0 with first cause of this surge right now. reporting in fort myers, robert ray fox. >> whether. all right. thank you so much for sticking with us. right here on fox weather. a hurricane in a water log in southwest florida. streets and buildings completely flooded, as you can see here. power knocked out to two million people. and one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the united states . the hurricane making landfall wednesday afternoon near jocasta. a protected barrier island just west of fort myers in the hours since landfall in have moved inland, hurricane force winds likely to be felt well into central florida. yeah, thanks again for sticking with us right here on fox. whether i'm local customer. >> and i'm jim enah. thank you for joining us and a special welcome to those watching on fox news channel. well, the 2:00 a.m. advisory is in mike lindell, still a category one hurricane. so no major changes there, although and continues to shift and land continues to weaken just a bit, right? >> not necessarily under that threshold. of a category one hurricane just yet. usually if it's if we see maximum sustained winds at or below seventy five miles per hour, it would then be classified as a tropical storm that hasn't happened yet. >> but we are starting to see some signs of improvement in terms of an increase in barometric pressure, which is kind of interesting because, you know, the higher the pressure, you would typically you think to yourself, oh, my goodness, you know, high pressure, that must mean that it was more ferocious. >> that's not the case. that's right. lower pressure means a stronger storm . so we are seeing those millibars tick up a bit, but we don't want to let our foot off the gas because we still have a lot of communities in for some wind and rain overnight. and this system could sneak back out into the atlantic, expected to make a third landfall. we're going to have to watch for that strength looks like very closely. so let's get to that latest advisory, the newest information we do have hurricane ian here and we do have it sliding up through central florida remains a category one . winds sustained at about 75 miles per hour that pressured about nine hundred eighty millibars, moving to the northeast at about nine miles per hour. but you can see in that loop of our infrared imagery here, this is the cloud tops. and the brighter those colors, the more ferocious those thunderstorms are. you can see we've had some drier air kind of invade in on the south side. and a lot of this system is going to continue to lift up. but we are seeing a lot of those clouds and that rain on the north side, that center that we're still tracking with hurricane and very closely . so if i can get to the next graphic here, we are anticipating to see ian bring in the potential for wind and heavy rain for the next several hours. in fact, let's take a look at some of the images that we saw coming in throughout the day today. hurricane ian lashing florida, leaving behind all of this devastation. >> listen to this one woman that that was my house. my house is gone. that's my grandparents house. that one right there on the ground. >> devastating. this is in fort myers, florida. a storm surge, a big component to the devastation that we did see there. and unfortunately, this woman's home, her grandparents home felt in the destruction of the storm surge, the hurricane force winds that came into fort myers throughout the day today, peaking in the afternoon and really doing the damage when you saw that home there next door to where her grandparents home was absolutely devastated. and that first floor of the home was buckled in. and that's what happens when we're talking storm surge. imagine yourself just standing, wading into the ocean at the beach and you can tell those winds or the waves, rather, continue to lap . and all of that energy and that pressure is what really brings in the destruction to our buildings. now, as we go into the night tonight, i know we're in these overnight hours. we do have a hurricane warning that still stretches both coasts. we still have the potential for those hurricane force gusts. i mean, we still have a category one hurricane and moving up through orlando, florida, it's going to continue onto the space coast. that's where we do have a hurricane warning in place just to the south of daytona beach. tropical storm warnings for northeast florida. and then that's going to continue up the coast into georgia and south carolina. we also have a hurricane watch . so we're going to detail a little bit more into what we are anticipating and to do once it emerges back into the atlantic later today. but take a look at the roads right now. orlando, florida, taking the brunt of ian right now. heavy rain continues to come down. good to see not many people on the roads. we do have emergency officials out there. so maybe some of these roadways are being shut down at persay. we do have flooding, a big concern and hopefully people are heeding these warnings in these overnight's, these darker hours, not getting out onto the roads. we have over two million people without power. a lot of those power outages felt on the southwest coast of the florida peninsula. but we're starting to see those power outages kick up in northeast florida. orlando. we do have a number of outages for our customers all the way down into daytona beach. we're going to start to see those power outages shift a bit further to the northeast as ian continues to move to the northeast, bringing in that wind and that rain potential for the next several hours, but two point three million people in the dark. so for those of you who are watching us at home, perhaps you're in orlando in jacksonville, now's the time to keep those chargers clicked into your phones, take up all of that energy that you can now before the lights do go out. you can't take advantage of that power. so as we take a look at the track of hurricane ivan continues to remain a category one as it lifts into the space coast throughout the morning hours, we are anticipating it to emerge into the atlantic off the coast of florida throughout the day today. on thursday, but it's really going to have a healthy amount of time into the warmer waters that are just off the coast of georgia and florida to perhaps keep its strength as a strong tropical storm . there is a slim window that we could see restrengthening back into that category. one sometime, perhaps thursday night into early friday. we'll watch for that forecast closely. hence why there is a hurricane watch in place for our coastlines in georgia and south carolina. so places like savannah, georgia, don't let this sneak up on you, make those preparations. now we take a look at what the average water temperatures are just off the coast of florida and georgia. and this is a key component in the forecast right? it was the reason why we saw ian strengthen so much, undergo that rapid intensification off the coast of southwest florida because of how warm those waters are. what we have an average water temperature right now of eighty five , the maximum water temperature that it will be emerging into about eighty eight . and that's all fuel for the storm. now it's losing some of its structure. so whether or not we're going to see a stronger storm than what we're seeing right now, not so likely. but what we are anticipating is to see these warmer waters continue to keep some strength to hurricane. and at that point could be tropical storm and by tomorrow afternoon and that is going to set its sights on the coast of georgia and south carolina later this week. >> jane , one thing that you mentioned that i just i love the fact that we are talking about can we have a time to do so? >> is the fact that those warm waters could is a very slight window of time where we could see in perhaps strengthen in the atlantic. >> and so folks in southeast georgia joining us from the carolinas. >> that's right. you got to stay vigilant on this. you can't let your guard down there either, because, again, this is work through the state of florida. we've seen the damage and destruction. and again, it is the same exact system that's going to work into parts of the southeast. so as you mentioned before, we are not letting our guard whatsoever check out your television set. >> naples on the left of marco island. >> on the right, the streets look like rivers, right? >> you can see it. they're flooded, at least up to like knee high in spots for sure. and again, unfortunately, all of that water in the water and really the storm surge element on all of this is really what i think is perhaps one of the most destructive parts of it. and that will certainly be remembered not only for years to come, but perhaps even for decades to come in places like fort myers, florida, unfortunately. let's talk a little bit more about the rainfall, because over the past 24 hours, it's truly been remarkable. now, these are estimated rainfall totals that we've seen . >> i want to focus in on a couple of spots. generally speaking, here's the i four corridor connecting tampa up toward daytona beach. and again, in and along the corridor, we've picked up anywhere between a good five to eight inches of rainfall. >> but notice that this darker coloring just south of tampa, st. pete area and just north of fort myers, that swath right here and especially that bull's eye area of pink that is indicative of estimated rainfall anywhere between 18 inches to 24 inches of rainfall. >> and again, that can lead to what we call freshwater flooding. >> so not necessarily due to storm surge. >> this is just everyday sort of rainfall. right. so watch out from venice over toward port charlotte. our friends in rotunda area. >> and again, north of that especially is where i think that we will continue to see ongoing flooding concerns not only through the remainder of your thursday, but perhaps even to friday. it is going to take plenty of time for all of that moisture to finally evacuate all those areas and a rush back into the ocean. so friends and family down that web again will want to make sure that we are connecting with them if possible. just to make sure that they are safe and free from harm. the good news is this is a live look at current radar outside in southwest florida. still seeing some areas of green that represent some light rainfall up and down, say, from parish towards sarasota. but again, in that area that we just bull's eye that picked up the eighteen to twenty four inches of rainfall. again, that's two feet of rain. thank goodness. we're seeing perhaps just a little bit of a break, a couple of light sprinkles being seen along the seventy five corridor and along the florida state. highway, route 17 toward arcadia as you're heading toward fort charlotte. otherwise, the area of greatest concern right now that we are still watching for you is places like orlando, florida, right. maybe you had that vacation planned to disney world, perhaps to epcot, and you flew on down to florida and perhaps weren't quite aware of what was going on earlier in the week and of course, late week last week. and boy, oh, boy, if you're stuck in orlando right now, it is some big time rainfall that is leading to some flash flooding concerns. still tracking flash flood warnings in effect for parts polk county. you can see that there. it does include not only haines city, but our friends and lake walls as well. >> that's right along the i-20 or the florida state route. twenty seven . so watch out for higher water levels there. and again, up toward orlando. look at this strip of red , the red on the radar. >> any time you see that that is indicative of is torrential blinding rain. that's that type of rainfall where if you were on the roadway, it is a 10 and two grip on that steering wheel. you're turning the radio off one 100% of your undivided attention is on that roadway in front of you because of the tremendous amount of rainfall that we're seeing. thank goodness at this point, and especially at this time, not very many people on the roadway, but just south of some of the big parks in orlando and toward downtown orlando and the kissimmee, we go again, the red just indicating where we're tracking more tremendous rainfall that way. >> and then up toward titusville in the i-95 corridor, one of the reasons why flood watches are still ongoing at this hour, not only for parts of central florida, but also for parts of southeast georgia as well. my goodness, the winds were whipping all of this rain. you can see the power of it. and as moved through venice, florida, the palm trees barely hanging on , stop signs were shaking. just take a listen to that. and this is going to be something that's going to continue to unfold. hurricane force, wind gusts are still expected in the forecast overnight through central florida. getting to the space coast as we open up tomorrow morning or i should say thursday morning, as it is at this point tomorrow, since yesterday when we saw hurricane ian come through venice, florida, we take a look at some of the top wind gusts from ian , especially on the west coast, sarasota, 80 to miles per hour. i think the one to stand out here, of course, gorda. one hundred and twenty four mile per hour, a wind gust. i mean, that is really incredibly impressive. and this storm is going to continue to bring in wind gusts upwards of 70 miles per hour in the coming hours to come. venice, again, 80 mile per hour winds. we also saw some very strong winds in fort myers, one hundred mile per hour gusts. this is all through the afternoon. on wednesday, as we saw that eye wall come on shore and eventually the center of it and tracking through kayako, that barrier island just outside of fort myers, picking wind gusts at landfall. one hundred and fifty miles per hour. and this is just the concern that we do have all of this wind pushing that water onshore storm surge, a big component. the forecast leading to immense flooding in naples and downtown fort myers. and these wind gusts to is what caused lots of damage to homes, to structures, to power lines that went down and has continued to knock out power for nearly two million people. more than two million people across the state of florida. we take a look at orlando, florida, because that's where we are seeing the conditions really continue to deteriorate as ian moves up through central florida, where you can see here is at least over the last five hours, we've been pretty steady with wind gusts between, say, 50 and 60 miles per hour. a few gusts now beginning to pick up in that 70 mile per hour range as we go into these early overnight hours. that center tracks a bit closer to orlando just along that i4 corridor. we are expecting to see those wind gusts continue to peak in that 70 mile per hour range. right now, sustained winds with hurricane ivan are at seventy five miles per hour. so it's not out of the realm that we will see those gusts, even sustained winds at times within the 50 to 60 mile per hour range in the coming hours. what that's going to do is if you haven't already lost power, you are at risk for losing power. here's a look at some of our current winds. so this is sustained winds across central florida. thirty three mile per hour sustained wind out of orlando, cocoa beach. we have gusts up to about fifty three daytona beach, 19 mile per hour winds. so it's a bit breezy, but it's certainly going to continue to pick up. and i'm sure you can hear that wind outside the window as well. the wind direction out of orlando, leesburg, all coming out of the north just to show you that that center of circulation, that core of ian still off to your south as it continues to lift up, we will see a shift in that wind direction. but it's those north northeasterly winds, especially across the coast in northeast florida, that we are going to see the concern for some of that storm surge begin to pick up in the coming hours as we have that onslaught of winds pushing that water into our coastal communities. take throughout the day on thursday, you can see that center, that core of emerging into the atlantic. we can see that wind shift, that direction pushing that wind on shore. so places like jacksonville, st. augustine, we're going to see the possibility of 50 to 60 mile per hour wind gusts through the afternoon. storm surge is going to be a concern. we take a look at some of the power outages that we do have right now in florida. that's a new number, one point eight . so it looks like some of us are maybe seeing some of that power come back on. but as we are anticipating to go into the day on friday, we're going to watch as the core of end makes that third and final landfall sometime in the afternoon. right now, our forecast model pinpointing the coast of south carolina for seeing that by the end of the week. but still winds going to be a big component of that forecast. and we are anticipating to see power outages continue. >> folks, weather. katy burne is in orlando, florida, which is going to be taking the hit in these coming hours. as far as wind and rain goes. >> katie, how are things doing out there this evening? well, you know, i just checked in with the fox forecast center ,and it looks like there's a band heading right towards us . so we're keeping our this in the next half hour or so is when we could really see a lot more rainfall after hours and hours of consistent rainfall gusting winds. and we're talking about how we're watching and waiting kind of at this point, because it seems like we've been watching some of these palm trees sway back and forth, tip back and forth and some of the bark off of these trees fall on to cars. it seems like it really could just take some more really strong gusting winds to potentially be dealing with some damage here in orlando. i've already seen some reports from people talking about a potential flash flooding. i can tell you right before you came to me, guys, i got another alert on my phone. we had a flash flood warning here up until two forty five . that one was just extended until the four o'clock hour. this morning. so that's something that you're going to be seeing around the orlando area. right over here. actually , there's what i believe is a shed. it's red . and we've been watching that water inch up along the door there. so there is some flooding right by us. and we're pretty high above ground here because most of this parking lot is doing okay. so it's really just that back corner where you can basically looks like a pool right now that's typically just the ground. so we're monitoring this as things progress here. we're right in that window where things are intensifying. and i don't know if you can hear that winds are definitely gusting. there's that tarp we've been watching, this tarp, this umbrella. they seem to be a little bit loose, not super tied down or right by a gas station here. and you know what? it's very quiet because a lot of people, i think, went to bed early today, at least at the hotel where we are at. i expected the hotel lobby to be busy because that's how it's been the last day or so with people, many of them evacuating from other parts of southwest florida, ending up here in orlando for safety, not realizing because none of us realized at that time that those hurricane warnings would then expand to include more inland towns and cities like orlando itself. so a lot of people are hunkering down, hunkering down, waiting to ride this out here instead of at home. but no matter what, they ended up dealing with hurricane conditions. so for now, i'll send it back to you guys. i'm trying to make sure i'm not missing anything but i think you should stick with us this hour because we're in some action here. just absolutely that wind picking up. and we are anticipating to see those wind gusts. it's good to see power still on . and so charge up those phones. i think for a lot of people who are maybe watching, trying to soak up all that power as they can as we are anticipating it to go out, at least for some , hopefully not. but power crews on standby. we'll continue to check in with you throughout the overnight michael. sounds good. jane and katie, thank you both so very much. >> and of course, one big hallmark to hurricane ivan has certainly been the storm surge. and we want to talk more about that and bring in monroe county public officer kristin livengood with more. >> thank you so much for taking the time out of your your busy morning for us right here on fox weather. >> we really appreciate it. sure. >> good morning and good morning to your viewers. absolutely. and christine, i want to jump right on in. >> so tell us really quick first where you were at and then tell us a little bit more about the storm surge at this hour that you're seeing. >> sure. i'm here in key west, florida. we had the we had the eye of hurricane and passed us last night around 7:00 or 8:00 p.m. and then afterward, quite the storm surge that came through in the key west area and the lower keys area of the florida keys. we are very lucky, we think, at the highest point, the gauge said we had four point four feet over our mean high, high water, which is a pretty significant amount of water on our streets. and we had about 50 homes that actually had water in them as well, 50 homes that were inundated with water is what you were saying due to the storm surge. that you guys saw late in the third. >> wow. or crystal, what i'm curious about, can you tell me a little bit more about what the power outage situation looks like right now in key west for your friends and family that may be down there? >> sure, there are five hundred and seventy nine homes that are still without power right now. there's about 30 thousand homes in the lower keys that are hooked up to power at our height of losing power. there are about ten thousand homes that didn't have power in last night. >> and christine, i'm curious to obviously, when you're talking about a massive hurricane that came roaring through, have you had an opportunity at all from this point to to get outside and maybe observe some of the damage that you've seen in key west? >> yeah, i did. i drove around yesterday after in between our meetings. we had a lot of meetings yesterday, but i did a little ground patrol, a little ground truth to make sure that everything that i was saying was correct. so a lot of downed trees, a lot of streets that were impassable at this point. we had one hundred and eighteen people actually seek shelter here in monroe county at our shelter that we opened up yesterday. so they were able to, i guess, was two days ago now, but so that they were able to ride out the storm a lot of them live in boats. we had a lot of boats that washed ashorg the shoreline. we have our monroe county fire rescue. i saw that you guys were showing pictures earlier. they're out helping any residents need that might not be able to access their driveways or might need some help removing trees and branches and limbs from their from their driveways. yards so that they can access their homes and what at this point does the future look like when, as we prepare for the aftermath of hurricane ivan ? >> what is what are the next steps, if any, at this point short where we're waiting? earlier today, our public works went out and did a lot of patrolling around 2:00 to see what our damage assessment was . luckily, there were only two neighborhoods that they couldn't get to. so tomorrow they'll double check on those neighborhoods to see what houses might have been inundated. like i said earlier, we saw that there were about 50 houses in the key west area that did get water in their homes there. they're usually ground level homes that that happens to. >> wow. you know, chris , i've got to say, just on behalf of everyone, especially here, fox weather and of course, on the fox business network and fox news network. thank you, your team, for everything that you're doing. i know. was a trying time for you yesterday. and it's going to be a difficult week ahead. >> but again, you guys are our nights shining shining armor and our angels as well. thank you for all that you're doing. we really appreciate it. >> we're very lucky here in the florida keys. and we're really sending our good vibes up to our neighbors up north here in florida. and we're actually sending some people up there later this week to help them out and get them back on their feet. >> so i love what you guys are doing. >> thank you so much. please stay safe in the days and of course, perhaps even weeks to come. >> we do want to switch gears and send things on over to adam, adamancy a people to show us the trajectory of where hurricane ian is heading. yeah, you're absolutely right, michael, because obviously a big major storm where we've seen a beginning category four . now, category one , it took a long time to go from cat four to cat one , but it's deteriorated, right? it's weakened as it's been over land to you. take it into the future. and suddenly you see thursday morning. sixty five mile an hour winds thursday evening. sixty five mile an hour winds friday morning. sixty five mile an hour winds. so that deterioration stops all of a sudden. and that's a very strong tropical storm . five more miles an hour. we could 10 more miles an hour. we could be talking about a hurricane. so it's going to be right in that range. a strong tropical storm or a category one hurricane, possibly, possibly running up along the southeastern coast, including northeastern florida . so tropical storm warnings are in place across this entire area. because it will at least be that. but it is possible that you could see some hurricane force winds as it gets back over that warm water, pushing the storm surge, bringing lots and lots of rain. and of course, yes, those winds that we've been talking about currently, winds gusting in some cases 30 miles an hour. twenty five miles an hour. it's the length of winds like this. obviously, those aren't horrible winds, but it's already been going for a while and they're just going to continue that kind allows some of this ocean water to pile up. it can start to see storm surge . it was such an issue on the western side of florida. now we're kind of shifting where that storm surge could be . these are forecasted winds. you do notice as soon as we get into landfall, this kind of weakens. but there's enough time where water can pile up and storm surge, particularly right along the coast, could be an issue. now, once this lifts inland, those winds do fall apart rather rapidly. it certainly cannot maintain itself as a strong storm without the water much longer. so it will warm it will pick up some moisture over the atlantic . and i do think perhaps that's going to be one of the biggest concerns is going to be the moisture it picks up. once again, these is our rain forecast. you see a huge swath here from eastern georgia up through the carolina, even virginia, where you could be seeing widespread five , six inches of rain. >> and then obviously there will be areas maybe eight inches of rain, up to a foot of total rain. >> this is our forecast model kind of times it out. you can pay attention up in the top left corner of where the timing is now getting into friday morning. some of that heaviest rain now moving into south carolina, lifting up into north carolina . you get into the blue ridge mountains there, and then suddenly flooding is really possible. you get water rushing, perhaps even some mudslides, all things that can happen when you talk about that kind of terrain and really heavy rainfall. so because of that flash flooding is going to be likely across areas from savannah getting up to charleston. a lot of rain here is on the way. >> jane , i think i'm tossing it to you. that's right. well, let's head out there on it. >> charles watson is standing by . sarasota hit pretty hard with wind and rain in the last 12 hours with hurricane ian . and let's check in with how things are doing. i know it's the overnight hours, charles . you know, these are the hours that i think a lot of people, you know, kind of let their guard down, especially since a lot of that weather has moved out now. but, you know, these are also the concerning hours when it's dark and you can't see the damage and the debris that's out there. and there's plenty of it out on the roadways. the good thing is that it looks like the worst of ian's elements have lifted out of here. the rain and the wind has cleared out for the most part. the next hurdle will certainly be cleanup, clearing out a lot of this debris that's been tossed all over the place. you can see some of it here behind me, these large tree limbs that have been snapped from from trees and just tossed onto sidewalks and into the streets and they're going to want to have to clean this up pretty quickly because when you consider the amount of people in sarasota county that are without power, three quarters of this county currently in the dark, we're talking about tens of thousands of people who do not have power and are anxiously waiting to get power back . they're going to have to wait for these crews to get out and get to those power lines. and those crews are going to have to navigate a lot of the debris that's been tossed into the street right now. this is something that's been expected and something that governor rhonda santurce dress alison, not only there are forty two thousand linemen, they positioned all across the state of florida. as soon as it's safe to go , those power, those personnel are going to go in to to resume power. yeah, and folks are certainly going to have to be patient. this could be a process that takes days because, again, utility crews have to get around, have to navigate through just debris. and once they're able to, they're going to prioritize public health and public safety facilities. we're talking about hospitals, police station, things of that sort. then you also have to consider it rained here for more than twenty four hours. so the ground is just soaking wet, completely saturated. so when you have that, you have to consider that even though the worst of its elements have moved out of here, the ground's wet and these trees could be uprooted. so you could see the possible of some of these trees uprooting, knocking over into the streets and possibly pulling down more power lines even after they've maybe been fixed. so folks definitely have to be patient in the next couple of days as utility crews get out there again. governor rhonda census's, they've got thousands of these crews up and down the coast to help these folks. >> but it's going to take some time, guys. as you wake up tomorrow morning as to really just let the emergency crews get out there and do their job before you yourself venture out onto the roads because there could be harm's way out there. well, charles watson, thank you for that update. we'll continue to check in on sarasota. >> michael, send it on over to you. yeah. jane , thanks so much. in works. >> watson was out, by the way, was in sarasota, florida. we're here in what we call our weather command. and this is really the brains of the operation. we have sam or weather producer with us as well. but i wanted to show you again where charles watson was that that's just south of tampa. >> that happens to be where sarasota, florida is the good news is , is that looking at some of our current features, it's moving off toward the north and toward the east. >> so good news is , i think our friends in sarasota, it looks like the worst is over for you. i think that we can start to sound the all clear , at least in terms of the torrential blinding rainfall and the flooding. however, of course, waking up and with daybreak happening tomorrow, things are going to begin to unravel themselves in terms of what you see. so with folks getting out and about to assess the damage. >> but i want to take you out and show you what things look like outside in parts of florida as we speak. and again, this is a quick live look you can see along i-95 at church street. >> and again, it is still a slow go with things you can see, of course, we have emergency vehicles out on the roadways. obviously, there were numerous phone calls to different 911 centers in not only central, but southern florida as well. this is a live look from jacksonville at seventy one degree is currently . and notice the water over the roadways as hurricane ian continues to work up the central and the eastern coast of florida. we're expecting for more rainfall on the way there, which again, could make for really hazardous travel, travel, travel conditions as you're working your way up the coast. >> let's show you what those winds look like, because this is been another big component of the storm is called storm surge. one thing we will be watching here, although current winds, you can see between 30 to 40 miles per hour up toward mayport, gusting up to around 50 to 55 miles per hour. >> so, again, those winds still mean business, still easily capable of bringing down a couple of trees, perhaps even a couple of power lines. again, mayport, that's a sustained wind at 40 . >> forty three miles per hour with wind gusts at about fifty four . >> but moving things forward, you'll see that through this morning. we could be talking about additional wind gusts up and over 50 , perhaps even pushing close to 60 miles per hour. >> we are nowhere near done in parts of central and northeast florida. so from jacksonville over toward atlantic beach, our friends and family members in palm valley by tomorrow afternoon or by this afternoon are on the five o'clock hour. so let's say within the next 12 to 15 hours or so, we're still talking about wind gusts in excess of 50 to 60 miles per hour. >> i still think that power outages are going to be an issue. >> it's one of the reasons why if you got a cell phone, listen, leave it on the charger. i know that the cell phone providers always say, you know, you don't want to overcharge your cell phone. this is one of those cases where it's going to be okay to do so. >> notice that atlantic beach, this is by far friday at 2:00 a.m. we're looking for winds upwards of 60 to 70 miles per hour. that's nearly hurricane force winds even by that point. >> so in places like jackson, the impacts that we are expecting anywhere between eight inches to upwards of 12 inches of water in a standing location, 12 inches of water can easily float a vehicle. it can knock people off their feet. so if you're thinking about heading out, venturing out, going out to assess the damage yourself and run out and take social media pictures, please don't. >> it's not the time for it. it's it is just not a safe environment to do so. >> here's what radar looks like currently. and again, those spiral rain bands from e! >> and now pushing from the east toward the west. so this is pushing the water into the coastline. this is going to be something that we're watching very carefully because the st. john river that runs through parts of jacksonville, florida, we need to watch out for storm surge there. >> that is going to be a very real and present danger up and down the two ninety five and i-95 corridor or fox model. this is an exclusive product that we can use to hyper locate where you are in relation to the spiral rain bands by 7:00 a.m.. so in the next five to six hours, we're expecting for heavy rain bands to move onshore. as it does so, it's not only pushing the ocean water onshore again, storm surge, but it's also just bringing in rain fall to places like orange park, palm valley. our friends and family in green cove springs. again, that's heavy rainfall through not only the morning, but the afternoon, the evening hours, the overnight hours and even into daybreak on tuesday. we're anywhere between, say, an additional five to eight inches . a couple of spots, again, eight to 12 inches of rainfall. canutt be ruled out of the question. >> and parts of northeast florida, that's going to a very likely place to talk about storm surge in st. james over st. john's river. and that's one of the big concerns that we'll see really for the northeast coast of florida as we go into the next 24 hours. but take a look. the storm surge that we saw in places like naples, florida, in fact, naples, florida, we lost the gauge because of the immense amount of power from the water that moved inland. and it really inundated these homes. we had curfews in place, shelter in place for naples, florida, because all of that storm surge that reached record levels, fort myers, florida, top water levels. i mean, we smashed the record in fort myers the last time that we saw the record of storm surge is three point three six feet. and that was actually from gabrielle that we saw in two thousand one . i mean, we're talking over seven point to six . and i say over because this was just the last reading that the gauge in fort myers got to before it went offline. and so we'll likely be seeing storm surge levels anywhere from 10 to 12 feet as a forecast. unfortunately, did verify here in southwest florida. fort myers taking the brunt of that concern and that damage. take a look at the current conditions right now where we are expecting that storm surge to continue. fort myers, we have storm surge right now reading at about four feet. we still have a little bit of that onshore flow, those winds wrapping around. and so that's the concern along. i'm seventy five an hour really further to the coastline just south of fort myers. we still have some of that push because of these winds on the backside of hurricane in naples. we don't have a reading because we, in fact, have lost the surge there. naples, last time we got a reading was six feet. and that also, too, was a record breaker. and we'll likely see, unfortunately, the water levels verify a bit higher than that where we aren't seeing much storm surge right now is on the east coast, lake worth pier, st. paul , port everglades down into virginia. the reason for that is because we have an offshore flow. so all of our winds wrapping around hurricane and pushing that water away from the coastline. so that's why we have zero readings there. but where we have that onshore flow, especially on the north side of it and getting into the northeast coast, the space coast here, that's the concern we're going to start to see, especially getting into high tide. we could start to see some that water come a bit further inland. storm surge warnings, however, remain in place for the west coast. cedar key down through tampa, florida, which unfortunately or rather, i should say fortunately, didn't see as high of a storm surge as was predicted for myers in naples, though, remains under that storm surge warning because it will take some time to see that water recede. where i really want to highlight and what i want to focus now, as we pushed that forecast ahead, advance it so we're giving ample notice. northeast florida, jacksonville, we get into the coastline of georgia. brunswick's evana getting into charleston. storm surge warnings are in place now. these numbers will likely come down along the west coast. so let's focus on the northeast coastline of florida, merritt island. we could see one to three feet of storm surge up into st. augustine, bringing into beach st. simons island, tybee island there along the coastline of georgia. three to five feet of storm surge is expected as we go through the on thursday into friday. now, michael, these are very low lying areas. i lived in georgia for quite some time in any thunderstorm that comes through brings in some flooding, especially for charleston. you all know all too well king st. james island takes on that water very quickly. not only do we have rain in the forecast for the coastlines of georgia and south carolina, but bringing that added risk for storm surge, flooding is going to be a very key component. and you really need to heed the warnings, prepare as much as you can, especially opening up your eyes tomorrow morning. >> yeah, you know, it is one of those things, especially during, like high tide, when you have those king tides, astronomical tides. >> and unfortunately, that's kind of coincide with one will see that the peak storm surge. and so it's just adding insult to injury. >> and so you really need to make sure that are remaining hyper vigilant if you're anywhere close to the coastline, check out your television set. look at this video. this was from the florida. again, this is in and around the fort myers area. and it was hard to see a couple of car lengths in front of you . >> let's listen in this. this was towards naples, florida, obviously numerous water rescues underway. you can see the emergency responders helping that individual to get to a safe spot above water. here's another imagery from cape coral, florida, as again, hurricane ivan made its way onshore. look at those palm trees. as you know, palm trees are by nature the way in which they're designed. >> they're very thin. and , of course, the palms themselves, the palms themselves usually are very susceptible to high winds. >> we see this all the time. right. but once you start seeing palm trees, being snapped, you know that this is a much more intense and much more serious storm . and we've seen numerous palm trees come on down on the trees onto power lines. again, as jane was mentioning before, we still, although we are seeing some improvements in our power, meaning that more power is slowly but surely be restored. >> still, over one million residents under the gun with with power outages. you are looking live right now in orlando, florida. how about this image? look at the left side of your screen. it almost looks like waves on some of the some of the roadways there. >> what that is , is the torrential, the blinding rainfall that we were talking about before. >> i was just reading the report. there's a flash flood warning that's in effect for parts of orlando. orlando is , you know, is is home to orange county. >> and in orange county itself, we picked up anywhere between eight to 12 inches. that's what law enforcement was reporting when i was looking at the flash flood warning that was ongoing. and again, all of that rainfall that we're seeing right now is only going to add insult to injury. >> all right. let's talk about what's going on right now, because not only is it the rain element, but the wind element. >> look at that. katy byrne was talking about this before wind still gusting over 50 to 60 miles per hour. let's focus on the winds, because this is going to be a big story, too, unfortunately, although in parts of southwest florida, we're slowly and very slowly at that scene, perhaps a few more power restorations and up toward places, tampa, st. pete as well. the wind component may still knock down trees and power lines. so currently winds in cocoa beach, a beautiful beach to go to, by the way, gusting over 50 miles per hour against storm surge along the east coast of florida. could be a very real and present danger. here's what we were talking about before that big green box indicating that flash flood warnings are still ongoing for not only parts of polk county until three 30. that does include the kissimmee ,but also orange county and orlando. titusville, this is also known as the space coast area, seeing heavy rainmakers produced in those flash flooding concerns along the i-95 corridor. let's hyper local, let's hyper localized the forecast for parts of orlando and the over dozen theme parks out that way. here's where celebration florida is , by the way. boy, not celebrating the weather over this past week, right? >> lots of rainfall is ongoing. it will persist through not only this morning to run the nine o'clock hour, but by lunchtime in the evening, around dinnertime tonight, still tracking moderate rain showers through not only orlando but up toward daytona. and this has taken i-95 again northbound. and as you head up toward america, first city, which you know is st. augustine, florida, we're also going to be talking and addressing that. >> you know, the fact that we'll be tracking ongoing rain showers through the afternoon, evening and even overnight, florida overnight hours into parts of northern florida as well. how much more rainfall is to come in places like daytona on top of how much we've already picked up? jane , it is so impressive. we could see an additional 12 to 18 inches of rainfall. again, flooding is going to be a very real and present danger northbound along i form and we're i for intersects with i9 five in the days to come. >> jane very heavily traveled interstates. well, pinellas county, florida also feeling the impact of hurricane e, and that includes st. petersburg as well as clearwater. pinellas county emergency management director cathy perkins joins us now. cathy , thank you for being with us so early in the morning. i know these overnight hours, but they're also very important hours because you've gone all day feeling the impacts of hurricane ian . talk us through how things are in these overnight hours and what your plan is for the day ahead. so we've been monitoring any impacts we hear. we certainly have about two hundred thousand people without power right now. we're not seeing major damages here, but it will be felt like before we really get to see that, we're very fortunate we didn't get the rains that we thought we were going to get . i mean, two days ago, we thought we were going to be ground zero for this storm . so this is a very different scenario for us . we have our damage assessment crews ready to go out and just look at the county and see if there's any areas of concern. we have debris crews. they'll on the roads, just make sure that everything is good. we need to just check our bridges that come into the county, just make sure that everything shipshape as the winds die down. then we'll open the county back up. we'll work on getting the people that have been in shelters for the last couple of days start working on getting them home. >> now, you speak of shelters and talk about how the county did show up. did you find that shelters were a bit more crowded and perhaps packed with this go round with the storm coming in? >> no, they weren't. and that was very concerning for us . we issued evacuations for a level three , category three storm because that's what they predicted for us and with the storm surge. so we evacuated three hundred and sixty five thousand people. we did expect to have over forty thousand people in shelters and we ended up with five thousand people. so, you know, i don't know if they went other locations in florida. some people choose to do that. but the evacuation numbers that we saw in shelters, i think we're a lot lower than we thought. and that's very concerning. when you have a storm like this coming at you. >> absolutely. no, thankfully, you guys didn't see the brunt of hurricane. and you mentioned a couple hundred thousand people still without power. i think at last look, i saw about one hundred eighty or so thousand customers in the dark. what's the plan going ahead? as we open up the day on thursday? is there hope that we'll get that power back on within the next 24 hours? >> yeah, hopefully. i mean, as long as there's not major damage to the infrastructure. we just talked with our energy provider, duke, and they're planning on getting their crews hopefully out around 5:00 a.m. this morning. and they'll start working on all of our priority facilities and then working out to get customers back online as soon as possible. >> so for anybody who's watching at home, who maybe perhaps lives in pinellas county, or is , you know, has family members there, what's your advice to them as they get there thursday under way? those winds have kind of calmed down. >> the rain has moved out. what's their next steps now? just give us a chance to get out there and just make sure that the roads are clear . there's no major hazards out there. you know, we don't want people driving through floodwater. there could be downed power lines, you know, just be very cognizant that as you're coming out of your homes, kind of take a look around, be careful before you let your pets out. and that's want to get outside. we want to make sure that people are safe . there still may be some hazards out there. just give us some time. and , you know, as soon as we can, we'll start opening things back up. absolutely. cathy perkins, thank you so much for spending some time with us. this overnight hours. i know these are key hours. a lot of people hopefully getting some rest for what? >> it's going to be a busy couple of days ahead, michael. >> yes, you it certainly has been a busy couple of days, not only for parts of southern and central florida, but also it's going to be another busy day is moving into northeast florida as well. and adam's hanging with us in the weather command. >> adam, thank you so much for helping out and for hanging out as well, because it's been certainly super busy here as well. >> i mean, you guys are working nonstop, so i need to chip in a little early. >> so i love it. and , you know, speaking about working nonstop, obviously the next our next area of focus is really going to be parts of central, but more so northeast florida. looking forward, what are our greatest concerns? >> i mean, the storm obviously has been disintegrating a little bit as it's moved across land, but that doesn't mean that the risk is over. so you start to think about northeast florida or even running north up the coast of georgia. and south carolina. the way the winds wrap around a system like this, when you get up along the coast there, then suddenly now the winds are moving just over the atlantic ocean. >> so there's no barriers. so the winds coming right off can be strong once again. so we could be talking about strong tropical storm winds and that's going to push up storm surge. so this story has been storm surge or was storm for so long on the west coast of florida that maybe gets out of your mind that that's something that could pop its head back up, but it certainly could . and then we just know how much moisture is in this system. yeah, and we're talking squeezed out another additional foot of rain on top of the storm surge on top of what we've already picked up. and yeah, i mean, i think flooding could be a real and present danger in parts of jacksonville. just a few years ago, i think it was with hurricane ida impacting like 2017. >> it was the st. john river in parts of jacksonville. >> florida, that was just absolutely inundated parts of downtown jacksonville were underwater because the storm surge, as you were saying, being forced and because of those winds that pushed all that water. >> yeah, the winds are pushing the water in the rain's coming down so the rain can't escape. and it's they come together. >> worst case scenario, it really is . it's almost a double edged sword there. so let's get you to jacksonville. we'll break everything down so that you know exactly what to expect again in the hours to come here. jacksonville right now, we're at seventy degrees. and again, you can see a couple of vehicles are out on those roadways. >> please be on the lookout for flash flooding. >> and not only orlando especially, but also places like northeast florida as we head into the hours and the days to come. here's what those winds look like. and as adam was saying, you really have to focus very closely and intently on the direction of those winds. because those winds are going to force a bunch of atlantic water right into some of the some of the rivers and of course, the streams, those streams end up looking like lakes. >> and again, that could lead to some really, really bad storm surge along the east coast. so current winds, as you can see there, up toward mayfield, gusting over 50 miles per hour. >> here's what the forecast looks like moving forward in terms of those winds. unfortunately, they're not dying down as the center of circulation from hurricane ian continues to work through parts of central and northeast florida through the day today and tomorrow. >> so by 8:00 o'clock in the morning, you're perhaps up and out the door. atlantic beach, we're talking about wind gusts over 50 to 60 miles per hour. could we see 70 mile per hour winds and atlantic beach? by the time we wrap up the afternoon and into the evening around 5:00 p.m. on thursday, the answer is absolutely. >> and it's one of the reasons why, again, as adam was saying, that is going to be a very real and present danger because on top of the rainfall, that rain will not be able to escape into the rivers and then out into the ocean because those winds are pushing the river in the ocean water into the river . >> so, again, compounding our flooding concern in parts of northeast florida, especially toward jacksonville. and it's one of the reasons why we really want to make sure that we highlight and drive home the point that from st. augustine, america's first city northbound along the i-95 corridor, as you head into downtown jacksonville toward two ninety five , that the rainfall that we are seeing right now along with the storm surge, may create more life threatening conditions as we head through the day today on your thursday and perhaps even into friday by seven o'clock, eight o'clock in the morning, expecting light to moderate bands of rain still moving through. it's not going anywhere around lunchtime dinner time tomorrow, evening. again, notice the red, those areas in shades of red represent tremendous amounts of rainfall that we could be talking about on the order of an additional eight to 12 inches of rainfall on top of what's already fallen by the time everything is said and done. so the rainfall still to come. look at the left side of your screen or if you're joining us and looking at this on television, our friends and family toward yolly, up toward atlantic beach, down toward palm valley and a one a just a famous route along the east coast of florida. right. you can take the away literally all the way down toward miami. unfortunately, jane , it looks like an additional eight inches to 12 inches of additional rainfall still possible in places like jacksonville. so, again, we are nowhere near done with the effects of ian . >> we're not, you know, i've been watching the traffic cameras there while you were giving that hit and it's good to see that not a lot of people are out on the roads. of course, i do know it is overnight, early in the morning, but we are expecting to see our roads deteriorate, especially as ian and all of that rain continues to move up into northeast florida. so a live look at jacksonville international airport, which is set to close tomorrow. cancelations at fifty seven . but if you have a flight out of jacksonville in the next 24 , 48 hours, we'll check in with the airlines because it's likely been canceled at this point. winds right now beginning to gust up 30 to miles per hour. we have those winds coming out of the northeast. so one thing we will be watching for, especially along the coast in jacksonville, is going to be for the potential of that storm surge. we are watching the tides very closely as we are anticipating to see that water begin to push onshore. rain and wind moving into the area, visibility up about 10 miles or so. so not too bad right now. the ceilings for our flights still coming in. perhaps, maybe we have that late one . but overall, we don't have much in the seat of any delays because a lot of those airports are beginning to get canceled, especially where we do have orlando, florida, which has been closed. so don't pay attention too much to the delayed column. pay attention to the cancelations where we have over 800 flights canceled out of orlando, florida. tampa, florida. three hundred and seventy seven cancelations, jacksonville. we're seeing those cancelations climb now to about one hundred and sixty . atlanta, georgia. we have one hundred and sixty five . so because we do have cancelations at our florida airports, because our four airports are closed, we're going to see that trickle effect into our major hubs. atlanta being a big one , one of the largest airports in the world. thirty four delays. one hundred sixty five cancelations. so be very mindful if you do have to travel, especially towards the end of this week, especially through georgia and the carolinas, as we are going to be tracking hurricane ian up into those states where we are anticipating, especially along coastlines, to see that impact. so here's a look at our forecast airport delays. jacksonville set to close tomorrow. so if you have any loved ones who are maybe flying out of the airport, make sure that they do know. i'm sure they have gotten that alert already on their phone. savannah, georgia, we take a look at cancelations and delays right now. i know it's still in these early overnight hours. not a lot of flights are going in and out. but as we open up tomorrow, we are going to start to see some of those concerns because conditions are going to begin to go downhill pretty quickly as we are going to see. and emerging into the atlantic offshore of northeast florida throughout our day on thursday ,beginning to lift up, eventually going to take that turn into the coast of georgia or the south carolina coastline. really both at play as we go into the day on friday. so here's a look at you can see come friday, those cancelations and perhaps some airport issues do tend to go up. raleigh, charlotte, savannah, jacksonville, really watching our regional airports to places like augusta regional could see some big delays. i know we do have a lot of flights going out of their d.c. out towards atlanta, too. so bringing in michael, definitely a lot to talk about here. still to come, we don't want to let our guard down at all. along the west coast, things have quieted down a bit. we still have a lot to get through. >> and then the coming hours, you know, it's really interesting, too, because you think about all of the fact that, like international airport closed kind of indefinitely at this point, there's there's no like any time. >> yeah. there's no set time there. and of course, you fort myers airport, orlando as well. and so it is going to be one of those deals where you just need to make sure that if you have any flight plans in the days to come, that you're really making sure that that you're staying vigilant and on top of your different flights. >> and of course, a lot has happened over the past twenty four hours. and some of the images have just been incredible. adam, you were talking about this earlier where you mentioned that hurricane ivan has made landfall, was literally the fifth strongest hurricane ever to hit the united states , united states. and then for florida, it was even it was like a record setter as well. >> yeah. so the fifth highest for the for the united states . and that ties there. seven other storms right there also. but then florida, the fourth strongest. so this is a really powerful one , a historically powerful storm that we've seen play out today. >> yeah. and we actually have a couple of images of as in made land as it made landfall in parts of southwest florida that we'd like to show you as well. and the images that we've seen not only on social media have really been impressive. >> i know i've seen a lot of things on twitter, instagram coming in. and you can see in gorda, i mean, how will these winds were so powerful? >> and i think it was over 120 miles per hour. and i think one thing to note, too, is that it really took a long time for ian to weaken. it was hours on end of category three strength impacting the coast. >> and you talk about those images, i don't think we've really even scratched the surface. it's going to be sunrise here. in a couple hours when we're really blown away with the damage and the destruction, particularly there on the western side of the state of florida. >> i just can't even imagine. >> you know, you talk about the winds that we've seen that entered southwest florida with wind gusts over 120 miles per hour. i mean, i've never it's hard to even fathom what that would look like. >> but clearly, you can see what the damage has been in its wake. right. so it is the tremendous amount of damage the downed trees, the power lines at one . >> at one point, we were talking about power out to over to a million people in the state of florida.