hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from the united states and all over the world. you re watching cnn newsroom. i m kristie lu stout. it is now 2 am on the u.s. east coast. almost the entire state of florida is bracing for the impact of hurricane ian, a monster storm stretching 700 miles across and getting stronger. causing a nationwide blackout in cuba, ian is turning in the gulf of mexico as a category three hurricane with sustained winds just shy of a category four. and along with life-threatening storm surge, florida is facing catastrophic flooding and powerful winds. now, conditions will deteriorate throughout the night ahead of the expected landfall in the coming hours. more than two and a half million people are under some form of evacuation warning. state authorities say the time to leave is quickly running out. people in southwest florida, this is going to likely make landfall as a category 4 hurricane. there will be catastrophic flooding, and life-threat
options to wait out the storm. i ve never been in a hurricane. this is my first time. my first time at a shelter. but i feel better here than if i would be alone at home. those riding out the storm racing to get sandbags, facing lines for gas. out of water folks, no water. and the familiar scramble to stock up on food and water. then, hurry up and wait. randi kaye, cnn, bucha gorda, florida. now 30,000 power workers are on standby to restore power after hurricane ian moves into florida. the crews come from 23 states are across the u.s.. florida s largest you captivity county, florida power and light, says it has thousands of personnel and equipment ready across the state to respond to outages once it is safe to do so. the house select committee