oh, everybody is still paying a lot of attention to the situation, sam. most of the folks we talk to here along the immediate coast line are absolutely going to heed those evacuation orders and get out. some of the more interior people, you know, they were getting all the supplies, the generators, the fuel. but again, like you said, if this storm sits here for 24 hours, even longer, you ve got the freshwater flooding threat that you could get trapped along with that wind damage threat, the surge threat, all that water from the atlantic is going to go up the rivers and into the inlets. where is it going to go? it s going to spill out on the land. and water that you can t use. so if you re stuck, you don t have potable water. you re just sitting and waiting and putting a ton of stress on the first responders. and we know how that story goes. brett, be safe. i ll be checking in with you. i m going to be down there later tonight. i m sure we ll meet up at some point, okay? thank you, b
situations. kellyanne: we havsituations. kelly: we have to keep ourize on ways east of you. patti ann: we are joined on the phone by the communications director, mike steel. thank you for being with us. we have been running video of from casey stegall from grand isle, louisiana where the flooding looks quite severe. we feel like for the most of part we have been blessed with this event. we continue 24 hour coverage in our state emergency operations center and that will tint next day or so. the governor s office and homeland security serves as coordinating agency for the resources. that surge threat that you have
seen these giant cranes moving with the wind. it s supposed to happen but a bit of a frightening sight as the winds pick up. john berman, stay safe. let s turn now to meteorologist allison chinchar. where is the storm right now and where is it headed? the center of circulation is 20 miles due east of key west. we are starting to see that land fall about to take over the keys, make it back out over open water before it makes landfall over the peninsula. still a very powerful category 4 storm. you can see the heavy bands of rainfall for the few folks and maybe even none but for the few folks left along the keys you are dealing with torrential downpours at this time. not to mention some of your peak winds. we start to move on to the surge threat, taking place along the east side. you re getting that onshore flow, those winds pushing all of that water on to the east coast. the west coast, it s doing the exact opposite.
great. it s a great time to get home. catch up on game of thrones. whatever it s called. if you re in the shelter, just ride it out at this point. where are you going? you know, i think it s important for to us know that. because we just heard a report as we were walking out, i think the mayor heard it, too. people taking down their shutters. don t be the guy that gets killed by the shutters taking them down. these are the things we want to you think about. you ve made preparations, you re in place, it s going to be dangerous. if you re near water, you know the surge threat and all that it poses. let s ride this thing out. you re in a good spot. one last point and obviously i m very concerned about the rest of the state if you have loved ones in the tampa bay region and they re anywhere near the water, they need to look at the map and they need to move. a lot of us know people who left, they left miami-dade, they drove up north and now they drove into the center of what they might be
worst case scenario, storm surge inundation, that s how high the water will get above normally dry ground, could be over 8 feet, that is a lot of water. the storm surge is not just at the coast. the storm surge can extend miles inland. so it doesn t matter that you don t have a beach front home. you could be impacted by the storm surge well inland. you need to be aware of that. in addition, we expect significant damage to structures, battering waves and high tides. so the more vulnerable areas, hilton head island, places like daniel island could all be impacted by the storm surge. routes in and out of barrier islands could be impassable. if you don t evacuate now, you ll likely become stranded. in addition to the surge threat, heavy rainfall is going to be an issue. for coastal areas, as much as 8 to 14 inches of rainfall is