this storm will only continue to intensify. if you want to leave, as the governor has said, now is your last chance. we cannot send first responders into harm s way because you decided not to leave. 155 mile per hour winds. that is what hurricane ian is now producing as it bears down on florida s coast. i m john berman live in tampa this morning. brianna keilar is in washington. this is cnn s special live coverage of a storm that is getting more powerful by the minute. the national hurricane center just reported it had a plane flying through the center of this storm measuring sustained winds, sustained of 155 miles per hour. that is just 2 miles per hour short of a category 5 storm and it could still strengthen before it makes impact over the next few hours. expected to make landfall, direct landfall southwest of where i am south of where i am near the fort myers area. the wind speed just one of the major concerns here. the storm surge, which the wind speed only exacerbat
could be called catastrophic conditions there. we ve never seen storm surge like the kind that is predicted in this area of florida. they re expecting surges up to 15 feet, the height in the past was four feet. so they re trying to shut it all down right now. that s what you re looking at on the right-hand side. airports closing, schools closing, waterways. ever battening down the hatches ahead of what is termed a 100-year storm. so most people by far have not witnessed anything like this who are living in florida right now, this is the stunning space image for you the space station. gives you a sense of how mammoth this area that is affected is, that is ready to lit florida. max gordon is live in st. petersburg on the ground in one of those areas that is expected to see some of this devastation. i can see just a little wind picking up there now as you get ready for this. hi, max. hey, good afternoon. mandatory evacuations are in place in pinellas county. folks in evaluatio
President biden will be addressing the nation from the oval office in prime time. The most powerful person in the world. Egypts president will allow 20 trucks through the crossing. Its in your own interest to allow this humanitarian aid. He has very little resources right now. I just worry for them. We might be the next people were going to be killed. The u. S. Government now assesses that israel was not responsible for the explosion. These are calm days. You have seen the protests in the region. After 9 11, we sought justice and got justice, but we also made mistakes. We have to make sure we destroy hamas so they cannot ever threaten us again. Phil mattingly with poppy harlow in new york. Erin burnett is in tel aviv, iz ale. Arkalette saenz is at the white house. And sam kiley is in london. This morning President Biden is back in washington and getting ready to give a prime time address to the nation after returning from the war zone in israel. Were expect ing it to make a major push
they are worried about flooding. there will be an army of volunteers staying behind as the airport expects this to come in. check in with the airport ceo as they are there waiting this out. we have a team of storm riders made up of about 120 employees that will ride out the storm. once the storm has passed, our team will conduct a damage assessment of our airfield and terminal facilities and determine whether we can reopen immediately or whether we have issues that we need to address as a result of the hurricane s impact. reporter: more airports closing. atlanta airport closing at 10:30. reporter: pete muntean at ragan national airport. i m here where it s raining
an apartment building where he could not see a target. on friday, the jurors will be taken to breonna s taylor s apartment so they can get a first hand look at where it happened. wolf. thank you very much. i m wolf blitzer in the situation room room. i ll be back in two hours. until then, thanks very much for watching. erin burnett outfront starts right now. outfront next, a state of emergency. airports closing. troops and tanks closing in on the boarder. ukraine s president calling putin. putin refusing to take the call. new sat ellite images show more russian forces deployed to the border. some less than 50 miles from the second largest city in the country. we ll take you to part of