where dangerous hurricane ian is heading next. classrooms turned into bedrooms. we visit shelters and speak to families riding out the storm together. my main focus was getting them to safety. o donnell: and remembering legendary cbs newsman, bill plante, who covered more than half a century of history. this is the cbs evening news with norah o donnell, reporting tonight from tampa, florida. o donnell: good evening, and thank you for joining us. as we come on the air tonight, the state of florida is being pummeled by hurricane ian. the massive category 4 storm made landfall just hours ago with winds of 150 miles per h hour. ian slammed ashore north of fort myers with dangerous winds and catastrophic storm surge. the storm is moving inland and dumping tremendous amounts of rain along the i-4 corridor. and to get a better understanding of just how big ian is, this is what the storm looks like from space, the powerful hurricane covering almost the entire state of flori
across florida s west coast and for those covering the monster storm. meteorologist jim cantore from our partners at the weather channel learned that firsthand covering the storm this afternoon in punta gorda. reporter: just came flying by. all right, you know, what? i think i m just going to come in here for a second. just give me a second. jim, you all right? i m all right. i m fine. i m fine. i just you can t stand up. all right. o donnell: well, we re happy to report that jim is okay, and we spoke with him earlier from punta gorda. reporter: believe it or not, we are in the dirty eye of ian right now, which is the break between the eastern eyewall that we just took and the western one that you see
thank you, jim. meteorologist alex wilson is also with our partners at the weather channel. she s in orlando and tracking where hurricane ian is headed next. good evening, alex. reporter: good evening, norah. yeah, already seeing the tropical storm conditions here in orlando. hurricane-force gusts possible by mid-morning tomorrow. the storm will move off towards the north and east, tracking across florida, weakening as it does so, but moving slowly and bringing heavy rain, also tornado risks, and strong winds across the peninsula. then by the end of the week and into the weekend, actually moving into parts of the southeast, bringing the same issues. the most widespread threat though out of ian moving forward likey to be the flooding rainfall. here in the central part of florida, we could see well over a foot, easily exceeding, even doubling our average september rainfall. norah, back to you. o donnell: yeah, still many more millions to be affected. alex, thank you.
captioning sponsored by cbs o donnell: tonight, we re here in florida, where hurricane ian made landfall as one of the most powerful storms to hit the u.s. in american history. roofs torn off homes, cars submerged under water, and dangerous winds knock down power lines as an enormous hurricane ian engulfs florida. cbs manuel bojorquez is in hard-hit fort myers. reporter: the area of this hotel is now part of the gulf of mexico. o donnell: catastrophic storm surge, floodwaters could reach as high as 18 feet. the weather channel s jim kantory battles dangerous winds in punta gorda. he joins us. the latest storm track.
dangerous storm system that is currently plowing through the south. at least four tornadoes touched down in alabama killing seven people and injuring several more. jim kantory in the middle of it life for us in tuscaloosa, alabama, with the latest. jim, good morning to you. i was going to ask what it looks like, but the pictures speak for you. good grief. reporter: yeah, if you can imagine all across mississippi and alabama similar scenes like this where we have got power poles pretty much snapped off, obviously these trees and the nature of the destruction, this is pretty big. powerful and, of course, the pine tree, but behind it, pine trees that are standing just fine, luckily for the home you see behind me as well. that s the nature of the beast here. i can put some perspective on this. let s show you some tornadoes. they have been awesome looking, if you will. unfortunately very destructive and deadly over the past couple of days. death toll now climbing to 16. this is merango co