That Storm Surge could be the worst part of this storm. So we will be on that during this hour. Ill be watching. Thanks alex. Thank you. We are going straight to bill karins. Msnbcs meteorologist. Nbc News Meteorologist for the latest on the situation there. Bill, what can we expect now in florida . This is when all the damage is happening. We cant show you where the worst Storm Surge is. But we know it is moving in. We have had reports of a ten foot Storm Surge in sarasota. As we go down the coast, all the way to naples, its been at least five to six foot Storm Surge. That is higher than helene in most cases so we have new significant damage that is being done tonight. As the storm is moving inland. The winds are still pushing that water against the coast. It is still rushing in. The other thing you will notice, the black line is the center. Just north of the center which has been the past five hours over tampa, torrential rain. We are talking two to three inches per hour. Now that is
I dont think i can stress enough, like, how much help the island needs. And former president Donald Trumps lawyers propose delaying his federal election interference trial for almost two years after the 2024 election. We begin this morning with Breaking News. Hurricane hilary has rapidly intensified from a Tropical Storm into a category 4 hurricane as it barrels toward the southwestern u. S. , bringing winds up to 145 miles an hour. Right now, the hurricane is located 400 miles south of cabo san lucas. The Mexican Government says a weakened hilary could hit sunday night in baja, california, and has issued a hurricane warning. It is expected to hit mexico. 24 Million People across parts of california and nevada, utah and arizona are under flood watches. Hilary could mark the first Tropical Storm to hit Southern California in 84 years. I want to bring in nbc news meteorologist bill karins. Bill, good morning. How severe is this hurricane . Were going to talk about flooding in areas that
hour. the category 4 storm is currently barreling across southwest florida with winds up to 150 miles per hour. more than 1.5 million people in the state are currently without power, and that number is growing. but the most imminent and life-threatening concern is the storm surge. some areas seeing 12 to 18 feet. to give you an idea of just how severe that is, a meteorologist for the national hurricane center says no one alive has seen 12 feet of storm surge in that area, and many areas could take years to recover. just take a look at this surge today. the dangers are a reality for many who chose to hunker down and wait out the storm despite the evacuation orders. take a look at what family told nbc affiliate wbbh as their house flooded. so this is ft. myers beach on cutlass drive. it s four of us. four of us? on cutlass drive. and you re on the second floor already? yeah. six of us in here. do you have do you have a roof? 15 feet of water now. there s 15 fe
problems. maybe mostly in the mountainous areas of southern california. let me zoom in here and show you the cone still includes los angeles, san diego, palm springs. how certain are we of where the storm is going to go? these are computer models, all within the cone and all focused here over los angeles, san diego. we know the storm is heading for southern california. it is not going to head into arizona. that would be a shocking surprise at this point. all of that heavy rain and whatever is left of the wind will be moving through sunday night and then early monday morning. the heavy rain will begin even this afternoon, monsoonal flow and all that moisture heading northwards. the bulk of the heavy rain, associated with the tropical storm and the center of it will be sunday afternoon, sunday evening and southern portions of california and then spreading to nevada as you go throughout monday. as far as the winds go, it does look like the highest will be in the mountains. mostly concerne
likely 120 to 130 miles per hour. so you got extreme wind damage and you had catastrophic, historic storm surge. that s kind of like when we see the pictures tomorrow of, okay, what area was hit the worst, it s cape coral and ft. myers, both low-lying areas where the water went miles inland during the peak of the storm surge this afternoon. the water s still up, but it s on its way down finally. that s kind of the stage we re getting at. and then as far as the winds go, anywhere from port charlotte northwards, it wasn t a surge event because the storm made landfall over you. so you had mostly the tide the wind was blowing the water out to sea. from arcadia to venice, inwood i m not talking about surge. we have to deal with flash flooding concerns. that hasn t developed yet, but that will tonight as the storm tracks up towards orlando. so just in the last hour, this