that create toxic smoke. that s why calfire firefighters, the american lung association, and the coalition for clean air support prop 30. naomi: i m voting yes on 30. extreme weather caused by climate change is disrupting school systems nationwide. in lee county, florida, three badly damaged school districts are still closed weeks after hurricane ian tore across the state. lee county was one of the hardest hit areas by the monster storm. as cnn s renee marsh explains, this is just one way the climate crisis is impacting education. my goodness gracious. reporter: melissa wright sees the destruction at her 10-year-old son zain s school for the first time. that s the sign he stands in
significantly, in the past hour or so. hurricane ian is a category two storm, but has dropped to record levels of rain throughout the state of florida. you talk about the damage, towards the south of, here about 90 miles away, where he and first made landfall. the damage is just catastrophic. an incredible amount of flooding, and water, going into those communities, as ian continues its path across the state. hurricane in, slamming florida s gulf coast, with new york category five strength. causing life-threatening flooding. overwhelmingly, it has been a surge that has been the biggest issue, and the flooding. the monster storm, making landfall with 150 miles per hour. i ve been here since the 70s, and this is the worst storm i have ever seen. i m looking at the businesses downtown, and they are all
across florida s west coast and for those covering the monster storm. meteorologist jim cantore from our partners at the weather channel learned that firsthand covering the storm this afternoon in punta gorda. reporter: just came flying by. all right, you know, what? i think i m just going to come in here for a second. just give me a second. jim, you all right? i m all right. i m fine. i m fine. i just you can t stand up. all right. o donnell: well, we re happy to report that jim is okay, and we spoke with him earlier from punta gorda. reporter: believe it or not, we are in the dirty eye of ian right now, which is the break between the eastern eyewall that we just took and the western one that you see
probably we think now it will be existing the peninsula some time on thursday. reporter: just north, san bell island was among the first to feel ian s wrath as it came on shore, causing major flooding. residents here were among the 2.5 million people told to evacuate. some chose to stay. kyle sweet decided to ride out the storm can his family. how high off the ground is the structure? we re 15 feet off the ground, so the bottom floor si believe, 12. but we re going to be safe. reporter: as ian came onshore, it overtook homes and submerged cars. in naples, fallen trees and downed power lines sparked fires and made roads impassable. a citywide curfew was issued for wednesday as the water began rising at this house, one man raced to rescue a cat trapped on an air conditioner. look at michael saving the kitty. reporter: first responders were inundated, too.
storm rumbles across the florida peninsula, conditions are rapidly getting worse as far away as the low-lying city of saint augustine. that s actually on the east coast of the state. and cbs meg oliver is there for us. hi there, meg. reporter: hi, norah. that s right, a mandatory evacuation went into effect at 6:00 a.m. today. hurricane ian is still about 200 miles away from us, but the outer bands are intensifying with wind gusts expected to reach more than 60 miles per hour. that would close bridges, like that one behind me, sphranding folks who decided to stay on those barrier islands. you going to ride it out? so that s plan. reporter:on anastasia island, brad melvin spent the day piling sandbags and securing his home to ride out hurricane ian. why did you decide to stay? so, i. i had to work. i alsowanted to protect my house. reporter: as the monster storm pummels will the west coast, floridians in central and northeast sections are preparing for extreme flooding and