hour. the category 4 storm is currently barreling across southwest florida with winds up to 150 miles per hour. more than 1.5 million people in the state are currently without power, and that number is growing. but the most imminent and life-threatening concern is the storm surge. some areas seeing 12 to 18 feet. to give you an idea of just how severe that is, a meteorologist for the national hurricane center says no one alive has seen 12 feet of storm surge in that area, and many areas could take years to recover. just take a look at this surge today. the dangers are a reality for many who chose to hunker down and wait out the storm despite the evacuation orders. take a look at what family told nbc affiliate wbbh as their house flooded. so this is ft. myers beach on cutlass drive. it s four of us. four of us? on cutlass drive. and you re on the second floor already? yeah. six of us in here. do you have do you have a roof? 15 feet of water now. there s 15 fe
like a freight train. we re seeing record-breaking and terrifying storm surges throughout florida and ft. myers, the water is so high pickup trucks are almost completely submerged. water levels have risen more than 6 feet in the last switch ho seven hours. let s get to tom sater in the cnn weather center. an updated forecast should come any minute now. what should we expect? it was just handed to me. forgive me for reading off. we still have a category 4 hurricane and five miles east of punta gorda. it will stay at hurricane strength through orlando. this will rake the entire peninsula. we had grove city a gust of 128. when we talk about the southern kind here, a better picture on radar will give an indication what we re looking at. here is the new track. keeps it as a 4 of course now moving inland but notice it s a category one. it will lose strength now that it s interacting with a land mass. that s typical. however, the winds have expanded now as these storms do. in fa
is only beginning. sandra: for those of us who have lived through hurricanes we know how scary they can be. chief meteorologist is with us tracking the storm and the latest tally on some of the winds that are being reported across that state. what are we seeing, rick? so far, john, i m glad we had the video that popped up from 2017 up in jacksonville, because jacksonville is going to get storm surge again from this storm, which is pretty hard to imagine. this is a look at the winds recorded so far, verified naples, 112 miles an hour, still with kinds of the worst of the wind offshore, it has not made its way there just yet. so we have a long road ahead. all right, every hour now we are getting an update here, so this is the 2:00 p.m. update. no changes in the last three hours, pressure still at 937 millibars, moving north/northeast at nine miles an hour. we are looking at that every hour. often times when you have a storm making landfall it starts to weaken a bit, interac
i m jose diaz-balart. right now, we are tracking the very latest on the deadly storms and tornadoes that slammed into parts of the south killing at least seven people. we ll bring you a live report from alabama. also this morning, we re following the very latest on the controversy surrounding the classified documents found at president biden s former office and delaware home. what the special counsel is looking into, coming up. on capitol hill a growing number of republicans are now call ong one of their own to step down after congressman george santos admitted to fabricating parts of his resume. we ll have congressman robert garcia about that and more. and here in miami, i had the chance to speak with the charity providing migrants with legal advice, food, and shelter. we ll discuss the challenges facing asylum seekers later this hour. we begin with the cleanup and recovery just beginning this morning after a dangerous storm system swept across parts of the unleashing a se
said about how they are preparing in case china attacks. in just two hours, spacex will launch a spacecraft with five astronauts to the international space station. we ll take you live to the kennedy space center and explain the significance of this historic mission. we begin with our top story this morning. this hour president biden and the first lady will head to florida where crews are working around the clock doing door to door searches in neighborhoods hardest hit by hurricane ian seven days after this monster storm battered the gulf coast. and these communities, particularly those outside of major cities, are still suffering. they are saying they have no power, no water, no food and help is not getting to them like it did in the past. this is the scenario many florida residents are dealing with right now. at least 105 people have lost their lives in the wake of this storm. the sheriff says crews are more likely to the recovery phase. heartbreaking development for