on to check in with derek van dam. is that right? oh, after the break. we re going to check in with derek van dam. and all of our other reporters who are up, and down the west coast of florida, we have people in just about every spot, every 80 miles or so we ll give you a real picture of what is happening in the state of florida on the west coast of florida as hurricane idalia is now a category 3 storm, and will soon make landfall. we ll be right back. but your stomach doesn t. that disagreement ends right now. lactaid ice cream is the creamy, real ice cream you love that will never mess with your stomach. lactaid ice creaeam.
winds of 125-mile-per-hour just shy of a category 4 storm. the storm currently 60 miles from the state s capital of tallahassee, florida. and 90 miles west of cedar key where they have measured sustained tropical storm-force winds and gusts of 47 miles per hour. florida s west coast is already being whipped by the outer bounds of the storm. streets are flooding and already impacting roadways. tornado watches are in effect for 7 million people across western florida and flood watches are in effect for 21 million people across florida, georgia and the carolinas. for more, let s turn now to the public information office lieutenant yarborough. landfall will happen soon. there has been a lot of preparation leading up to this moment. where do the efforts stand, what still needs to be done before
mentioning tallahassee has rarely if ever experienced hurricane force winds, that s coming. and first responders will not be able to get to you if you call for rescue here on in. people will have to ride this out and do not venture out in this stuff. back to you guys. reporter: yeah, that is really good advice, something that cannot be said enough, because the emergency responders can t get stuck in it themselves, and then need to be rescued. they have to be there when the storm passes through. so that they can get to people. but this is why they ask you, they beg you, they tell you for days to evacuate. don t put them in harm don t put yourself and your family and your pets in harm. try to get to higher ground. it s just stuff. i know we love our stuff but we love our lives more. all right, going now to vincent long. he s someone, as are many people, that are involved in officialdom here in florida that has to watch this from the ground so they can activate when
needed. he s the county administrator for leon county. vincent, tell us what s happening in leon county as far as what s happening with the storm physically and what you are telling residents there. well, good morning, thanks for having me. yes, as you ve reported we are beginning to experience the outer bands of idalia as rain and wind are certainly picking up here, and we anticipate tropical storm force as well as hurricane-force winds today. we have been monitoring idalia since it was a tropical depression, and since very early on and indicated it would be heading our way and to, of course, rapidly intensify. she s done all of that and more. we ve taken the past few days to coordinate intensively and extensively with all of our emergency management partners and to advise our citizens and to prepare as good as we can. you may know we are no strangers
decided to stay, even though that s an evacuation zone? that often happens in these hurricanes where people say, you know what, i m not leaving my house, i m going to figure it out from here, what will be, will be, have you seen folks who have stayed around there and in the danger zone? i have seen some people stay. i was in cedar key earlier, in fact there was about 30 residents staying here. here in cross city. i ve seen a few people out, but mainly reporters and first responders. people here in cross city are staying indoors. reporter: there is at least that. there are places you can still evacuate where i am and places where you are where really it is time if you have not evacuated to shelter in place. thank you so much edgar oneal, our storm chaser there who is in the midst of all of this. and chasing the storm. you made it to cedar key as well. that will be hard hit from hurricane idalia. i m now going to toss it back to