We just had a landfall of 155 Miles Per Hour. And this is going to be behind camille and andrew and the labor day storm, which was like late 1800s. In fourth place. I mean, thats just mind boggling. If i told you we were going to have, even four days ago, the fourth strongest hurricane on record to make landfall you would have been like, sound the alarm. Where are we going . Three days ago, the forecast, the intenseities ity of the stoa category 1. You and i had a conversation live on the air last night about why this seemed to blow up immediately. Tell folks who are used to flying in commercial jets at 30,000 feet how high the tops of these storms get and why we expected them to get sheered off at the top and this wasnt going to be consequential. Sometimes 40,000, 50,000 feet and the water in the gulf, anyone goes to all the way through this month even into next month, its still bath water. So the Energy Source is there. That part of the equation is Strong Enough to support a category 5 every year at this time of year. What we dont know is what the wind shear is going to do. That can shear apart the top of the thunderstorms. They take all that moisture and energy and lift it into the atmosphere. If it gets blown away, the storm cant build on itself. That was the forecast four, five, six days ago. We knew we had a storm forming. Its october. Typical to get storms in the western caribbean moving into the gulf. Wilma did it. Many other examples. The wind shear wasnt the most favorable. Thought wed still get a storm. A little disorganized and have to watch it. Then the storm started getting stronger. And then we were like, its already a cat 1. This could be serious. Thats when the Hurricane Center was like, all right, category 3. Then yesterday they were like, all right, maybe category 4. And we almost went to category 5. We were 2 miles an hour shy. Which is crazy. And post storm analysis, we may find out it was a 5. That was the estimate from the Hurricane Hunters when theyre flying through the storm and giving us all this incredible information, risking their lives doing those missions. The fourth strongest winds at land speed and third lowest pressure. Its like both. Had both elements to it. If this had maybe 10 five more hours over water it easily would have been a five. It was still growing and getting bigger right up through landfall which is one of the reasons why its held itself together. Theres some people right now on if theyre on i95 that are in the eye of the storm still. And its crossing interstate 10. Interstate 10. 95 is going to play a part in this storm before its over. Not until tomorrow and that will be kind of weak. I wanted to ask about the significance of its crossing i10. Im worried about folks in marianna, chattahoochee and greta and the like. Its going to be crossing interstate 10. Im sure theyll have it closed. People are sending me screen grabs of people driving on i10. We got issues like that. And weve had the lifethreatening portion of the storm, which was the beginning portion, the landfall with the supreme winds, projectiles, fallen trees. Now tonight, through tomorrow, its still going to be the wind but the falling trees. Trees on houses, trees in homes. Areas that werent evacuated. People in the middle of the night, you know, hearing the winds howling, grabbing their families, pets, heading into their bathrooms. That will be taking place. Its taking place now in florida. And now its going to start taking place in southern alabama, georgia and i am hoping it dies off quickly enough that we can avoid this tomorrow morning in like augusta, georgia, columbia, south carolina. It should be 40 to 50, maybe 60 Miles Per Hour by then. If social media is active with pictures of mexico beach and folks theorizing. Were trying to get permission to show you a lot of those videos. Yeah, it looks like a tornado went through. It does look like circular wind. Ill show you that. That was the fear. This was the equivalent of a category enhanced fujita scale ef3 tornado. Thats xwhat youd expect with strong category 4. It was just a matter of what Population Center was going to get hit. We didnt know that until the end. Panama city, a lot of roof damage. But i havent seen pictures of complete buildings just blown to pieces. Thats what we have seen in mexico beach. I know youre always up for a good word for Public Servants. Late last night you tweeted out the Office Photograph of the National WeatherService Tallahassee staff. They were going to hunker down and make it through the night. Their warnings on social media and over the newswires last night into today have been spot on. These are Public Servants warning the public about this weather. Theyve all been consummate professionals. While their families are at home. Without them. And deal with the storm and all the consequences without them. And its an important point. I am a meteorologist, but im in storms like this, im more of a reporter, too. Because im gathering the information from all the servants out there in the National Weather service, the Hurricane Hunterers, Storm Chasers on the ground sending out pictures of the damage and we get to bring it to everyone else. Hopefully we collect it and can get an action plan. I saw pictures of cuomo sending the National Guard and pictures of them boarding and putting helicopters on the big cargo planes. Theyll head down there to do rescue missions. They see the pictures and how bad it is. Now people are going to start responding. State of new jersey sent two semis full of first responders, urban search and rescue teams on a twoweek deployment. They got on the road last night on 95 southbound. And as bill pointed out, before its over, this storm will, in a way, link i10 and i95 because both major interstates will see pieces, though vastly different pieces, of this storm. Mariana atencio has been in port st. Joe standing by on the telephone. How much have you been able to get a look at . Brian, were down to one phone. Cell towers are down here. Im seeing a lot of downed trees. A lot of heavy flooding and highway 98 is completely flooded from port st. Joe to cape sandblast 9 00 in the morning today. I know from talking to the mayor that about 200 people live there in that inlet, and many did not have time to evacuate. Were now trying to make our way to mexico beach. Were about ten minutes from there, from where this monster storm made landfall. And were going to try and see if we can get there and give you firsthand accounts hough things lo look. A lot of the local people wondering if their homes are okay, their friends and relatives another. Im standing here with julie. Shes an employee of the mainstay inn who took us in while the storm was really moving in. And she moved here from tampa in 2006. Shes in tears because she hasnt heard from her neighbors in mexico beach. She doesnt know what state her home is in. So ive got to say, yesterday when we were there, talking to folks, again, a lot of them really caught off guard by this storm and didnt have time planning to evacuate. Well give you a firsthand account of how things are going. Mariana, thank you. I hope youre able to build in down time because its so important. We need everybody sharp and being careful when you do venture out. Bill karins, she just mentioned what weve been talking about. This was the storm out of nowhere. Nobodys fault. Its the fault of wind shear not showing up to cut these cloud tops in half the way it was expected. All of our computer modeling and mathematical formulas that spit the information out and i stand in front of and try to act confident, this is whats going to happen. Weve gotten to the point where if you go back three, four days, we were saying panama city all along. All the spaghetti strands that never really changed, unfortunately for them and mexico beach and the air force base there and down towards the coast in apalachicola. The intensity forecast on this one was, yeah, dminus . Maybe thats generous. The mayor of tallahassee it with us on the phone. Andrew gilham also happens to be a candidate for a large statewide race this season but right now its his city thats his number one priority. Mr. Mayor, anyone who has been to tallahassee knows how beautiful a city it is. And how full of trees it is. And for that and other reasons weve been thinking of you guys all night and into the morning and afternoon. Give us a status report, if you will. Yeah, brian. We celebrate our Beautiful Tree canopy. My city has about 50 tree cover, which is pretty substantial given an urban Community Like ours. But its times like this that becomes a bit of a problem for us. Already so far in this storm, our threat in this part is different than our brothers and sisters down on the coast who our hearts are going out for right now as we see the images of the storm surge coming in. For us, its, of course, the possibility of downed trees and already weve seen trees coming down on power lines and on homes and vehicles. So far no report of any loss of life which were thankful for and confident that that hopeful that will continue. But so far, weve got north of 45,000 of our utility customers that are out. And our Emergency Operations center, im there speaking to you. Were operating off our generators. Weve got lots of redundancy here which is the purpose of a center like ours but we certainly lost our normal utility here in the building. That being said, our strongest desire right now is people stay safe. The strongest winds that are estimated to hit our area still are coming in and will be between four and about 8 00 tonight and so were urging caution on behalf of all our residents as we wait out the total impact of this storm. While we hope you avoid the major stuff, its often the minor stuff that can be such an unpleasant thing for a beautiful place like yours. The branches, the side mirrors on cars that seem to snap off in these storms, the trees, the power lines. Again, no loss of life. No rise in water, but it can just tear up a Beautiful Community and take so long until you feel like youre back on your feet and you put the storm, forgive me in the rearview mirror. No, youre absolutely right. At this stage, obviously, our concerns still remain trees coming down. We are known for these trees coming down, and our hope is they dont come down on anyones hope and injuries anyone, but we know there are already reports of those trees coming down. Were going to get back to normal. Well get back to 100 . At this stage of the gairme it our hope that people dont go out on the streets and begin to fiddle with trees. Everybody wants to get back to normal but recognize weve got live wires. Weve got other utility threats. Weve got water damage threats. Theres a lot that has to be kept into consideration as we make our way through the storm and then begin our recovery process. Brian, i should also mention because tallahassee is closest to these affected areas, we also expect that the shelters that we now have, now six, will likely expand as our neighbors from the coast make their way here for what looks like will be a pretty long recovery for them. Mayor, meteorologist bill karins. Any word on how long your Public Schools are planning on closing for and any word on the University Also . Yeah, so the university of florida and University Florida state and Tallahassee Community college, along with our k through 12 system has announced their closure through friday. So right now, you know, we do our job and get out there and get everybody restoerd, schools should be back, you know, early next week. We dont have announcements on that yet but so far we know it will be closed through the duration of this week. Mayor, thank you very much. We know youve got other things to worry about but we do appreciate the time youve given us in the news media trying to cover this story and cant stress this enough. Good luck to you and that beautiful city as this storm progresses. Thank you so much. And god speed for everyones recovery. Mayor of tallahassee, florida. Bill, if i can trouble you to go over to the map. Show folks whats already where the storm has already been and, for example, tallahassee off to the right edge. Thats the edge of a hurricane you dont want to be on but luckily nowhere near the eye. They are a decent distance from the eye. You saw the live pictures we were showing you there. Let me go to my next view and i can show you my distance tracker and show you how far away tallahassee is. Heres where the storm made the landfall. This was the gray line, the path it took. Its been edging towards the left side of the forecast path after landfall which has been better for tallahassee and kept it further from tallahassee. Lets do the distance tracker. We call this whats left of the eastern eye wall down interstate 10. Roughly about 40 miles away. Thats why tallahassee and even though with that said, over here, this is a live wind report. 67mileperhour winds. Thats still 40 Miles Per Hour away. You can imagine what its like. Much worse. Were more extreme wind damage is being done. The other major city in this area is, as we go through dothan. All of a sudden these bright red and pichks are staying symmetrical. Doesnt look like its about onshore for a hurricane for the last two hours. Its going to be close to how just you dont want to get in the bright red. Youll see massive amounts of trees down and instead of days without power, possibly weeks thats going to take to clean that up. Dothan right now, roughly about 20 to 22 miles away. And the storm in general is heading towards the northnortheast. If we take this, kind of that general direction here and like this, thats kind of the direction the eye is going to be heading in here as we go throughout the rest of the day. That was the wind map. This was the current stats. Well get the new update from the Hurricane Center. We just got the new hourly update. They dropped it down to 140. Still, this is an over land storm now, bill. If i was to tell you that we could have a category 4 hurricane on the border, kind of the triple point where florida, alabama and georgia meets, you would tell me im crazy. We watch eye walls collapse all the time with First Contact i cant tell you how many storms in the last ten years weve had approach land as a 3 or 4 and just kind of fizzle out and make landfall as a 1 or 2. This one is holding on for dear life. Thats bad news for everyone in central and southern georgia. Lets advance the path and show you. And well compare this. This will be a good teaching point. About 45 minutes well get our new path. Just remember when we get our new path forecast that by the time it was up here heading into south carolina, the forecast winds are to be 45 Miles Per Hour. The way its Holding Together right now, i wouldnt doubt if thats 60 instead of 45. Why is that a big difference . 50 to 60 to 70 is when you get more trees down than 45. 45 is a windy day after a cold front goes through. Were only going to bring it down to about 100 by the time we get clearly here into central portions of georgia. This is a map you dont see very often either. The red is the hurricane warnings which go all the way through Central Georgia. Macon is almost in a hurricane warning. Thats unheard of. And Tropical Storm warnings cover all areas back up into areas of central north carolina. So even tomorrow morning its going to be well have pictures of very windy conditions because the way the storm, the southerly wind is coming up, those winds will be brisk in brunswick, savannah, hilton head, going up the coast. Mechanically, youre talking about youre right. Macon is almost in a hurricane warning. Macon to the beach is a long drive. Its a long drive. Is this storm stronger aloft . Is there more infrastructure higher up . Most storms that weve dealt with have been weakening as they were getting the landfall. And then the land just does it in. This storm was strengthening. The pressure was dropping all the way through landfall. And usually the way it works is the pressure drops first and takes a little for the storm to catch up and the winds to crank. Loses its fuel. So the winds in this one were Holding Together, trying to equalize that pressure which is still very low. I have equated this one for the last couple hours as a bowling ball. Someone threw a bowling ball at this region and its not easy to stop that bowling ball. What reduces the wind speed in hurricanes is friction. Thats all the trees that are falling. So the frictional component will slowly be weakening this storm overnight. Thats the result of thousands, hundreds of thousands of trees. Were probably not done taking lives with this storm either. You get enough trees falling on houses and cars and roads and you get you can have fatalities. Thats what were worried about. Enough of our viewers have already seen mexico beach is clearly the focal point of a lot of our time and attention. We have reporters and camera crews getting there as quickly as they can stymied in places by standing water and trees. But our crews are in place throughout this region. This remains a very dangerous storm over land with wind speeds of 140 miles an hour. It has been years since weve been able to say that about a hurricane. A break in our coverage. Well come back right after this. This is frank. Sup this is franks favorite record. This is franks dog. And this is franks record shop. Frank knowns northern soul, but how to set up a limited liability company. Whats that mean . Not so much. So he turned to his friends at legalzoom. Yup they hooked me up. We helped with his llc, contracts, and some other stuff thats part of running a business. So frank can focus on the beat. You hear that . This is franks record shop. And this is where life meets legal. So lets promote our falle a homecomingtravel dealame, on choicehotels. Com like this. Touchdown. Earn a free night when you stay just twice this fall. Or, badda book. Badda boom. Book now at choicehotels. Com we are back with our coverage of the storm that has surprised even veteran forecasters and meteorologists. The fact that we have hurricane warnings posted as far north and west as macon, georgia. This is over land and still rated as a 140mileperhour wind storm. This hurricane is Holding Together remarkably well. Just when and where we wish it wouldnt. Correspondent Tammy Leitner is standing by in albany, georgia. In normal times with a normal storm, you would be way out of the cone of effects from this storm, which is now still approaching your area. Yeah, brian. Were just now starting to feel the outer bands here in southwest georgia. Starting to feel the wind, the win. Theres a Tornado Warning in effect here. About 108 counties across georgia with an emergency warning in effect. 1500 National Guardsmen here ready to deploy, if necessary, if as weve seen so far in the panhandle, that could likely happen. Here in albany, its relatively flat. So one of the Major Concerns is flooding. When it happens here in albany, it happens very, very fast. The flint river runs through this county. It actually dumps into this lake where im standing. Theres houses that surround it. So thats a big concern with flooding. Another concern, even though they havent issued a mandatory Evacuation Order for this area, theyve told people if you live in mobile homes if you live in houses that dont have sturdy foundations, go ahead and get out. Take shelter somewhere else. We just visited a church in the area where they opened it up to people. They said, look. We have no cots, no supplies, no food but lets open our doors to anybody that might need shelter. Theyve already got 50 people there that they said dont feel safe in their homes. We spoke with one woman, her and her grandson, their dogs. Theyre staying there. They live in a trailer and they said we just dont think we want to take the chance. Thats what a lot of people are saying in this area that dont feel safe waiting it out at home. Brian . I wish we had the ability to show people how beautiful it normally is right where youre standing. And youre so right that ist is so flat and the intersection two of bodies of water. One emptying into the other. Thats what they really have to worry about is an influx of rainwater right now. Yeah, and also they were saying that the flint river is actually a little higher than it normally is. Theyre not as concerned as they normally would be. But again, its so flat. When it floods, it happens so quickly. Theyre just not willing to take any chances. Tammy leitner with us from albany, georgia. I trust youll stay in touch, and well have bill karins on the air here shortly to tell you whats going to happen there and when. Appreciate that live report. With us now is retired u. S. Army Lieutenant General russel honore. Ive said this before, but the general will always remain a heroic figure for all of us who were in new orleans during and after katrina as his arrival there marked a turning point in that storm and its aftermath and brought hope to those folks. General, thank you very much for being with us. As you look at this storm, and i, in my memory, i cannot remember a storm with a sustained eye and 140mileanhour winds at the core. This far over land. This long after landfall. What are the folks going to need in the path of this . Well, just to put things in context, brian, you remember hurricane erma that went through florida. Put 300 million without power. It arrived in georgia as a tropical system and put 800,000 people out of power. So imagine a storm over 100mileanhour crossing i10, going into georgia, with the pine trees over the power lines. This could have a devastating impact on the grid in florida, as well as the southern portion of georgia as 60 to 90mileanhour winds will take trees down, but ive never seen a storm cross i10 with this intensity. Yeah, thats really the landmark for us, too. To see it cross the interstate, and if you know anything about i10, its kind of a dividing line. Question is, is there a role in this storm for the cajun navy . Yeah, theyre already on scene. And theyve been active. Ive talked to them a couple times this morning. Theyre predeployed. Boats and trucks with supplies to start helping first responders. Then theyll move to the smaller towns in the most desperate areas at the appropriate time. But theyve moved already and theyre predeployed. General, were also fortunate because we have so many military facilities and bases. Generally headquartered in the south. One of them had the eye of this storm move right over top of it. Yeah, weve got tindle and panama beach, strategically important to the nation. But well prepared and well rehearsed on saving the aircraft as well as our Naval Services along the coast. The long evacuated but the impact on that infrastructure could have a Significant Impact on our readiness in days and weeks to come. Depending on how much of the power grid is taken down. And i think that is the biggest threat now other than trees falling on peoples homes is going to be the impact on the grid, sir. Heres the question. Are you confident that at fema headquarters they have the right plan to bring in air assets and pallets of water and mres and Power Companies from surrounding states . Yes, the state of florida, the dilemma is this. We spent all day yesterday talking about a category 2. And a lot of distracting political discussions dominated the air waves. Thats just the way things happen coming out of washington. So a lot of people who respond to categories stayed put. People that are in atlanta, along that i10 corridor that probably would have moved if the prediction was category 4. But weve got to remember, Mother Nature always has a vote. The storm had a vote, and it moved up to a 4 overnight. And that is going to catch a lot of people who may have evacuated early to be in the path of this storm. Theres still time for people to evacuate that have calm winds and this storm continued to move at over 100 miles an hour. If you are in an unsafe structure, we still need to be getting people to shelters. And thats my biggest concern that we dont have enough shelters open to take care of the vulnerable population who live in vulnerable housing. Yeah, i share that concern with you. And this storm as weve been saying truly blew up out of nowhere. Nobodys fault. Nobody was wrong. Its human nature to want to blame folks for Something Like this. But this was simply a matter, as bill karins tells it, of wind shear not showing up to reduce the intensity of this storm in the way the forecasters thought it was going to be. Its a genuine act of god that this blew up from a comparatively minor storm off the coast of cuba to now making landfall two miles an hour shy of a category 5 today, general. I always used to train my first army staff to treat every storm at least as a category 4. We can prepare everything we need. We dont have to deploy. But youve got to respect the storm because you never know what theyre going to do. And Mother Nature reminds us again, as good as we are, were not perfect at predicting. General russel honore, thank you, sir. Always a pleasure to have you as part of our coverage. We are joined on the telephone now by beau patterson who is mayor and christiommissioner of port st. Joe, florida. Whats your early read on damage and tell us all lives have been accounted for . Yes, weve got a lot of damage. We are having a lot of flooding. My house has never flooded. It looks like a river going down the street in front of my house. A lot of trees down falling on houses, covering the roads. I had to wait 45 minutes to get someone with a chainsaw. We had two trees in the road. I drove a little up town. Theres a lot of damage downtown. First baptist church, a lot of the roof is gone. The side of one building is gone there in town. Storage building. And facade on the sides of the buildings have been ripped off. And theres debris everywhere. Weve got a big cleanup. As far as loss of life, i havent heard of anybody thats lost their life in this storm in port st. Joe but its early and i havent been able to get out as much as i want to. How far is your home from a substantial body of water. You say its never flooded before . Im probably about seven blocks away from it, from the water there in the gulf. When did it what type of day did it reach its worst in your town . Probably about an hour, hour and a half ago maybe. The storm is blowing pretty hard, the wind is and lots of rain. Of course, we lost power. Ive been without power for about four, five hours already. Luckily i have me a generator to run my essential stuff like hope the other people that stayed had the same thing. Were looking at the radar here. Unbelievably, it looks like after one more band of rain is done with you, you may be done with precipitation for a while. And i know that will be good news for you. At least no more rain will fall. Exactly. We just i dont think we can take much more rain. Youll notice, mayor, were looking at the radar. You still have the winds out of the southwest piling up that water at the coast. Its going to be a while before that water is allowed to retrea back to the coast. Did you see any structures totally destroyed and uninhabitable . Not yet. I havent been able to get in the residential area a lot because theres so many downed trees and flooding. You cant get in there. And how did your essential businesses and schools make out so far . I think we did okay. Not too bad. Some of the places downtown may have gotten water in them but other than that, and i was going to say, some major and some minor. It was a bad one. Mr. Mayor, weve been watching you get interviewed for the better part of 24 hours and weve been following the plight of your town. We are hoping that when you do get out, its minimal, though we know youve already taken quite a hit from this. Were also hoping for no loss of life. And were hoping everybody is okay in port st. Joe. Thank you very much. Thank you for spending time with us. Best of luck to you. Bill karins, again, we mentioned before the break a lot of attention, especially social media. Mexico beach down there. And that will be one thing thats interesting. That was the mayor of a town thats only 10 what did maria say, 10, 15 miles away and one town sounds like it has damage. Not where they cant go back and fix it whereas were hearing reports from mexico beach theres many structures unfixable. How do you go back and see if there was rotation . See if there for gets messy when youre in the eye because when i was in the eye of charlie in orlando, there was a lot of tree damage similar to what well see here in florida. There were some areas where the wind and trees werent all blowing down in the same direction. When you start to see that and any twisting of the trees and stumps, whats left of the trees standing, thats when you start to think maybe there was some tornadoes within the eye. Only one reported tornado from any of the bands. Sometimes you get these tropical systems and they produce a significant number of tornadoes. This hasnt done that. We had the report there in Central Georgia of an active Tornado Warning but no confirmations on that. The problem right now and it looks like through the night will be following the eye and who is getting the supreme damage. We see these pictures, the daylight. Were also up against the clock here. This is panama city. Also up against the clock. Well get some pictures from the landfall damage but it wont be until tomorrow, tomorrow afternoon that we find out how bad the damage is in interior towns from the tallahassees to the dothan, everywhere in between and communities along i10. A lot of this is signs out in front of hotels like that. They have often a concrete rebar infrastructure but theyre often big targets. Wide, flat surfaces. You see that board right through the windshield of that car. A projectile. This is why the National Weather service tells everybody not to drive, not to sit in their cars. To stay inside. And bill was referencing circular wind. Youll see on the righthand side of that picture, National Weather service is interested in trees that break like that. We just had four tornadoes north of new york city, no more than ten days ago. The National Weather service sent out teams. And they look at how trees break. They look at that. The white part of a tree. The meat of a tree. The bark of a tree toee if it breaks in a Straight Line way or to see if it is twisted on the way down. They look at debris to see if its in a counterclockwise direction. Then and only then do they make the determination aided by imagery on radar. You can see with modern doppler quite clearly when theres rotation aloft. Then and only then do they decide, bill, that it was tornadic activity. And the problem with some areas like panama city beaches, they had strong easterly, northeasterly until they didnt. I guess even a little more difficult. When we look back at the storm, you know, my guess is that were going to say, absolutely horrific the mexico beach area, some other areas we havent talked about pretty bad. But this is a good lesson because weve always said the biggest nightmare scenario would be a rapidly intensifying storm coming toward a major metropolitan area. Imagine if this, instead of imagine this was further toward the west if we were talking about pensacola or biloxi or even new orleans. Really anywhere thats along the gulf coast. Tampa, for example. Charlie rapidly intensified daytime, almost similar to this one. Thats why they always try to tell you to caution i always tell people prepare for one category worse than the forecast. This would have been preparing for two or three categories worse than the forecast. And, remember, with every storm that doesnt measure up to every bit of the warnings, that breeds cry wolf complacency among people. This one, my specific worry was how late it exploded. As you pointed out it was still growing in intensity as it crossed the meridian onto land. And ive said this a couple times. No easy way to say this without, you know, the people that got hit by this that have their houses destroyed. Its horrendous. You look at a population density map of florida, this is the right side of this, the strongest portion of the storm has traveled through the least populated areas. If it was slightly further to the east, could have been a little less. But, you know, we havent seen were going into the storm like the biggest concern is the storm surge. 9 to 14 feet. We havent seen pictures of 9 to 14foot of storm surge and that should have already happened. Its very, very rural, remote areas, swampy areas that people were smart enough to get out of. So we havent seen that video or the damage from those coastal communities and the fishing villages along the northern gulf. Were so thehappy to have bi karins along for the ride as we cover this still intense hurricane over land. A defined eye, maximum winds at 140, though we are awaiting an update on that. 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It has an affordable rate starting at 9. 95 a month. No medical exam, no health questions. Your acceptance is guaranteed, and this plan has a guaranteed lifetime rate lock, so your rate can never go up for any reason. And with this plan, you can pick your payment date, so you can time your premium due date to work with your budget. So call now for free information. And youll also get this free beneficiary planner, and its yours just for calling. So call now. At 4 45 p. M. East coast time, let us set the scene for you. We have a very powerful storm, and what is so rare about it right now is we see effects along the water like these pictures which we aired live in panama city at the height of it. But look at what its doing over land right now. It still has a defined eye, like the systems we see over the open ocean. It is still listed in the category of 140mileanhour winds. This is a hurricane over land that is rated as a category 4. Last night, this grew from 3 to 4, and it made landfall 2 miles an hour shy of a category 5. It was in the tight confines of the gulf of mexico. Ocean water as warm as bathtub water this time of year. If youre a hurricane, its nothing but fuel over the open ocean. This storm, tight and well defined took advantage of that high water temperature. If you have been watching our coverage this afternoon, you heard our last interview with daniel dean of southport, florida. They had to hunker down and ride this storm out. Daniels wife, as we learned earlier, 9 months pregnant. And daniel and his wife are very aware that atmospheric pressure like this has been known to send folks into labor. Especially women who are nine months pregnant. So daniel, tell us what has gone on since we last heard you on the air, and how is everybody doing . Everybody is doing fine, all right. Im driving through the neighborhood of the local area of southport where i live at. There are trees, i mean trees on top of trees on top of trees on top of trees that are just piled up in the roads. Every power line within a threeblock radius is down right now. Power lines crossing the road. Im out driving around checking on some of the neighbors i know stayed. Making sure everybody is all right. Im trying to move a couple of these smaller trees out of the way. Im cutting them and pulling them off to the side of the road so in case at some point somebody does need some kind of medical attention or Something Like that, they can theres a safe route out of here. But right now, it is catastrophic out here in southport, folks. Let me tell you. We have garage doors that have been smashed in. Almost the entire roof of the church next to where i live has been ripped off. Its just theres flooding everywhere. I have never seen anything like this in my entire life in the panhandle region ever. As far as hurricanes or tornadoes or major thunderstorms or anything of that nature. Ive never seen anything this bad in my life. Daniel, were also concerned about your wife. Tell us her name and is this i know youve got Health Care Professionals in the family and close by if you need them, but is this your first rodeo or do you guys have other children . She has other children. We have a child together. She is shes fine. Shes not having contractions. Shes not feeling pressure. I told you guys earlier, the baby is kicking around a lot, though. I think that might have something to do with the barometric pressure in the atmosphere. But shes shes only eight months pregnant. I dont know where nine came into play earlier today. But shes not having contractions. Shes not going into labor. Shes not having pressure as far as like the head trying to push itself out or nothing like that. Shes 100 healthy at this point. The baby seems to be fine because obviously hes kicking around up there. All right. As long as hes happy staying where he is for a time, were happy to correct the record. She is, in fact, 8 months pregnant which, in a hurricane is much better than nine. And you are absolutely right. For some reason, atmospheric pressure has played a role in this kind of thing. For folks who dont know your sown of southport, describe to them where it is in relation to panama city. Its about 30 minutes from panama city if youre headed north on highway 77 or up 231 north, its about 30 minutes the same way. Where i live is approximately 43 minutes from the hathaway bridge thats been closed as of last night if im not mistaken due to the wind. You know what . Were at the mercy of cell towers, and its kind of amazing that we were able to talk to daniel dean for as long as we were. But we thank daniel dean for phoning in. Were having just a heck of a time with communications right now. Our correspondent matt bradley is standing by in tallahassee. Matt, were looking at a map of wind speeds and for tallahassee, gusts of 52 right now, which you must be feeling. Thats right, brian. And that 52mileperhour wind, thats just above the 50mileperhour threshold when Emergency Services and andrew gilliam, the mayor here said Emergency Services will not come and save you over 50mileanhour. Thats because its just too dangerous for them. And, really, were talking about historic winds here. As you can see, in the last five minutes, brian, the rain kind of died down a little bit. Thats why i have my hood bit. Thats why i have my hood off. Were still feeling that powerful wind. Its historically power. This is the First Time Ever the city of tallahassee has put up an extreme wind warning. Its unprecedented here, thats because theyre expecting gusts of 130 Miles Per Hour. You mentioned Andrew Gillum a while ago. He was talking about these trees, lovely oak and palm trees. Theyre like grace with the spanish moss. What makes tallahassee such a nice southern city. But when you get a hurricane, this is what is weaponized against this city have you all these trees falling on cars, buildings, power lines and thats the real risk here, andrew gym up, the mayor, hes up against it here this hurricane is colliding with his own political ambitions. Hes running for the governor of the state as the mayor of tallahassee. Hes trying to do better than what happened last im in i time, two years ago under hurricane hermine, when he said 90 of the electrical grid was impacted by trees falling and the hurricane. The hurricane will be twotothree times more powerful than hearn hermine. So he will try to really get those rescue workers and those power workers, those Municipal Workers out into the streets as fast as possible to correct the situation with the power and bring the lights back on. His political life depends on it. Matt, what you said about the vegetation down there is so true. They are so enormously proud of how green their city is. How old and established the vegetation is. Matt, to your right, we noticed on the wide shot the base of a tree that is absolutely enormous. Can you live your hole life in this country and not have something that large in your town. But theyre all over tallahassee. You mentioned Something Else, the spanish moss. Theres just so much vegetation and that just doubles the risk oof what can come down. Reporter its not just the wind. You know, brian, you are starting to see it pick up just now. There is also the risk of tornadoes. There has been a tornado watch that will be lasting until tomorrow morning. So that spells kind of double trouble for the city of tallahassee. You mentioned this huge tree here. I walked down a little while ago to the end of the street. There is not one but two huge trees like this one that are downed. Were right here in front of the campus of Florida State university. I imagine that throughout the city. There is tons of these massive trees that have gone down, causing massive damage, threatening peoples lives, as i mentioned, turning the lights off when floridians and people of tal t tallahassee really need it. I dont want to think if the more central part of the storm had passed over the capital of tallahassee. Matt bradley, thank you so much. Were updating folks along the bottom of your screen with the very latest on category wind speed. This is still considered a category 4 maximum sustained winds at the core. Still estimated to be 140 Miles Per Hour. A lot of that information comes to us from the Hurricane Hunter aircraft, whose job it is to nigh from eyewall to eyewall all the way through the center of this storm and report their readings back to the ground. We have seen wind gusts to 175 miles an hour. With this storm, we have seen a couple unique things. This is a history maker for the florida panhandle. We dont say this enough throughout our coverage. What makes this extraordinary. They dont see this down there. They dont usually have a storm of this intensity in the panhandle. This storm was still intensifying. The pressure at the core still dropping as it crossed over on to land. Two miles an hour shy from the highest category, a category 5. Its making more than its weight in history as it spins to the north and heres Something Else to consider. We have never seen this organized, this tight ostorm, still together crossing over interstate 10. The main eastwest artery to that entire region. Were looking at communities like macon, georgia, who before the end of the evening could be under a full on torn hurricane warning. Matt bradley mention tornadoes and so did i. Those are so often the spawn of storms like this. Theres reason to believe weve already seen a couple today right alongside the hurricane winds. Because of the embedded thunderstorms. They spin off. One more break, when we come back, our meteorologist bill kierans has joins us. Hell be at the map with the latest readings on this storm. Lets face it everybody hates fees. Now sofi has no fees on personal loans. Thats right no fees on loans to remodel your bathroom. No fees on loans to consolidate your credit card debt. See no fees just feels good. Boo yeah. If youve got the drive, you can do a lot with no fees on personal loans. Boo yeah. With my bladder leakage, the products ive tried just didnt fit right. They were too loose. Its getting in the way of our camping trips. But with a range of sizes, depend fitflex is made for me. With a range of sizes for all body types, depend fitflex underwear is guaranteed to be your best fit. We are back approaching the 5 00 top of the hour here on the east coast and, thankfully, we have the advice, counsel and wisdom of meteorologist bill kierans who is at the board and has just come back from your computer. Have we have a downgrade . Category 3, 125 mile an hour winds. We still have a 125 mile hurricane that is about to travel through southern georgia. Thats the bottom line. We go to show you here. Heres the storm on radar, centered up the state of georgia the rain bands are making it up to atlanta in the maconary. These are worried potentially overnight that could get isolated tornadoes. It hasnt proud many tornadoes, if any, so far. There is that storm, now we will travel it into areas of Central Georgia. So heres the forecast path of the storm. This will take it into the next seven or eight hours. About 2 00 a. M. , it will almost make it as a hurricane, all the way to macon, georgia. That will be about 12 hours halfmaking landfall. Early morning 8 00 a. M. Augusta, columbus. It loses its tropical characteristics. A little storm. We shouldnt see problems with wednesday with that. They expect the rain forecasts have increased. Washington, d. C. , the norfolk the richmond area. There will be a good soaking. There is flood watches through southern new england. With will get a quick drenching of rain yielded from this storm. You notice the communities hit the hardest. We have about an hourandahalf now before it gets dark the last rain bands have exited this region that was hit so hard. So thats one little piece of good news. The other story will be the wind i dont have night. This is our computer model, notice, albany, georgia, winds at 70 miles per