today. authorities first responders and volunteers awaiting opportunity to rescue those in need and we are told there s many who need need. more than 2 million people without power as the damage assessments either are beginning or are about to begin. we ve got team coverage with fox contributor beginning west where hurricane ian is headed. good evening. hickam a trace. since we last spoke, the amount of people without power in orange county is more than double. overy 69,000 without power are in orange county and we are still waiting for the worst of what hurricane ian has to offer with this part of the state and we have seen the devastation in southwest florida. a place that i ve lived. the storms going to hit the orlando area like it is right now, possibly downgraded to a tropical storm but either way it s going to dump a lot of rain on these communities. over 40 inches expected with sustained winds of 75 miles per hour and we see it best right now. i want to show you if
without power now. the winds are extremely high. and the water is rising. you can see forces of trees just clinging to i just don t know what they are they been flying through the streets. it s a center block wall that was the entire width of this area came down. no word on the back and now, and the great eye wall is coming through. we ve had some of the strongest winds here so far. good morning, i m philip mena. good to be with you at this hour, i m frances rivera. it s 3 am in the east, midnight out west. thank you for joining us for a special edition of early today as we track the devastating path of hurricane ian. here s what we know at this hour. the strong wind of even already impacting daytona beach along the western coach, as it slowly moves towards orlando. the storm has been downgraded to a category 1, but it still packing a powerful punch. ian made landfall in south must florida, in the fort myers area, where the storm surge submerged buildings. it
to do. trace. trace: a little bit of good news on the very bad day, madeleine rivera live for us, thank you. a first responders and volunteer rescue teams getting ready for recovery efforts as hurricane ian moves northeast. it important to note many fatalities happen after a natural disaster and here to tell us why that is and what you can do to stay safe, certified board member dr. jeanette mesh e nesheiwat. we talk today earlier, after hurricane irma and the storm itself, seven people died and after the storm, 77 people died. it gives you an idea after the storm there are lots of danger still out there. yeah, that s right. florida actually has a law in place that all hospitals and nursing homes and long-term care facilities have to have a continuously planned protocol
track of who s going to be experiencing the worst flooding. to reiterate, you say until the end of the week to the northeast this storm is going to continue? well, the storm itself, we ll stop calling it a tropical storm by sometime tomorrow and then it will mofr into a regular event storm across the country, but it s still going to have this tropical moisture with it. it s going to be a big heavy rain event. it will not be an issue for other areas. it will be a wet summer. a lot of the rivers are running high. it will be very easy to get flash flooding. bill karins, thanks very much. we ll see you in a little bit. joining us now from gulfport, mississippi, shaq is with us. you talked about potential tornados and flash flooding. how are things looking there now, my friend?
starting to get some of the dangerous outer bands into place. here s a look at the forecast rainfall. it is not out of the question, some of these areas, to pick up in excess of a fotot of rain. further inland, nashville, memphis, louisville, kentucky, likely to get several inches from this storm, even though they are miles from the coast. when they say, allison, that this storm and the 10 to 15 feet it potentially could produce is extremely life-threatening, explain exactly, once again, what that means. because people don t appreciate how dangerous what is about to happen will be. right. again, so you re talking about the water that s coming up. so, again, imagine the base is the bottom of your home. when you re talking about all of that water, because it is being pushed inland by the storm itself, and that matter has nowhere to go so it goes up. that s the thing. when you re talkin ing 10 to 15 feet, it s above the first story