is almost 10% of the population of florida. that means over 90% of people in florida to have electrical power. the number of people without electrical power is expected to rise as these slow-moving storm cuts across florida with hurricane-force winds. a major concern right now and overnight would be flash flooding caused by the heavy rains. more than two feet of rain is predicted in some areas, officials are warning residents to shelter in place if they have not evacuated. as many cities today are suspending rescue efforts until the storm passes. we begin with nbc news meteorologist bill for the latest. bill, what is the situation now? we are watching a storm that is weakening overland, but we still have areas that are losing power at this hour. we know we have people who need rescuing, need help from us. what happened during the day today, that is the situation as we go throughout these overnight hours. the center of the storm is over sebring, florida. it is about halfway
rainfall totals, a possibility at least of 24 to 30 inches in a few spots. the areas, this is rain addition null to what we already had. this area in modern, that is ten inches plus. that is all the beach areas from pollution county all the way up here to jacksonville and back down i-4 through stanford, florida, orlando, disney theme park, universal. that is the potential for extreme flooding, life-threatening type flooding. here is a water view of the storm. we are seeing improving conditions in south florida, even naples, the water has started to retreat after this record storm surges earlier. about 5 to 6 feet, we also think that the worst storm surge, we haven t had confirmation because the gauges stopped working, in the fort myers area. that s where we think we could ve gotten up to 12 feet of storm surge, that is a lot of water and a lot of homes. also cape coral, very low elevation, they probably had a
what do you see? we are on a boat right now with the brunswick county sheriff s department. it is just devastation flooding that we have not seen here since our conflict. in fact, worse. we are in the river floodplain, on the border of north carolina and south carolina. take a look at the type flooding we are seeing here. that is a home that was evacuated. you can see those two dog statues, it looks like, how high the waters peered over there on your right, you see a little paddleboat. brian king is there. he lives down the block. his family evacuated, but he stayed with his home. it is down the block. did not flood. he just the currents are strong. you look over here to the right, you can see the vehicles over here that are flooded as well if you that just gives you an idea. we are talking about some 17 feet. and this river, it has not even crested yet. as we move here on this boat, he will start to see the level of devastation we are talking