staged thousands of them, power will go down. the question is will the winds cause structural dang and when these rain bands start to come, in how bad is that surge going to be as it s pushed in from the gulf of mexico. this island, fort myers beach, is evacuated in most parts. there are officials here this morning and as soon as the surge comes in, they are going to have to go. there s no high ground in this on fort myers beach. there is nowhere to put a vehicle. no second or third floor. you will have to go if you want to be safe. otherwise, potentially lose vehicles. and the power will go out at some point here when those winds begin to come in. we are waiting. we are reporting. and we are ready to leave this key as soon as that surge comes in and it will be deadly if one is here in it. guys, back to you. brian: is anybody still around? have you seen any signs that people are sticking this out? last night, there was people, business owners, as a matter of fact i will show you
next several hours and that is even more dangerous. so, we are going to see catastrophic damage of some of these most beautiful beaches alongs west coast of florida. and we ll be talking about the storm for years to come. tornado watch in effect until 5:00 p.m. we will see that extend up toward the northern part of florida and even parts of the southeast. weak tornadoes that could cause structural damage. as i mentioned hurricane warnings stretch from naples all the way up towards tampa and the orlando area. hurricane force winds for duration of hours it will take at least a day for this storm to cross over into the atlantic portion of florida and then up towards the southeast. peak storm surge. these are the really vulnerable areas where we could get 10 to 12-foot storm surge and then high tide this afternoon which is the tide, the high tide plus the storm surge, again, this is some of the most beautiful beaches in florida and we are going to see, unfortunately,
this major metropolis is home to 7 million people. this place has been effectively shut down because of typhoon mangkhut. earlier today, we reported on the conditions and feeling it as well, pounding rain, huge gusts of wind, clocking at speeds anywhere between 60 miles an hour to 130 miles per hour. that also introduces a threat of storm surge, peak storm surge today on the iconic victoria harbor as well as outlying areas in hong kong. hong kong is chinese territory and no stranger to typhoons. every season, every summer we get big storms, but this storm is different because this storm was big. at the peak, it was equivalent to a category 5 hurricane. as you have been reporting, it left a trail of destruction in guam, in the philippines, and sweeping through here in hong kong. the danger is not over yet. hong kong, we have been bratsing for the impact of this storm. meteorologists have said that this is the biggest storm to hit hong kong since they started to
storm. our kristie lu stout is out there. you have been out there for a while getting blown around. are conditions getting better? we just saw some people heading outside. some people took a little swim in the floodwater. that s crazy. reporter: yeah, absolutely. it feels like conditions are starting to improve a little bit as typhoon mangkhut continues to sweep past hong kong. it is continuing to rain, not the pounding we were experiencing earlier in the day. there s a little bit of wind, but not the major gusts of wind we were experiencing firsthand and being confirmed by the hong kong observatory. at one point, winds up to 230 to 240 kilometers clocked here in hong kong, that means the threat of storm surge. victoria harbor as well as peak storm surge reported in outlying and low-lying areas of hong kong. no stranger to typhoons. we experience typhoons every
we ll see storm surge that high. it goes up and over and inundates the land. i want to point out the high tides. one tonight at 11:13. the bigger problem, the peak storm surge will be tomorrow at 11:46. certainly something to keep in mind. i just want to talk about this real quick. again, i know we re focused on the cat 2, cat 3. but with hurricanes the biggest source of death comes from the water, 49%. this is what we re truly worried about. for sure. meteorologist michelle grossman, thank you. let s check on what s going on, on the ground in oak island, north carolina. it s where msnbc s mariana atensio finds herself now. the wind, for sure, seems to be picking up. right? reporter: hallie, yes. we moved a little further west from where we were at with stephanie ruhle. this is ocean crest pier. the waves and wind behind me are starting to pick up.