the area now of concern is valdosta, georgia.f we're going to see the highest wind gusts there, possibly up to 90 miles per hour, that would happen in the next hour. the winds are lighter now in perry. where maggie was located in tallahassee, just lighter rain for you. madison, the heaviest rain is over. you're still under that extreme wind warning for a couple of more minutes. from lake park, georgia, to valdosta where interstate 75 heads down to florida, that's where we're seeing the strongest winds left with the storm. we have a new tornado warning north of new brunswick, in between new brunswick and savannah. the on and off tornados will be with us all afternoon and especially late this afternoon early this evening, in the carolina areas, you have numerous hazards, tornados, and the current wind gusts in valdosta hit 67 miles per hour. trees are definitely coming down. i'm sure people are seeing the arcing of the power lines there and losing power. that should head up towards way cross georgia in an hour from now. finally bac

we have flash flood concerns in valdosta as well. see some of the radar returns bright red, that means they're dealing with very heavy rain. that's that northern part of the eye that continues to track farther to the north, now in portions of georgia, crossing that state line. when it comes to the impacts down the line here, again, over the next day or so, still dealing with -- as you saw where jose is that inundation of water across parts of the big bend area, stretching down into places as far south as tampa. we have seen multiple roads like baseshore boulevard completely covered. we have seen i-275 in tampa completely covered with water. and that storm surge conditions are going to continue for a little while longer. we're going to start to look, though, to the southeastern coast of the united states. georgia and the carolinas for impacts here as this system continues working across the state of georgia. still remaining likely a cat 1 as it crosses over savannah and moving over charleston and offshore. between now and then, as we

but i mean, there have been some roaring gusts in valdosta, georgia. the first hurricane warning for them and i think 16 years. but this system is now category one, 85mph. i mean, to go from category four, category 3 to 1. and once they go over land, you know, they lose their energy source. so it'll head across georgia, southern georgia, into south carolina, charleston, maybe parts of north carolina, and then head out into the atlantic. so still north northeast at 20. i mean, it's got a flow master on it and it is cooking right along. and then by i think in about 14 hours or so, it'll be gone out into the atlantic. but damage has already been done. it's coming down. it's hard to see. smoke is coming down from the north that is filtering in the smoke satellite had to dust this off, if you will, because we haven't used it all summer long. it's the first day we've used it, starting to work its way in. and that's going to be with us today. and that's about it. mt. veeder, 73 degrees north at 17, not roaring, but it's still north. ben lomond mountain, also

host: where is valdosta? what part of the state? caller: probably about 8 miles from the florida georgia line in the middle of georgia. host: do you feel the most of your community members and neighbors, the people you know, more in line with your views or the views of say fulton county district attorney? fani willis? host: -- caller: more light in with my views because they look at this as i am, election interference. and it is -- host: next up jimmy on the republican line. caller: i wish america would get past this garbage. that was three years ago. we have so many problems in u.s. open borders, fentanyl. we are going to go broke in this country. this is what the administration wants. they want communism. let them have it. look at the cities. look at what is going on in america. we were energy independent. now all we have is fentanyl, crime, biden does not have a clue. u.s. is going to fail if there is not change. i'm not saying it is trump. i do not care who it is. you know this country is on a downward spiral. china try to do ev

it passed near valdosta, and on the east side they had about six inches of rain, came down at once, a flash flood emergency. and thinking is as this system moves to the north across carolinas, two things happening. one is the water, the wind starts pushing the storm surge into toward charleston and the various inlets and harbors and so forth along the coast here, but the bigger event is this band of very heavy rain. this is 5 to 8 inches, some areas 12 inches, kind of up in the higher elevations. then all that water has to come down the rivers, down into charleston, down into georgetown, down to the myrtle beach area and savannah and so forth, so you can get flooding from the higher elevation on down to the coast and this is a significant threat as katie was saying. they are trying to alert people to every possibility here, including tornadoes, as this streaks across the coastline here, but dumps the water up hill and the combination is of high concern. >> aishah: can you quickly talk about the intensity of the storm. we are talking about a cat 1 hurricane currently over georgia and h

northbound interstate 75 near valdosta closed.ainsaw] >> as are nearby streets from fallen trees as fox weather brit a that merwin witnessed. >> residents have showing up trying to clear the roads so residents can get in and out. we still have tough weather conditions. >> despite the hurricane weakening to a category 1 as it raced inland, officials declared a state of emergency. >> we know by radar it looks like we may potentially have in some areas 9 to 10 inches of rain. the good thing is a narrow storm and is very fast-moving. >> the florida governor warned looters that not only would they be prosecuted, but that homeowners might shoot them. bret? >> bret: steve harrigan in tarpon springs. steve, thanks. ♪ fox weather alert now, tropical storm idalia has already spun up a confirmed tornado in charleston, south carolina. fox weather correspondent katie byrne is there right now. good evening, katie, what are you seeing? >> good evening, bret. yeah, charleston here is one of idalia's last stops and we are starting to get into that

this is almost to valdosta, georgia. so many trees are going to be in the way, that all of you trying to come back home tomorrow or the next day, you're going to be in traffic jams because the crews are going to have to clear those trees from the roads. it's going to be a power line mess and also a tree line mess. the northern part of florida is just a beautiful place when it comes to live oak, big tall pine trees. the big tall pine trees are going to be a problem. >> it really is a stunning area. the governor putting what we're seeing into stunning historical context saying you have to ga back to the late 1800s for another example of a hurricane entering florida the way idalia is. chad myers, stay with us. thank you very much for that report. >>> hurricane idalia is expected to release tropical storm force winds in the tampa bay area within minutes from now. cnn's carlos suarez joins us live from tampa, florida. carlos, how is tampa preparing? >> well, alex, at this hour there are two mandatory evacuation orders that ar

if you take a look at valdosta, georgia, that's closer to the florida/georgia line, they saw flash flooding that prompted water rescues, and camden county is asking residents to conserve water back out here live, one bright spot here is this is a fast-moving storm, lester >> lindsey reiser, thanks. >>> let's bring in al roker, who has been tracking this all day long good point. it's been moving quickly. what does the track look like? >> it is right on target currently 40 miles west of savannah, georgia. 70-mile-per-hour winds. that's a tropical storm moving northeast at 21 miles per hour we have tornado watches, as lindsey mentioned, from wilmington all the way down to charleston some tornado warnings embedded in there. these tornado watches in effect till 10:00 p.m. this evening. 17 million are under tropical storm warnings from daytona beach to cape hatteras we are looking at the path of the storm to pass by wilmington sometime early tomorrow, then by tomorrow afternoon, it's out into the atlantic, good riddance. we do have storm surges possible, two to five feet charleston's high tide, 8

we saw really torrential, even heavy downpours working through parts of douglas, valdosta earlier today. we lessen up, intensity wasn't quite as much as it was earlier today, as it moves through eastern portions of georgia, savannah seeing some of the lighter showers working through, plenty of lightning still associated. and it stretches up the coast as well. 17 million people included in this, stretching from the north carolina area, down through south carolina, georgia, and parts of florida. notice the west coast of florida still dealing with flooding concerns we're going to see lasting before we start to see the water recede, completely through the rest of the day, and into the evening hours. we've got flash flood warnings in effect for the areas that saw the really heavy rain, parts of valdosta, upwards of 7 to 8 inches, just to the east of it, we had reports higher than that. incredible amounts of rain in a short period of time. there's the latest track, takes through a cat 1 in savannah. by the time we get into the early morning hours tomorrow, 8:00 a.m., we're going to start to s

we've already seen those water rescues coming out of parts of that area as well, places like valdostaand you can see the flood warnings and watches that are up right now. the green is the flood watch. it's kind of expired for parts of florida. we're still seeing some conditions potentially that could lead to some flooding. watch for that in flooding. but really take note of this darker red area, douglas to valdosta, that is where we're seeing flash flood conditions and those flash flood warnings are in effect. this is one of the most dangerous parts of these systems. we always say water is the number one killer. we want you to be aware of that. moving through the rest of the day, maintains category 1 strength as it goes over savannah. this is 8:00 p.m. tonight, it will slowly but surely move across georgia, over the carolinas. the rain is really front loaded with this system, so it will continue pushing that through with it, and those strong winds as well, especially right near the center of the storm. we've also got the tornado concern. we've got tornado watches up for parts of georg

so whether it was in valdosta or other parts of the state or savannah along the coast it was a hunkerthink because of the speed of the storm and the storm weakened and as reported earlier what hit in florida was category four, very dangerous storm and by the time it moved all the way through the state of georgia it was down to tropical force of georgia it was down to tropicalforce wind. of georgia it was down to tropical force wind. again, very blessed. _ tropical force wind. again, very blessed. you - tropical force wind. again, | very blessed. you mention tropical force wind. again, - very blessed. you mention that people were asked to shelter in place rather than try to get to any other place. for viewers around the world who may be familiar with savannah, the homes and properties they be billed for people to be able to shelter in place or are there people living in mobile parks or rv parks?— or rv parks? our general metropolitan _ or rv parks? our general metropolitan area - or rv parks? our general metropolitan area is - or rv parks? our general metropolitan area is a - or rv par

it moved then east of tallahassee toward valdosta, georgia.s high as 16 feet in some places. most of the seriou

power outages in georgia, 10,000, valdosta, gusts of 50 to 60 miles per hour.t towns are going through the worst of it, we have isolated tornado warnings, and we'll continue to watch those as we go throughout the rest of the afternoon. we haven't talked about the path in a while for a lot of friends. this is the bridge by the way, we're showing you in tampa with all the approximate. as we go through the rest of the afternoon, don't be surprised if it goes to a category 1, by the time it gets to central georgia, and south georgia this afternoon, by the time we get to savannah, that's about when it should be going from a hurricane to a tropical storm. timing it out from brunswick to savannah, the worst is the mid afternoon to early evening. for charleston, it's more going to be late afternoon, right through the evening, and in charleston, the high tide is expected about 8:30 this evening. we do think that will be close to a top ten all time tide level. significant damage is possible. especially if the tide ends up worse than expected. this map i was showing you b

flash flood emergency for the city because they're dealing with incredibly torrential rainfall in valdosta's not the only area. you've got heavier raining sliding into augusta, also charleston, south carolina, for some of these areas, you've already picked up 2 inches of rain. you're going to add an additional 2 to 4 inches on top of that. that's where the flooding concern comes from. it's the wind. we talked about wind gusts up around 60 to 70 miles per hour. we're starting to see the power outage numbers begin to spread from florida now into georgia. combine between the two states. we're looking at over 300,000 people without power. that number is expected to grow likely up around at least half a million. and could potentially get higher as the day goes on. the heaviest rain going forward is going to be from tallahassee up through the outer banks. 4 inches of rain in a lot of these places. but 6, 8, 10 inches is not out of the question in some of these areas. please, take this seriously. if you get these flash flood emergencies on your phone, take them seriously, get indoors, get to high

here's closer view of idalia, this area has been getting a to of heavy rain, earlier to the south, valdosta, georgia, report of 6 to 8 inches of rainfall, flash flood emergency has since been dropped. notice the highest winds. still a pretty good gusts. these exposed areas on the coast is where we could still see trees coming down and isolated power outages. the storm is the still a tropical storm. >> meteorologist bill karins, thank you so much. >>> let's bring in lindsey reiser in savannah, georgia, where the storm is heading. lindsey the storm has made its way into southern georgia, we're talking about vadalia areas don't see heavy rainfall aftermath of storms, talk to us about what is happening where you are, what are people saying to you, do they feel like they're prepared? >> reporter: i tell you what we're expecting first, ellison, bill was talking about low tide, we have seen the savannah river recede somewhat. we're expecting by the time it reaches us this evening, around 5:0010:00 it will have weakened to a trap koll storm but we're still looking at 50, 60 miles per hour winds. we

just south of valdosta, officials routing northbound traffic off of i-75 near one of the exits there. i want to mention tornado watches and storm surges are in effect as the storm passes over this region. in savannah, state and city leaders, one thing they're keeping their eyes are on are the heavy rainfall as it coincides with the high tide. there's flooding risks and those will continue. people also being reminded as the flooding risks continues, there's a lot of standing water in low-lying areas. governor kemp reminding everybody to stay away from the standing water. there could be a downed power line, which is a huge risk. gillian? >> gillian: thanks, c.b. let's go to adam klotz who joins us from the fox weather center with more on where the storm is now heading this hour. high, adam. we're having some connection issues with adam. we'll bring them back shortly. the white house today faced tough questions about the federal government's response to the wild fires recently in hawaii as compared to what we have seen so far in the wake of hurricane idalia. take a listen. >> seems like

we have continued to see that heavy rain trying to lift out of places like douglas, valdosta, finallyting a break from the rain. notice, you move a little farther to the north, and we're talking i-16 dealing with heavy rain in that area, toward augusta and charleston. you have the bands coming in. waves of rain for folks on that carolina coast right now. the flood watches are up for numerous states. parts of florida, of course the west coast, and georgia, south carolina, and north carolina. but this is the area that i mentioned where we saw really torrential downpours, leaving us with upwards of 7, 8 inches of rain in a short amount of time for some locations. the good news is for places like florida, they essentially needed the rain. once they get the cleanup going, we'll be out of a drought in those locations. we have heavy rain to deal with across places like south carolina and north carolina. if you're wondering about the track. we're still expecting it to maintain, but just barely that category 1 strength that i wouldn't be surprised if we see it weaken to a tropical storm by the

inland areas like perry and cross city, valdosta, this is where the wind damage will be. a lot of people possibly losing power for one or two weeks. don't have to worry about storm surge. they have to worry about the winds. that's why i said the storm is unique in every area. then coastal south carolina, north carolina and georgia, tropical storm force gusts on the coast especially. isolated power outages but we could deal with problems at high tide tomorrow night especially in savannah, charleston, maybe even top ten water heights because we have a full moon. it looks like the big bend. there's the map that shows you the story. alex, i just saw the fort myers and naples area. right now, they have a 1 to 2 foot storm surge and that's going to head up in the tampa area so the water is beginning to rise. >> do you consider this a fast-moving storm because a lot of times when they linger, they just keep dumping the rain. >> didn't focus a lot on the rainfall. we'll see isolated flash flooding but the storm is moving pretty quickly. 15 to 20 miles per hour as it goes over the

host: where is valdosta? what part of the state?aller: probably about 8 miles from the florida georgia line in the middle of georgia. host: do you feel the most of your community members and neighbors, the people you know, more in line with your views or the views of say fulton county district attorney? fani willis? host: -- caller: more light in with my views because they look at this as i am, election interference. and it is -- host: next up jimmy on the republican line. caller: i wish america would get past this garbage. that was three years ago. we have so many problems in u.s. open borders, fentanyl. we are going to go broke in this country. this is what the administration wants. they want communism. let them have it. look at the cities. look at what is going on in america. we were energy independent. now all we have is fentanyl, crime, biden does not have a clue. u.s. is going to fail if there is not change. i'm not saying it is trump. i do not care who it is. you know this country is on a downward spiral. china try to do ever

it was in valdosta. tree fell on a vehicle and killed someone.tainly, our thoughts and prayers go out to the family. all in all, we will assess the damage. we have to look at erosion is always a problem, particularly at the beach. keep in mind, we are in the midst of a full moon therefore we have higher tides and that is really a concern. as we assess the damage and get back to what is going to be normal, we will see how things turn out. host: what is your sense of the response, we are asking this morning -- what is the story of this state and federal response going to be to this hurricane, now tropical storm? guest: we are very blessed in our district and throughout south georgia to have great emergency management personnel who do a wonderful job of preparing year-round. this is not something they just do once a year. they prepare year-round for these events and i'm so impressed and thankful for their work. they do a great job of informing the public and keeping us aware of what we need to do. pre-hurricane and post-hurricane and that is very im