Rain but remember how the circulation of a system like this works. we get a couple of breaks and rain wrapping back in. that s going to be a key player, too, and spin ups for tornados. we ll talk about that in a moment. let s focus on the biggest issue which i think is the storm surge. we ve got historic storm surge conditions possible especially around the big bend area. steinhatchee, cedar key. when we re talking about 12 feet that s the first floor of a house. hopefully people heeded those warnings in this region because especially closer to the coast you go, the worse those conditions are going to be. and remember water is destructive. it washes away anything in its path when we re talking about not just a wall of water but it could be accompanied by those very strong winds and large, destructive waves. this is what we re watching right now as far as folks on the west coast of florida. when we look to the east coast including parts of georgia and
Carolina and look at this almost 700 miles. and to traverse in the next several days. wreaking havoc in its wake. could see tremendous amounts of rainfall. but i mention the storm surge. and that s very vulnerable area here. around the big bend. the search is going to be well inland. a lot of folks moves to get away from this. that will be tremendous. this red shaded area. tornado watch goes until 6:00 in the morning. potential for traumatic activity. we re not be surprising. tropical air there. i will see it showing up. here s the category three. well over 100 miles from shore away for. it makes landfall maybe around 8:00. where? somewhere in the big bend area. cedar key, steinhatchee.
gloria pazmino, live in clearwater florida, thank you. let s take a look at the wider area. now we are bringing in meteorologist karen mcinnis who s been tracking this storm for us. karen, what are you seeing. again, it has been hovering on the potential major hurricane status. we are waiting to see how that. goes what is the latest on your aunt? yes, fortunately we are getting updates that the national hurricane center at the top of every are. which is good news. however that is not going to stop this train from rolling on into this big bend area. i want to point out just how large this hurricane system is. all the way coming across tallahassee. all the way down towards southwest florida. this entire zone right here is seeing heavy rainfall. but worse than that, if this storm surge is the big killer. now, we have also got a tornado watch. there is potential for tornadic activity. it would not be surprising to see. we will get another update probably coming up the next 20
Bill, you have been keeping us updated throughout the course of the morning. what are you seeing right now on the ground? reporter: well, phil, we are really watching the rapid rise of the steinhatchee river. give you perspective, those buildings down there, that s the marina, this is a little harbor area here along the river, we were doing our morning live shot standing on the banks of the river down there. it is now completely overcome the road here, and we are watching we have another camera up high that we can show you, a zoom shot of the debris now floating up river, including huge floating marinas. these are on floats and they slip their moorings and we have watched entire docks wash by with sailboats still attached. and the folks who run the place here, we are the river inn motel, they are really or eid about friends much theirs who stayed.
Brewing but it s just not happening right at this moment. so the rain has calmed down and the winds have also calmed down. i ll point out where we are. you can see tampa bay in the background here. that bridge goes over into harbor island which is one of the many areas that do have the mandatory evacuation in place. you ll notice the waves just underneath that bridge there. it almost looks a little bit deceiving because of how much light there is. it s giving you a bit of a visual of some of the waves that are still kind of moving because of their being some wind and right on queue, there we go, there s back to the rain. so this is, again, an area just along the bay right here where that storm surge threat has really been the topic of conversation, the focus of it, i should say, because as close as we are to this area despite the fact we re not along the bay where you are, bob, or along the coast, i should say, this is an area that sees a couple different things. the storm surge very l