tropical storm force winds. the greatest concern right now is in the gulf coast where a combination of heavy rainfall, massive storm surge and rivers already at flood stage could send up to 12 feet of water into low-lying areas. the january 6th smcommittee canceled tomorrow s hearing because of the storm. jennifer gray is in the weather center. i want to start with a new bulletin. so what have we learned now? we have 120-mile-per-hour winds with gusts of 150. it s still moving to the north-northeast at about 10 miles per hour. basically it s paralleling key west right now. the lower keys have received tropical storm force winds, and conditions are only going to deteriorate across the southern peninsula of florida throughout the overnight tonight. tropical storm force winds will be arriving across south florida within the next couple of hours and throughout the day tomorrow and the early afternoon. or early to mid afternoon. we should be seeing a landfall. so 8:00 tonight, b
and it might strike hard there tomorrow. not only is this a life-threatening category 3 hurricane getting stronger, packing winds of 120 miles an hour, it s also getting larger in its size. ian s wind field is expanding, which can potentially expose more of florida to destruction. the storm s exact landfall tomorrow does remain uncertain, but it could be between tampa and ft. myers. now, one of the greatest threats is the storm surge and it could reach up to even 12 feet in some areas, which could bring, as you can imagine, pretty catastrophic flooding. floridians are being urged by officials not to underestimate this storm and nearly 2 million people are already under mandatory evacuation orders all across florida. and more are at least urged to leave. police in tampa are now going door to door warning people they got to get out. 5,000 national guard members are now even activated in florida and another 2,000 guard troops are from other states to help them out. we re about t
coast of florida. 155-mile-per-hour wind speeds. that s just two miles short of a category 5 hurricane. it s expected to make landfall about 100 miles south of here in the port charlotte area. rain 12 to 24 inches across much of the florida peninsula, challenge create freshwater flooding. the impact of this will be felt by millions in florida. already 200,000 people without power. that s before the storm even makes landfall. this will uproot people s lives. its a life-threatening storm. this is the sunshine skyway bridge that we have pictures of. you can see the winds kicking up. it will have an enormous impact. let s go to chad myers first at the weather center. the 11:00 a.m. advisory out now. what do you see? still see the 155-mile-per-hour eyewall winds. inside the eye it could be down to 5 or 10 in the middle, but we re working our way onshore. the eye is not onshore. the eyewall is coming onshore. this is what it looks like from space, this is called the visible image
and trajectory. it s expected to bring a catastrophic storm surge with winds over 150 miles per hour. the wind speed right now at 155 miles per hour. just shy of a category five storm. the eye of the storm is expected to churn somewhere between 40 meyers and venice, just south of where i am right now. hurricane ian has spawned multiple tornados in southern florida. a wide swath of florida is on alert through 5:00 p.m. today. already, alread more than 100,000 people are without power. more than 2 million people are under evacuation orders. hurricane ian is roiling seas. a big clue for what hurricane ian is capable of, cuban authorities has said the entire island has lost power. urgency and anticipation of the storm has mounted as we expect a very busy hour ahead. we ll hear from tampa s mayor in 30 minutes. we ll be speaking with sarasota officials on their own storm preparations and fema s assistant administrator. 30 minutes ago we heard from president biden. this storm is
dangerous move? and a story you ll see first out front. we re going to introduce you to a group of women learning to fire a gun for the first time. they say they don t feel safe in their cities anymore, and they are not republicans. let s go out front. and good evening, i m erin burnett. out front tonight, bracing, the state of florida, that s the right word for what s happening there tonight, bracing and preparing tonight for a direct hit as hurricane ian picks up speed. the storm is now a category 3. winds are 120 miles an hour. conditions are quickly deteriorating in the florida keys. tropical storm winds and a damaging storm surge are battering the island chain. that is tonight. now let me show you sombrero beach in marathon, florida. there you see the winds already hitting those palm trees. residents are being told to take cover. tornado warnings there have already begun. and this is all as ian is not even there. ian is still growing in strength feeding on those incr