12 feet higher, devastating communities like for the myers, naples and some 2 million homes and businesses are without power in florida, that is 20% of the entire state and 96% of fort myers is in the dark. one official saying it could take weeks for the power to come back on in some areas. floodwater inundating areas like naples and port charlotte. these are pictures of that area leaving some people who decided to ride out the storm trapped in their homes, others rescued from their cars, berman. the danger also continues, we should note. reporter: it absolutely does continue. the storm not done yet. brianna, i m sorry for communication problems earlier. the fema administrator told me they are prepared for thousands of displaced people, thousands perhaps of long-term displaced people. so that is what people are up against here in florida right now. cnn s got live team coverage of ian still very much a powerful force. first i want to go to the national hurricane center. mike
and they ll have to be rebuilt. unfortunately, there are also homes and businesses that will simply not be able to safely take the power once it s ready. but the 20,000 plus men and women who are already here are staging and getting on the field currently. they will work 24/7 until we get the lights back on. again, as the governor said, not our first rodeo, but every storm is also different and always poses different challenges. but appreciate all the support from the state. governor, thank you. from local law enforcement as well, national guard. this is a team sport and a team effort, and we re going to all work together until we get florida back up on her feet and where we all want her to be. thank you. when fdl and the other companies have crews in, the extent to which that infrastructure has remained is just critical because, you know, it s a lot easier for them to reconnect an existing system than to have to rebuild it. to see that was able to withstand is encouraging.
coast guard deployed 16 rescue helicopters, six fixed wing aircraft and 18 rescue boats and crews. that s just one element of the many federal search and rescue teams staged in florida and the governor talked about how impressed he was with what the coast guard is going this morning. these are dangerous missions and i m grateful for the brave women and men, federal, state and local governments working as one team, risking their lives to save others. and we re going to learn a lot more in the coming hours. but we know many families are hurting, many are hurting today, and our entire country hurts with them, because all over the country we ve seen so many crises, but in florida today is the epicenter. we re continuing to see deadly rainfall, catastrophic storm surges, roads and homes flooded. we re seeing millions of people without power and thousands hunkered down in schools and commune centers. they re wondering what s going to be left when they get to go home, quote, unquote
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
earlier demonstrated just how powerful those winds can be. there is the wind speed, as i am standing next to the building. i will take a knee. oops. i ll have to take a knee there. okay. you guys got it i m going back out. the powerful winds created record level storm surges in areas like fort myers and naples, florida. over 2 million are without power tonight. and flash flooding is still a major concern, with potentially up to 30 inches of rain predicted in some areas. let s go now to nbc news meteorologist michelle grossman for the latest on hurricane in. michelle, hurricane ian has been downgraded to a category one storm. what should residents in its path expect over the next 24 to 48 hours? i, they re great to see you. they can expect flood and rain we. need to prepare for that flash flooding. when it comes to water and hurricanes, that s the number one reason for deaths in hurricanes, it s the salt water, the storm surge that we talked about, and also fre