the shore of the coast guard helicopters and the like . >> is this an appropriate s response from the electric companies? >> i think both. it's very expensive to secure these power lines. both in terms of the actual structure. we look out there and see these large towers carrying multiple wires, and the wires are that thick. and they are carrying an awful lot of energy. and sometimes those entire towers come down. i am not expert enough to know when it's appropriate to shut down that line, and that's one of the reasons why i think having the technology to have these meters on each of these facilities tellhouse where the danger is. so i can can picture -- i'm beyond my expertise here. >> we also know how many americans have died, how many number of americans have -- for example, more forest has been burned to the ground since i have been doing this than the entire square miles of the stit of maryland. imagine the entire state of maryland burning to the ground. so i think as we try to harden the capacity to transmit energy, it's not irrational to make a judgment that you may have to in a certain circumstance shut off the power. i just don't know know enough to know the detail of how to do that. that's why we're starting off talking about the need to put these meters so we know where the power is going down. you maybe able to shut off parts. i don't know know enough to know that. >> are you concerned at all about the potential government shutdown would impact the recovery efforts? and what's your reaction to house republican who is say there's an investigation into the federal response in maui? >> i welcome a federal response in maui. i think they should go out and talk to every elect ed official from the mayors to the governors to the congresspersons. i welcome it. once they go out and see it, i'm sure they will provide the money. thank you all very much. >> by the way, i just heard coming out and mitch is a friend, as you know. not a joke. i know people don't believe that's the case, but we have had disagreements politically, but he's a good friend. i'm going to try to get in touch with him later this afternoon. i don't know enough to know. thank you. >> so a couple things to dial with here. the president heads towards a cabinet meeting to deal not only with what has been happening in florida and is now happening in georgia with hurricane idalia currently a category 1. this also has to deal with what has happened on maui. he was asked a question there about mitch mcconnell, who appeared to have another incident where he froze while speaking with reporters in kentucky. he was asked about reelection. and he didn't respond. he didn't seem capable of answering. the president saying that he was going to go ahead and try to reach out to the senator. so obviously, concerns that it's serious. >> emphasizing that the two of them are friends. he had updates on the federal response to hurricane idalia, but also a lebngthy on the federal response to maui. talking about $400 million has been allocated for removing debris in maui. contaminating the waters. he says we're going to be with you every step of the way, that's pledged to the people of hawaii. on florida, he said no signs of politics between him and ron desantis, who is running for president for the gop nomination. and note d that president biden approved an early request for an emergency decklaration for florida. we'll continue to follow all those updates there. we'll update you on the moment with mitch mcconnell laurt this hour. our breaking news coverage of hurricane idalia will continue right now. flash flooding, a major threat as idalia moves across south georgia as a category 1. some parts of the state getting 8 inches of rain in the last several hours. really an extraordinary amount of rain with much more expected as the storm crosses into south carolina. hundreds of thousands of customers in georgia and florida are currently without power. parts of interstate 10 are shut down, and in florida, ron desantis says the city of perry has really suffered the most damage. just take a look at this video out of perry as the eye of the storm passed over here. the strong winds pushing over a gas station awning. we are expect ing an update fro governor desantis later this hour. we're going to bring that to you live. we have carlos suarez on scene in florida. some better weather behind you, but they are dealing with some flooding there. >> reporter: that's exactly right. so we are in gulf port. that's in pinellas county. the cleanup effort out here really is now getting underway with. the two businesses on the corner here, this is a restaurant and then there's a pet supply store next door. the folks that own those two businesses came back to take a look at some of the damage here. they said it wasn't too bad. both of those businesses got several inches of water from the bay. just to my left out here, some of the storm surge, as you can see, is very much still around. high tide is underway here in this part of pinellas county. we don't expect this water level to recede until 7:00 or 8:00 tonight. the mayor of gulf port tells me that right now it seems a lot of the damage to this part of pinellas county was the result of all of that flooding. it really wasn't much of a wind event. though the public works department tells us that much of the roads going up and down where we are right now are still pretty much impassable. >> carlos, thank you so much. we have chad myers in the weather center. tell us, we're still seeing it churn over florida. >> also we're probably going to see some salt water flooding. charleston floods on a sunny day. and we're talking about the king tides that are still around. this is the threat at this point in time. 8 to 10 inches of rainfall coming down in places that are a little bit toep graphic. but as you push some rain towards columbia, that's going to have to run towards the ocean at some point. so on shore flow here and here. still seeing that wind trying to blow water into naples. international airport ls had the highest water level of the storm so far. but you still have that push, the wind right on shore keeping that number at 5 feet. so we know that 5 feet there are some waters in roadways. so one category 1, but then the theme is, it follows the coastline for a long time. we're going to have this on shore flow through south carolina. possibly all the way as far as north carolina. and that repeated on shore flow, the waves, guess what with else is out here in the atlantic. the waves from franklin, which was 150 mile-per-hour-storm, are going to be added at times to the waves that come in from idalia. that's about the sites of what you'll see today. no warnings out there right now. but certainly still some of the bigger sells are coming on shore in the low country of south carolina. brunswick to the west of you, that's where the eye is. the rainfall coming down at rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour. and power lines are still coming down. the wasn't is still blowing. >> you make a good point. i didn't think about i-dlidalia meeting franklin. something to keep conscious of. >> we are awaiting another update from governor desantis on the latest recovery efforts. in one good sign, we know the tampa airport sustained had minimal damage and it's planning to reopen to inbound flights at 4:00 p.m. eastern. let's talk now with laura wilcox, the assistant emergency management director for pasco county. thank you so much for take ing e time to be with us. the airport partially opening next hour. talk to us a little bit about what they are dealing with. there were rescue teams getting calls from people who decided not to evacuate. they needed some medical care or to be rescued. what can you tell us? >> right around 6:00 a.m. this morning, we started to see the storm surge coming in. we were fortunate that overnight, okay. but as soon as the water started to rise, we had 6,000 homes inundate d with water. many of them had major damage. that means we have water that have gone into these homes. >> are you getting the help we you're need. we heard from the president describing all sorts of federal help for those involved including federal disaster declaration for the state of florida as well as federal personnel coming in. is your community getting the help you need from outside to respond and recover from this? >> we have been very blessed. everybody has been taking a proactive approach. we had representatives from the state that have been with us throughout the entire storm and fema representatives already here in the eoc out helping conduct damage assessments now. >> what is the advice you're giving people right now? we have been talking about this. people make it through the storm. they think the danger is no longer, that most of the danger is passed, but there's a lot of danger after a storm as well. what do you want people to know? >> we still have a lot of water coming into the tampa bay area. make sure you're not driving through any standing water. turn around, don't drown. if you need help, reach out to your local community. we have a lot of resources come ing into the area. and we're here to help. >> very good news. thank you so much for taking the time. we know that you're incredibly busy there. thank you. >> thank you. >> for a lot of those folks, their work is just beginning. we'll continue monitoring the latest on hu hawaii. the storm surge has topped some feet in parts of florida. stay with cnn's special coverage. we'll be right back. our ears connect us to the moments that matter. give them the nutrients they need with lipo. it's formulated with ingredients clinically shown to protect your ears from dizziness ear ringing, and even heang loss. ner miss a moment with lipo flavonoid. 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>> pretty much most of the damage we sustained was pretty minimal. a lot of limbs down in the area. currently, we're still without power. there's crews and even some contract workers in town trying to get power restored. but overall, we faired pretty well. most of what i have seen is just damage from limbs down, but we haven't sustained any major damage, at least not directly in the area where i'm at in chiefland. >> are you getting any word from the coastal areas? i ask because it seems like they had really good luck with evacuating people from cedar key and other neighboring areas to you, but that also means that there aren't really a lot of eyes back in those areas. there's no wifi and koms up for people to report what the damage is like. are you getting any word of what it's like there. >> it's clear that we faired pretty well. i'm in the city limits itself. how much more towards the coast, they sustained substantially more damage from the waters rising. some of that area is still not able to get in. we were going to visit this morning just to do the neighborly thing, but we weren't able to get in there. the bridge still has access issues. so they sustained a little bit more damage down there. most people aprovided by the evacuation information. a lot of people live in mobile homes. so most people got out of their homes. we have two rvs parks. and we haven't had too much of a problem. the biggest issue that we have right now is limbs down. we don't have power in quite a few areas, but that's bye-bye what's going on directly here in chiefland. the coastal area has bigger issues with rwater rising. >> chris jones, it's good to hear from you. good to hear that you may have faired a little better than expected. let's hope the good news keeps coming in. we wish you the best of luck. >> i appreciate it. we have cnn's ivan rodriguez in one of the hardest hit areas, which is crystal river. i think it's about high tide there. can you tell us what you're seeing? >> reporter: that's right. high tide is expected around 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. we have seen the water level considerably drop down below my ankle one thing that is new as of seconds ago, we were reporting last time all those rescue boats, two of them in the water here in this neighborhood, they have just been pulled out. in total for the last two hours, more than that, we saw them rescue three separate groups. one couple with their dog and some belongings. and then another couple as well. in one of the trips, they brought a big bird cage with them. it's unknown if they are going to another area in crystal river or if they are going to another location along the coast. this area isn't alone in terms of rescue efforts. the fire rescue teams rescued more than 75 people, but behind me here is state highway 19. still seeing a lot of action. we're seeing utility trucks driving up and down this route. made a little easier now that the water levels have been decreasing. >> ivan rodriguez, thank you for joining us. and right now, hurricane idalia is hovering over georgia making its way towards south carolina after dumping dangerous levels of rain in florida. this in florida at the governor's mansion. an oak triee fell not too far from the home. we heard from the governor that all inside were safe. we'll have more on the breaking news, just ahead. mlb chooses t-mobile for business for 5g solutions... ...to not only enhance the fan experience, but to advance how thgame is played. now's the time to seee thewhat america'se, largest 5g network can do r your business. my brain. so i choose new neuriva ultra. unlike some others, it supports 7 brain health indicators, including mental alertness from one serving. to help keep me sharp. try new neuriva ultra. think bigger. 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you need to provide documents about this or that or the other thing. he just didn't do it. why not just do it? >> he cited a number of issues, including the feds had taken a number of his electronics relating to another investigation. there was also cost concerns. donald trump came in and helped him with some of the recordkeeping cost concerns, and the judge did note you're an attorney. so she was not buying the excuses he was give ing for whye was not able to provide a more fulsome discovery opt the tombline expected in this case. >> sara murray, thank you for the latest on that. this just in. lawyers for the new york attorney general's office allege that donald trump inflated his net worth by as much as $2.2 billion all-in-one year. this is part of the new york a.g.'s lawsuit against the former president. his adult sons and the trump organization. cnn is following this. explain the legal ramifications of that. >> so this is the new york attorney general civil fraud lawsuit, where they allege trump inflated his value of his golf course, his properties, including mar-a-lago, in order to obtain more favorable loan rates and insurance rates from lenders and insurers. so they are laying out additional details in the court file ing today in which they allege that in 2014, trump had inflated the value of his net worth by $2.2 billion. they also say that over a ten-year period from 2011 to 2021 that based on their corrections of what they say were inaccurate, that would reduce the net worth by 17 to 39% in each year or between $812 million to $2.2 billion, depending on the year. they also go on to say the documents leave no shred of doubt that the statements of financial condition do not even remotely reflect the estimated current value of his assets as they would trade between market participants. a big question has been how much is trump really worth. the a a.g.'s office said they did the math. in those years, did they say that trump's net worth exceeded $2.6 billion. for each of those years, trump said he was worth $4 billion. in two of those years, he claimed $6.1 billion each year. that gets to the heart of the lawsuit. they made the filings in a motion for a partial judgment, where they want the judge to rule on the findings in this case. there's really no need to go to trial here. now trump's team has denied any wrong doing or that he manipulated his financial statements. his lawyers will make their motions for summary judgment, which should become public in the next couple days the judge is not expected to rule on this until just before the trial. that is set for october 2nd. >> thank you so much. now to a story that we are following out of kentucky where senate minority leader mitch mcconnell appeared to freeze, again, while he was speaking with reporters. this happened about a month ago as well. you may remember that he just suddenly stopped speaking during a news conference there on capitol hill late last month. manu raju is following this. tell us what happened. >> reporter: after that initial freezing episode back in july, the senate then recessed. senators went back home. since then, he's been traveling across the state giving speeches and events like he did today in covington, where he spoke to a local chamber of commerce talking about a wide range of issues and taking some questions from the crowd. afterwards, he had a press conference with reporters. at that point, he was asked a question about whether he would run for reelection in 2026. similar to that episode in july, again, freezed for about 30 seconds. >> i'm sorry. i had a hard time hearing you. >> a what are your thoughts about running for reelection? >> did you hear tor? running for reelection if 2026? >> yes. >> we're going to need a minute. senator? >> somebody else have a question? please speak up. >> now the 81-year-old has had other health episodes this year. notably in march, he was at a washington hotel and then he fell. he hit his head, had a concussion, broke ribs, was hospitalized for some time and had to recover at a rehab fult and came back to the senate. since then, there's been two other falling episodes that we have reported that occurred as well. one in finland and another one at reagan national airport here in washington. when that episode happened in july, i asked whether or not this was relate d at all to tha fall that happened in march. he said he felt fine. his office said he was light head asked moved on. but again, undoubtedly, this will raise questions about his future. he's the longest serving party leader in history. he indicated he will continue to serve through the rest of this congress, uncertain what will happen in the next congress or if he run again. >> we should acknowledge that's extremely difficult to watch. difficult to watch, as difficult to watch as the episode in july. anybody with an elderly relative might have experienced something similar here. as you mentioned, this is not the first time beyond these two incidents of him freezing on camera, there was a fall and other i object stances. you have asked his team about has the answer been the same? or did they just say he was tired and try to move on wi? >> a mcconnell aid did tell me that the leader would see a doctor and get some prudential measure to see a physician ask consult with a physician, but he feels fine. so there's an expectation that some time today he will get checked out by a doctor. he felt momentarily light headed and paused during his press conference today. that's a similar explanation as we heard back in july. the office said he was light headed. republicans told me that the leader indicated he was dehydrated and that's what essentially there was a reason for that pause. so uncertain what the doctor will tell him this afternoon, but again, an unnerving episode as the leader appearing to freeze and answering questions from reporters. >> certainly is. manu raju live from the capitol, thank you. we have hutch more news ahead here on "cnn news central." ♪ tourists tourists that turn into scientists. tourists photographing thousands ofiles ofemote coral reefs. that can be analyzed ai in real time. ♪ so researchers can identify which areas are at risk. and help life underwater flourish. ♪ your brain is an amazing thing. but as you get older, it naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. the secret is an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. mass general brigham -- when you need some of the brightest minds in medicine. this is a leading healthcare system with five nationally ranked hospitals, including two world-renowned academic medical centers. in boston, where biotech innovates daily and our doctors teach at harvard medical school and the physicians doing the world-changing research are the ones providing care. ♪ there's only one mass general brigham. 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(laughing) woo! today florida governor ron desantis confirmed that the the national guard has been deplay ploied to assist with search and rescue efforts after hurricane idalia came through florida. it's still going through georgia on ward to south carolina right now. another group we see stepping in to help after these major storms is the united navy. and members of this nonprofit are on site. that's the storm sushlg they faced north of tampa earlier today. those pictures that you're seeing there, we're joined by the vice president and spokesman for the ewe nated kay january navy. give us a sense of the damage you're seeing. >> so far, nothing too catastrophic. we have not been dispatched for any type of water rescues yet. we do have airboat teams on site should that call come. florida is our biggest chapter out of louisiana. they have been affected so much. >> you get there quickly, what you said, you have not been called for any water rescues. is that good news? is that a sign that folks did heed those evacuation orders and get out? >> that could be it. but also the flooding that we're seeing videos of coming back from it our team and what we're hearing on the ground is that it's not that high. so the only time there's been any extractions we have heard of has been when water gets into the house. there might be elderly or somebody in the vulnerable population. it's been neighbor to neighbor type of movement and evacuations. that's the best kinds. people know each other and know the area. when they can handle that themselves, things really have to get bad for us to show up. >> in dixie county, that's very good news. and then they were no longer aable to see the damage. are there any areas like that where we don't quite have eyes, where people may actually be cut off and at this point in time, you don't have residents that are able to get back and survey the damage. >> for situations like that, we have a drone team. they are on site there. the problem is that the government put a flight restriction for uass, so they haven't been able to fly as close to the area as we would like. they can survey things, but our drones have heavy lift capabilities. they have payload devices where we can drop a cell phone to somebody that may have lost power and their phone is out of charge. so they can communicate with officials and let them know what they need. but the storm surge was a good 9 or 10 feet coming in front of idalia, but the good part about the way the to pop ra if i of florida, the water recedes back into the ocean. that causes more problems in louisiana. >> good to see it. we have been hearing that from some of the mayors we have been talking to. thank you so much. and good luck, as you do the work you do. we appreciate it. >> thank you. hurricane idalia is now moving through georgia. savannah officials say the worst may still be yet to come. we'll take you there live, coming up. how white do you think your teeth really are? let's try the tissue test. ooof, still yellow. whitening toothpaste can only do so much. there's toothpte white, and there's crest 3d whestrips white. souch whiter! est. i got into debt in college and, no matter how much i paid, it followed me everywhere. so i consolidated it into a low-rate personal loan from sofi. get a personal loan with low fixed rates. borrow up to $100k. and no fees required. sofi. get your money right. what do we always say, son? liberty mutual customizes your car insurance... so you only pay for what you need. that's my boy. ♪ stay off the freeways! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ listen, your deodorant just has to work. i use secret aluminum free. just swipe and it lasts all day. secret helps eliminate odor, instead of just masking it. and hours later, i still smell fresh. secret works! ohhh yesss. ♪ - [narrator] stimulant use disorder is a disease, not a choice, but getting help and finding treatment for your meth or cocaine addiction is up to you. treatment for stimulant use disorder is often covered through medi-cal, medicare, and many private insurance plans. choose change california. find proven treatment options like contingency management that are right for you at choosechangeca.org. (gentle music) hurricane idalia has killed two people and has forced scores of residents in florida to deal without power at this point in time. fire teams saving more than 75 people in the st. petersburg area alone. more than 4500 people are in shelters throughout the state. storm surge records in multiple cities have been broken. >> water levels rose up to nine feet in just two hours. georgia facing the brunt of this. idalia barreling through the peach state as a category 1 storm. ryan young is in san vsavannah, georgia. i wonder what savannah is experiencing right now. >> reporter: we're waiting right now, jim. watching and waiting to see what happens. we're getting the gusts of wind that push through. there have been power outages reported throughout this little coast area. but the watch is here on the water. what they're worried about is this water rising high enough during high tide that it affects a lot of businesses along the riverfront. one of the impacts we have seen so far is that's the talmage bridge. they covered it because they were worried about the winds. a lot of the hotels are packed with tourists, it is a holiday weekend. they're trying to protect the riverfront. you see the dam put up there. that's an aqua dam that can stop some of the water coming in. so they're worried tonight with the heavy rain they were expecting that could impact this, and that's why they put up these orange barriers that are fortified with wood on the back side to stop that water as it seeps in. you have millions of dollars of local businesses here that are concerned about what the next steps would be. when you talk about the wind, and the fact there has been so much heavy rain in this area, you could have large trees falling down. talk about the power out anages going around the area. so far they have been able to respond to those. they were thinking about doing a curfew. they're putting that on a pause for a little bit. on top of that, a lot of flights into the airport have been canceled. if you walk back this direction, i want to show you this, you can see how they're trying to save the businesses. look down this way here. this is a whole water dam inflated with water to make sure the water can't break the barrier. it is around 7:00 when we expect the heavy rain and coming in here. we'll be watching and waiting. >> that is quite a contraption. hopefully that stands up. ryan young, thank you so much. >> clever one. used for water, to hold back the water. in georgia, bordering florida, more than half the households are without power. emergency officials are directing people to shelter in place, also this is crucial, stay off the roads, flooding is such a danger in the wake of this. >> joining us by phone is paige dukes. tell us what you're experiencing right now in your county. >> right now we're moving from the response to the recovery phase. most of the weather has moved out. currently 97% of our residents are without power. but we have outside crews that are coming in, chainsaw crews and heavy equipment that is coming in. we have got several hundred areas across the community where we have road, streets and bridges that are blocked. the power lines complicate that. our message is still, please remain in place. most of our businesses, schools, local governments will have their offices closed tomorrow as well since the power is out and it is still not safe for our citizens to move about our community. we have a tremendous team of first responders that has spent the last three days leading up to the storm and our emergency operation center, you're community was very prepared. we had seen severe weather before, but certainly nothing of this magnitude in a very, very long time. we are glad to be moving into the recovery phase and we're just asking our residents here to be patient with us as we coordinate the cleanup of lowndes county. >> power lines go down, they're dangerous, don't want to be moving around. 97% of the residents without power. that sounds like a lot of work to restore power if trees took down the lines. >> it is. not only do we have power lines down. what is most concerning right now is a large part of our power infrastructure is out. substations are out, transforms that are out and it is going to take some time for the power crews to be able to get to those locations and make sure they have got the equipment and the parts they need to be able to repair or replace that infrastructure. it is not as simple a cleanup as maybe -- >> i think we're having some technical difficulties unfortunately. >> that happens in the storm. sometimes it is the signal. paige dukes from lowndes county, 97% of the people without power and that shows you what kind of damage a storm like this can leave behind. >> the governor said be ready to lose your power and that's what he meant right there. for more information on how you can help hurricane idalia relief efforts, go to cnn.com/impact or text hurricane to 707070 to donate. >> stay with cnn for all the breaking news on hurricane idalia. 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