category 3 hurricane, it has the legs to withstand moving across this region into the carolinas and for the mid-atlantic. certainly is the potential there that that could happen. but the water temperature is much colder on that side compared to what we re seeing in the gulf of mexico. i hope that you are making plans to keep your family safe, your pets safe and seeking higher ground. because this is going to be some pretty widespread damage due to storm surge, the potential for tornadoes, downed trees, downed power lines. so protect yourself. i ll be back at the bottom of the hour with more information then. karen, thank you. national hurricane center is classifying it or using the phrasing that it is expected to rapidly intensify into an extremely dangerous major hurricane before making landfall on wednesday. so we ll watch for some of that expected intensification. florida officials are warning the effects of now hurricane idalia could be
injured after a fire rescue helicopter crashed north of ft. lauderdale, florida. officials say the chopper was on its way to an emergency when it came down. and heavy rains and flash floods ripped through parts of west virginia forcing evacuations and dozens of rescues near charleston monday. forecasters say more rain is expected today. now, we have more next on our breaking news, florida is bracing for a hurricane. hurricane idalia now a category 1 and gaining strength. and plus what russians are saying about wagner boss prigozhin from a memorial at the site of his plane crash. that is next. i brought in ensure max protein with 30 grams of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks! uuuhhhh.h. here, i ll take that! woohoo! ensure max p protein, 30 grams of protein, 1 grgram of sugar. enter the $10,0,000 powered by prorotein max challenge.
united states and around the world. i m omar jimenez. we begin with breaking news. what was tropical storm idalia is now hurricane idalia. the storm expected to get stronger as it turns toward florida. karen maginnis is live in the cnn weather center. what is the latest on the storm s track? we knew it would get stronger and here we see it officially crossing in to hurricane status. it finally got out of the trapped zone of the yucatan strait and is now over more open water. certainly the northern border of it, the edge of this certainly looks a little more like it becomes better organized. once it moves even further away, we ll see probably a rapid inside if i indication because very warm water here, the water temperatures are around 85 degrees. higher closer toward the coast. warmer water persists there and