and he worked in tampa.ery, very well. the reports are coming in and he talked about alma, the 100 mile per hour wind gusts. yeah, that's a record for them. looking up more information them i don't know all of alma very well, but it's the blueberry capital of the world and or georgia, rather. and when you think about the crops being affected in from blueberries to almonds to peanuts to cotton, this is going to have major impacts outside of what everyone else is as well. >> look at the storm reports. yeah, we're in the harvest season for, a lot of different crops and certainly with georgia hit and really hard with this, we even had numerous tornado reports still a threat that we'll continue to track out. we still have a couple of tornado warnings that will be in coming. but in the city of jordan, there was a tornado at a cemetery. and then out in broxton, an update to previous tornado reports with a double wide trailer moving off of its foundation. unfortunately, i believe two people lost their life in what l

in the tampa bay area? those bridges have closed because the sustained winds at one point or another have reached 60 miles an hour and so right now we're in the process of just trying to find a safe place where we can join some of the cnn programming all right please stay safe and we will be checking in with you, carlos. >> as you find another location there and hopefully are able to circle up with some others that are there. and that just shows exactly the difficulty of covering these storms to try to bring people exactly what is happening, but also to be able to move yourself again it's a storm that has been labeled on survivable. chad myers is outfront in the cnn weather center chad unsurvivable is the word that were being told so when exactly does the storm formally hit as far as you see it? and obviously from what we're seeing on the images, what our reporters are experiencing on the ground the concept of formally hitting is also with a storm, this large kind of hard to define it is because it hits in

nicole valdes is in tampa, florida. but let us start with our senior weather producer david parkinson tracking this storm. how is it looking? >> unfortunately it's not looking good for folks in florida. you're starting to see the eye forming more clearly, and now rapid intensification set to take place as it becomes a category-four storm just before landfall. we think the wind's 130 miles per hour in the big bend region. then the storm moves inland, but it's moving really quickly. by the time you get to 7:00 a.m. friday, the winds are still at 60 miles per hour, and then it begins to dissipate. there's a lot of impacts between now and then. first 10 to 20 feet of storm surge, that's two stories up on a house, unsurvivable storm surge up along the big bend of florida. and then even five to eight feet in tampa bay where nicole is. then 100 to 120 mile-per-hour winds at the coast up to tallahassee. 80 to 100 mile-per-hour winds inland as far north as albany. then 250 miles from the landfall spot in atlanta, 60 to 80 mile-p

it is unique in so many ways, you got tampa, st. petersburg, you got the bay, you've got so much going on there. >> right. it is, we like to say, we have the good fortune of living in paradise and that's the majority of the days of the year. but, you know, one of the few downsides is that we do experience these storms whether they're tropical storms or hurricanes. i try not to say this out loud too often, it has been over 100 years since we have taken a direct hit. but just to see that helene was over 100 miles off our coast, and still we had close to 7 feet of storm surge, and we benefited from a low tide at the highest storm surge. so that saved us probably three feet of flooding there. so, we're very fortunate, but we're going to be cleaning up for several days. >> yeah, is there any kind of help you're looking for, help that you need? >> no, we're good. we're good. matter of fact, we'll be sending individuals up to the panhandle to be able to help our friends and neighbors up in that area with whatever issues that they need. we'

living room. >> abc's reena roy begins our coverage in tampa. reena. good morning. >> reena. good morning to you. well, i can tell you that the flooding is widespread here in tampa. and rain is coming down yet again. overnight, we were woken up by an emergency alarm here at our hotel with water inside the building from storm surge. you can see it right here behind us as well. the pool area completely inundated. more than 1 million customers are without power across the state. overnight. a historic flooding event unfolding in florida. hurricane helene roaring ashore south of tallahassee near perry, florida, as a category four storm, packing 140 mile per hour winds. >> you have these 140 mile an hour winds hitting here in north florida. this is going to extend. i mean, you're going to have hurricane force winds that are going to extend across a couple counties to the east and west. >> the national weather service issuing a rare extreme wind warning for the tallahassee area, calling hurricane helene an extremely dangerous and life threatening situa

antes de tocar tierra, ya habÍa cobrado una vida en tampa.uz. el nivel del agua fue aumentando en la costa oeste de la florida. a medida que se acercaba al norte del estado. tambiÉn georgia, alabama, las carolinas y virginia estÁn bajo carolinas y virginia estÁn bajo estado de ergenci cc: telemundo network - cuando mataron a gonzalo y a su mujer, le vi la cara a su asesino. - pero ahora que estoy conociendo a josefina en toda su dimensión,

it's still windy here in downtown tampa. and behind me evidence of that storm surge threat we were warning you about just yesterday. you can look here. this is the tampa river walk. you'll notice it's under water. there is a lot of real estate behind me. in fact, a big construction zone that you can see is now under several inches of water at the very least. unfortunately local police officers telling us at least for this area it may be some of the worst flooding they've seen in quite some time. hurricane helene definitely making its mark along much of florida's gulf coast. we know there are reports of a lot of homes that are dealing with flooding this morning, and others needing to be rescued. the wind howling in tampa, and the roads heavily flooded in naples. and lee county. hours before helene made landfall in the big bend area of florida's gulf coast, governor ron desantis said one person was killed when a sign fell on their car on a tampa highway. >> it's very dangerous conditions out there. you need to be right now jus

tampa bay still in a hurricane watch. and those tropical storm warnings still up from miami to charleston to asheville. and asheville is part of why i want to talk about the rain and the flash flood threat. but let's first do that big surge that they've upped now on the latest forecast. 10 to 20 feet, that's like two stories of water pushing ahead of the storm, coming right onto land. that will easily take a home off of its foundation, so, crystal river, cedar key involved there, four to eight feet still for tampa bay. the winds will easily be hurricane force all the way nearly to atlanta, so, i think that could impact flights even early on friday morning. and then that significant flash flooding. david, blue ridge mountains, when you have 12 to 18 inches of rain from the last couple of days and helene, not going to be good. >> david: so many states in the path of this. ginger zee, we are glad you're there, as well. please, you and the crew, stay safe, and we'll watch first thing in the morning on "gma." thank you. >>> in

we're going to take you live to tampa where the storm is surge. surge is already hitting high levels. our reporter is there right now in the middle of this, this is cnn special live coverage of hurricane helene changing changed sexual orientation of not changing the political party. >> we're going to go to the house look what we got here. okay. >> car saturday, october 5th on cnn. >> my plan is to create a city that people can dream about tobias turn into dystopias there's still so much to recover your time megalopolis radar ego, the number one rated brand in cordless outdoor power, brings you the ego power plus reaching an incredible 765 cfm. >> it's more powerful than gets and it speeds of up to 200 miles per hour. it's the most powerful you go lower ever featuring egos patent and 56 volt with the battery technology, it runs up to 90 minutes on a single chargearge s the same battery powers. all you go to exclusively and lows ace and ego authorized dealers when it comes to amgen, life changing medical breakthroughs, every second counts but when n

marissa parra, nbc news, tampa. >>> all right. we want to turn now to a developing story out of california. a suspect is in custody after an explosion at a courthouse injured six. david noriega is in santa maria. david, witnesses saying deputies pinned down the suspect? >> reporter: that's right, tom, and right behind me is the courthouse where it happened. authorities say that local man identified as 20-year-old nathaniel mcguire walked into the courthouse shortly after the court opened for business and threw a bag containing an improvised explosive device at the security checkpoint at the entrance to the courthouse. authorities say that mcguire had been arrested on a gun charge in july and was set to be arraigned here in court this morning. they believe his motive for this attack was in retaliation for that arrest and described this as a local man with a local grievance. that said, tom, the fbi did open a federal investigation into this case, although they say there is no reason to believe mr. mcguire has any connections to orga

marissa parra, nbc news, tampa. >>> all right. we want to turn to a developing story out of california. a suspect is in custody after an explosion at a courthouse injured six. david noriega is in santa maria. david, witnesses saying deputies pinned down the suspect? >> reporter: that's right, tom. right behind me is the courthouse where witnesses described a shocking explosion shortly after court opened for business this morning followed by a chaotic scene as multiple officers piled on to the suspect. the santa barbara county sheriff's office said the explosion, which happened in the lobby of the building, was caused by an improvised explosive device. they describe the suspect as an adult male who acted alone but haven't released any information about his identity or motive. authorities say they deployed a bomb squad to comb this entire surrounding area and to search a vehicle that they say was connected to the suspect. the fbi is involved in this case, tom, and one thing we're keeping an eye on is whether they will take over the

>> reporter: david, that category 4 hurricane has now passed tampa bay. it's obviously more than 100 miles to our west-northwest. look at that dock behind me, just getting rocking and rolling. that peninsula has been overtaken by water. we've had offshore winds all day, but now it's shifting onshore. and this is where, around here, 4 to 8 feet of surge is nothing compared what they're going to see when a cat 4 makes landfall. in just hours in the big bend of florida. so, tonight, let's talk about the tornado watch first, for most of the state of florida. up through georgia and south carolina. those little spinups will happen. have two ways of getting warnings. but that core of the storm moving right through north florida, the big bend, and the next few hours into georgia overnight. this is going to happen fast. and you see those hurricane warnings go up to macon. you do not see that every day. we have hurricane-force gusts easily taking down trees and power lines. we expect widespread outages. those tropical storm warnings up to asheville. storm surge is

tampa bay is very low-lying. anytime you do hurricane scenarios, you look at tampa bay and the surge as being potentially our worst-case scenario because of how vulnerable it is. there's so many areas that are vulnerable to storm surge here. thank you so much. we will have more tomorrow. all right. thank you. >> he said we should not allow weapons that are used in war to be on america's streets. while, i wondered, when were you ever in war? what was this weapon that you carried into war given that you abandoned your unit right before they went to iraq? he has not spent a day in a combat zone. >> senator vance got called out about telling vicious, hurtful lies about immigrants. they asked him if maybe it was an incident -- accident. he said, i admit it. i'm willing to drum up -- create stories. let's watch the vice presidential debate, simulcast tuesday on c-span as tim walz and jd vance take the debate stage and go head-to-head for the first time. coverage begins with a preview show at 8:00 p.m. eastern followed

. >> tampa, florida. man, you already got added to the pool party. >> charles jones was out celebrating his 26th birthday with friends in tampa. investigators say the florida rap star, also known as julio foolio, can be seen here on surveillance camera. when the night started at a scheduled event at a local club and watch as jones and his friends moved to another club. someone in this car is following their every move as the party keeps moving, jones is letting his fans know in real time where he's headed on his insta account. run out in the yard. >> should have had his gun. >> police say. the rap artist seen here in a recent video is well known for feuding with gang members. >> this is at the hotel and you can see the shooters as he waits in this car at the hotel. >> you can see several people with guns get into position and then open fire in a barrage of bullets. >> he's the passenger in that car that's moving and trying to flee, and they're still shooting at him. he's the right front passenger in that

this is this is tropical storm from south carolina to south of tampa. that's what we're seeing in about two or three hours as this storm continues to move to the north a large area and you're going to have to be very patient. >> there will be so many millions of power lines down. >> and customers without power. this is going to take a long time because you can't just put 5,000 crew in one city, you have to try to spread them out. there's so many people are going to be without power, right? >> chad, we're going to check in dan with you also throughout this hour we're going to coastal while cola the county could get up to 20 feet of storm surge and we'll color ralph thomas is a county commissioner and he joins us now, mr. thomas, thanks for taking the time. your county is set to take a direct hit, i think from the storm, what are you experiencing right now? >> well, we're we're about 60 miles north apalachicola, so we're not seeing being quite as much wind as the reporter earlier. we are seeing an increase in the rivers and the coastal areas. we do have s

petersburg, florida, just southwest of tampa. you have had to move to higher ground all throughout the night because of the flooding in the area, what are you seeing so far? >> that's exactly right, laura. so we began today out in gulfport. that is about 20 minutes from where we are. but because of the storm surge that they are late this afternoon, anywhere between four to six feet of it. we had to find higher ground and then from there, we tried to make our way back to hillsborough, which is the tampa area, but because several bridges have been closed because of this storm, we decided to stay put in st. petersburg and the flooding here is just as bad as it was over in gulfport. if you can kind of make out where on that because much of this neighborhood is without power, you can see he just how much of the bay has pushed into this one street out here. the white stuff that you might be able to make out in some of this water here, some of this bay water we believe to be a part of some styrofoam, a party. of a concretes, a doc that

this is an interstate bridge over tampa bay that connects tampa and saint petersburg.and you can see the water coming up over the bridge here as some of the last drivers to make it over that bridge crossed into pinellas county. saint petersburg clearwater area. and you know, there's also a lot of concern about rising water. the storm surge is what they call it. what this means is there is just so much energy out there in the gulf. water levels are so high that when high tide comes and this surge is pushed in, that 5 to 8ft of water could roll into communities like saint petersburg and clearwater. and then you move up the coast toward places like crystal river. you're going to get a 15 foot storm surge, and then to a 20 foot storm surge. this is something we haven't seen forecast in all my time that i've been reporting here, a 20 foot storm surge. as this thing comes ashore just south of tallahassee, probably in the next couple of hours here, then into the state capital where there are many, many oak trees. they're not used to getting a hurricane in the state capital. u

the areas of the coast from tampa. a lot of water came in. i don't know if it was ten or 1. that remains to be seen. you go down there and look at the high water mark spirit quite a storm but it's rare you got to experience the eye of a major hurricane. this is my second 1 out of 102 named storms i've covered since 1996. >> trace: thank you, stay safe and best of luck to you. tonight we bring you another case of the democrat who actually ran for public office in new york but has had enough of the parties lurch to the left and has chosen to become a member of the republican party. let's bring in sammy rebelo. it's great to have you on the show. i want to play this because this was five days ago. you posting this, it's the whole moment where you put on the hat. >> you can ever undertake that hat off, you have a lot of response on social media. you got a lot of response period why the move? >> it's like every american. we are concerned about the economy, concerned about public safety. we are concerned about this immigrati

tallahassee, tampa international, st. pete clear water international, lakeland linder international, gainesville region, some flight cancellations or delays being reported just check with your airlines directly on specific flight updates. florida fish and wildlife has boat teams in dixie and taylor counties actively conducting search and rescue. these are basically the ground zero of the storm. an additional team of 72 staff are en route to taylor, dixie, and levy, with shallow water boats. florida fish and wildlife has a boat team of 15 going through franklin to assess storm damage. from hernando to lee, f.w. -- 145 local officers are responding, an additional 15-man air boat team that are coming over to the west coast of florida from titusville. they will vs. had a 16-man florida state guard team with them. they are headed currently to pinellas county to assist with search and rescue there. florida department of law enforcement is sending aircraft and responding for reconnaissance and damage assessments, including all b

tampa con vigilancia de huracÁn. carolina del norte con aviso de tormenta tropical. 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 catastrÓficas. hay que mantenerse informado y evacuar

ella estÁ en tampa. lourdes cÓmo estÁn las cosas ahÍ? buenas tardes. >> quÉ tal, julio? el centro de tampa se agrava con cada minuto que pasa. literalmente estamos viendo como aumenta el nivel del agua. estas inundaciones en las calles del centro de la ciudad. y es que esas bandas del huracÁn estÁn empujando toda el agua del mar hacia adentro. y sabemos ya que esta marejada ciclÓnica estÁ ya alcanzando en clearwater, en saint petersburg y aquÍ en tamp, hasta los cinco y seis pies de altura se rompe un rÉcord que se habÍa establecido en 1993 en clearwater beach. estas serÁn momentos crÍticos para esta Área de florida. golpea ya la costa oeste de florida con potentes rÁfagas de viento e intensos aguaceros tras cobrar fuerza en las cÁlidas aguas del golfo de mÉxico. el huracÁn elÍn amenaza al sureste del paÍs con daÑos catastrÓficos y tiene calles bajo el agua en naples, treasure island y saint petersburg. allÍ la patrulla de caminos de florida cerrÓ el icÓnico puente sunshine skyway para evitar accidentes. horas antes de tocar tierra, helen causÓ estragos en el tendido elÉ

and tampa's airport closed just a short time ago. ahead of this hurricane, and as you said, emergencies have been declared as far north as virginia because of flooding concerns. andrew. >> all right. reena. thank you. and stay safe out there. we'll take a closer look at the forecast in just a few moments. >> the other big story this morning, the man running the biggest city in america has been indicted in a federal corruption investigation. retired police captain eric adams got elected, vowing to fight crime. but now he's at the center of an unprecedented scandal in new york city's history. >> these charges will be entirely false, based on lies. >> this morning, new york city mayor eric adams is vowing to fight the charges in a federal indictment as he faces growing pressure to resign. >> leaks and rumors have been aimed at me in an attempt to undermine my credibility and paint me as guilty. i will fight these injustices with every ounce of my strength and my spirit. >> adams will be the first sitting mayor of new york to face crimin

that's near that tampa st. pete area. that's where conditions are worsening or teams are live on the ground will go there next the wait is over. >> tim walz and j.d vance in their first and only based these debates, and cnn has covered with the best political team in the business a cnn special event, the vice presidential debate, tuesday at nine on cnn he's coming in the driveway treated for leukemia i hope that she lives a long gray had to life and that she will never forget how moment eddie lover, st. jude. >> i mean, this is what's keeping my baby girl this september. you can join the battle to save lives during childhood cancer awareness month by supporting st. jude children's research hospital for just $19 a month in your help us continue the life-saving research and treatment these kids now and in the future cancer makes me angry. laying not in like phil on the outside the strange sight i'm angry when your kid is hurting. >> and there's nothing you can do about it? >> that's the worst feeling in the world one in fiv

what do you see for tampa, st. pete, bradenton, and the areas south of tampa as well as going north? >> starting on the florida peninsula, we'll start with the miami area, you'll be about 300 miles away from the storm. you'll probably get some squalls, winds higher than you normally would expect, no damage, no reason to make any preparations or anything else. miami to west palm beach area. fort myers to naples, marco island area, right in here, probably what you probably consider a glancing blow for wind and for rain. storm surge is going to be worse than you would expect for a storm so far away because it is so big. that's what's going to surprise people. same for tampa and all up the west coast of florida. a lot of people, the wind and the rain, a glancing blow from a big hurricane. the storm surge is going to be higher than you expect with a storm like this. that's what we have been watching. we're still waiting to see if we get any surprises, any shifts in the track. but as you've been paying attention closely

they are positioned along the roughly 170-mile stretch from the big bend region to the city of tampa,inning with cbs's jason allen. he is in the coastal community of steinhatchee. good evening, jason. >> reporter: good evening norah. here on the gulf coast in steinhatchee, nearly every boat is moved out of this usually busy marina. the water here has surged as high as 8 feet during storms just in the past year. >> 6 feet up inside the house. >> reporter: 6 feet inside the house? >> inside the house. 6 feet. >> reporter: george edwards hired movers to take everything out of his home. the same thing he did a year ago. >> the mandatory evacuation order has been issued for this area. >> reporter: all morning sheriff's deputies drove through the streets telling people to leave. storms have hit here so regularly... >> thy kingdom come, thy will be done. >> reporter: dream 11 gathered storm-wary residents for a prayer session as helene closed in. >> we don't want to go through this anymore, but we will have to. >> reporter: i'm nicole valdes in crystal river where businesses have heeded the

as you can see, the tampa bay area is getting battered now. the water that's been lapping up over this seawall here is not going back into the bay. it is accumulating here. so this is the beginning of that expected storm surge of five to eight feet. combined with high tide tonight, we're told the water will come up to the level of these tables here and likely above it and cover this whole area. already officials have had to shut down some major roads and bridges throughout the tampa bay area. what does that mean? anybody who did not heed mandatory evacuation orders, their options to get to higher ground have probably run out tonight. they will have to ride this out in their homes and there is the point where officials will not be able to get to you should you need to be rescued because of the danger the water and wind poses to them. forecasters keep telling us over and over the wind speed and the intensity of the hurricane is important and destructive around the eye, but the water around the greater areas, including here in tampa bay, that is

marissa parra is in tampa for us tonight. marissa, a state of emergency is in effect there and in most of florida, in fact. >> lester, that's right. that is why we're seeing preparations days ahead of landfall. right next to me, on the right is an aqua fence, and this is what is expected to protect tampa general hospital on the other side of the fence from the tampa bay just feet away from us. now where we are in tampa, this someone of the counties, one of the at least 61 counties that has declared a state of emergency that is most of the state of florida. and as bill just pointed out, the massive size of the storm. remember, it's not just those in the direct path. the biggest threat is often going to be the flooding and the storm surge. this is why we are already seeing long lines at the sandbag distribution centers, at the gas station school closures across the state. the message here, lester, tonight is clear. prepare now while you can. >> marissa parra, thank you. >>> here in new york, president biden took the world stage

we will begin tonight with cbs's manuel bojorquez in tampa., manny, i can see the conditions are deteriorating where you are. what are you seeing? >> reporter: that's right, as you can see, we are definitely in the thick of it in the tampa bay area, and mind you, the impacts that we are seeing right now are just -- this is the beginning of the expected storm surge, that 5 to 8 feet, when you combine it with the high tide tonight, we are told the water will definitely come up to the level of these tables here and likely above it and cover this area. already officials have had to shut down major roads and bridges throughout the tampa bay area. what does that mean? that means that anyone that did not heed mandatory evacuation orders, their options to get to higher ground have probably run out, they will have to write this out in their homes and there is a point where officials will not be able to get to you should you need to be rescued because of the danger that the water and the wind poses to them. forecasters keep telling us over and over, the

i want to go to jane castor is the mayor of tampa. mayor.that tampa was already in the throes of hurricane helene, can you just tell us give us a sense of what the conditions are like there right now right well we're not seeing much rain, right now and we are still having a wind gust, but they're not as severe as they work couple of hours ago are issue right now is widespread flooding from the storm surge all of our bridges are closed our first responders have been called off of this streets and we are seeing massive flooding throughout the entire region. were also under tornado warnings because on the bottom bands, as helene moves into the the panhandle, were getting those bottom fans that are coming around and pulling massive amounts of water into the tampa bay region. the saving grace for us right now is the fact that we only have one tie today and low tide was a couple of hours ago and it's rising very, very slowly. but we will see flooding not just this evening associated with, but all the way into tomorrow evening as well. >> okay. so

whit johnson is in tampa, where it hit a record level. good morning, whit. >> whit: rebecca, good morning. you're looking at the devastating impact of that record storm surge. this is the popular bay shore boulevard, lined with businesses and homes. the water came crashing over that sea wall, stretching into the neighborhoods here. meteorologists and officials have been predicting up to eight feet of storm surge. that's exactly what we got. it was six to eight feet in some places, shattering previous records. what made matters worse, even more dangerous, was that high tide and peak surge happened at the same time, in the middle of the night, after dark, while people were sleeping. that's exactly what we experienced at our hotel. the fire alarms started going off around midnight. people got up to see what was going on. the lobby, the first floor, was completely flooded. across the region we have seen dozens of swift water rescues, power outages, even fires associated with the flooding. as people are getting up this morning they are only st

now, over in hillsborough county, just to the east of us, that is home to tampa. there is also a mandatory evacuation order that went into effect yesterday. folks that live around the bay, were told to go ahead and seek higher ground. of course, this storm is to the west of us it is expected to continue on the path that its on. this part of the tampa bay area is expected to get some pretty nasty weather, some tropical storms tropical storm force winds but most of it is going to remain offshore. that said john, all of this flooding is before the five to eight feet of storm surge that we're expected to see throughout the day. >> john wow that's some garlic. >> you said you wanted to show us how close the bay is your kind of in the bay already. and it could get even worse as the real storm surge pushes in over the next several hours there, carlos, stay safe. let's go to maryville gonzalez, who is in steen hatchie, far north of where carlos is and i know storm surge is the major concern. where you are measurable remains a concern in that sense of urgency is only inten

we've also got an update from the governor here of florida on a funny talenti in the tampa area. another two confirmed fatalities in georgia is well, because of a tornado attributed. and because of hurricane helene really just showing how dangerous this storm has been so far and continues to be for millions of people all right, so i really appreciate getting your update. 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 floodin

michael this is incredible stay safe in tampa, catch simulcasting live on "fox business" from 5:00 totorm not done with it yet. rebecca: tampa my hometown, as you know, that is sad i know that street very well bayshore i am concerned, the state is at a crisis point for insurance, homeowners insurance going up some cases 50% year-over-year insurers pulling outs we used to have a two week warning now three-day warning category four storm i know what is going on this is a big problem for florida. maria: i mean you are right make a good point on insurance michael sometimes you insurance company won't give enough insurance because you are by water. michael: a prop for many, many years being enacted a law shored up insurers it is availability and costs especially property near water that price escalation before this storm have been dramatic, a lot nonrenewals coming up so i think, the, flood you have to go back in and say you know we need to reexamine this i live on st. pete, florida, we had almost 8 foot surge there, came over seawall for the first time, i have owned place 10 years, first

here in tampa though.gain, still reeling from the impacts of hurricane helene. >> steve: all right. michael, thank you very much for the live report. >> ainsley: now let's go to fox weather bill van dillen live in atlanta where flooding is getting worse and first responders are out in force working to save lives, hey, bob, can you hear us? >> yeah i got you loud and clear see we have this area that drove into the area flooding screaming out. called 911. fire department is coming in. but she drove right into the flood. this is the peachtree creek. and it is rising at the moment. we got this thing cresting at about 23 feet. it's going to go up a little bit more. this by the way we had the video of the high water rescues earlier. that was a mile away from this spot where i am right now. people are still driving around and seeing all these floodwaters still going around the barrier getting. in i'm patiently awaiting for 911 to call. they said the fire department was coming from atlanta. i'm in north atlanta ri

tampa bay, just feet away from us. now, where we are, in tampa, this is one of the counties, one of the at least 61 counties that has declared a state of emergency. that is most of the state of florida. and as bill just pointed out, the massive size of this storm, remember, it's not just those in the direct path. the biggest threat is often going to be the flooding and the storm surge. and this is why we are already seeing long lines at those sandbag distribution centers, at the gas stations. school closures across the state. the message here, lester, tonight is clear. prepare now while you can. >> marissa parra, thank you. >>> here in new york, president biden took the world stage today, weighing in on the wars in the middle east and ukraine in his final speech before the u.n. general assembly. peter alexander now with his urgent message. >> reporter: tonight, president biden's farewell to the u.n., his fourth and final address. >> the choices we make today will determine our future for decades to come. >> reporter: w

car driving on i94 near ybor city in tampa was hit when a sign fell onto onto the highway. >> so that just shows you that it's very dangerous conditions out there. we are going to see downed power lines. those are very hazardous as well, please do not mess with any down power lines in and around your home or anywhere. you may come in contact with them now. the storm has knocked out power to more than 1 million homes and businesses in florida, rescues to around the way and officials in one county told people who didn't evacuate to write their name and birth date on their arm or leg to be identified if needed later. severe flooding has reported up and down florida's west coast, far away from where the storm made landfall beyond florida, georgia, tennessee, and the carolinas. now, bracing for helene's impact, the deputy director of the national hurricane center says, this will likely be a historic inland flooding ben and warned that a lot of people might not make it through the night people have got to be ready to take care of themselves, take care of themselves for several days without

abc news reporter reena roy live in tampa for us this morning.eena >> well, reggie, good morning to you. i can tell you that storm surge was the main concern here in tampa. and now it is a reality for so many people waking up here. we were actually woken up here in the middle of the night at our hotel because of flooding on the first floor. there was an emergency alarm that went off, and it was because of storm surge. and i just want to show you just how high the water got. it has now receded. but take a look at that white wall. that is the water line there you see dirt and debris left behind. all of this from record breaking storm surge about 5 to 7ft of it here in tampa. overnight hurricane helene slamming florida, roaring ashore south of tallahassee as a category four storm. >> you have these 140 mile an hour winds hitting here in north florida. this is going to extend. i mean, you're going to have hurricane force winds that are going to extend across a couple counties to the east and west. >> the national weather service issuing a rare extrem

these videos are from the tampa bay area. tampa bay is over 300 miles from where the storm made landfall. because of the magnitude and strength of helene you had record-breaking storm surge seen that far south, 300 miles south of where it made landfall. i grew up not far from the tampa bay area. folks are saying this is unlike anything they have ever seen before, definitely breaking records. several beach towns near the tampa bay area it, you can't access them right now. bradenton beach, holmes beach, you can't even gain access. emergency crews asking people to stay home, not try to get back to their homes. they live in those beach towns. it will take emergency crews a wild to get this debris cleared because of the flooding that has occurred from this record-breaking storm surge. in tallahassee they fared well, they breathe a sigh of relief this morning. a different story as you look further down the west coast. neil: great job. adam klotz saw this coming. what is next? what are we looking at? >> maybe the worst areas that ar

these are pictures out of tampa, florida.ve been blown out, and there are rescue operations going on through introduce the state, but the whole southeast, georgia, north carolina, south carolina, devastating impact the storm surges will have, and will have impact for months to come, next. impact for months to come, next. >>>:40 past the hour. more on the breaking news this hour. tropical storm helene is bringing dangerous winds and storms. rescue crews are herring to people. the coast guard saved a man and his dog, who were on a boat. take a look at this aerial footage out of tampa. you can see all the roads completely flooded. we'll check in against with kathy park, and joining us now, meteorologist catherine -- >> reporter: >> reporter: we have repositioned ourselves not too far away from where we were positioned just a few minutes ago. the devastation is widespread in steinhatch yes. we were told, this once was a restaurant. they finished rebuilding in december, were moving back in, and then got hit again. you'll notice an

tampa was under hurricane watch, look at the damage in and around the tampa bay area.old people to evacuate, storms are hard, did a wobble across tallahassee and spared parts of tallahassee but made damage east of that area. that is the hard part of the weather forecast. >> ainsley: you have experienced flood, you hire clean-up crews coming in. people will have to wait. water on the basement and floors get into the walls. >> steve: they call insurance first, if they have insurance. >> janice: we will not know the scope of the damage for weeks. >> ainsley: water travels up the dry wall sheetrock. thank you, janice. check with fox weather reporter bob van dylan, who saved that woman from her submerged car. we could hear her screaming and you were on the live shot andy went into the water and rescued her. what did she say to you? >> she was panicking, she had the seat buckle on and her window this much down and trying to talk to me through that. i'm trying to open the door and water pressure was not allowing me to do that. the engine is still on. it is amazing. the water

that's just north of tampa. the sheriff's office there a sheriff's office there says that rescue efforts remain ongoing so really the news that we're getting from a lot of these other communities and counties is not the best we all getting also reports from other counties in terms of the destruction and we're expecting it to be extensive once that sun is out, we're going to be able to really get that full extent of exactly what these communities are going to be dealing with in the hours to come here in tallahassee, were also big student population here is in place. they sheltered in place that university campuses across the city here as well for many of these students, it was their first time going through a hurricane. for example, max. so a very scary experience for them, but one, that they're happy now to be. on the other side of okay. >> ivan in tallahassee. thank you so much for the update hurricane helene, freshwater surges and the terrier to levels never seen or experienced since records started being kept

we have not just the tampa bay river, not gist tampa bay and the hillsboro river, we have the channelsoding and storm surge can be a real threat. that's why where we are this is one of the mandatory evacuation zones. i want to take you over here. this is along bay shore boulevard. this road is closed down for a reason, because it is prone to flooding. you can see cars over there blocking off this road. and this is the frustration that we have seen from authorities like the pinilis county sheriff. his frustration is he has not seen people heeding the evacuation orders. he said it is a real problem. especially because at a certain point they are not going to be able to rescue people if they need it. a couple of tips for people if anyone is still trying to make their way out. we know that it is so important to get those electric vehicles out of the way of seawater. that is a real fire hazard. make sure you move those to higher ground. if you haven't already, time is almost out. this water is starting to rise here. another thing, make sure you cut off the main breaker and the gas in your h

maÑana en la noche llega al norte de tampa. vientos de 130 mph. categorÍa 4.uvias que afectan a florida. toda florida con condiciones malas en las prÓximas horas. vientos de fuerza de tormenta tropical. en el pacÍfico, se desarrollÓ john como tormenta tropical. lluvias en el pacÍfico mexicano. se espera que se convierte en huracÁn. acumulados de 20 pulgadas y 30 en unas zonas del pacÍfico mexicano. eliÁn: gracias. expertos dicen que helene es una tormenta diferente a otras de los Últimos aÑos. tres condados costeros estÁn evacuados. el mayor temor son las marejadas que pueden penetrar varias millas tierra adentro. vamos con detalles. reportera: millones de personas en florida se preparan para recibir el embate. cedar key podrÍa quedar bajo el agua si se cumplen los pronÓsticos de marea alta de 15 pies. >> mÁs o menos como con idalia. estÁn hablando de 10—15. reportera: jorge es dominicano y acaba de reconstruir su hotel que perdiÓ hace un aÑo por el huracÁn idalia. su hotel estÁ frente al mar abierto. se estÁ preparando para desalojar. >> estamos directamente

he might be there for a while right outside of tampa. let's get back to him for an update on the ground. the water on the ground there. hi, steve. >> let's show you what things look like around here. an air boat. try to show that air boat making all that noise. a lot of the people here are stuck in their houses. we have three or four feet of water in much of the area. some people have taken to a hotel on the second floor because the first floor is washed out. so we have from florida fish and wildlife a lot of first responders coming out to rescue but also seeing a lot of volunteers as well. people who have air boats going house to house to try to save people. we have often seen in the storm. tom, spin around this way you can see a lot of people taking what they have already home. you see this young man with his canoe pulling stuff out of his house. basically the close to the water streets got hit the hardest. this 7th street water is about waist deep here. all across this territory it's really only high water vehicles at this point. we s

we are east of tampa bay, this is the tampa bay area. land, the barrier islands. we've got destruction from helene in different parts of the country, from florida going up into georgia. now you see the videos out of north carolina. the destruction comes in different ways. what we see from north carolina is from heavy rain, those flooded areas with the ground that was already saturated with water. we also have a lot of damage during these are hurricanes that come from the wind. here in florida, most of the damage came from the storm surge . this is what was left after the water, essentially from the gulf of mexico, rose and came into these properties. you can see this area behind me, there is a car that was across the street at a property. maybe 100 feet in the other direction, all the debris around is debris pushed by the water. the water then receipts and this is what is left. the properties behind we see that look okay, those were also underwater. a lot of the residents will come back and find appliances, furniture, essentially everyth