the news. thank you so, much good evening everyone, i'm laura coates and this is cnn tonight. our breaking news, a brand-new forecast for hurricane idalia, the storm rapidly intensifying as its lashing florida ahead of what is feared to be a catastrophic landfall on the states west coast in just a matter of hours. potentially deadly storm surge and hurricane conditions expected not only tonight, but also tomorrow. officials say that the surge could be a once in a lifetime event. idalia is now a category two, with maximum winds of 110 miles per hour. it is now forecast to become a powerful category four, before landfall tomorrow morning. we have got to 49 florida counties that are under states of emergency as we speak and as they are waiting to see what the next few hours will bring. we'll be covering everything as only cnn can tonight. we have got to teams out across the entire storm zone, we've got chad myers in the cnn winter center, carlos flores is in tampa, brian todd is in st. mark's florida, and gloria pazmino is in clearwater. i want to get right now to the brand-new forecast with chad myers in the weather center. what is happening? >> just the new banner from the national hurricane center, just saying that this will be 130 mile per hour category four at landfall. so, it is not going to change the surge much. some surges have gone to 10 to 15, now they have pushed them up to 12 to 16. let me show you where they are. there is the eye, it is a dangerous eye. when you see an eye on a hurricane, it is either remaining very, very strong, or gaining strength. because we haven't seen an eye all day, now we know that this is in the gaining strength category. hurricane hunters are flying back and forth through it, but look at that impressive eye right there. it is just gaining more strength, so going from 1:10 to 1:30, just in the next nine hours is really going to be an impressive intensification here as the category four, right there, not that far from all of our reporters that are up there in that big bend area. here is the rainfall on the radar, that actually can be seen from tampa and also from key west. some of these storms on this outer band, they could contain some tornadoes tonight. make sure you have a way to get your warnings tonight. something else here, though, i think. 110 mile per hour winds and even gusts all the way across the florida georgia line and then, finally, a hurricane still for jekyll, new brunswick, jacksonville florida. because the storm is going to be moving so quickly, not losing a lot of strength, those winds will stay with the storm. and so, therefore, the winds will continue to knock trees down, knocked power lines down. this will be a massive cleanup effort when it comes to hundreds of thousands of pine trees that exist up here in the northern part of florida, trying to get them out of the roadways. i suspect probably 100 mile per hour winds all the way to i-10, that would certainly put a kibosh on the travel there until they get the trees out of the way. this will be a real long duration power outage event. and then we're going to take a look at the rainfall coming into georgia, and through the carolinas. so we have to be very careful where you have evacuated to because there will be flash flooding here in those 6 to 10 inch rainfall areas, just to the north along the same line. lots of things going, on a lot of moving parts and i am afraid that a lot of these parts are going to really go badly for the next few hours here into landfall happens somewhere just after sunrise tomorrow. but, up here on the top, up near st. mark, where are brian todd is now we are looking at a very significant, significant landfall when it comes to that storm surge. >> chad myers, 110 mile per hour winds. thank you so much, we will keep everyone on and focused on this. cnn's carlos suarez is in tampa, where the police chief warned residents turn around, don't drown. carlos, are you seeing some signs of a's arrival? >> yeah, there is no doubt that we are seeing the hurricane pasta tampa bay area, just off shore here. we've been at this location since about noon and this is the worst of the weather. it has been raining for the better part of an hour and the wind has picked up. we expect this bad weather to go well into the night and into tomorrow, where really, the concern is for the tampa bay area, really all of hillsboro county is going to be the storm surge associated with this hurricane. the flooding that is going to come out of this as we head into tomorrow. the concern from emergency officials, what chad was just outlining a few minutes ago, at least in this part of florida is that we are going to see this hurricane passed us by. it is going to push all of those water in to the tampa bay and then we are going to see all this rain that's going to fall over the next 6 to 12 hours. then we need to mix into that high tide, king tide, and once those three things happen, that is when they believe that we are going to see some significant flooding out here. we are talking about a storm surge anywhere between 2 to 4, even six feet when all is said and done. for emergency officials have really spent the better part of the day trying to get folks live in these low-lying areas of hillsboro county to go ahead and move inland. they want to go to a hurricane shelter, they want them to get away from these low-lying areas. we know that there are two mandatory evacuation orders that have been in place for the better part of a day. one of the orders is right here in hillsboro county, which again, is home to the tampa bay area. the other is just to the west of me, that is in pinellas county, it is home to st. pete as well as clearwater. we are told that there has been some reports of flooding there, right now, laura, this is the worst of the weather that we have seen, although when you take a look at the radar of, of course it explains why it is happening. we have that hurricane that is off to the west of the tampa bay area having, again, spent the better part of a day out here. we were talking to a number of folks who came out to this location and they told us, look, we don't think it is going to be as bad considering how things are right now, so a lot of folks that we came across told us, look, we are not going to evacuate, we're not going to go inland. it's a message that emergency officials really don't want to hear because the concern going into tonight and then tomorrow is that then we are going to start seeing storm surge and so the last thing that emergency officials want our for folks to be complacent and to be out and about thinking that the worst of the storm has passed by, which by a large will have, but the impact that we are going to see when it comes to the storm surge and all of the flooding, we're not going to see until sometime tomorrow morning into the early afternoon. laura? >> anywhere from 2 to 6 feet of storm surge. carlos suarez, thank you so much. brian todd is here with us in st. mark's florida, where the national weather service is warning that hurricane idalia is an unprecedented event, like no storm ever seen before in that area. brian? >> laura, in just a matter of hours from now this place where i'm standing is not expected to be very safe. we are in st. mark's florida, and local emergency management official told us a short time ago that the entire town of st. mark's is expected to be flooded when the storm is at its peak on wednesday morning. what we can tell you is that we are right by three bodies of water, this is the st. marks river, the walk a little river is just down stream and the apalachee bay is down beyond. you could may be some flashes of lightning over my shoulder as the storm approaches here. because of the apalachee bay has never seen a storm as strong as a category three in recorded history, there is no barometer ville how this area is going to be able to absorb the hit of the storm when it comes ashore. but, again, we are told that between six and nine feet of storm surge was expected to push this water from the st. mark's river, kind of like a snowplow, up into the town of st. mark's. again, as i just said a moment ago, the entire town is expected to be flooded at least to some degree in the coming hours. there is an emergency evacuation order in effect, we were told that sheriff deputies have gone door to door in this town trying to get as many people as they can to leave. and, we are also told that they did get a pretty good response in waukesha county where we are, from residents in the coastal areas. one of the emergency management officials told me that they got a good response as far as the number of people who decided to take the advice and leave. i asked one emergency management official what he would tell people who wanted to stay here. he had a one word answer, he said don't. but, if you do, make sure that you have got at least 3 to 4 days worth of provisions because it might be tough to get to you, you might be isolated because, again, this brian todd, thank you so much. as we are it is forecast to make landfall between four letters jeff buttress it e. he is in paris florida. jeff have been driving through this. big ben area all so far? a lot of people have left this area in a lot of people here not only the nasa hurricane cens hour the main problem will be 15 -- i have not seen the latest storm surge, but i am anticipating a very small narrow area, mainly east of the hurricane tracked from vero perry that backs up. there will be a very small, narrow area with probably a 20 foot storm surge. it was 15, when you go up in categories, this will get you closer to the 20th. it will be a very narrow category at about five miles wide, and a 20 foot storm surge. then, that massive wind is going to be about a 30 mile path going north east, and if you look northeast to perry on a map and you look at it, the tail end some names and towns are going to be in the direct, direct path of extreme damage. that will be delhi park, live oak, mayo, jasper, lake city, and if you continue north east to northwest to jacksonville, st-georges, fargo, highland, and you in the southeast coast, kirkland, north of jacksonville, woodbine. that there is going to have a major damage path, but i can say in the state of florida i have talked to state aoc operations and i can tell you that they have an armada between state eoc, we have got coast guard standing by, helicopters, they have emergency ambulances from a number of states already in the state waiting to respond. we have ten urban search and rescue pre deployed ready to move in as soon as a hurricane passes to go and find people. we have airboats deployed, so we have massive resources in the state of florida that are waiting to rush in here and help clear the roads. there is going to be probably tens if not hundreds of thousands of pine trees, we will have virtually every road in this area, i anticipate and based on my past experience in this area, that when you get winds at this high, you will have trees and all the roads and the paris area south east of tallahassee and all the way back down to cedar key, we have this big forested area here along 98. this whole area will be impassable. there will be -- every putt will be impassable. i can tell you it will be impassable shortly after sunrise. it will make landfall now, i am literally ten miles, where it is going to make landfall. i am in the right side of the dirty side of the, iso winds here in perry unfortunately the bad news i have got for the town of perry, it now looks like they are going to take the brunt of the hurricane with winds one 30 to 1 60 with a massive catastrophic storm surge coming into the paris area. it will probably pass 98 northwest southeast oriented, it will probably pass it in a location along this area. >> the idea, i mean, you said 20 foot storm surge is possible. the idea of 130 plus mile per hour winds in the location that you are. for people who think they know with these storms might be like, does this compare to anything you have been chasing before? >> no. we are going to have to record breaks. a category three -- we have never had a hurricane up in this area, the highest has been cat to. so, category three is uncharted territory. category four we are now talking, so we are breaking to records, the first a cat three hurricane in this area of the big bend, now we are forecasting cat four. so, those are going to be to record-breaking, historic -- we have never had happened since we know of in the mid 1800s, late 1800s. the third category is going to be possibly the highest storm surge ever recorded, in this part of florida. so, we will break the records tonight. we will see what the pressure gets down to, that could be the fourth record we are going to pick tonight. we could break at least four records that have never been broken here in this part of the state with this hurricane. it is going to be the new benchmark bar, joint fort and history we have never seen this. we are in uncharted territory. >> jeff buttress key, think you so much. please stay safe, keep us all informed. our next guest is john hines, i want to go to him right now because he is a local in owner in st. mark's, florida who has decided to stay, in spite of a mandatory evacuation order. john, thank you so much for being with us today. we have video up right now from inside your hotel. can you tell us how you are preparing right now? >> right now, it is just a waiting game. there is not much that we can actually prepare anymore than we already have, excuse, me i'm sorry. you know, the building is 100 years old, concrete walls, and has withstood everything that has come so far. >> is that why you are staying now? you have been through storms before, but you have said that this feels, perhaps, different. are you anxious about what could happen in spite of the structure and the integrity over the hundred years? >> i serve a mighty god, and so i put my faith and my trust in him and i do what i can to prepare, and everything else is up to the lord jesus. >> have other people in the area left? i wonder what it is like in the surrounding community right where you are. if you need help or if any one is there to assist you or you to provide it to them. are there other people around you? >> yes, there are. >> about how many? >> i am not exactly sure, i have not been out very much in the past four hours. we have honestly been working here getting things prepared as much as possible. we have a janitor -- generator. our second floor is 12 feet above ground, so -- in order to get water up where we are it would be catastrophic. more than what they are talking about, even. at least to my knowledge. >> let me ask you, what kind of supplies do you have? you are hearing from some officials who are saying, at least have 2 to 3 or even more days of provisions in case there is help needed and they can't get to one right away. do you have supplies where you are? >> yes, we do. >> what kind? >> i was based in the hills of ohio, and so i have always stocked up 2 to 3 works weeks worth of food. we have paper towels, toilet paper, extra water, a water filtration system. so, we are -- i feel as well prepared as we can before the situation we are in. >> have you had to weather a storm in this area before? i know you have your poured concrete building and don't have the concern about perhaps the integrity of that building, but is this from lessons learned where you had not had the preparation before? is that by now you feel more prepared? >> this is the first storm that we have actually been here. we bought the building in september of 19, and michael had went through a year before put four foot of water in the my lower portion of the building, besides having to restructure dry wall, the building withstood it. that is part of the reason we state, is, i have got to be able to open windows, doors if the water does get high or else it will bust everything out. >> john hines, please stay safe. we will be thinking about you and really concerned, and i hope that everything will be okay for you as well. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> we will be right back, everyone, with so much more on our breaking news, tonight. hurricane idalia already lashing florida. we are fearing it could be a dangerous once in a lifetime event. we will go live to clearwater, florida where cnn correspondents are standing by seeing heavy wind and rain. anging around. so today let's stain,, with behr, the #1 rated stain. and make your deck, yours. behr. exclusively at the home depot. 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(announcer) change your life at golo.com. that's golo.com. are you tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean? downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters keep your laundry smelling fresh waaaay longer than detergent alone. if you want laundry to smell fresh for weeks, make sure you have downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters. our breaking news tonight, hurricane idalia barreling towards florida's west coast with what could be a life-threatening storm surge. cnn's gloria past middle's in clearwater, where big storm conditions are set to happen around midnight, just about 40 minutes from now, with a surge that could reach 4 to 7 feet. gloria, what are the conditions like right now along the coastline? >> well, laura, listen. we have been here all day, and it has gotten worse and worse by the hour. the wind has significantly picked up, and just in the last few minutes, it was raining and sheets. but as you can see now, it is not raining as hard, and that is what we have been seeing in the last hour or so, it just comes in and out. and what we are experiencing is those outer bands of the hurricane as it travels up to the coast. it is expected to continue to gain strength and speed and make landfall on wednesday morning. conditions here are shifting rapidly, literally minute to minute. it is very windy, it has been raining, and this is a mandatory evacuation zone. we are in clearwater beach, which is part of pinellas county. this is one of the counties that told people here to get out. now, i just want to give you a sense of where we are. the ocean is in that direction, about a half mile to the edge of the water. we can't see it now because it is absolutely pitch dark. but, in this direction is the street. inland. that is where people have been heading, in fact, i spoke to a man earlier today who was walking the length of the beach, kind of checking out conditions before things got bad, and he told me that even though there was a mandatory evacuation order here, he was riding out the storm at his home. he told me he lives five miles inland, and he is used to this kind of thing. now, that is the problem with this area and the hurricanes. florida is used to seeing hurricanes, but usually they hit the eastern part and the southern part of the state. now we are preparing to see hurricane idalia hit the big bend to the north at the west side of the state. that is where we are expecting to see the biggest impact. and so, even though people may be used to it, the reality is that this is a very dangerous storm, it is a serious business, it means that you have to take cover, if you have not already evacuated and you have to be prepared. you asked me about the storm surge, that is what we are worried about, here. if that ocean indeed comes anywhere to where we are right now, 4 to 7 feet of water is catastrophic amounts of water. that could cause serious damage to property and lives. there are an awful lot of residential and hotel properties here in this area, so the next several hours are going to be critical as the storm continues to gather strength as it travels along the gulf of mexico, picking up speed. as we know, those waters are extremely warm. that is acting as jet fuel for these storm. it has given its strength as it continues to travel and approach the coast of florida. laura? >> gloria pazmino, as we are watching the wind battering the trees behind you and it really still is hours away from full peak, please stay safe. thank you so much. i want to go down to st. petersburg, florida where the streets are already flooding. we are joined by st. petersburg mayor can welch. thank you so much for being here. mayor, i have to ask you. what are you telling your residents and what are you expecting? because we are learning 4 to 7 feet potentially of storm surge? how concerned are you about what is happening, and frankly, there are people who are refusing to even evacuate. >> well, they are. good evening, laura. you know, gloria had it exactly right. we are about 25 miles south of where she is in clearwater. down here in st. petersburg, florida. and what we have told folks from the initial projections is that we need to run from the water and hide from the wind. and when we have a category four hurricane, now, even if it is 100 miles west of us, we still expect to get that 4 to 6 feet of storm surge. and that will be devastating. what we try to tell folks, and part of the issue in florida as we have so many new people to florida to have not dealt with a hurricane before, is, you know just look at our neighbors down in the st. meyer's fort myers area who almost a year ago had a similar situation where the hurricane was not projected to hit them straight on, but at the last moment it made a turn. they will be recovering there for a decade, at least, and so it is powerful, folks need to respect it, and we have asked folks that are in our evacuations own eight to evacuate and move to higher ground. in our city, you don't have to go 100 miles away, you can go ten miles away and move to safety, and we are urging folks to do that. >> you're right, when you think about the number of people who are now newer residents to florida and might not have ever seen anything like this except for on their televisions. they might not have a realistic expectation of what the power of the storm might be, but you mentioned people going inland. how has your city prepared, mayor, if people are trying to get to those locations. are there shelters? arthur supplies? where are they located? >> so, st. petersburg is one of 24 cities in pinellas county, and working with those cities and in the pinellas county government, we issued evacuation orders about 18 hours ago. that is for folks that are in those low-lying areas. so, we do have shelters all across the county, we have special needs shelters, we have a local transit agency that works with our various fire departments to transport folks to those shelters. so, we have got the facilities that are in high and dry spots, it is now just a matter of folks using that information, using pete knowledge, and when they are asked to evacuate, to go ahead and evacuate. at a certain point, when the sustaining winds get to a certain point, first responders will not be able to go out and try to rescue folks, and we have heard those 9-1-1 calls of folks who stayed and realized they made a life-changing mistake and help could not reach them. and so, we just try to tell folks, to the right thing, to the responsible thing. you might be inconvenience for 24 hours, but it is worth saving your life. >> and gut-wrenching to think about the first responders who cannot get to them. who know, and they're calling has been to do just that. but people might wake up and they make tomorrow realize that the worst may not be over. they might see sunshine, for example, and think, it is safe now, and they can go back home. what do you want people who wake up instinct that to know? >> thank you, that is a great point and we have said because the way this storm is moving, we want to see that storm surge for another 12 hours, until wednesday afternoon around two pm. so, we have said, folks you might see sunshine in the morning, but wait until we get the all clear later in the afternoon, after that storm surge comes through the area, with again, expected for the six feet of storm surge. >> mayor can welch, thank you so much. we will be thinking of you, please stay safe. >> thank you, appreciate it. >> thank you, officials are saying that some areas of florida could see not just five or ten, but 15 feet of storm surge. they are warning that surge is likely not survivable. stay with us. ♪ chevy silverado has what it takes to do it all. with up to 13 camera views. and the z71 off-road package. ♪ you ok? yeah. any truck can help you make a living. this one helps you build a life. chevy silverado. i need it cool at night. you trying to ice me out of the bed? baby, only on game nights. you know you are retired right? am i? ya! the queen sleep number c2 smart bed is now only $999. plus free home delivery when you add a base shop now only at sleep number. well, hurricane idalia is already causing flooding in some coastal towns, as you can see right here in cedar key, florida. officials are warning of a life-threatening storm surge of up to 15 feet in some areas. just how dangerous, tom foreman, will this search b and which areas will be hit the hardest? joining me now is cnn's tom foreman at the magic wall to explain it all. so, tell me about this storm surge. take a step back with me. how does this work? >> storm surges -- always what it is primarily about in hurricanes. people look at the wind, the wind is dramatic, you can get a hurricane that can do damage, but a storm surges where they are saying if you are in a directly hit area could be not survivable in this case. a storm like nothing they have seen since the 1800s, with blocked roams, home destructions, massive power outages. so, how to storm surges work? think about that big swirling storm we talk about all the time. every place that it is contacting the water, it is pushing water in front of it. so, if you are out in deep water, out here it pushes the water in epic circular motion. well, so what? because it's deep enough and just keeps growing down into the water, it does not matter. but when it gets into a more shallow area it runs out of space, and the water that is being pushed on the parts going towards gland could go down anymore, and it starts going and word. and the result is, then you have this surge of water that starts pushing and. the longer and shallower the run up is, and it is very long and very shallow in this area. there is not a big, steep dropoff out here. it is very long and very shallow, the more time it has to compress, gain energy, and come in. that is why we are talking about this storm surge being so bad in this area. >> so, what would this look like in certain areas? how high are we talking about of the storm surge? >> we have adjusted the numbers recently, as you heard chad say earlier on, these are taking up a little bit from what we are showing right here. but look, from 4 to 6 feet down here in st. peter,, sort of that area. 6 to 9 and here, seven. you get appear to cedar key, mitchell creek, areas like that, into the suwannee river, up in their. then, you start talking about things coming up here, it is going to be even higher than that. maybe even higher than 10 to 15 feet. the important thing to remember, though. this area up in here, ecologically very important, very important to the people who lived there, but not that many people living here. many more people living down here, so you may only have six feet of flooding down here. huge, huge, huge, impact. yes, for the small communities hit up here, it could be absolutely catastrophic, but in terms of the volume of houses hit, the volumes of businesses, the number of people affected, look to the population centers, because that is where you are really going to struggle to get the info. getting resources to people who are affected out here? that could be really difficult. >> pretty unbelievable. and, i am looking at this and wondering how it compares to other storms we have already seen. even in recent days. >> you know, i have been covering hurricanes for a long, long, long time. you can do all the protecting you want, in the and the water comes, and the storm comes in, and you find out what really happens. and the case of ike in 2008, what we saw what really happened was 15 to 20 foot surges in texas near galveston, about 25 billion dollars in damage. hurricane denys in 2005, 7 to 9 foot search on the florida panhandle, pushing up towards alabama,. their 2.2 billion dollars in damage. again, think about where it hit, how much building went on there, because some of these storms are very expensive because we have built a lot in front of them, compared two years ago. so, a storm that 50, 60 years ago would not have been that expensive now is terribly expensive. there were plenty, plenty, way too many lives lost in these two hurricanes, running up into the hundreds. but then we come into the monster that came into my old home tone alone of new orleans, and along the gulf coast. don't forget the gulf coast communities, which were hammered by this 25 to 28 foot storm surge and the new orleans area. we had the levees collapse, which many people call the man made disaster of it all, but the result was 75 billion dollars worth of damage, close to 1400 people killed. storms surge is what this is all about. the big heavy winds, they are frightening, and yes i can do damage, they can kill people, they can do a lot of bad things, particularly the tornadoes that spin off. but the big damage, the big loss of businesses, homes, and lives, will come from the storm surge. that is why these people in these communities are saying, you have got to get out now, particularly, again, in the heavily populated areas. because it is so much harder to get out there, even if you try to flee. if everyone tries to flee at the last minute, and now we are past the last-minute, we are at the point where you have to do the best that you can't right now to do what is safe. even if you try to flee then, the roads can become completely clocked, even before the storm gets there. that is why they warn people. your mayor said a little while ago, new arrivals? every single year in new orleans on the gulf coast, they were saying to people, if you are not from here, please listen. you don't know what this thing is like until you have been through some of them. >> and sunshine distance mean that it is over. >> oh no, oh no. >> and honestly, this was the day, right? >> this was the day. >> the day that katrina actually hit your hometown. >> it changed so many things, down there. i always say, don't forget the gulf coast because we're towns up there that, honestly -- the gulf side part of those towns ceased to exist. it was as clear as this board, swept away, everything there. and how they recovered? miraculous and so painful. >> tom foreman, thank you so much for helping us understand all of that. local officials understandably are now bracing for the very worst as idalia is bearing down on florida. i will talk to some on the coast, where the damage could be the most severe, next. introducing the limited edition disney collection from blendjet. nine exciting designs your whole family will adore blendjet 2 is portable, which means you can blend up nutritious smoothies, protein shakes, or frozen treats, just about anywhere! recharge quickly via usb-c. it even cleans itself. order yours now from blendjet.com and bring a little disney into your life. [stomach growling] it's nothing... sounds like something. ♪when you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion♪ ♪upset stomach, diarrhea♪ pepto bismol coats and soothes for fast relief when you need it most. ly is back now at lucky! come kick off the season with our shop and score game that'll have you cheering for more! play for a chance at over 25 million in prizes and money saving offers - like this and this, or even this! or try to win $100,000 in guaranteed prize money. shop your favorite brand sporting the monopoly tag for unlimited game tickets and get ready to win at lucky! back with our breaking news. hurricane idalia already battering florida sweats coast ahead of its expected landfall in just a matter of hours, now. and now, there is a tornado watch in tampa. joining us now is safety chief and public information officer for hillsborough county fire rescue, rob heron. thank you so much for being here today. i mean, hurricane is top of mind, but now there is a tornado watch in effect for tampa and surrounding areas. what is your biggest concern, now at this hour? >> our biggest concern is still that storm surge. as was stated before, you know, we message to our residents to seek shelter, we have opened shelters, we have made that available, and now we are kind of past that point. now we are advising residents to stay home, hunker down, stay off the roads, it is too dangerous to be on the roads, so we are just in a standby right now waiting to see what result of this storm passing by. >> do you have all the resources in place to respond? >> yes, we absolutely do. hillsborough county fire rescue has two specialty units in the area, several teams that are ready to respond and do rapid needs assessments, and other teams that are ready to do technical search and rescue to the areas that may be the hardest hit. >> you know, even when there is a mandatory evacuation, people are going to make their own individual choices, and there will be residents who did not heed the warning at the order to evacuate. what is your message to them, tonight? >> you know, hopefully you are in an area where, you know, we don't get hit as hard as predicted? we are still in a 4 to 7 foot storm surge potential. there is a point where fire rescue and law enforcement can't respond if sustained winds are at a certain level. so, we have to kind of stand by and quickly after those winds subside, sent those teams out. we ramped up our staffing at our fire stations, so we doubled down on the normal amount of people that would be at our 45 fire stations throat hillsborough county. we are ready to respond, hopefully you are safe until we can get to you. >> rob heron, thank you so much for your message tonight, i appreciate it. >> thank you. >> fema is sending hundreds of personnel and to the storm. the former head of fema tells us what he thinks they need to be focused on. we will talk about it after this. business however you see fit. rosie used part of her refund to build an outdoooor patio. clink!k! dr. marshall used part of his refefund to give his prpractice a facelift. emily used part of her refund to buy... i run a wax museum. let innovation refunds help you get started on your erc tax refund. stop waiting. go to innovationrefunds.com you really got the brows. it could be a sign that your digestive system isn't at its best. metamucil gummies make it easy to get the fiber you need. promoting your digestive health for aetter you. metamucil gummies. the easy wayo get your daily fiber. ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ ( ♪ ) woah. ( ♪ ) ( ♪ ) ( ♪ ) ( ♪ ) constant contact delivers the marketing tools your small business needs to keep up, excel, and grow. constant contact. helping the small stand tall. with new scope squeez mouthwash concentrate, just add water. squeez to control the strength of your mouthwash. and find a zone all your own. ♪ ♪ scope squeez. when i first learned about my dupuytren's contracture, my physician referred me to a hand specialist. and i'm glad he did, because when i took the tabletop test, i couldn't lay my hand flat anymore. the first hand specialist i saw only offered surgery. so, i went to a second hand specialist who also offered nonsurgical options — which felt more right for me. so, what i'd say to other people with dupuytren's contracture is this: don't wait — find a hand specialist trained in nonsurgical options, today. i found mine at findahandspecialist.com. we are back with our breaking news coverage of hurricane idalia. it is bearing down on florida's west coast. as floridians are bracing for what might be a once in a lifetime event, the head of fema spoke today about preparations and the efforts and the state. >> we have prepositioned different types of resources across all three states to include several instant management assistant teams, our urban search and rescue teams, our disaster survivor assistant teams, and they are already to pivot to the most impacted areas immediately after the storm passes. we also have warehouses filled with commodities like food, water, blankets and medical supplies that are ready to rapidly move into the impacted area at the states request. >> i want to now bring in former fema administrator greg. craig, thank you for being here tonight. we are watching this storm very, very closely. i'm wondering, what our emergency officials up against with hurricane idalia which is now forecasted to make landfall as a category four. craig? >> well, this was pointed out earlier. these areas along the coast don't have high populations, but they are very hard to get to. usually, you are talking about it to link road coming on the u.s. 27, u.s. 19. you are having to go 20, 30, 40 miles to get through these little committees, and all of that will be covered and debris, flooded. so, for the response it is really about if people haven't evacuated, they are prepared to go in and get to the survivors. but, it is going to be very difficult, and unlike other places this will not be a concentrated population. it will be very spread out. as you saw, basically north of tampa, especially when you get past north of guilford county, there are some good size populations, then it diminishes. search and rescue will be the first part, the second will be, we are going to have a lot of power outages. and this is a part of the state that has not have hurricane-force winds and a long time. >> you know, the idea of the preparation and what it will take to not only prepare for the storm itself but the aftermath, as you describe, particularly enbrel areas where there is not a whole lot of holiday populations and trying to get to a dispersed population. you are actually and gainesville tonight where there is a lot of concern about the possibility of downed trees taking out powerlines, blocking roads, even in these more concentrated areas. so, how does something like that really hampered rescue and recovery, knowing fema must be accustomed to a planning for that. but the landscape of what might be is really, at this time, indeterminate. >> well, you basically -- again, we don't focus on the -- we focus on the forecast of impacts. you have got tornado watches up now along much of the west coast. so, fema's approach is working with the state. governor desantis and his team really focused on what -- florida has a lot of resources. i think the initial rescues, the response, will be led by florida. i think fema, as you saw from administrator chriswell talking about a lot of the immediate me needs in the aftermath of helping the storm survivors get assistance, find places to stay, and do that kind of work. fema did move search and rescue teams and, they are joined up in the states. so, it will be pretty much search and rescue parties, power restoration, damage assessments, and getting people into, gano, assistance as fast as they can. >> craig fugate, think you. we will continue to rely on your expertise in this area. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> everybody, stay with us because there is much more live coverage of hurricane adalja. it is ahead, including the very latest forecast. reports from the ground and local residents who are now choosing to ride out the storm. that is all right after this. with up to 13 camera views. and the z71 off-road package. ♪ you ok? 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