from the national hurricane center, but first live in tampa, nicole valdez. hey, nicole. ainsley, brian, steve, good morning. florida attorney general saying this is the storm we all have feared. she called the chance of us seeing anywhere from 5 to 15 feet of storm surge, detrimental for the tampa bay area. and unfortunately we are seeing the impacts of hurricane ian across florida. brand-new video from the florida keys, you are already seeing flooding beginning in portions of monroe county. it s part of one of the reasons why we already know hundreds of thousands of people are under mandatory evacuations right now. here is a look at all six counties that those people are living in. really all along florida s gulf coast and we are already hearing reports that the number of counties issuing the mandatory evacuations are expanding. it s why people are boarding up their homes, getting all the resources, going to the grocery stores, packing up their cars, getting ready to driv
john: welcome back as america reports rolls into a second hour for this tuesday. i m john roberts. good to spend another hour with you. aishah: got it right. aishah hasnie in for sandra smith. betsy devos says democrats have simply not learned their lesson since governor youngkin pulled off an upset in virginia. ask her about that. also, the huge price tag on president biden s student loan handout. john: begin with breaking news of the major hurricane taking aim at the sunshine state. by and large, we are looking at really, really major storm surge up and down the west coast of florida. inland flooding, interruptions in things like power, we cannot unring the bell if you stay and you end up getting washed away with the historic storm surge. john: florida governor ron desantis warning folks do not overlook ian as the tampa area braces for a storm not seen in a century. the category 3 hurricane moving north, 115 mile an hour winds after blasting cuba this morning.
hit the worst of ian. will tampa could be ground zero but we begin with chief meteorologist adam klotz weather center in new york with the latest track. good evening, adam. storm continuing to update in the models maybe moving just a little bit. a powerful storm currently a category 3 lifting up into the gulf of mexico, approaching florida and actually some of those outer bands as you said now stretching across all of the florida keys getting up into the sunshine state. that red polygon that is a toned warned storm typically see on the east side of the storm. tornado watch linger and lift its way up to the north see some of these more isolated tornadoes pop up. we have got plenty of advisories now stretching across the entire state and just in the last hour, the hurricane warnings have been updated now stretching all the way up into orlando as this track has slightly shifted maybe just a little bit to the south and little bit to the east. i will show you that here and we ar
good morning, monday september 26th, 9:00 a.m. in london, 4:00 a.m. on the u.s. east coast. where the state of florida is under a state of emergency. officials are warning residents to prepare for the worst as tropical storm ian gained strength in the caribbean and barrels towards the state. the storm is pushing towards western cuba right now but a tropical storm watch is in place for the florida keys. the national hurricane center says ian is close to hurricane strength and could become a major hurricane on tuesday. florida s governor and officials are urging people to get prepared now. expect heavy rains, strong winds, flash flooding, storm surge and even isolated tornadoes. make preparations now. i know a lot of people have been doing it throughout the state of florida and the things that you should be prepared with, food, water, batteries, medicine, fuel. anticipate particularly the closer you are to where the eye of the storm makes landfall, anticipate power outages. t
out of office, including campaigning with democrats. you re live in the cnn newsroom. hello, everyone. thank you for joining us. i m fredricka whitfield. welcome to a new 11:00 a.m. eastern hour here on this sunday of the newsroom. florida under a state of emergency this hour, as tropical storm ian gains strength. ian is expected to become a hurricane today, and may peak as a category 4 storm before weakening and making a direct hit on florida as early as wednesday. we re expecting an update from governor ron desantis minutes from now. our reporter is in the weather center. cnn s priscilla alvarez is traveling with the president in wilmington, delaware, who announced a federal energy for the state. so let s begin with you, alison. you just got an update if the national hurricane center. tell us what you re learning. let s look at the breakdown. the sustained winds are at 50 miles per hour, gusting up to 65. that forward movement has increased, up to 14 miles per hour to t