bend region. local officials say this storm is unprecedented and perry is 20 miles inland but still expecting some of the worst wind damage from this storm as it comes ashore. so, again, we still have power at the hotel where we re staying but as you can see we re starting to get hit with rain and really we re expecting winds to pick up in just a short while, willie. so, tell us a little about perry, gabe, if you would. we know as bill said that big bend area is a natural wildlife area as a matter of fact, swampland, the nature coast as they call it. where exactly is perry situated and what have they been doing to brace for what s coming here? yeah, willie, so this is actually just southeast of tallahassee, and as you said, this is not a very populated area of florida. it s wetlands as the storms come ashore so different from other major hurricanes that have come to florida. perry is a population of 7,000
hurricane idalia as it makes landfill here shortly. that s where we find jose diaz-balart. good to see you. what are you seeing on the ground there, and what are the people expecting over the next several hours? reporter: good morning, willie. just about five minutes ago we were getting pelted with one of the feeder bands of this rapidly moving hurricane and now it just kind of died down. now, the water is up. these are one of the canals here in crystal river area. this is an area that, again, and bill was just talking about this, you know, they re used to storms, but what is coming down is something that they hadn t really ever seen and so just to give you an idea of where we are, just south of here and north of here is yankee town and i ve been talking to people all morning. some of the people who are at
record-breaking storm surge of 12 to 16 feet in the landfill zone. florida officials warning the surge could impact areas up to 200 miles south into the tampa area and may leave areas uninhabitable for an extended period of time. several areas expected to be higher even than hurricane ian s last year which devastated the fort myers area and killed 149 people. in addition, hurricane-force winds will extend 25 miles outward from wherever the storm makes landfill. the tallahassee national weather service says wind likely will cause significant damage there too. as idalia tracks inland, officials are warning of major coastal flooding between savannah, georgia, up into charleston, south carolina, due to a tide already expected to be higher than normal due to the occurrence of a rare blue supermoon. let s go right to bill karins for the latest on what is shaping up, bill, to be a very, very serious storm. yeah, good morning, willy.
panhandle meets the peninsula and this area has not seen a storm this strong ever, willie. this is bill karins here. i know a lot of people watching this and see you guys and for the most part about three hours from now, four hours from now it will be like you and your crew going through a tornado. what is your plan once you get to that point where the eye wall is approaching, what are you going to do to get safe? yeah, that s a good point, bill. we always try to be very transparent with viewers. this is a concrete structure, a hotel here in perry. we still have power and you can t see this but off camera there is a concrete wall really here to my left that s kind of blocking some of the winds. we can easily go inside, three floors in the hotel and there s other media here, there s other people that are here as well and so the conditions get too bad, we do plan to head inside. my crew is under a covering right now.
as extreme. anywhere with this red is where it will happen. that s where the nine feet plus and see how far inland it will go. hard to picture a storm surge that could go up to 16 feet. that s atwo stories. you look at your house and where the second story is up towards the roof, that s how high the water could get in some areas. later on this evening we now have hurricane warnings issued for savannah because it s that intense moving that quickly and will maintain that intensity, people waking up from brunswick to savannah to charleston are now looking at this storm more seriously as far as winds are going. willie, all these storms are different. this is not an ian but this has its challenges for those little, small instead of hundreds of thousands in extreme risk we got thousands of people but for those people watching this forecast and knowing what s going to happen to their town, it is still heartbreaking. bill, you mentioned parry, florida. it s about 50 miles southeast of