this update just moments ago. hurricane ian is a storm moving closer to floor at that s west coast bringing high winds, extremely heavy rain and life threatening storm surge flooding. already ian hitting key west with major storm surge flooding. more than 2 1/2 million people now under some level of evacuation warnings. officials escalating their urgent appeals to evacuate. if you are in an evacuation zone, your time to evacuate is coming to an end. you need to evacuate now. meteorologist chad myers is in the cnn weather center. chad, what s the latest on the predicted storm track here? it is still forecast to put all of that water into charlotte harbor, christine. this is and has been kind of looked at as a charrincharlie, s is not charlie. this is florida s katrina. charlie could almost fit inside the eye. the wind speeds of charlie were so significant but only in a small place. this storm has wind, surge, flooding, waves and even rainfall inside of florida of almost
zone, particularly in the southwest florida counties, your time to evacuate is coming to an end. you need to evacuate now. a life threatening category 4 storm headed right towards florida. i m john berman live in tampa this morning. brianna keilar is in washington and that is the news from overnight. hurricane ian strength jentd to a category 4 storm with sustained winds of 140 miles per hour. wind gusts of 165 miles per hour. the storm forecast has adjusted somewhat south of where i am in tampa headed right towards the fort myers area in florida about 100 miles south of here, but the threat to florida is enormous. more than 2 1/2 million people under some sort of evacuation order. yes, the wind speed is a serious threat now, a category 4 storm. storm surge where i am in tampa, they could see storm surge of 6 feet which would put the water pretty much right where i m stand going it hit the maximum levels down towards where the storm is expected to make landfall. they could
is not charlie. this is florida s katrina. charlie could almost fit inside the eye. the wind speeds of charlie were so significant but only in a small place. this storm has wind, surge, flooding, waves and even rainfall inside of florida of almost 20 inches over the next 48 hours. so don t be confused. when the people there say zone a, zone b, you have to go, you do. the winds are 25 gusting to around 40 but you must leave because these canal homes that are in cape coral, that are in puntagora, they will be in the six feet of water. you cannot be in that house when it s six feet. you have to be out of that home. it is time to get on the road. i have checked traffic conditions. they don t look too bad at all. no slowdowns. you should do the same thing. you should know whether you re
water. that s how much surge is going to come into this. randi kaye touched on this in punta gorda. we didn t get a surge. no, we were down there. this is a wind storm. this is a wind storm and a surge storm and a flood storm all in one. this is going to spread itself out across the entire state. everybody is going to see something and there is one on the eastern said of the state but the big problem i see, a 12-foot surge. all of those canal homes in cape coral, in punta gorda, there are thousands, they re only three feet above sea level. if this water comes up 12, that means water is up to the gutter. there s no place for you left in the house. you absolutely need to be out of those zone as and in many spots the zone bs as well. that kind of got put into effect