incredible damage to the florida coast. we are now three to roughly 4 hours away from landfall, between about 11:00 p.m. and midnight tonight, it'll go somewhere around tallahassee. the storm is going away from the tampa area. we have a four foot or five foot storm surge up and down the west coast of florida. we have a lot of water damage from that storm surge. thankfully it happened towards low tide. that definitely helped, it could have been a lot worse. now as the next high tide approaches, these areas from cedar key northward, this is where we could get the historic 20 foot storm surge. this is a closer view of the i of the storm here, really

he tallahassee right here moving just to the east of tallahassee. but some parts of tallahassee likely feel those hurricane force winds and then because it's moving so fast, it's likely to maintain hurricane strength all the way up into georgia. see making well, maybe a category 2 near macon, maybe a category one. still near atlanta. that would be some devastation all along that point. guys, back to you. thank you, lawrence. yeah. as you pointed out, all eyes are on the southeast. tonight >> hurricane helene continues to gain strength. as lauren said, it's now a cat 4 and is closing in on florida's big bend. >> kristen currie is going to be with us. she is in tallahassee. she's based in austin, but she has flown to. >> the capital and has the latest say kristin? >> hey, grant and vicki at you at 10 times when we have a storm like this, they'll bring in meteorologist, friend other quieter parts of the country to come in and help with coverage and out relay information. and that's exactly what i'm doing here for those may be in the and want to know fo

gonzalez, who is also in tallahassee in another location this morning. remember, i'll give us a sense of what you're seeing. i know that every time we came across a tree that was down, it was removed almost immediately after they've been out clearing these roads since 2:00 a.m. this morning >> no. good morning. so much like you just said, you know, we were bracing for the worst here in tallahassee, unfortunately, for people here that did not happen, we did hear some heavy winds last night. we saw some of that rain, but we know that there are other aspects, other counties because i should say that we're impacted more severely than we were and, you know, john, we were just learning minutes ago that there's been a fourth storm-related deaths confirmed. we're talking about a four-year-old girl in north carolina. we also know there was one death here in florida, to others in georgia. so this was definitely a powerful storm, a historic one, a devastating one. and now we're also learning a deadly one is. >> so unfortunate for dead so far i do expect, unfortunat

cnn's ivan rodriguez is live in tallahassee, florida. but first, we're going to go to cnn meteorologist allison chinchar is tracking helene. and where it's heading. >> yeah, that's right. i think the key component here is that just because it has made landfall does not mean this storm is over. in fact, we are still yet to seen some of the worst impacts for a few states. in particular, right now, you can see the center of the storm is located just over portions of south central georgia, sustained winds of 80 miles per hour, still gusting higher than that. the storm has already knocked out a tremendous amount of power. we're talking 1.8 million customers so far, some of those in florida, it will be dating he's before they get their power back. other states like tennessee and kentucky have yet to really see their numbers tick up because the worst of those conditions is not get there. you can see here the storm is expected to go back down to a tropical storm likely cover between augusta and atlanta. this morning and then continuing its trek

ivan rodriguez in tallahassee, florida. thank you so much.ng in cnn meteorologist allison chinchar. allison before we went on air we're showing some pictures of flooding here in atlanta and that was before the hurricane proper is hitting, is that where it's headed right now? are we going to be here? >> yes. so it's really headed up towards say, like macon, georgia and then eventually into atlanta. and again, you have to have some perspective for people who don't know, these are hundreds of miles away from the water. these are not beach communities. so again, just to note, well, how far away they are, we've just got the hourly update now down to 80 miles per hour. that's still a category one hurricane. again, this is what we expected as it continues to make its way inland, it's going to weaken the interesting thing though, is just how far inland it's been able to maintain its hurricane status again, you can see here is that center of the storm will continue to slide. it's going to start to make its way a little bit more on a westerly direction

what is different about this storm is right now, tallahassee 31. it is moving so fast, but the eye is so strong. it will move in more like a large tornado. it will not be a slow buildup. all of a sudden the wind will ramp up and that eye will come through. we get what we call an extreme wind warning issued and when that is issued, even as far inland as tallahassee, that is when you go into your safe rooms, guide your kids. go in an interior closet or bathroom and put a mattress over your blankets to protect yourself, because it will feel and sound like a tornado going through and that will last roughly two hours. >> meteorologist bill karins, thank you. i should note there are 21 counties in florida under mandatory evacuation. that is 21 of 67 counties. we have jesse kirsch, msnbc news correspondent live on the ground in perry, florida, what you just saw on the map. what are conditions like now? >> reporter: we've had rain on and off. nothing dramatic in terms of precipitation, yet the wind is starting to gust more as we make landfall. i clocked wi

again, tallahassee has never had hurricane force winds sustained winds. we could see winds here north of 100 miles per hour and the damage after it hits here, it will spread all the way up the coast cnn is tracking this storm. carlos suarez and gulfport, florida, which is feeling it harder than i am right now. first, though, because cnn meteorologist allison chinchar in the weather center to get a sense of where it is now, where it said it, what it did overnight that's right. so where it is now, it is currently in the gulf of mexico churning in those incredibly warm waters that's going to be fuel for the storm to continue to strengthen as we go through the day today, right now, it has sustained winds of 90 miles per hour. >> it's forward movement is 12 miles to the out or 12 miles per hour. north northeast at about bove miles per hour. if we can push this forward, will kind of show you where we're going to see that track. it's going to continue to make its way off to the north and east and as it does so, it's going to strengthen as it makes its way toward

abc's ike in tallahassee. >> helene finally making landfall in tallahassee, bringing strong winds and heavy rain. officials warning these conditions can down power lines and trees just like this one. >> hundreds of people in taylor county, florida, in the bull's eye of the storm, told emergency officials they did not evacuate. some areas along the gulf coast were bracing for up to 20ft of storm surge. the taylor county sheriff's office now asking residents who defied the mandatory evacuation order to write their name, birthday and important information on your arm or leg in a permanent marker so they can be identified. near tampa bay, this video showing the surge of floodwater in gulfport. hours before helene made landfall, this storm is raging. >> i have got flooding so bad you can't even imagine. >> the lobby of the all seasons hotel near saint petersburg underwater. high winds and storm surge forced authorities to shut down multiple bridges near tampa, including the sunshine skyway bridge on nearby interstate four. a highway sign fell onto a vehicle, killing the driver. rescuers us

local papers reporting that waffle house has already closed all over tallahassee, and that's assigned to come because walk the last stays open as long as they possibly can. they don't expect to be able to operate here overnight public transportation shut down in tallahassee about an hour ago and it's interesting because florida governor ron desantis, he's coordinating florida disaster response from here from tallahassee but tallahassee could be right in the middle of this disaster in a way, it just hasn't been done before. so the triple threat you've been hearing about the storm surge that's 20 miles south of here here, but the minute that happens right here in tallahassee, the wind in issue in that drenching drenching rain, several inches already as much as ten inches by tomorrow, the soil will be so wet, which is why we could see so many of those trees come down. danny yeah, incredibly well said that if there's any indication to take this seriously when the waffle house is close, you should also take caution. john berman. thank you very much. really appreciate it. brianna we are kee

we've been through a lot of storms here like it jumped up from tallahassee.ink it hit cat 4 straight up, monroe street, we wouldn't be having this interview right now. >> we stormed the room come. they're going to get bigger. they're going to get stronger. >> you know, and we just need to ready for that. >> overall here in tallahassee, there seems to be a mix of relief that it wasn't as bad. in addition to the guilt because it's not like this storm weekend or slow down. it just took a slightly different direction. so the strongest wind we're expecting here in tallahassee just went further east into the big ben. and unfortunately the storm surge on the florida peninsula i mean, 6 to 8 feet. there rewriting records this year that we just set last year with and there is going to be a lot of cleanup. lot of recovery needed in different parts of the state of florida. but here in tallahassee, couple down trees, no reports of injuries or worse for the capital city. >> well, that is a relief. thank you so much, kristen currie reporting live for us from north tallahas

meteorologist kristen currie rode out the storm in tallahassee.'s been assessing the damage there all day. >> really the story here in tallahassee, florida, from hurricane helene, the most powerful hurricane to ever hit this part of the state is the wind damage left behind all day today. we've seen scenes like this. big tracy's big oak tree just laying across the road. crews have been out making sure that the roads are passable, which is why you see all the debris and destruction on the side. even the saugus lining the curbs that in addition to the wind damage was the power outages over 50,000 without power. earlier today, we've seen lines of bucket trucks and cherry pickers with the crews coming in trying to restore power generators attached some of the lights here at the big intersections. it was a rough night here in tallahassee as that storm blew through with those tropical storm force winds. we actually never saw the hurricane force winds reported here in the city, but one man decided to ride it out in his home and not evacuate. he's been her

if it goes east of tallahassee that means less damage to tallahassee, a city of 30 miles inland, of 200,000 people. a city with a lot of trees. it could have been devastated if it was a little bit further west. tallahassee might have dodged a bullet but a big chunk of the southeast has not yet dodged a bullet so the hurricane has made landfall but there is still a lot of trouble ahead for georgia and for the carolinas. >> trace: standby if you will because we've now got information that helene has in fact made landfall there are 1 million people who are now without power. 1 million floridians now do not have power because of this hurricane and the winfield that steve was talking about in the eye and just outside the eye of the hurricane. 140 miles per hour. that is a severe life-threatening hurricane. made landfall moments ago. we have multiple reporters along the coast to. we will take you there live throughout the night. also coming up, new questions about eric adams historic indictment as he takes a defiant stance. we take a look at the charges live onset next. nexpecte d. beetlejuice ca

ivan rodriguez in tallahassee, florida. thank you so much for that i want to go now to clearwater, florida, where mayor bruce rector can give us an update on the situation in his area. thank you so much for being here with us this early. so when it hit the big bend, it was record strength for the area. so things obviously looking better. now, but just take us through what you're seeing yeah well, we're we're in clearwater source south of the big bend, but we had we had a very devastating night here in clearwater. it shows the size of this storm. we are about 100 miles away from the center of the storm and still we had record storm surge almost a full meter above the prior record. that caused unprecedented flooding on our coastal community. part of clearwater and caused tremendous damage yeah. >> and we heard from an official in tampa saying basically the roads look like an ocean catastrophic flooding, which you've been talking about as well. any idea how much damage has been done already? >> well, we know we won't for sure

. >> tallahassee could get a direct hit from this hurricane in a few hours in tallahassee in the last 2030, 40 years, has suffered from sustained hurricane force winds before almost certain to happen tonight, we've had gusts here of 35, i would say, 40 miles it's an hour. there was one just before you came to me, kaitlan, that kind of pushed me off my feet a little bit. you know, i'm a big guy, 6-4 to 20, so that when very powerful are starting to get more and more powerful in the rain bands are beginning to move through the real concern here in tallahassee, not the storm surge that's going to happen some 2025 miles south here, serious, very serious. they're here for it really is the wind and the rain because of the tree canopy here, these beautiful live oaks that line tallahassee. tallahassee is famous for their expecting thousands thousands of trees to come down, hundreds of road closures power could be out for some time here and the ground is just saturated. it's been rainy here for the last few days and they could get six to ten inches more of rain as this storm passes through put

i'm john berman in tallahassee, florida. this is cnn special live coverage of hurricane helene by tonight, this storm which is right now a category two, could pass right over our heads as a major hurricane, at least when it makes landfall. now, even where it doesn't make landfall, it's causing major problems. i want to go to gulfport in pinellas county. that is where cnn's carlos suarez is right now in carlos. you been getting the band's and seeing the water already moved up like where you're standing right now? >> that's exactly right. john. good morning. so in the last hour, emergency officials here in pinellas county have expressed a great deal of concern with the fact that the folks that live in this evacuation zone have decided stay put and their concern, as you can see around me, is some of the flooding that we're already seeing associated with this storm. what you're taking a look at here is the result of high tide and some of it the rain that we saw moved through the area overnight. and this morning. and so what's ha

they're all over tallahassee, right. they provide beautiful tree cover, but when they come down, they can be dangerous. we're talking about a category 4 storm that could turn this city upside down. >> tom, thank you. the impact of this hurricane is being felt well beyond florida. priya sridhar is in atlanta. priya, what's the situation there tonight? >> that's right, lester. businesses and schools in atlanta are already closed. officials say hurricane force from helene will be felt here in the city and across the state, warning of the potential for sustained power outages. tonight millions are being urged to stay off the roads as we brace for helene's impact. lester? >> priya sridhar tonight, thank you. al roker is tracking the storm. al, what's the latest? >> okay, 130-mile-per-hour winds, but it's moving a little faster now, moving northeast at 23 miles per hour, a category 4 storm with tornado watches from the carolinas down to the keys. some tornado warnings embedded in there as well. landfall somewhere tonight betwe

here in tallahassee, there are a lot of trees. and officials are worried that a lot of those trees would topple when you have 100 mile-per-hour winds, not just the trees, but power lines as well. and that would ultimately lead to prolonged power outages. earlier today we had a chance to speak with residents who decided to leave their homes and hunker down at emergency shelters. a lot of them have livered through several storms in this area, but nothing quite to this scale. officials here in tallahassee, they have been preparing for days ahead of this storm. they are leaning on mutual aid, resources from all across the country. and, when we have a little bit more light come tomorrow morning, they will begin assessing the damage as the cleanup begins. frances? >> tough aftermath there, kathy, thank you. nbc's jay gray is also live in it tallahassee. we'll check in with him coming up. for now, let's get to angie lassman for the latest on where the storm is heading next. good morning. >> good morning to you. we have a weakening storm

we're in tallahassee, that probably saved tallahassee a lot of recovery. coastal areas, initial reports from urban search and rescue teams is it is going to be pretty gruesome. when you have that type of storm surge across low-lying areas, what has been recovered from the last two hurricanes will probably be destroyed all over once again. >> todd: how does your response and preparation compare to previous storms and what do you expect when the sun comes up in terms of your response at that point? >> we brought about twice the number of personnel in place of urban search and rescue teams because of the size of this storm, the speed of this storm. we didn't know where it could make landfall south of the yucatan peninsula. hurricane ian, for example, we probably in 1600 first responders, with this storm, 1100. state of florida typically has 500, so we had to bring them different places, this could have gone into tampa or tallahassee or panama city. >> carley: what about people who lost power? i'm sure you have linemen ready to go to get power back on. when ca

we'll be out of power here in tallahassee over the next couple days. have had sheltered since yesterday also welcoming pets to. we also spoke with the red cross they've been deployed here in tallahassee. expected to stay the next couple weeks there on it two weak rotation to help those in tallahassee in the event we have power that's down or homes that are destroyed by this -- of these large oak trees. tallahassee has tree-lined communities up-and-down the city with big spanish cmos trees, their bit more vulnerable and a storm like check 15 coming moving through. i spoke with the mayor yesterday he is a bit concerned about how the residents have never seen something to the strength of helene move into the city of tallahassee is so again and major hurricane moving into the city where a lot of residents may not know what to expect. that's one of the bigger concerns. in the evening and up at this level time frame. >> sandra: okay thank you very much for the update we know we will sea more of you as this continues, it's an incredible shot there of the brid

here is tallahassee and here's the eye.side edge, the western edges close to tallahassee but does look like it's barely going to miss, so a small token. if you're in here towards perry, florida, this is going right over the top of you. you are in the strongest portion of the storm and it looks like the center eye, the clear part, is going to go right over the top of you as we go through the next 15 to 30 minutes. when the center here crosses land, that is when we get the official landfall declaration. this area is under an extreme wind warning. this means 115-mile-per-hour winds plus expected all throughout this region here along i-10 to tallahassee and that is where everyone is now in their shelters. the storm rapidly intensified all day long and we have seen pictures now. we have water going into homes even in st. petersburg, florida. the surge is jumping. cedar key, this is the highest surge you've ever had. even in the tampa area this continues to pile up. now, we are approaching high tide. this is water above where it

tallahassee police department has chainsaw crew. they were out here earlier this morning cleaned up 50 of those trees and 5 hours and allowed those roads to reopen 50,000 people here in the city of tallahassee overnight losing power. but even the electricity has been restored for most of the city. we know despite the fact that it did wobble a little bit towards the east, that it was a scary night with those very excessive winds and heavy rainfall for residents all across the area. i spoke with one man who's been here in tallahassee for over 60 years. and here's what he had to say about last night's storm. >> well, last night was scary. i mean, we didn't know what was going on us in the coming in at a night. we're seeing these reports and of course, until very late in the game, sort of able to come straight tallahassee. so we were very very worried about that. we've been through a lot of storms here, like i of image from tallahassee. if i think as a cat 4 straight up monroe street, we wouldn't be having this interview right now. >> w

albany y tallahassee con un aviso de huracÁn. tampa con vigilancia de huracÁn. convertirÁ en categorÍa 4 maÑana en la noche antes de tocar tierra. va a perder intensidad tierra adentro, pero todavÍa categorÍa 1 el viernes en georgia. se va a quedar estacionado en el valle de tennessee. maÑana en la noche, va creciendo y marcarÁ gran parte de florida, carolina del sur. se esperan vientos en tallahassee. acumulados de lluvias de 18 pulgadas. mucha precauciÓn. marejada ciclÓnica de 18 pies. vamos a ver mÁs detalles de una marejada ciclÓnica. reportero: gracias. helene se fortalece en su trayecto a florida. hablamos de marejada ciclÓnica. vamos a ver cÓmo luce. grandes cantidades de agua que se dirigen tierra adentro. vemos lo que pasa con tres pies. es muy tarde para evacuar en este nivel. asÍ lucen seis pies. hay que dirigirse al segundo piso de la casa. el mar puede penetrar 15 millas adentro. situaciÓn desde el norte de los cayos y hasta tampa. 12 dÍas y es casi imposible sobrevivir. las comunidades costeras son las mÁs vulnerables y pueden tener inundaciones ca

she wanted to move them from tallahassee to south florida, he said no. that's when her tight knit family got involved. according to police records, wendy's parents discussed offering markel $1 million if he'd agree to the move. wendy also talked about how much her big brother charlie disliked dan markel jesÚs joke. >> he said, i you know, i looked into hiring a hitman and it was cheaper to get you this tv. >> the tallahassee police didn't care for that joke. they started taking a hard look at the adelsons, but they all denied their involvement and no arrests were made. and only katie face time in prison. that was before luis rivera's confession. o k's 4-1, he says katie manipulated her baby daddy. sigfredo garcia, into doing the hit. >> she'll go cheat on him. and i guess she told him, if you want me back, you got to go do this. she had him all messed up. she had him all confused. so what was katie doing? i mean, you said something about she was going to see somebody. she'd go see the dentist. >> who's the dentist that dentist, police allege was none oth

you saw tallahassee there, expected to get triple-digit wind speed. marissa torres is live in tallahassee with what she's seeing. >> it's been a process. i was talking to janice before i left for florida a few days ago, that forecast cone slid further west with that center pretty much over tallahassee. there is wiggle room. it is easy to say tallahassee will suffer a huge hit as we watch helene come in. final prep, they are underway. this is a fishing village about 20 miles south of tallahassee, the capital of florida. this is an area inspect the county, wakula county, pretty much along the gulf. you have a river, the river behind me is st. marks river, this area is under mandatory evacuation r evacuation. we are expecting unsurvival storm surge up to 20 feet. take into account we'll go into high tide later this evening, a 20-foot storm surge, no way you will survive that. mandatory evacuations kick in at 8:00 a.m. there are still boats in the water, they were actively rem removing boats yesterday. talk about force of category 4 or category 5 coming i

tallahassee in the cross hairs tonight. forecasters warning conditions along the coast will be unsurvivable. states of emergency and mandatory evacuations in effect. our team in the storm zone. and we'll have the new track. >>> also tonight, new york mayor eric adams indicted on federal corruption charges. the mayor accused of accepting bribes, free or discounted trips, and luxury hotel stays from foreign nationals and a turkish official. the fbi searching his official residence. his defiant message as he faces calls to resign. >>> israel's benjamin netanyahu vowing to keep striking hezbollah in lebanon with full force, despite the u.s. push for a cease-fire. >>> kamala harris meeting today with ukrainian president zelenskyy. donald trump saying he'll meet zelenskyy tomorrow, after slamming him for not cutting a deal with russia to end the war. >>> and the little hippo who is a big social media hit. and now you can see her 24/7. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >>> good evening and welcome. when th

know well, that shift. >> put tallahassee on the weaker side of the storm. that does not mean that damage like this would not happen at its worst city. officials say tallahassee saw at least 50 roads that had been blocked due to downed trees. this particular tree falling on an apartment building in a wooded residential area. millions of people across the southeast are without power due to the effects of helene, 53,000 of those without power. we're right here in tallahassee, linemen from as far as rhode island and connecticut have restored a majority of those power losses. as for the unincorporated parts of leon county, they have made tremendous strides in cutting him, tossing all trees, blocking their major roadways. are county officials also say, but there are still a few branches that are tangled up in some of those power lines in the unincorporated areas in tallahassee, florida, a master read. >> well, that is just minimal damage compared to what we've the awesome houses have been on fire. the flash flooding across is such a large swath of the southeast.

we have tallahassee, perry right in that region. whether they're on the right side, the strong side of the storm, or the weaker side will make a big difference. that system of course will continue working up to the north and take a little time to weaken, dumping plenty of rain across that region. when it comes to the storm surge, we have warnings up. cedar key, two feet, above the regular sea level there. this is going to expand. we're going to see these numbers sky rocket through the evening. we have not seen the worst of it when it comes to that. that goes for the wind speeds as well as the rain across parts of the appalachians up to 2 feet in some locations. >> when we talk about a 20-foot storm surge, we're talking about a wall of water hitting parts of the state. talk about sort of where we're talking about, how much damage we're talking about, how much water, how much flooding? >> to put it in perspective, if you think of 20 feet of storm surge, that's unsurvivable, not just the first level of your house, that's the second lev

that could be happening for the tallahassee city itself. the storm is going to head up through georgia, near atlanta. it is still going to be a 60-mile-per-hour winds. we're talking about power outages all over the state of georgia, and torrential -- maybe historic rainfall event too. we haven't changed a lot with the watches and the warnings. everyone is pretty much status quo for what you were before this. this storm is still going to be huge in size with tropical storm force winds extending 400 miles. we will have scattered power outages all through the florida peninsula, even though the storm is going to be about 200 miles off the coast. this is an enormous-sized storm and it also looks like it is going to be big, huge and powerful. no real big changes to the storm surge forecast either. so, again, the worst of it to the right of that, you know, where we get that landfall, this area from keaton beach, cedar key, this has been decimated by a couple of hurricanes lately. tampa, 4 to 8 feet of storm surge. and then we have really big conce

but this does take it up to tallahassee fm tallahassee's kind of in the bullseye for 48 hours.nta by the time the sun comes up friday morning still with winds strong enough for power outages all the way in north georgia and then finally by friday evening it's weak enough that continuities going to cause many problems in tennessee. so the hurricane impacts, this is mostly the wind area that's going to be the worst. tallahassee to albany, georgia, cedar key. this area here including the town of perry. everywhere else has a chance for tropical storm gusts that could do minor damages with isolated power outages. and of course to the right of that landfall is where that 10 to 15-foot storm surge is likely. and hopefully it will occur at low tide and not high tide. the tides only differ by two feet on the west coast of florida. it doesn't make that much of a difference. but i'm sure everyone would love to take two feet off of some of these numbers. tampa area, sarasota still five to eight feet is possible. it looks to occur more toward low tide. hopefully it's more that five to six-f

john berman in tallahassee. thanks so much joining us now is adrian elliott apalachicola city commissioner. she's in florida's big bend that's the part of the united states where the panhandle of florida connects to the peninsula of florida and adrian extremely heavy rain has already flooded roadways in your area. how prepared are the residents of apalachicola for the next phase of this monster hurricane lot of residents, everyone's been stocking up. we're used to getting tropical weather in this area. many residents were here for hurricane michael. so that's kind of been our bar to gauge for this today downtown the last week preparations were finalized with business donor is getting things boarded up moved out some of our lowest lying areas in town have already been subject to a little bit of flooding from the rainwater, but our sewer systems and everything are still functional. this time. we do have some of the floodwaters starting to back a little bit, but the storm surge is not hit anywhere near what we're s

i'm john berman and tallahassee, florida. this is our special live coverage of now tropical storm helene, a pass not far from me in tallahassee overnight as a hurricane. but look at what it is doing now in atlanta a flash flood emergency can see in place for atlanta, eight inches of rain there so far, several inches more expected the mayor, andre dickens told us moments ago, stay inside, do not go out on the road boats in atlanta right now because those pictures right there, that is what you will face rising dangerous waters you know what we're going to check in with florida governor ron desantis to get an update on what the storm did in this state. listen which took a similar track. it was similar strength, maybe a little bit weaker. but you are seeing significantly more stern storm surge in places like tampa bay. we're also saw major storm surge, of course, in the big bend region. we did report that there was a traffic fatality last night we also this morning can report that there's been another fatality reported in dixie c

they are telling everyone from tallahassee up to madison along i-10, get your storm shelters or interior rooms, closets, bathrooms. use blankets, pillows. try to get as many walls between yourself and the storm because that is how it will feel. this will be a devastating wind event over the next couple of hours and on top of everything the storm surge is really coming up. we have historic flooding even in tampa. this is the highest we have seen the storm surge in tampa. there will be a lot of destruction when we wake up in the morning. >> bill karins, we will check in with you during the hour for any new developments on the hurricane coverage. thank you very much for starting us off. >>> today, ukraine's president zelenskyy had two meetings at the white house. the first with the president and then the second with the vice president. in the first meeting president biden said this. >> i see two key pieces. first i now we have to strengthen ukraine's position on the battlefield and that is why today i am proud to announce a new, $2.4 billion package of security assistance. i have also direc

nbc news correspondent kathy park is keeping an eye on the conditions in tallahassee for us. but let's start with al roker, helene just upgraded, right to a category 3, so where is it headed? >> guys, what's interesting, you can see on this visible satellite picture trying to get an eye together, but this is a massive storm over 500 miles in diameter, right now, it's 160 miles southwest of tampa, florida, 120 mile per hour winds. it's now moving northeast at 120 miles an hour. we always worry about tornadoes, guess what, tornado watches from south carolina down to florida from 8:00, 9:00, 10:00 p.m. tonight. we'll be watching that as well. we have tropical storm warnings from asheville all the way down to key west. hurricane warnings from central georgia right on down into the big bend area of florida. here it comes. making landfall possibly as a 3, this thing has a lot of runway, in fact the fact of the matter in the last 36 hours it's rapidly intensified twice, could it rapidly intensify again to get to maybe 130 miles an hour? it's not impossible. hurricane-force winds ext

tallahassee, florida, i believe this is actually a camera of tampa as opposed to tallahassee.e stop signs not only cover, but this is just about the amount of storm surge we've seen for the better part of the last couple hours. >> so that's an example you're walking on the sidewalk or you pull up next to a stop sign and you look over it towers above your car unless you're in an suv that goes to show how high the water is. >> and i don't know if that's over on the right side of the screen, a bench that you would sit on or not but it's got to be at least 3 to 3 feet, probably three feet high. >> that's just so impressive. and it's just sitting there. another reason you don't want to go into these waters, you don't know what's in there. of course, at this time, you tend to get other things like sewage back up. you've got debris in there. >> and if you've got a cut or an open wound, that could be a problem for you. so you want to stay out of these waters. >> and i know we say that often. sometimes you also go in it and you just can't do that. >> yeah, that's a good point to make.