and it might strike hard there tomorrow. not only is this a life-threatening category 3 hurricane getting stronger, packing winds of 120 miles an hour, it s also getting larger in its size. ian s wind field is expanding, which can potentially expose more of florida to destruction. the storm s exact landfall tomorrow does remain uncertain, but it could be between tampa and ft. myers. now, one of the greatest threats is the storm surge and it could reach up to even 12 feet in some areas, which could bring, as you can imagine, pretty catastrophic flooding. floridians are being urged by officials not to underestimate this storm and nearly 2 million people are already under mandatory evacuation orders all across florida. and more are at least urged to leave. police in tampa are now going door to door warning people they got to get out. 5,000 national guard members are now even activated in florida and another 2,000 guard troops are from other states to help them out. we re about t
have been ordered to evacuate as hurricane ian is bearing down on the states gulf coast. just a moment governor ron desantis will join us. the latest from this category three storm. fox weather meteorologist ian oliver is with us. this looks like it is going to be a direct hit right over it looks like somewhere north of fort myers right towards tampa. ian: still a reasonable scenario here. this is a monster of a storm. still a category three as you mention. 120 miles per hour. we had this inner i wall that has been degrading. what that does is it spreads out of that winfield over at much larger area. we have seen these impacts start already. we need to warnings throughout the afternoon and evening across much of south florida. we got some active ones right now. a lot of spin in these powerful outer bands of the intense. 90 miles out of the west of key west. we reported there a wind gusts up to 71 miles per-hour miles per hour. that is greatly removed from the intent in a. w
n ordered to evacuate as hurricane rita now is bearing down on the state shr gulf coast in just a moment.t. florida governor rhonda santos will join us first herest with the very latest from thisrs category three storm weather. in meteorologist ian oliver is with us in thisoliver. looks like it s going to be a direct hit right over. looks like somewhereoks li nortr fort myers, right towards tampa. yeah, anywhere from naples. igto the southern part of tampa bay, the mouth of tampa bay: stl still a reasonable scenaril o ao here. this is a monster of a storm, still a category three , as your mentioned,ee max, winds at 120we miles per hour. we actually had this inner eye wall that s been degrading, but there s an outer one that s forming. what that does is it spreads out the wind field overh a much larger area. we ve seen these impacts starttw already. tornado warnings throughouarnint the afternoon and evening across much of south florida. we ve got some active onesh flom right
todd: hurricane ian plowing through western cuba yesterday knocking out power to the entire country and devastating the most important tobacco farms in the country used to produce cuba s iconic cigars. you are watching fox and friends first, i m todd piro. carley: i m carley shimkus, our reporters are live across florida this morning, we begin with senior meteorologist, janice dean who is tracking it from our studio. janice: they just upped the winds, that is a strong category four storm, the pressure has dropped by 10 millibars. it is strengthen as it approaches the coast, we r expecting landfall this afternoon. heightened awareness to the storm surge and for hours it will batter the coast and interior sections of florida. rain and wind and storm surge will impact coast of florida and inland will flood two-story homes at the coast. you don t have time, you can hide from the wind, you have to run from the storm surge. wind gusts in excess of 100 mile per hour for dura
this is absolutely nuts. ainsley: that is new video already showing the storm s power as it brings devastating floods down it the key west area. we expect to see more of those, tossing planes around like toys. todd: we have team coverage now. fox weather correspondent nicole valdez. we start with fox weather correspondent robert ray in fort myers. robert? ainsley: trouble obviously with his microphone. we can t hear you, robert. right now, it does look bad. fox weather correspondent nicole valdez continues our coverage, she is in tampa. we are only starting to rapidly see conditions deteriorating here for the tampa bay area as hurricane ian, that now category 4 storm. you just mentioned with winds at 155 miles per hour. it is teetering on a category 5 storm. you heard governor ron desantis there saying our emergency management officials are planning and preparing to see a category 5 storm. that is how seriously they are taking this situation knowing what we could se