much of a difference because this is just a major, major hurricane coming this way. over the past couple of days, the forecast track has tracked a little bit to the south of tampa, certainly good news, possibly, for people here in the tampa bay area. the big concern with a storm like this, obviously wind. but many homes in florida, and buildings in florida are built to withstand the wind. what they re worried about is flooding, storm surge, and if tampa had taken a direct hit it could have been catastrophic. they were predicting up to 10 feet of storm surge in this area. there s 120 miles of coastline, if you will, in the tampa bay area, that s why much of the low-lying area here is under mandatory evacuation orders. 2.5 million people under those orders up and down the florida coastline. this storm aiming it seems naples to sarasota.
like the st. john s river on the east coast. storm surge in jacksonville, as it starts to move up the east coast, perhaps, to make a second landfall later on towards this weekend. so, jonathan, it s just getting started. people here are bracing for the worst. nbc s chris pollone, please stay safe and thank you for the update. let s turn to the white house reporter for the associated press our friend darlene superville. darlene, staying on the storm, this is the biggest hurricane hitting the united states since the president took office. what steps is the white house taking now ahead of the storm s impact? so, thanks, jonathan, you heard the president yesterday talk about how the add operation is on alert for hurricane ian. he and both the fema administrator who joined karine jean-pierre at her press briefing yesterday both talked extensively about the number of fema personnel that have been sent to florida.
under evacuation orders. thousands in south florida have already lost power, and we are beginning to see flooding from storm surge in the florida keys. let s go straight to meteorologist michelle grossman for where everything stands right now. michelle? reporter: hey there, mika. unfortunately received a special update from hurricane hunters and saw the storm strengthen further. 155 mile-per-hour winds. geez. 2 miles away from a category 5 storm and hours away from a landfall. the latest with ian, a huge storm. not just in size but in power. again, we expect a landfall right around 2:00, 3:00 this afternoon. it s so close to the west coast of florida. 65 miles west-southwest of naples, florida, moving northeast at 9 miles per hour. starting to slow down. the forward speed as expected will slow down. we expect to do slow down three to four miles an hour. a walking pace.
phone is open but he hasn t spoken to the president. the reason he hasn t spoken to the president is the president was actively engaged in getting fema and help and aid to florida now. yeah. and white house aides say that that door will remain open. the president spoke to local mayors he and the governor connected late last night and they had worked before previously last year. the building collapse, joe, apartment building that collapse. that was it. when the president came down to florida. he and desantis worked well together and the president said over the next few days expect federal briefings and whatever federal help they can direct they will and politics not a part of this and certainly as the storm rears category strong strength and bringing likely catastrophic damage we expect the president will likely visit florida maybe sometime next week to help oversee the rebuilding processes that could pledge federal support for that effort,
outages that will occur not just in southwest florida but in portions, other portions of the state. of course, it s a priority to give those linemen the ability to get in there and restore that, but people should just be prepared. there s going to be damage to infrastructure with a storm of this nature and power and communications and all those things can be affected. do what you need to do to stay safe. if you re where the storm is approaches you re already in hazardous conditions. getting worse quickly. please, hunker down. treat it like a tornado, and make sure that your friends and family know where you are. we re going to have folks that are going to be, be there very quickly once it s safe, but, you know, this is the real deal. so happy to take some questions. all right. governor ron desantis. this is live from tallahassee, florida, where the governor and state emergency officials are letting people know to prepare