this is don lemon tonight, you re watching our coverage of in, making its way up the florida peninsula. we have all the news coverage this evening, it is dumping rain on this entire area. lots of water. but also the wind, pushing the wind all across the state of florida. our crews are out in the field, we re covering it all for you. we ve got bill weir, bill is joining us from punta gorda florida, also brian todd is in is in derek van damme is in breaking tin for us. i want to other meteorologist, our expert, mr. tom seders in the weather center. tom, i am getting so much rain, lots of rain that have been dumped on me for the last hour. and it seemed to come in on cue, we re watching the radar, the rain came right in. it s just sitting on top of us, not going anywhere. in fact that northern periphery of the storm system in the last couple of model runs in the last couple of days really has been showing that that northern periphery is where we re gonna have that heavy rain
fort myers beach, and down in naples. that s the area i think that the aerial pictures are gonna tell us more, tomorrow. we could see images look much like mexico beach when michael moved in. i don t think, i mean i don t know i m just guessing right now, i don t know how many homes are gonna be off slabs, probably not a great number like in mexico beach. but it s going to be more about the surge in this area. so, again, michael, when it first made landfall, registered a category four, they changed it much later after the assessment to a category five. i don t know if they re gonna do that within. but it is something to watch. the other event as all of this rain to the north. now, you take the landfall out of the equation, this is an incredible weather event by itself. i mean, it s already in the ground is saturated, for the last two weeks it had doubled the amount of rainfall, many river gauges around many of the rivers have been at flood stage before even even moved in.
president trump and first lady see the devastation left by hurricane michael. they handed out water to victims in the panhandle and met with hard hit farmers in georgia. the president seemingly in awe of michael s power. to see this personally is very tough. very, very tough. total devastation. death toll from hurricane michael now stands at 19 in four states. a body found monday in mexico beach. the number of people missing dropped from more than 30 to just 3. crews finishing the third and final sweep of the area using cadaver dogs. mexico beach residents can return tomorrow, but not stay
stay there. more than 230,000 customers without power in stifling heat. schools still closed in washington, liberty and franklin and bay counties. much of mexico beach was obliterated by hurricane michael, one structure is still standing high above the debris. look at the sand palace. three story four bedroom vacation rental in tact after the storm. the home will need repairs. the new york times reports the palace was built to with stand the big one. the owners of the home will be on new day . that is remarkable. drugmakers may soon have to disclose prices in tv ads. the industry is pushing back. the trump administration announcing a federal rule forcing drugmakers to include the price covered by medicare
final sweep of the area using cadaver dogs. mexico beach residents can return, but cannot stay there. more than 230,000 customers in florida still without power in stifling heat. residents relying on air drops for food and water. schools are still closed. in washington, liberty, jackson, franklin, calhoun and bay counties. much of mexico beach obliterated, one structure is still standing high. check out the sand palace. incredible. a three-story four bedroom on stilts remains mostly in tact. it was built to handle 250-mile-an-hour winds and the owners of the home will be on new day later this morning. it doesn t look real.