today. authorities first responders and volunteers awaiting opportunity to rescue those in need and we are told there s many who need need. more than 2 million people without power as the damage assessments either are beginning or are about to begin. we ve got team coverage with fox contributor beginning west where hurricane ian is headed. good evening. hickam a trace. since we last spoke, the amount of people without power in orange county is more than double. overy 69,000 without power are in orange county and we are still waiting for the worst of what hurricane ian has to offer with this part of the state and we have seen the devastation in southwest florida. a place that i ve lived. the storms going to hit the orlando area like it is right now, possibly downgraded to a tropical storm but either way it s going to dump a lot of rain on these communities. over 40 inches expected with sustained winds of 75 miles per hour and we see it best right now. i want to show you if
dark. the governor clown ron desantis is set to speak at 8:45 this morning after this chilling assessment of ian s wrath. it s going to rank as one of the top five hurricanes to ever hit the florida peninsula. pete: flash flood warnings are in effect. we re live across the state with a firsthand look at the devastation. senior meteorologist janice dean is standing by. fox team weather starts with robert ray in fort myers right where the hurricane hit. robert? good morning guys. look at the devastation on the streets of fort myers. this was completely under water yesterday evening as the surge came in you could see some of that video will remnants of what was published in and around downtown here. there is just debris everywhere. the window field here yesterday was just tremendous we could barely stand by. this vehicle coming through. it s an active scene here this morning as believe it or not, there is some power that has come back at least in this part of fort myers, s
address to respond at 8:45 this morning. we will bring it to you live when it happens. brian: just like we did yesterday live across the state with a firsthand look at the devastation and all seeing it for the first time because the sun is coming up. seen evermeteorologist is standing by our team fox coverage starts with robert ray live in fort myers. that s where it hit robert, right? did sure did good morning to you from the devastated streets from downtown fort myers. you see this debris field i m walking through with garbage cans, mud, palms that were literally projectiles when these hurricane force winds were coming through here yesterday and into the evening. this guys, if we look at the video was i am not even exaggerating and not to use a cliche a rushing river yesterday evening street after street here full of storm surge water that came up from the bay and the river about three blocks behind me made its way into streets here destroying businesses and now business
is up. we see contrast from before and after pictures. for example, fort myers, where the hurricane first hit last. 2.5 million people are without power. i can tell you specifically for florida power and light, we have just over 1.1 million customers across the state at the moment, that said, we ve been out and about throughout the storm, it s been safe to do so restoring power to our customers and we ve already restored power to 500,000 customers, but majority of lines are still above the ground and that will take time to assess. we ll use drones to figure out where biggest damage is and that will allow us to get power back on as quickly as possible. ainsley: ian is hitting central florida and we expect to hear from governor ron desantis 8:45 and will bring as it happens, meanwhile, live across the state. senior meteorologist janice dean is standing by and brandy campbell is back in orlando and fox weather correspondent robert ray is live. we are learning the sheriff in
torrential rain. hundreds of miles away from where ian first came ashore as a hurricane at this hour they are inundated by water. i m harris faulkner and you are in the faulkner focus. breaking news with new developments now. let s go to orlando. look at these pictures. tropical storm ian hitting that metro and already our reporters are showing us conditions where high water rescues are underway. some 127 so far. returning now to sanibel island. look at the left side of your screen. those were the moments just before hurricane ian hit. look at the right side of your screen. the height of the storm with 155 mile-per-hour winds and a massive storm surge that left sanibel in ruins. the way in and off the island, the sanibel causeway major destruction. this was the only option for vehicle travel between the island and florida s mainland. we ve had coast guard rescues, urban search and rescue teams from the state of florida, the national guard down in southwest florida. people