The storm. in their wallets, as essentially there is now a hurricane tax for living in the state. the risks are so great now that the last insurer is asking for a big rate hike. those are worries for these folks who live in these areas for another day. but i ll tell you, you hear it again and again, i didn t know water could rise that fast, and we are seeing it happen, play out in real time here. phil. all right, bill weir. again, for context, where bill was at the start of this morning versus where he is now. you look at the structures that his photojournalist is showing. this is moving very, very fast, rising very, very quickly in an area that doesn t have lot of history of storms of this scale. we will check back with bill throughout the course of the morning. i want to toss it back over to sara sidner. what are you seeing at this point? reporter: we are getting another one of those gusts.
That region uninhabitable for an extended period of time. several areas of idalia storm surge are expected to be higher than hurricane ian s last year, which you ll recall devastated the fort myers, florida, area and killed 149 people. in addition, hurricane force winds will extend 25 miles outward from wherever the storm makes landfall. the tallahassee national weather service says that the wind will likely cause significant damage, which also could leave the areas hit uninhabitable for several weeks or maybe even multiple months. as idalia tracks inland, officials are also warning of major coastal flooding between savannah, georgia, and charleston, south carolina, due to a high tide, which is already expected to be higher than normal due to the occurrence of a rare blue super moon. we have complete coverage all morning long. and starting us off, joining us
The storm at his home. he told me he lives five miles inland, and he is used to this kind of thing. now, that is the problem with this area and the hurricanes. florida is used to seeing hurricanes, but usually they hit the eastern part and the southern part of the state. now we are preparing to see hurricane idalia hit the big bend to the north at the west side of the state. that is where we are expecting to see the biggest impact. and so, even though people may be used to it, the reality is that this is a very dangerous storm, it is a serious business, it means that you have to take cover, if you have not already evacuated and you have to be prepared. you asked me about the storm surge, that is what we are worried about, here. if that ocean indeed comes anywhere to where we are right now, 4 to 7 feet of water is catastrophic amounts of water.
The big bend of florida. for starters, trey what are you seeing where you are? what are you expecting to see where you are? as of now, we have a lot of rain coming in. seem pretty rough storm coming up. yeah. and where you are in particular we are seeing forecast from the national hurricane center storm surge. up to potentially 16 feet. you have been chasing this storm, have done this for a good bit of time. based on the forecast you ve seen. how is it different in your mind of what you have done before? well, all pretty crazy. we got a pretty good plan in motion.
To flood major roadways like bay shore boulevard. thankfully, those also included in the evacuation orders that have already been issued. we re seeing police and fire crews, even ambulances sort of make the rounds trying to make sure that there are no people still out and about at this time. even though it s been, again, sort of on and off in terms of the worst conditions here, so it s been a very interesting night for tampa bay. still not a time to let your guard down by any means, though. jane: nicole, we still have several hours left to go. we re still waiting for that official shift in the wind as high tide comes in in the next, you know, 30 minutes to an hour, potentially watching the bay of tampa bay really start to increase, you know, with the water. so we ll check back in with you in a couple of minutes, but speaking of the storm surge, you know, we re seeing it already on the beaches there in clearwater, here s a look, you know, at the current readings that we have in the st