many of us go back to the time around hurricane andrew in south florida when everything was just sticks that used to be home. in new orleans, where everything was flooded and then in south mississippi where everything was reduced to rubble or after the hurricanes on the east coast of the united states. in none of those positions were they on an island where everything is wiped out, there s no clean water, there s no food, there s no shelter. it s 90 plus degrees, 100 plus with the humidity. with babies and elderly people that need food and water and medicine. and they have nothing. let s bring in jack parrish, the flight director for the noaa hurricane hunters. it s about the flight into the storm again. i understand you re in a flight briefing now. i guess one of the headlines is the storm isn t as strong. but it s a hell of a lot bigger. yes. that s something that we
throws the open questions the hurricane center is saying if you re thinking about making preparations, do it now. think about how you ll get out. there is a state of emergency in effect already in all 67 counties. florida could feel tropical storm force winds as early as saturday evening. remember, ones that kind of stuff starts, especially at night, very tough to move. tom stater is tracking dorian s every move. we ll go to him live in our weather center. first, let s get into the eye of the hurricane. joining us now, jack parrish joining us from inside the hurricane. how are you guys up there in the storm? is the crew okay? are you okay?
yeah. thanks for asking. we are doing just fine. we re flying 8,000 pete. just for the audience, jack is a meteorologist. he s not flying a plane. they work as a team up here. he ll try to get the information on the storm so he can help people back on land who are trying to figure it out and people flying the plane as well. this is one of the most fascinating aspects of our weather coverage. a few brave men and women who go up there into the storm. how does dorian size up with other storms that you ve seen? reporter: i ve been flying 40 years. this is a real robust cat 1. showing every sign of getting a little stronger. we saw about 81 knots of wind on the left side of the eye.
turbulence. zero g. occasionally flying about the cabin. not that often but styles it happens. then you burst into the center and it is just as calm as standing in the studio. i assure you. that s how flat it is. a magnificent sight. it makes you sick to think that it is heading into the direction of populated areas. right. reporter: and asking people to always pay attention to their emergency management. 100%. we all hope we re wrong. we all hope the estimates, all the guesswork is exaggerated. you have to prepare for the worst. and just to remind people, the kind of men and women who do this work for the rest us, you heard jack casually go past the
tom stater is tracking dorian s every move. we ll go to him live in our weather center. first, let s get into the eye of the hurricane joining us now, jack parrish joining us from inside the hurricane. how are you guys up there in the storm? is the crew okay? are you okay? yeah. thanks for asking. we are doing just fine. we re flying 8,000 pete. just for the audience, jack is a meteorologist. he s not flying a plane. they work as a team up here. he ll try to get the information on the storm so he can help people back on land who are trying to figure it out and