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>> reporter: all right. bill weir. at the top, just to be clear, you said for now, at least, the surge seems to be going the other direction? i know the tide could still come in more. but for now, the worst seems to have passed? >> yes. you can see -- it's a very clear line where the high watermark left its debris there and it has been receding now fairly steadily. about as fast as it came up. at what point it will level off, we don't know. but the wind is still holding this water here. >> reporter: all right. the wind is holding the water there. i'm sorry to hear about the family that owns the marina, it may be gone. although, it is heartening to know that they themselves are okay. bill, every once in awhile we get this really pounding rain. what are you getting in terms of rain there? >> reporter: we're getting these bands now. we saw the 80, 90-mile-per-hour gusts for a few minutes a few hours ago. now it's probably in the 30-miles-per-hour range. still dangerous. we're taking shelter behind one of these grand trees that are here. but we've seen plenty of this corrugated steel sheeting, tin roofs blowing around, peeling off here. but, again, just to sort of level what the locals were telling us, last night we went out on a short boat cruise in the calm before the storm with a local captain here who said he was worried that the surge would reach the roof line of the dockside grill right there. it came up a few feet inside, but nowhere near their worst fears. that gives you some perspective that probably could have been a lot worse in this area. as far as what's happening further up, keaton beach, all of that, we don't know yet. it's too soon to tell. >> that's right. we don't have eyes on some of these other areas where the storm surge could be worse. thank you so much for that perspective. please stay safe and please keep us posted over the next several hours as well. bill describing what he's seeing in steinhatchee there, a town of 500 to 1,000 people depending on the time of the year. what they're going through which is quite bad and still developing right now, let's go now down to tampa. obviously, one of the major metropolitan centers of the state of florida where while the storm did not make a direct hit there, not at all the storm surge there has been a serious issue. derek van dam is there. what are you seeing? >> the wind continues to push up the water from tampa bay as well, john. we are getting now these intermittent tropical feeder bands and what was completely visible across tampa bay has now been obscured by heavy sheets of rain coming in. it's raining at quite a clip. probably a good half an inch to an inch per hour. this will cause localized inland flooding. this is all working together to create the very difficult storm surge conditions that you see unfolding behind us on bay shore boulevard. this area floods during rainy days. it happens. but this is in conjunction with the surge of water that has been pushed up with this major hurricane. the inland flooding meeting it at the same time. and then also the exaggerated tides from the supermoon and the full moon that's happening as we speak. we just went through the low tide cycle. that was at 7:56 this morning. we're working our way back up into high tide. so the concern here is that the surge that already broke record levels -- one of those gusts that come through. we're concerned that the surge later this afternoon, roughly 2:00 p.m., are going to be exacerbated by all of these kind of -- a company of issues here, the supermoon, the storm surge, the push of the water from the storm and that's going to work together to create even further storm surge flooding concerns here along the tampa bay region. tampa can't see it, but it is over my right shoulder. we've been here all day and the bay has just been angry. the water pushing up, creating waves, sometimes towering over two, three stories sometimes. as these bands come in, they're stinging our face here. there have been spectators from these houses that have come to see the scene unfolding and, you know, this is different for them because they know that this road can flood. but with this amount of water lapping up to the property lines, they know that their homes are at risk as well. john, so much going on here. i'm going to send it back to you. >> yeah, derek, if i can hang on to you for a second longer. people are driving and they shouldn't be in this town. the rain is coming down really hard and i can tell it's coming down hard where you are now. but if i can ask you, lean onto your expertise for just a second for the storm surge, we were speaking to bill weir a moment ago in steinhatchee who said at least there it seems like the surge for now may have crested. they're seeing it back off a little bit and they're seeing a debris line there. talk to us about how this could work over the next several hours up and down the big bend area, even where you are. could you see the surge recede some and then come back in again? >> reporter: okay, that's a great question. and what we got to do, we got to visualize how a hurricane rotates. counter clockwise, okay? and so i am on the eastern side of where that center of where idalia made landfall, where bill weir is located, i haven't checked a map, but i believe he would be on the backside of the storm. so the wind direction will be completely opposite to what we're receiving here. and that's important. let's compare it to ian from september of last year. there is a major difference to what happened in tampa bay that had the water sucked out because of the direction the wind was pushing offshore here in tampa versus the onshore component that brought the surge to fort myers beach. the same thing is happening here. we happen to be in the onshore component of this storm and that is why we continue to see this push, this surge of water that is coming directly off the gulf of mexico. john? >> yeah, it's a really good explanation, derek. if you can -- i can't see you. so i don't know if you're just getting poured on or blown around now or what. if you need to go, let me know -- >> all of the above. >> this is such important information that we're both going to get wet for the time being. in terms of the tides, you were talking about the supermoon and the tide rising. how does tide work with storm surge? storm surge is independent of high tide, but the tides can make it worse? >> yeah, this is incredible to think the unfortunate coincidence of this timing, right? we have the high tide in tampa bay occurring 2:00 p.m. this afternoon. we also have this supermoon. let me explain what that is. supermoon is actually -- when the full moon is at its closest approach to earth. it's roughly about 18,000 miles closer than it normally would be on its elliptical path around the planet. what that does is it exaggerates the tug, the pull on the ocean and it exaggerates the low tides, but it also exaggerates the high tides. and now that we have what is a hurricane that has pushed up all of this water in combination with this high tide, and the supermoon, we have the potential here for more surge in the locations during that on shore component like i was explaining to you a moment ago. >> again, the dangers could persist for several more hours. thank you for hanging on with us for as long as you did to give us that terrific explanation about what you were seeing and what thousands of people are seeing all the way up the gulf coast around the big bend. the storm surge is what we're post concerned about now, even as hurricane idalia moves inland towards georgia still as a hurricane, still delivering hurricane-force winds, tearing down trees, dumping several inches of water, including perhaps here in tallahassee. let's go back to my friend sara sidner who is in crystal river who i understand is also seeing some of that storm surge, sara. >> we're not getting the rain that you are, we're getting the surge in a major way. we started our morning all the way down here where you see those palm trees, perhaps. i think you can see those. that is where we started this morning. and it was completely dry. now we are more than -- a football field and a half away. we use football fields here in florida a lot. everybody knows how big those are. from where the water starts, normally. now in the past two hours, we have seen the water rise very quickly. i'm going to take you a little walk around here to show you where we are. we're at the best western. the best western, if you take a quick picture of that -- honestly, it could. because right now -- right now -- i think we lost -- coming back. i'm coming back. technologically speaking there are some things we can do and some things we can't. but right now this storm surge is really, really serious. i see fish all over the place. all of the animals, sometimes you could see some of the sting rays and things that are in the water coming up because basically the water is just rising like this and being pushed in by the wind. we are starting to see a little bit of wind come here, but it seems very calm. people will think, let's go out and check it out. don't do it. u.s. 19, you see the vehicles flashing, those are police. they have shut down the road. if you look just past it, it's inupdated by water. that big, huge garbage can there was being pushed around with the water. the water lifts up and that is exactly where it is placed. that is literally in the middle of a highway here in florida. this is why they tell people, look, it may seem like things have calmed down because the winds have. but the storm surge is nowhere near at its height. the storm surge will be at its height here in crystal river at 4:30 in the afternoon eastern standard time which means we have several hours to go before we see this rising. by the way, it has risen at least five feet, at least from where we were which is right where the water's edge was. it was completely dry several years ago. now it is inupdated with water. these aren't tropical storm-force winds at this point. it feels like a regular storm during a florida summer afternoon. but this is definitely from the effects of hurricane idalia. let me now go to brian todd who is joining us now from another part of the west coast of florida. brian, tell me where you are and tell me what is happening where you are at this hour? >> reporter: we're in tallahassee, the same city that john berman is in, but we're in a different location, pretty far away from him in the city. and we can tell you, we are getting pounded with the volume of water, volume of rain that we had not seen yet. the wind is not as much of a factor right now, but we do expect that to be a factor between those two elements, you're going to see some real danger on the streets here. we had debris flying around. a lot of branches, we're getting an intense pelt of rain right now. under the spanish moss here, this is a real danger. this was a hurricane a few years ago that we covered in tallahassee. threes like this one, it looks sturdy, but the ground beneath it is saturated. these are the kind of trees that can come crashing down. another danger over here as awalk towards the street. we're going to show you the power line and is the proximity to these trees. this is what officials are worried about. a lot of power lines near the oak trees are vulnerable to coming down. i just spoke to an official here telling me that this is the time you've still got the shelter in place. do not be deceived by the reports that this hurricane is moving away from us. because look at the intensity with which we are getting hit here. you can see, plenty of cars on the road, people still navigating these roads. not a great idea. because local officials are telling us, you have got to let the first responders, the power crews and the other crews that are trying to get to these streets and clear them of trees, you've got to let them move around and let them navigate, give you the space. don't do what these folks are doing and come out on the road. also, i can tell you, i've been in touch with an emergency management official in neighbor neighboring county, very, very vulnerable to storm surge and flooding. he said so far, they have not had any reports of extreme flooding, but he says with a caveat they have not ventured out yet to survey the damage and, of course, right now you can't do that. we're still getting hit with these intense pelts of rain and wind. the town of saint marks, we're going to be monitoring that because that town is very, very vulnerable to storm surge. this is the way it looks in tallahassee. now, there was a sign behind me, one of those little banner signs, those advertisements on a small pole. it was getting whipped around. it's been uprooted and things like that, that's a spear flying around. you got to watch for debris flying off the trees and off the buildings. that is a real danger still in tallahassee. i'm going to toss it back to my colleague boris sanchez now. >> a lot of danger, a lot of opportunities for danger out there where brian todd is. thank you for the reporting. >> the director of emergency management in hernando county. we spoke yesterday and you were putting out a warning about how powerful this storm could be and how serious it could be especially for areas along the coast. what are you monitoring now? what is the area of most concern for you? >> good morning, and thank you for having me. our area of most concern is the west coast of the county. the areas and communities from hernando beach, pine island. we're experiencing major flooding already. we have 6 to 9-foot storm surge that is still expected to come even though the hurricane has made landfall. we're getting that collateral damage now. the water is rising. we've already had to do swift water rescue. we've experienced fires in that area. the electric companies have shut down the power for emergency protective measures to save life, preservation, because that is paramount, but the worst is yet to come. high tide is 1:20 this afternoon. it's going to last a few hours longer, so we're still -- we're still preparing and helping people -- again, the message is, do not go out there, we have restricted access, we have coordinated efforts with our sheriff's office not to allow anybody but emergency services personnel in there. the residents will not be allowed to go in there, because the worst is still yet to come. >> and director, when we spoke with you yesterday, you urged people to listen to the evacuation orders. from what you can tell, have people heeded those warnings. what can you tell us about that? >> some people have. and i'm very thankful, our shelters, we still have capacity at our shelters. our messaging is, a shelter is a choice of last resort. it is a lifeboat, not a love boat. i'm sure people who do evacuate have found other safe refuge with family and friends. however, we still have people that have stayed in that area. they're calling 911 for rescue. we are working in coordinated effort with fire, rescue, the sheriff's office, but we all have -- also have air assets that are coming in from the national guard. we have the coast guard close by down in st. pete's. but we're prepared when the weather is -- allows us to go in there and make those rescues, we will do so. but still the worst is still to come for the county. >> director, have you been able to assess the extent of the damage so far? do you have any indication as to what specifically has been affected by the storm surge, for example. >> all the roads are saturated. it's flooded. you can't get back in there. you'll need an airboat to get back in there right now. there is water in houses. we have people in houses. we've spoke to those individuals that are in that area. just we told them to hang tight. we've already had a house catch on fire and there's nothing we can do for it right now. it's going to burn until it reaches the water level. again, our high tide is not until 1:20. >> and director, as you say the wo worst is yet to come. any sort of way you can quantify how soon before emergency responders can get out there or is it too soon to say? >> i think it's too soon to stay. we are keeping in contact with the national weather service in tampa. they've been great partners. but, again, our high tide isn't forecasted until 1:20 and that's going to extend normal. because we're in the king tide cycle. we're looking at maybe, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 this afternoon into the early evening before we're able to get in there and actually assess. so the water is going to be there for a period of time. and we'll have our shelters open,for those who need to seek refuge and we'll work with all of your community partners to make sure everybody is safe. >> david, the director of emergency management for hernando county, keep us posted on what you hear. if there's a message you need to get out to your community, we are here. thank you so much. >> appreciate it. be safe. >> you too. in the meantime, we continue to monitor hurricane idalia as it rips across florida and into georgia bringing devastating storm surge and powerful destructive winds. our breaking news coverage continues after this break. thank you. when you walk up to the counter at the pharmacy and you have a new prescription, you don't know what it's gonna cost. that's why i always recommend you check the singlecare app before youo to the counter. that'before i pick up mymmend prescription at the pharmacyp i always check singlecare. it only takes 10 seconds, and it'free to use. it helps me find a better price my meds. with pharmacy partners nationwide, singlecare is saving mlions of americans money on their meds each day. i found a cheaper price with singlecare. yes, you did. see, give it a try. go to singlecare.com or download the free app today. right now get a free footlong at subway. like the subway series menu. buy one footlong in the app, get one free. for freeee. that's what i'm talking about. order in the subway app today. - [female narrator] five billion people lack access to safe surgery. thousands of children are suffering and dying from treatable causes. for 40 years, mercy ships has deployed floating hospitals to provide the free surgeries these children need. join us. together, we can give children the hope and healing they never thought possible. it's a mission powered by love, made possible by you. give today. my frequent heartburn had me taking antacid after antacid all day long but with prilosec otc just one pill a day blocks heartburn for a full 24 hours. for one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. with 30 grams of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks! uuuhhhh... here, i'll take that! woohoo! ensure max protein, 30 grams of protein, 1 gram of sugar. enter the $10,000 powered by protein max challenge. ♪ ♪ before my doctor and i chose breztri for my copd, i had bad days, (cough cough) flare-ups that could permanently damage my lungs. with breztri, things changed for me. breztri gave me better breathing. starting within 5 minutes, i noticed my lung function improved. it helped improve my symptoms, and breztri was even proven to reduce flare-ups, including those that could send me to the hospital. so now i look forward to more good days. breztri won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. it is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. don't take breztri more than prescribed. breztri may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. can't afford your medication? astrazeneca may be able to help. ask your doctor about breztri. try killing bugs the worry-free way. not the other way. zevo traps use light to attract and trap flying insects with no odor and no mess. they work continuously, so you don't have to. zevo. people-friendly. bug-deadly. you love rich, delicious ice cream. but your stomach doesn't. that disagreement ends right now. lactaid ice cream is the creamy, real ice cream you love that will never mess with your stomach. lactaid ice cream. we're getting a new look of video out of dixie county, florida where the center of hurricane idalia rolled through this morning. >> our affiliate has this. >> reporter: the center of the storm came through about an hour, hour and a half ago, that's when we saw things at the worst. we lost power. we saw some trees come down, a lot of wind, and some rain from time to time. but right now my concern, our concern here in this area of dixie county is going to be of steinhatchee, keaton beach, horseshoe beach, cedar key, those are the coastal towns. each of them has a couple hundred people who live there. but the homes are vulnerable, low lying and taking a beating. we were talking to the mayor of keaton beach. that's where landfall was recorded. he was looking at a live feed of the cameras there. 7, 8 feet of water at that time and the tide was still coming in. he's been mayor there for a long time. he's lived there for a long time. he says a lot of storms have come through this area, but he's never seen anything like that. >> we want to go back to now john berman. the last time we spoke with you, it seemed like the wind was picking up, the rain still coming down. what are the conditions like in tallahassee where you are? >> whatever band was getting us before seems to have moved through a little bit. the winds have died down for the time being and the rain which was pounding is now just a steady extreme drizzle, i would say. this as the hurricane, hurricane idalia, is beginning to move into georgia. the winds have crossed the border as it moves through and affects tens of thousands of people. even as it moves through, even as the eye has passed into georgia or what's left of the eye, it's still -- there is still extreme risk for storm surge, hundreds of miles away along the gulf coast as the tides continue to rise and as the winds are still blowing the water into shore, there are still areas that are seeing the storm surge get worse. let's go to tampa now. we're in different locations in tampa. carlos, first to you, what are you seeing? >> john, so we are just to the west of where derek van dam has been live the entire morning. we're in a neighborhood where we've seen some the worst flooding associated with this storm as well as the storm surge. we were trying to get out to pinellas county which is home to clear water and the st. pete area but we weren't able to do that because several of the bridges that connect the tampa bay area to pinellas county are closed because of this storm. you can see here behind me, what a lot of these homeowners are facing at this hour? this house has a dozen sandbags out in the front part of this house. because this is florida and we're close to the bay here, all of this water no doubt pushed its way in. if you go a little bit further out closer to the bay on that side, we spoke to one homeowner. he told us that the backyard of his house is flooded. if you can go to your right, there's a clearing here which you can see just how much water has been pushed out from the bay into this part of tampa bay. now, the flooding to the south of where i am which is just that way, we're talking about two to three blocks from here, we cannot get past that area because it wasn't safe. we saw a couple of search-and-rescue teams essentially staging around that part similar to what we saw last year with hurricane ian further south from this location is rescue teams, they start prepositioning in the event that some of these homeowners are unable to get out of their homes. it doesn't seem that's the situation at this hour, though, we are being told at least from what we've been able to see that tampa police, as well as some other search-and-rescue teams, they are on this side of west shore boulevard which is just to the west of where derek is right now. and they have teams in place in the event that someone does call 911. but right now, as we get this high tide and king tide moving in, you can see the water continues to push out and it's causing -- it's causing and leading to some serious flooding which, of course, is the concern that emergency officials have had the entire time since the storm made its way north. their concern was, the weather really isn't too bad because obviously the storm has passed further north of here. but because we're still seeing all of that strong current, we're still seeing some of that rain and we're seeing all of that water just being pushed into the tampa bay, we're going to still see some more flooding throughout the day. john? >> that's a great point you make there, carlos. even though the weather seems to be improving, the situation not yet at least. you need to stay vigilant. thank you very much. let's go to derek also in tampa. derek? >> reporter: yeah, john, we've been on this bay shore boulevard all morning watching the storm surge and the impacts here around the immediate coastline of the tampa area, and our viewers may not know this, but there is the port of tampa that's over my left shoulder directly about 10 miles behind me. this is a critical supply chain for the entire state of florida, including petroleum. 45% of the state's fuel comes through that port behind me. and we just so happened to find ourselves the ceo of the port of tampa, this is paul anderson, and appreciate you coming on with us today, a lot of people want to know how the storm is impacting the availability of fuel across the state. >> yeah, thanks, derek. i just returned from the port. it's less than a mile from here. our fuel terminals, we have six major terminals that serve about 17 counties for the state of florida. as you mentioned, about 45% of your state's fuel supply, that's for 22 million people. we had 140 million visitors last year. it's a very strategic asset for the state of florida. not just our community. and having just returned, we had hundreds of trucks staging at those terminals, literally waiting to receive fuel. they will then head back out. there is some flooding near the onramps, back onto the major arteries, i-4, the cross town expressway, and as soon as those are down and there's a break in that water, i know we're going to have some higher tides in about five hours from now. but they're going to start moving fuel. all of our terminals are open. the staff have been there since early this morning. i want to share that we're going to be distributing fuel to meet their needs as soon as possible. most stations receive fuel before the storm. and our port is full of fuel. >> are there currently any ships waiting to come in to port? >> yes, during this level of storm, the coast guard made the decision that we would move all vessels out of the port so they don't do damage if they break loose. there will be a -- pretty much a small fleet of vessels, tankers, they come from texas and louisiana. they will come in behind the storm as soon as we clear with the coast guard the operations of the canhannel ways, make sur they're clear. in the meantime, there are millions of barrels of fuel that can be distributed. >> but we know that the threats here aren't quite done yet. we understand that high tied is still yesterday to be realized. you have this combination of, you know, the supermoon we've been talking about that full moon and how that impacts the tides, but also the surge of water that's still -- that's going to take a long time to drain away from tampa bay and the greater eastern gulf of mexico. are you worried that this could potentially impact any of your oil supply if there's damage, per se, to your distribution platforms. >> well, you know, we prepare for the worst and hope for the best. that's out of your control. if there is tides that would -- we would have seen at the levels that were being called for yesterday that, unfortunately, have hit on the big bend coast, might have been a different story. we feel good. the tanks have containment barriers that are permanent around all of those assets. and we think we're going to be fine. again, some of it is out of our control. >> all right. paul anderson, he's the ceo of the port of tampa. it's about to rain. i think another feeder band is going to come in. i appreciate your time. thank you for joining us. i think it's important for you viewers to hear and this be re-i assured that the supply to fuel for the state of florida which largely comes from the port of tampa here, 45% of it, has significantly not been impacted by the storm. but there's still several hours of storm surge potential where we're standing now. john, you heard it from the man himself, paul anderson, that is good news. >> it is good news, because it's going to be needed in the recovery effort all up the coast into the big bend area where i am. thank you so much. all right, joining us now by phone is shelly who is the manager of a beach front motel on cedar key which has seen devastates storm surge. i understand, you evacuated. you are not on the key anymore. but what are you hearing about your motel? >> caller: it's flooded. everything is flooded. i've seen pictures of the tide coming in, the water is just -- it's everywhere. we have a guy there that's reporting. he's telling the story about it. and it's devastating. the pavilion of a different hotel is washed away and you just -- it's just -- i was watching the picture and is they're just -- it's awful. i was going to say -- >> you did say -- >> i was going to stay at the motel. >> you are at the motel? >> no, i was going to stay there and reside ide out the storm. but then we had the mandatory evacuation. everybody was telling me don't do it. i'm glad i didn't now. it's pretty bad. the pictures that i'm seeing -- >> i can imagine. >> it's terrible. i can imagine you're glad you're not there right now given the level of flooding. you did say you're speaking to someone who is there, the people who stayed behind, how are they? >> i've been checking on all of my people there, and so far, everybody is safe. they're just -- they were on the ground this morning when everything -- i guess we're waiting for high tide now. but it's -- from what the pictures that i've seen, all -- the whole town is flooded. down by the napa, 24, it looks devastating. the pictures look terrible. >> are you hearing that it is still getting worse? >> yes. right now the water is still coming in, but i don't know what time high tide is. that's what we're talking about, that there's still a high tide that could come in and the water is high and it's just -- it's flowing over. it's just -- it looks like a -- it looks like the gulf is through the town. >> talk to me more about that. because when people -- depending on where you live, when you hear flooding, you think a couple of inches of water in your basement. that's not what we're talking about here. you were talking about water over doorways, over buildings in some cases here. >> yes, i'm talking about a whole building just washed away. and it was a swing in the pavilion. it was a pavilion with a swing and it washed away. picnic tables, we just saw -- i just saw them floating down the street. and the water is rushing -- it's still doing it. i think early this morning was when it -- low tide. and now high tide is just about to -- i don't know what time it is. but it's supposed to hit again. and everything is floating. something was saying that the old houses with the bad storm in 1896, now they're saying that the houses are -- they're wondering if the water is just going to pick up the foundation and send them down first street. that was the last thing i saw. that was pretty devastating. >> everything is floating. words i think that describe hurricane idalia and the impact it's hafgving in some cases. so glad you were able to get to safety. i hope the people you're speaking to are okay. there are still several more hours of danger there. thank you for being with us in the best of luck and the days and weeks ahead. >> you're very welcome. thank you very much. bye-bye. >> all right. it just sounds devastating to hear the descriptions that she's delivering, everything is floating. buildings floating by. picnic benches floating by. it seems like the gulf is now just oversee dar key, is what she's describing, is what she's being told from the people who are still there. quite a situation and it's not over yet. >> i was -- john, thank you. i was struck by the descriptions as well. the picnic tables, the rushing water as she described, and she said she had initially planned to stay at her motel and decided to heed the warnings and evacuate and she is so glad that she did. check back with you soon. thank you, john. we're getting new images of hurricane idalia taken from the international space station and it really shows the sheer magnitude of the powerful storm from above. >> yeah, take a look at these pictures. this is how astronauts on the space station are seeing the storm as it churns across florida and soon into parts of georgia and the carolinas as well. really an impressive picture of a large and powerful storm. one that rapidly intensified and slammed into florida with very powerful winds and storm surge. stay with c"cnn news central." we're back in moments. 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how have conditions either improved or worsened? >> the brightest skies we've seen in some time as it's still raining here. you mentioned that hurricane idalia is now a category 1 hurricane as it moves into georgia. that's actually pretty impressive given that it's been inland now and made landfall around 8:00 a.m. it's been over land for a long time relatively speaking. still, a category 1 storm as it moves over areas and devastating freshwater flooding. but the concern in florida is still the storm surge along the west coast, the gulf coast of florida, and especially the big bend. let's talk about that. joining me now is the senior senator from the state of florida, marco rubio who i believe is in miami. senator, thank you so much for being with us. what are you hearing, what updates are you getting on the situation, especially along the coast where that storm surge is? >> first of all, i think the national weather service, the hurricane center deserves a lot of credit. they've improved on their forecast every year. and i think so far, not just where it's going to hit, but the intensity of it, the ability to predict intensity i think has been excellent. and they deserve that credit. i talked to the sheriff of taylor county, that's where keaton beach is early this morning, shortly after landfall. i was glad to see i could get through cell phone coverage. and at that time, they were dealing with the winds. i think the real concern i have obviously and hearing from the meteorologists and the experts is not so much the eye of the storm, but the sustained winds for some period of time and areas to the east of that storm and up north where you are. i believe you're in tallahassee where you have all of those -- this huge tree canopy that's vulnerable, that's never been tested by a storm of this magnitude. and you heard a lot about the storm surge. it's like a historic fishing village typeset setting. those places are going to be dramatically transformed as are a lot of areas on this path. it looks more like georgia than tropical south florida, for example. so this is -- we got a few more hours ahead here of wind. the only good news is that we avoided the worst-case scenario in tampa bay which is the one we're always afraid of. they're going to have storm surge there but it's not going to be the worst-case scenario. >> yeah, i didn't seem to make landfall in a populated area, but a very vulnerable area as you say. with the storm surge hitting steinhatchee. i was in taylor county yesterday. it was encouraging that you were able to make contact with the sheriff. his deputies were doing door to door last night trying to get people to evacuate to higher ground. you mentioned the national weather service and the warnings that were given. is it your sense that people are heeding these warnings when they're warned of the devastating storm surge that people now understanding what that means? >> well, two things, first is, i think that just based on what state officials and local officials have told us, there are always going to be people that stayed behind. i think that's true in taylor county. the good news is they know who these people are and where they live, the bad news, they get in trouble out there, no one is going to be able to get to them for quite some time. it's still listed as an experimental model, but they're relying more and more on it, it's the ability to predict storm surge. it's building into the way that we forecast these storm and is the way we advertise them to the public. for the first time hurricane seen, i've seen local outlets go to the storm surge projection before they go to the wind cone. i think that's encouraging. the wind is a dangerous thing. but it's that storm surge that i don't think was built into the way we analyze we think about storms in the past. i'm happy to see that's working itself into the forecast and it's proved quite accurate in predicting the danger and the right places to evacuate. >> you mentioned you were speaking to the sheriff in taylor county. have you heard of any people trapped at this point or loss of life? >> i have not. and that doesn't mean there isn't. obviously, as the storm blows through, you're going to lose power and cell connectivity. they were up to 300,000 people in the state without power. so it's possible, the calls haven't gone it. i'm not getting real-time information on that. the emergency operation center -- others at the state level. but it's almost certain that there won't be people out there that stayed behind that are going to get themselves into some trouble in the hours to come, unfortunately. >> senator rubio, it was mexico beach in 2018, i think it was. it was fort myers beach last year that had the storm surge events. now it's the big end area with the storm surge events. these low-lying coastal areas. and people do live there, but it's every year, every couple years where you're seeing this devastating destructive storm surge. how does that factor in to where people, do you think, choose to live or how they build along the florida gulf coast. >> yeah. well, what happens, unfortunately, from an economic standpoint, when a storm comes through, i'll give you an example, monroe county, it destroyed all the mobile home parks, everything that was down there back in 2018. and what's going to get rebuilt is not just going to be up to code. meaning up to modern code to withstand that kind of event, but it's going to be a lot more expensive because the cost of building it at that level. if you're the owner of a land that has a mobile home park and now you can sell it to someone who is going to develop it, dw you're going to go with the million dollar townhome offer. you can literally identify which were the house that is were build up to the modern code and which one were pre-existing and how they withstood the wind. the water event is a different dynamic. there's only so much you can do. but when you're talking about 7, 8 feet of storm surge. it's tough to build against that. and especially in the gulf of mexico. we have very -- i'm not a marine geologist, but i know there's a low shelf there. so the water piles up much faster and then you've got the inland flooding too. you've got significant rain events. so it's changing the character of these communities. you'll see that increasingly in fort myers beach as a result of last year's storm. >> senator marco rubio, we appreciate your time. thanks very much. >> all right. be safe. thank you. >> all right. that was senator marco rubio down in miami. miami has seen its share of hurricanes. he was talking about building codes there. i know you've lived in the area before. you can see in that area, the structures that were built prehurricane andrew and after hurricane andrew with the buildings codes. there's such a difference in terms of how things are built. that has to do mostly with wind. but the storm surge, it's hard to build anything that can withstand a storm surge of 10 to 15 feet. >> it's a great point, john. we were looking at video earlier in this block where you saw a home with a roof completely torn off. you could see inside of the home, you could see their bedroom. we had some other video that showed the rushing water and you can see the wind and the trees just really blowing around, quite violently. and this is the video that i was talking about. but it really gives you a sense of the destruction, damage and power behind the storm. >> and to the point that john and senator rubio were making the character of these communities, the composition, everything from building code, the materials used are likely to change as a result of a storm like this. one that is uncommon for the big bend region of florida. thanks so much. please stand by. we're going to be coming ba k to them throughout the hour. we're going to continue monitoring hurricane idalia as it makes its way across florida. this thing, it's making me get an ice bath again. what do you mean? 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