disasters, fema is on the front line of what promises to be a tough battle with hurricane florence and will remain on the scene long after florence has come and gone. joining us now by phone, former fema official, thomas. tell us about the challenges and agency like fema has to prepare for in for in a situation like this. it is a pleasure to be with you. fema does have a significant amount of challenges here. number one, the simple size of the storm, potentially out to 400 square miles, is historic. although it has weekend it to a category one, the deadly aspects still exist, potential record rainfall. jon: that is basically going to park on top of the carolinas for a couple of days and just drench that reason region with rainfall. yes, very similar to what
are going to be looking at serious rescues like we saw in harvey, potentially 50 to 100 miles inland. jon: wow. thomas panuzio, let s hope that does not come to pass. all signs point to that situation. jon, it is a pleasure to be here, sir. i hope all of your folks at fox stay safe and they are doing an amazing job. jon: thank you. they are very good at it and experience at this. we will do our best. thank you very much, thomas. florence begins the slow track inland, bringing with her expected historical rainfall and destructive floods. when we return, we will show you why this catastrophic storm will leave giant footprints in her wake. this is still a very, very dangerous storm, not only on the coast, but also in the interior of the state.
say it s not going to be as bad as katrina because katrina was below sea level. the water here, it will go away. it s above sea level. do you share that assessment? i think it s going to be more extensive than katrina. the critical infrastructure that houston relies on as the fourth largest city in the country is more expansive than new orleans. second, when water comes down, i think you re going to see major bridge damage. third, the communications grade and refinery capacity and ports has more expenses. it s going to be a larger disaster than hurricane katrina. thomas panuzio, thank you. center is nearing capacity. as more and more people are forced from their homes,