raphael warnock was just obviously a tremendously and profound person. i spent some time with him on the trail in georgia in the last election and you never lost sight of the fact that he was john lewis s pastor irreverent. he is a force of nature. thanks to you at home for joining us. when hurricane ian came ashore last afternoon, we knew it was one of the strongest storm to ever hit florida, or ever hit the united states period. and after a terrifying night in southwest florida, they like brought harrowing evidence of the destruction in storm like that brings. this is fort myers beach, one of the barrier islands that ian slammed into as a nearly category five storm. before the her again, it was a popular beach destination for resorts and restaurants. as you can see, much of it has been leveled. one local resident told local paper quote fort myers beach is gone. this is the causeway leading to sanibel island just west of the fort myers beach. it s the only road to that isl
ashore yesterday afternoon, we were knew it was one of the strongest storms to hit the united states. day tligt day brought harrowing evidence of the destruction a storm like that brings. this is ft. myers beach, one of the barrier u lands that ian slammed into as a category five storm. before the hurricane, it was a popular beach defendant naugs destination. much of it is leveled. one local resident told the local paper, ft. myers beach is gone. this is the causeway leading to sanibel island to the west of for the murz beach. it s the only road to that island. it impassable. all the bridges to pine island also failed. this evening nbc nightly news anchor spoke with the mayor of sanibel for her concern about the people that didn t evacuate before the storm and maybe trapped there. we have significant numbers of people contact us, people they knew that were on the island. we ve been logging those meticulously and getting those out to our first responders. we had about 200
for almost 25 years. saw a lot of storms here. this is by far the worst storm i have ever witnessed. just some of the scenes from florida yesterday. we got a better look at the destruction left behind by hurricane ian. we re tracking the storl again this morning. it is set to make land fall. the united states for a second time. meanwhile, congress is up against a deadline to keep the government running. and to provide critical awed for storm victims. also on the i had, the wife of a supreme court justice makes an alarming statement to the january 6th committee. that s all ahead on way too early. good morning. welcome to way too early on this friday, september 30th. thanks for starting your day with us. will we ll begin with the latest on ian. it has intensified into a hurricane again and is heading towards south carolina. after leaving a trail of absolute destruction in florida. it s expected to make land fall in charleston around noon today as a category one storm.
everywhere. i ve never seen damage like this in my whole life. it s unreal. reporter: boats tossed like toys. the lone bridge connecting the island cracked and crumbled with the storm s winds putting some sections totally under water. we had about 200 households that didn t evacuate on the island that we know of. reporter: anyone still trapped on the isolated island now waiting for rescue by boat or air. we joined the lee county sheriff as he surveyed some of the hardest hit areas to see the full scope of ian s power. you know that as we are speaking right now, there are people that want us and need us and we can t get to them. reporter: people like jack and betty. an elderly couple who hasn t been heard from since the storm hit their continue dope. the worst part is the waiting and the unknown and not knowing that they re okay. reporter: their son scott says his parents were unable to evacuate in time and forced to hunker down on their ground floor. but rescuer
just moments ago, governor ron desantis revealed that all of lee county is out of water. and here in fort myers with the sun now up, you can see the level of wreckage residents are gramming with in the wake of this brutal storm. i m just going to give you a piture of a random sm of the brutality of this storm. here on the marina, there was a couple shops a little b and b getting ready to set up shop above it. the wine bottles that were stored in here are perfect. none of them broke. and yet when you see the intensity of it, talk about randomness, you see the bed. you have the mattress and the box spring. they are not separated. but the building is blown out. is and here is what is just gives you a real clear idea of the ferocity of the storm. the water and the wind. this is a 50-foot yacht. it was docked over here. it ended up on top of that suv. it didn t clear the power lines, but look where it ended pup. and do you see that big ship over there? that one was docked behind u