hurricane. this storm will only continue to intensify. if you want to leave, now is your last chance. the entire state is going to be touched by this storm. it s going to be in our stream. it s going to be in our canals. it s going to be in our stormwater drains and dishes. i m not scared. i m prepared though. you can already start to see what it is doing to the waters in the gulf just slamming these waves up against the sea wall right here. it is wednesday, september 28th. 4 a.m. here on the u.s. east coast where a monster category 3 hurricane is at this hour churning towards florida and parts of the state are already feeling the effects. now these are images from key west where major flooding is being reported and hurricane force winds and strong storm surge warnings are already out there on the coast. now right now it s all hands on deck. thousands of national guard members as well as urban search and rescue teams are mobilized ahead of the hurricane s expected
this storm will only continue to intensify. if you want to leave, as the governor has said, now is your last chance. we cannot send first responders into harm s way because you decided not to leave. 155 mile per hour winds. that is what hurricane ian is now producing as it bears down on florida s coast. i m john berman live in tampa this morning. brianna keilar is in washington. this is cnn s special live coverage of a storm that is getting more powerful by the minute. the national hurricane center just reported it had a plane flying through the center of this storm measuring sustained winds, sustained of 155 miles per hour. that is just 2 miles per hour short of a category 5 storm and it could still strengthen before it makes impact over the next few hours. expected to make landfall, direct landfall southwest of where i am south of where i am near the fort myers area. the wind speed just one of the major concerns here. the storm surge, which the wind speed only exacerbat
cuban officials consider to be legal protests demanding power has been restored. cuban officials asked for people s patience and saying they hope to restore power. they say the power on the island is complicated. ahead for us here on cnn, jury selection is underway for what is the most significant case in the january 6th. thousands of russians try to flee after vladimir putin s mobilization o orders. a couple of gas pipe lines are leleaking in the baltic sea. they re saying they were deliberately sabotaged. we ll look into that when we come back.
holds, brianna. i know we need data but let s hope this is something to be excited about. thank you for walking us through it. more on our breaking news. nato this morning calling those mysterious leaks in the nordstream pipe lines sabotage. the gas pipe lines, there s two of them, they run from russia to europe. this comes at a tipping point time for vladimir putin s war in ukr ukraine. overnight the ukrainians touting sham voting in organized areas of ukraine. the bogus results showing a majority of people wanting to join russia. this signals a very desperate putin. these actions from president prut continue signal very clearly that he knows he is losing. he s on his back heels and he s making every attempt to intimidate those who would stand up to him.