spinning toward the west coast of florida this morning. bringing with it life-threatening storm surge, catastrophic winds and flooding. we ll have a live report from tampa in just a moment. and also ahead, a former d.c. metro police officer does not hold back at a sentencing for a capitol rioter. plus, we ll dig into new data that suggests significant covid waves could be coming this fall and winter. good morning. and welcome to way too early on this wednesday, september 28th. i m jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us and we re going to begin in florida where millions of residents are bracing for hurricane ian as the powerful storm barrels towards the state intensifying every hour. the storm is expected to make landfall on the southwest coast of florida, as early as this afternoon. just moments ago, it reached the status of category 4 hurricane. the center of the storm is then forecast to move over the central part of the state, with winds likely re
sounding the alarm along florida s west coast. people are urged to get out of florida s way. tampa s mayor tells residents if you can leave, just leave now. officials say the tampa region could see a storm of a lifetime. more than 15 million people are expected to feel the impact of ewh e ian when it arrives. 115 hour with the winds and could cause life-threatening storm surge, and storm surge is the biggest concern right now. so far ahead of the storm, the hospital in st. petersburg suspended service, transported patients, schooled and universities closed, at least three cruise lines re-routed passengers. the tampa bay airport will suspend operations at 5:00 p.m. today and nasa moved the artemis rocket back to the hangar for trekz. look at this video showing a steady stream of traffic leaving the tampa bay area monday night heading inland to safety. people hunkering down as well, though. the storm perhaps testing their patience. one tampa resident waited three hours to get
millions there on tornado watch. is the west coast that could really feel the brunt getting slammed directly with life threatening storm surge and flooding in a day or so. millions of people in ian s cross hairs and boarding up the homes. people waiting in line for hours for free sand bags. mandatory evacuations were expanded. they re told it s time to leave now. fema s chief urged people to get out of harm s way. our biggest concern as we wait for this storm to make landfall is storm surge and i will note that storm surge is a leading cause of hurricane related fatalities. the decision you choose to make may mean the difference between life and death. overnight the storm made laufld in cuba with rain and winds. it is churning in warm waters of the gulf of mexico. jennifer gray is in the cnn weather center. there is a slight shift in the forecast path to the south. what does this change? basically means that areas just to the south get the bulk of the surge. with this s
plus this hour live near russia s border where russians try to avoid putin s war on ukraine. going there next. the new lawsuit. the challenges president biden s plan to cancel student loan why what it could mean if you thought you would get the loan forgiven. welcome to the lead. hurricane ian barrelling toward florida. it is a category 3 storm meaning ian s winds could reach up to 129 miles per hour. ian is expected to strengthen into a category 4 storm later tonight with winds up to 156 miles per hour. as it churns over the warm waters of the gulf. mandatory evacuations are in effect. airports in tampa and orlando will be shut down. today the governor is warning people should expect to lose power once the storm hits and it could be days or longer before power is restored. parts of cuba lost power today with ian slamming into the western part of that country earlier. already the outer bands of ian are lashing the southern tip of florida in the keys as you can see in th
also tonight, the hurricane is forcing the january select committee to postpone the hearing that was scheduled for tomorrow. this as the panel had some big decisions to make and some new questions to answer. plus, russia is claiming victory after the sham annexation votes. what is vladamir putin s next move as russians protest and thousands plea his military draft? welcome to the situation room. i m pamela brown. let s get to the newest forecast for hurricane ian and the damage it will be doing by this time tomorrow. jennifer, what is the latest on ian s power and path? pamela, we are within that 24-hour window where this storm will make landfall as a category 3, winds of 120 miles per hour, but gusts are up to 150 miles per hour now and moving to the north at 10 miles per hour. this storm is going to run parallel to key west within the next hour or so. you can see very close right there, so they are going to get the worst of the weather. but the worst is to come, b