we re going to take you to one of the hardest-hit areas where almost an entire island was decimated. and her rescue during the hurricane made headlines. a nurse desperately trying to get to work was caught in the rising floodwaters. thankfully a nearby reporter was there, saved her and saw her. and that is my guest tonight. good evening, i m erin burnett. out front tonight, ian s fury still remains an extremely dangerous storm making its way through the carolinas tonight. let me show you this powerful video showing a pier in north myrtle beach torn into pieces as the hurricane came ashore. the storm surge ripping through neighborhoods like the ones i m showing you here, leaving even more destruction of homes in its wake. even these homes built up on sticks. so many of them deeply damaged. and parts of charleston s historic downtown also underwater. and tonight there is still concern for life-threatening floods as the storm could dump up to 12 inches of rain as it moves no
of ian s destruction in florida is still being revealed. we re seeing horrifying new images of wiped out communities, as rescue operations continue and the death toll rises. also tonight, vladimir putin vows victory will be ours. that s what he says and throws a red square celebration after annexing one fifth of ukraine. the u.s. and its allies are condemning the land grab as illegal and president biden is warning putin won t get away with what he calls this dangerous escalation of the war. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. this is cnn breaking news. we re following the breaking news right now in south carolina, ian s newest target, after its catastrophic onslaught in florida. cnn correspondents are on the scene in both states, covering this disaster. and our weather center is tracking ian s path right now. first, let s go to cnn s miguel marquez in pauley s island in south carolina
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
customers in florida. and the other major concern at this hour, the tornado watches in effect into the night. airport closures, the ripple effect now, and this hurricane now headed inland. headed straight for orlando before then tracking north. alerts at this hour up across florida, georgia, and now the carolinas. our meteorologists ginger zee and rob marciano both on the ground again tonight with our team across florida. also, the acting deputy director of noaa s national hurricane center right here with us tonight. what concerns him most as we head into the evening hours. the other major news this wednesday night, the u.s. state department now urging americans to leave russia immediately. the american embassy warning russians may force americans with dual citizenship into military service. and the allegations involving potential russian sabotage of the pipeline that would deliver russian natural gas into europe. ian pannell inside ukraine tonight. in this country, the m
swift boats, all ready to move in and begin to go door-to-door when it is clear enough to be able to do so. power outages have slammed half a million. that is the latest number that we have over the course of this hour that we re now in. floridians on the ground as ian barrels towards their homes, their businesses. we have people all across the state with updates about different sections of the state, what it feels like, what s going on there. fox team coverage with all of our great weather team out there spread across the state as well. we begin with katie burn who is in orlando. katie, what can you tell us from where you are? all right. let s go to max gordon first. max is in tampa bay. max, tell us what you re seeing where you are. hi, martha. so we ve been hearing a lot about the storm surge concerns in the fort myers area. but up here where we are on the north end of the storm, we ve seen an erie sight along old tampa bay. we ve seen what is known as reverse storm surg