of this hurricane. it could make landfall the next several hours and then work its way up the peninsula slowly, very slowly, bringing hurricane force winds here to tampa, to orlando before it heads out over the atlantic on the other side maybe sometime later tomorrow. obviously millions of people feeling the impact of this, a life threatening storm in some ways a near worst case scenario for some of the people south of here. there was an 8 a.m. update just in from the national hurricane center. i believe we have michael brennan at the national hurricane center to give us a sense of the very latest. sir, if you can hear me, where is ian, where is it going? it s located about 55 miles west of naples, we re expecting catastrophic impacts along the southwest border coast later today. the storm surge could be as high as 16 feet above ground level in the area near port charlotte, from inglewood down to the beach. can you walk me through the timeline from now over the next 24 ho
and trajectory. it s expected to bring a catastrophic storm surge with winds over 150 miles per hour. the wind speed right now at 155 miles per hour. just shy of a category five storm. the eye of the storm is expected to churn somewhere between 40 meyers and venice, just south of where i am right now. hurricane ian has spawned multiple tornados in southern florida. a wide swath of florida is on alert through 5:00 p.m. today. already, alread more than 100,000 people are without power. more than 2 million people are under evacuation orders. hurricane ian is roiling seas. a big clue for what hurricane ian is capable of, cuban authorities has said the entire island has lost power. urgency and anticipation of the storm has mounted as we expect a very busy hour ahead. we ll hear from tampa s mayor in 30 minutes. we ll be speaking with sarasota officials on their own storm preparations and fema s assistant administrator. 30 minutes ago we heard from president biden. this storm is
plus this hour live near russia s border where russians try to avoid putin s war on ukraine. going there next. the new lawsuit. the challenges president biden s plan to cancel student loan why what it could mean if you thought you would get the loan forgiven. welcome to the lead. hurricane ian barrelling toward florida. it is a category 3 storm meaning ian s winds could reach up to 129 miles per hour. ian is expected to strengthen into a category 4 storm later tonight with winds up to 156 miles per hour. as it churns over the warm waters of the gulf. mandatory evacuations are in effect. airports in tampa and orlando will be shut down. today the governor is warning people should expect to lose power once the storm hits and it could be days or longer before power is restored. parts of cuba lost power today with ian slamming into the western part of that country earlier. already the outer bands of ian are lashing the southern tip of florida in the keys as you can see in th
fire. a gunman opening fire inside one of the offices, people running for cover. video surfacing online showing another recruitment center firebombed. and tonight, the new drone video showing the wait. up to 50 hours to cross the border to get out of russia into georgia. will russia now crack down on those border crossings? and vladimir putin s new move tonight involved edward snowden. ian pannell on it all from ukraine. also, from inside russia, the death toll rising after a horrific school shooting there. at least 17 people killed, including 11 children and two teachers. tonight, also the images coming out of iran. authorities cracking down now on protesters across that country. dozens killed. police reportedly firing tear gas and stun grenades into the crowds of protesters showing their support for a 22-year-old woman who died while in the custody of iran s morality police. martha raddatz with late reporting tonight. and iran s new warning for the u.s. and the west. in
thank you for being with us this morning. my pleasure, john. thanks for helping us get the message out. the rain bands passing through but you keep hearing these warnings and the superlatives now, the agreement superlatives as the storm approaches with winds of 155 mimes. miles per hour. hurricane ian barrelling towards florida. st. petersburg one of the many cities in its path. we ll be speaking to the mayor next. plus this as russians are trying to escape the country to avoid vadladimir putin s draft, there is an urgent warning to americans in russia, leave immediately. this is cnn s special live