from tampa to tallahassee. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. you're in "the situation room." >> this is cnn breaking news. >> we are standing by for an urgent update from the governor of florida, ron desantis, on the hurricane disaster all along the state's gulf coast. this as hurricane idalia was just weakened into a tropical storm. but it is still packing a punch as it takes aim at georgia and south carolina. cnn correspondents are on the scene covering idalia's devastation in florida and the storm's assault on georgia happening right now. but first, let's go to john bierman in the city of perry. john, you just got there. what have you seen so far? >> reporter: yeah, alex, the storm made landfall on keaton beach. 18 miles due that way and then passed directly overhead here in perry. you can see some of the damage it did. i'm at roady's truck stop. you can see the wind just completely blew the awning over. it ripped up the brick there. twisted the metal. >> john, we have to go to governor desantis who's giving an update. >> and they probably gone through about 70% of the areas they need to to be able to check for people that are in distress and you know so far, all signs have been positive. there is of course a lot of debris to clean up but we will get working with that with the local communities to make sure that the roads are cleared and people can go back to their lives. as of 6:00 today, there are approximately 250,000 power outages reported across the state. since the storm hit. power's been restored to approximately 315,000 and that 250,000 number is actually a decline from what it was a few hours ago. so we appreciate the rapid attention to restoring power. clearly, the area that has the most significant percentage outages with those big bend counties that bore the brunt of the storm like columbia, madison, dixie. and people -- no shortage of fuel. we have more than enough fuel in the state of florida. if you're at a gas station that's not pumping it, largely is going to be a power issue. those that have generators can get that back up or when the power's restored but there's an abundance of fuel and we made sure to have that gone, ready to go. florida department of transportation has 224 cut and toss crews. thaifr been working to clear the roadways. the cedar key bridge has been cleared by fdot and residents, first responders and law enforcement can now pass. residents should follow the guidance of the local emergency and law enforcement personnel in terms of any type of restrictions that may be on that, but the bridge has been cleared by the state. all state bridges have been cleared. there is a 15-mile stretch of interstate 10 that is closed in madison county but fdot is working on that to have that back online by tonight. we have all resources have been deployed from urban search and rescue teams to florida national guard, the coast guard, the florida state guard, florida fish and wildlife. those are going to continue until there's no help needed. in terms of hospitals, in rural areas that received direct impacts, the facilities remain operational and open to the public and we're happy they were able to do that. throughout the state, there were ten evacuated hospitals. they reported minimal damage in nine of the ten will be at full operational status within the next 24 hours and working with the one remaining but we don't think it's going to take too much longer after that. after the storm, agency healthcare assessment teams must inspect healthcare facilities for sustained damage and they are in the process of making assessments for all evacuated healthcare facilities. our florida department of veterans affairs assisted one of florida's federally operated va hospitals with safely transferring veterans prior to the hurricane and we appreciate florida dva for stepping up in that. schools. 30 of the 52 school districts that closed due to the storm will reopen tomorrow and an additional eight school districts will reopen on friday. manny diaz is calling for the remaining school districts to try to get them open as soon as possible. we appreciate everybody's hard work. it's been a lot going on over these last few days. there's a lot to do but i think the quick response is helping everybody get back on their feet. okay, we're going to hear from some of the folks who have been involved in different areas of this response starting with kevin guthrie. >> thank you, governor. appreciate your continued support. >> that was the florida governor talking about the recovery efforts of his state in the wake of hurricane idalia, which is now a tropical storm. he said that of course the biggest impact was those big bend counties. that area where the florida panhandle meets the peninsula. he talked about those who are still without power. some 250,000 residents but that is actually a, that number has actually gone down. 316,000 residents had had their power restored. the governor going on to say that all of the bridges in the state have been cleared. i want to get back to john in the city of perry, florida. john, as we were saying, you have just arrived there. we can see the damage and destruction right behind you. describe the scene there for us. >> it's interesting. i saw governor desantis' motorcade driving to perry and out of perry so he saw this, too. this is the awning blown over by the hurricane which passed directly overhead here. it made landfall as a category 3 about 18 miles from here on the coast. with winds that must have been 105, 110 miles an hour. you can see the damage it did to the truck stop. all kinds of trees are down. it was a small storm in terms of size so the path of disruption fairly narrow but in that path, you see the exploded trees. trees that just don't exist anymore. they're just shredded. you see powerlines down. telephone poles ripped out of their foundation and we saw crews getting those wires bahck up. most of the gas stations from tallahassee to here were pumping gas. i was speaking to senator rubio today and he said he praised the national weather service for how accurate these forecasts have become and how much that helped prepare for this. the forecast for the last five days has almost been exactly where this storm made landfall so they were ready there and they've been ready here inland to get this recovery going as soon as they were able. that is what they're doing now. power still out in some places but people absolutely moving about, getting the trees out of the road, getting the leaves up off their lawn and they're ready to get back to work. >> it was remarkable to see all of those models in sync in terms of their predictions and just extraordinary scenes where you are seeing the roof of that rest stop on it side. terrific reporting. thank you so much. i want to go now to brian todd who is in tallahassee just north of that big bend region we were discussing where idalia made landfall. so, brian, i can see that damage behind you. give us the big picture assessment of how the destruction impacted the state from this hurricane. >> reporter: well, alex, very important piece of information from governor desantis just a moment ago was that the cedar key bridge is now reopened. cedar key saw its highest ever storm surge. 8 or 9 feet. people there were cut off. one resident there said the town doesn't like anything like it did but now the bridge has been reopened and first responders can get in. so that's going to be a critical factor in the hours ahead, just to see how much damage is there, if there's loss of life. again, one resident said they were worried about older residents in low lying areas there. not being accounted for. so we're going to get some critical information in the coming hours about cedar key. all state bridges according to the governor have been cleared. also, that stretch of i-10 was pretty much shutdown eastbound. they're working to reopen that by tonight but that's a major artery that remains clogged. some good news from the governor. 250,000 customers without power in florida. t that's a slight drop from an hour ago. in georgia, 112,000. so close to 460,000 customers in florida and georgia without power. the aftermath of this, now starting to dig out from 6,000 homes inundated in pascoe county north of tampa. real devastation in that county. you had two weather related deaths. separate car accidents. two men killed. those were the first known fatalities from the storm. also some reports of looting in taylor county, which was very hard hit. the governor alluded to that. so law enforcement has its work cut out for them in places like taylor county. and still, this storm is threatening, excuse me, large swaths of georgia and south carolina with really vicious, devastating winds and a possible flooding and it's only a tropical storm there. but still the storm has packed so much punch and is moving so fast that those areas in georgia and south carolina, especially near the coast, still pretty vulnerable right now. it was also interesting the governor said ten evacuated hospitals had to be shutdown during the storm. they hope to get nine of those back in tonight. so that's an update there regarding the hospitals. so that's kind of what we're looking at. in leon county, still 30,000 customers without power and they're telling us in these areas where i am, still you've got to be careful navigating the streets. there are a lot of downed powerlines. that's a real issue. people are a little free and loose going around the streets. they should not be. there's still a lot of danger on the streets that people may not see. >> brian, you did highlight the fears about cedar key. we'll be speaking with the sheriff where cedar key is in just a moment. he told us that they were bracing for something like they had never seen before. brian todd in tallahassee, thank you very much. now i want to go over to the cnn severe weather center where meteorologist chad myers has been tracking idalia for the past few days. what is the latest forecast? >> it is still a 70 mile per hour tropical storm. no longer a hurricane. hasn't been over water for a long time. it's been over land. the power of the storm has really gone down. something the governor talked about, there's a 15-mile stretch of interstate 10 that is closed between tallahassee and lake city. both directions. there are so many trees down that the roadway is still closed. traveling across east and west across northern panhandle or the big bend area of florida is virtually at a standstill right now. people are trying to take back roads. i'm looking at google earth. they're all red which means traffic is horrible. maybe put that off for a day until crews can get that tree damage down and out of the way so we can get this back opened up. what's going on right now? the storm is no longer a hurricane but it will still cause some beach erosion here there's also the potential for tornados. i believe litchfield beach area, especially west of it, may have had a tornado on the ground. i saw debris in the air near rotation but cannot find any pictures on the internet of any significant damage. maybe just tree limbs or leaves picked up by a small little spin up. that's what we can expect today. here are the storms as they come on shore. there's north myrtle beach seeing a healthy little storm system come on shore. i would have red boxes on here if there were tornado warnings and there are not. doesn't mean you should get out of the way of these. still lightning and wind from these outer bands and yes, almost 500,000 customers without power here in parts of florida, georgia, and even south carolina combined right now. powerlines are going back up, limbs are coming down. that means the trucks can get their buckets back up and put those lines up but it will take some time for those one or two or three customers that are out on the end of the line. that could take weeks. here's your rainfall in the carolinas. that could cause flooding. really worried about that after dark. you can't see the road is flooded and you drive into it so be careful. >> danger and destruction in at least four states. chad, thank you very much. florida emergency responders are now racing to assist residents endangered by idalia's rampage especially in the hard hit big bend region of florida. joined by the sheriff of levy county. thank you so much for joining us. again, we spoke to you as the storm was bearing down on that big bend area of florida. you told us this storm would be like nothing your county has ever seen before. so what are conditions there right now? >> actually, the weather's beautiful. sunshining again. rain is out of here. we have been blessed. we, fortunately and unfortunately for my neighbors north up, are blessed the storm is gone and it's further north. ended up putting us just outside of the cone on the right side, the east side of the storm, which was not really favorable to us either with the storm surges. what we ended up with is we didn't have the hurricane force winds thankfully. still had the surge and historical level of 6.8 feet and plus we had a high tide today at 2:00 that brought in water. so those were pretty much new records for us here but thankfully, we didn't have the wind. it was fairly quick moving and we had to deal with the storm surge. what it has allowed us to do is now the bridge is open to cedar key, we immediately and the yankee town area which was heavily hit, we began search and rescue fairly quickly after the storm passed today in those areas with my deputies. and their skips and airboats and we were able to rescue a few people that had stayed there. you know, we're fortunate today that both cedar key and the yankee town area, only been made aware two minor injuries. i think those were some falls that those stayed in their home, water coming into their homes. we, cedar key is a resilient community. many of these storms and actually in reality, even though we've had historic storm surge today that they're resilient. it hit a lot of our businesses and homes but they will come back and they already are. they're working hard. we have some extra help in. our florida sheriff association task force is amazing in florida. share together and help each other out. we have a group of about 40 special deputies from polk county with us to help both in security and in further search and rescue and even some of the clean up that we'll be doing fairly immediately. so we couldn't ask for any better result for us with what we were facing. we were prepared but we were prepared for the worst and again, we were very blessed to come out in the shape we're in. >> we certainly saw how afraid and nervous you were for your community. that is such a relief that you seem to have dodged the worst of this and we're thankful for that as well as for your time. sheriff, thank you very much. >> thank you. just ahead, we are tracking breaks news on tropical storm idalia as it makes its way to georgia. we'll have a live report from savannah, georgia, and hear from a mayor from an island off the georgia coast which is off idalia's sights. you're in "the situation room."" into a low-rate personal loan from sofi. get a personal loan with low low fixed rates,, and borrow up to $100k. sofi getet your money right. at the alzheimer's sociation walk to end alzheimer's, this is why we walk. ♪ they're why we walk. ♪ we walk in the alzheimer's association walk to end alzheimer's because we're getting closer to beating this disease. join us. (josh allen) is this your plan to watch the game today? (hero fan) i have to watch my neighbors' nfl sunday ticket. (josh allen) it's not your best plan. but you know what is? myplan from verizon. (vo) football season is here. get nfl sunday ticket from youtubetv on us. a $449 value. plus, get a free samsung galaxy z flip5. only on verizon. being middle class right now, it's tough making ends meet for sure. republicans in congress say if we just cut taxes even more for the biggest corporations the money will eventually someday trickle trickle down to you. right. joe biden would rather just stop those corporations from charging so damn much. capping the cost of drugs like insulin. cracking down on surprise medical bills and all those crazy junk fees. there's more work to do. tell the president to keep lowering costs for middle class families. (light acoustic music plays) (eagle screeches) (energetic music plays) there he is! it's right there! ♪ oh, he's straight ahead. he's straight ahead. straight ahead. go go go. ♪ cover more ground in the kia sportage turbo-hybrid. kia. movement that inspires. my a1c was up here; now, it's down with rybelsus®. his a1c? it's down with rybelsus®. my doctor told me rybelsus® lowered a1c better than a leading branded pill and that people taking rybelsus® lost more weight. i got to my a1c goal and lost some weight too. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. gallbladder problems may occur. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. need to get your a1c down? you may pay as little as $10 per prescription. as florida reels from hurricane idalia, the georgia coast is now in the cross hairs of the weakened storm. ryan, what are the conditions there? >> we've been thinking the storm would be coming in about next hour or so. so far, no heavy winds or rain that have been blowing through. i think the biggest gust has been about 45 miles per hour but this is the famous river street. it's almost deserted at this point. the folks here really heeded the warnings and got out of the way because they were kconcerned th storm was going to bring a lot of water to this area. as we walk toward the river, you can see businesses have really prepared. there are sandbags all along this area to make sure that the water that they were expecting from the river didn't go in these businesses and we've talked to people who worked around here their entire lives. they were concerned about the water and storm surge. the one thing they did was closed the port, which is out here, and they shut down the bridges, which is just over there. so that's been shut down since 2:00. the airport, all flights have been canceled and everybody's sort of wondering whether or not at 7:00, the rain and winds are going to come in. look at what we're dealing with now. there's barely any wind and the water looks so calm out here. this is the calmest we've seen the water. so i can tell you people have been cheering at the fact they've seen this hurricane sort of break up. they're hoping the worst is past. there are power outages and looks like the tcurfew is going to be pulled back at this point. so far, it looks like savannah may dodge the bullet on this one. >> let's hope. it is certainly a waiting game and this storm is still packing a punch. ryan young in savannah, georgia. for more, we're joins by the mayor of tybee island in georgia. thank you so much for being with us. we know you are bracing for idalia. what are the conditions there right now? >> right now, we're more calmer than we had anticipated. we were predicted to get the highest and most severe winds and flooding between 5:00 and 10:00 tonight. so we still have a stretch to go. the winds are very high but fortunately we haven't had, we did have a report of someone who was injured whith a sign that fell on them. i think we'll have minor damages but right now, we're concerned about the flooding of the highway 80, which is the road to the mainland. at high tide, it often does have water that prohibits passage at certain points and with a high tide and the full moon that we're expecting tonight, we're very, very -- and the predicted 10 plus foot tide, we really are holding, keep our fingers crossed that that won't be too bad. if it is, we have the chatham county police and our tybee police will be closing the road to make sure that there's no damages or danger and we'll open it whenever it's safe. but right now, we're doing okay. we're doing better than our neighboring island, but i think it's, the winds are still moving east and we're in kind of a precarious situation with franklin still out in the atlantic. so we always prepare for the worst and pray and hope for the best. our residents and our visitors and our businesses are working together with our critical workforce to do everything that we can to encourage people to stay off the streets and take precaution and stay safe. that's our goal. >> and we are certainly hoping that they heed your warning and wishing you all the best as that storm blows through, mayor shirley sessions. thank you very much. >> thank you. coming up, we will go live to the national hurricane center for a new read on the danger from idalia this hour and then senator republican leader, mitch mcconnell, appear to freeze up while speaking with reporters after a similar incident just last month. demand... customer ...in n real time. (jen) so we partner with verizon to take our operations to thee next level. (marquis) with a custom m private 5g network. (ella) with verizon business, we get more control of production, efficiencies, and greater agility. (marquis) so our customers get what they want, when they want it. (jen) it's not just a network. it's enterprise intelligence. (vo) learn more. it's your vision, it's your verizon. ♪ ♪ wake up, gotta go! c'mon, c'mon. -gracie, c'mon. let's go! guys, c'mon! mom, c'mon! mia! [ engine revving ] ♪ ♪ my favorite color is... because, it's like a family thing! [ engine revving ] ♪ ♪ made it! mom! leave running behind, behind. the new turbocharged volkswagen atlas. does life beautifully. when migraine strikes. are the tradeoffs of treating worth it? ubrelvy is another option. it quickly stops migraine in its tracks. do not take with strong cyp3a4 inhibitors. allergic reactions to ubrelvy can happen. most common side effects were nausea and sleepiness. ask about ubrelvy. (fisher investments) it's easy to think that all money managers are pretty much the same, but at fisher investments we're clearly different. (other money manager) different how? you sell high commission investment products, right? (fisher investments) nope. fisher avoids them. (other money manager) well, you must earn commissions on trades. (fisher investments) never at fisher. (other money manager) ok, then you probably sneak in some hidden and layered fees. (fisher investments) no. we structure our fees so we do better when our clients do better. that might be why most of our clients come from other money managers. at fisher investments, we're clearly different. after cooking a delicious chicken cheddar broccoli recipe, you will want to delete all your delivery apps. because nothing beats a perfect combo of sweet tomatoes and smooth, silky zucchini. knorr taste combos. it's not fast food, but it's soooo good. ♪ ♪ >> woman: why did we choose safelite? >> vo: for us, driving around is the only way we can get our baby to sleep, so when our windshield cracked, we needed it fixed right. we went to safelite.com. there's no one else we'd trust. their experts replaced our windshield, and recalibrated our car's advanced safety system. they focus on our safety... so we can focus on this little guy. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ we are back with our breaking news coverage of the hurricane disaster in florida as a weakened idalia is now targeting georgia and the carolinas. president biden now reaching out to the governors in the impacted states and offering help. >> teams on the ground are going to continue to work with the first responders in florida, georgia, south carolina, north carolina, to get people to safety. you've all been reporting this, you've seen it on television. there are a number of rescues already taken place as i walked out of my office a moment ago to begin to recover from the impacts of this storm. i let each governor i spoke with know if there's anything, anything the states need right now, i'm ready to mobilize that support what they need. >> let's dgo live to one of the florida cities that are struggling. gloria is in crystal river. what have you been seeing on the ground there? >> reporter: as you can tell, the flooding is a significant factor. we are along one of the main streets here in crystal river and you can see it's still significantly flooded. the only vehicles that have been able to get across this intersection here and through this water are those that are high vehicles that have big wheels. now, if you look in this direction, this is where the river and the gulf of mexico meet at the end there and you can see how much water has come in. all of this water has been pushing inland and the concern is that if the tide continues to increase, even though the storm is over, still very much a factor to watch out for here. if any more of this water keeps pushing inland, it's going to be getting into some of these homes that are in this area. now, i've spoken to people who live here including a woman who's lived here her whole life. she's 64 years old. she's never seen the water come up this high and certainly not on this street. here in crystal river, they've done several water rescues. people who have had to be evacuated from their homes. the local fire department deploying airboats to the area. once you get over to that way, the water begins to recede but it's been just really rapidly shifting with every passing hour as the tide moves in and out and more of this water comes in. so even though the worst of idalia has made it out of florida, people here are still very much dealing with its aftermath and the recovery, the clean up, the assessment of damage is likely still a long while away. >> it's a lot of water and only the vehicles with the biggest tires can get through. gloria, thanks very much. let's go live to the national hurricane center and speak with its deputy director, jamie. thanks for being back with us. we saw all that water in chrystl river. where are you seeing the worst storm surge impact right now? >> the worst of it looks like it was near where it made landfall. keaton beach. eastward, affecting these really small communities like horseshoe beach and cedar key. it's too early to have an accurate assessment of how much surge occurred there because we don't have the communication but all indications are it was the once in a lifetime event. this hurricane, now a tropical storm, making its way into georgia, north into south carolina will also brush up against north carolina. how dangerous is it now? >> it's a really good question. this red area that you see behind me is where we think the heaviest rainfall and flood from rainfall is going to occur over the next several hours. probably in south carolina, it's already starting to occur and we end up losing a lot of people in these situations because they think that the downgrade to, from a hurricane to a tropical storm means that the risk has lessened but in this case, in these areas, the risk is really high. this is a good night not to be driving about. when the sun goes down, you won't be able to see flooded roads. a really good night to stay inside. >> jamie, we heard such dire warnings from you at the national hurricane center, from local officials, all over florida. was the impact in the end, particularly to the big bend region, as bad as you feared as when we spoke yesterday? >> yeah, for the communities just to the east of where it made landfall, those small communities, we haven't seen, we probably won't know just how bad it was until tomorrow and i think when we finally get in there and see the devastation, it's going to be as exactly as we advertised. >> yeah. officials still very much trying to reach some of those cut off communities. thank you very much. >> thank you. just ahead, we'll have more on idalia as the storm makes its way across georgia and into the carolinas and we're also following news about the senate's top republican. senator mcconnell, who appeared to freeze while speaking with reporters again raising serious questions about his health. we'll be right back. helping businesses both largege and small, communities and the people who live and w work there grow and thrive. we're proud to call these places home too. they're where we put down roots, and where together, we work to help move everyone's financial goals forward. pnc bank. hon? woo-hoo. you've gotta see this. the weathertech's here. (wow, that was fast.) [helicopter hovering] weathertech is the ultimate protection for your hicle. laser-measured floorliners, no drill mudflap cargoliner, bumpstep, seat protector and cupfone. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ weathertech. [ applause ] the day you get your clearchoice dental implants changes your struggle with missing teeth forever. it changes how you eat, how you feel, and how you enjoy life. it changes your smile and how others smile at you. clearchoice network doctors have changed over 100,000 lives with dental implants, and they can change yours, too. because a clearchoice day changes every day. schedule a free consultation. it's easy to get lost in investment research. introducing j.p. morgan personal advisors. hey david. connect with an advisor to create your personalized plan. let's find the right investments for your goals okay, great. j.p. morgan wealth management. ( ♪ ♪ ) ( ♪ ♪ ) experience the sanctuary of handsfree highway driving with lincoln bluecruise. it's the final days of the lincoln summer invitation event. right now, get 3.9% apr and $1000 trade assist cash on a new 2023 lincoln. we'll continue to monitor tropical storm idalia for the latest developments as the storm tearing across the southeast, but for now, we're also following another story. senator minority leader mitch mcconnell appearing to have another freezing episode for the second time in two months while speaking with reporters today after giving a speech in kentucky. >> sorry, had a hard time hear hearing you. >> that's okay. what are your thoughts on running for re-election? >> about what? oh, that's a -- >> did you hear the question, senator? running for re-election in 2026? >> yes. >> all right, i'm sorry, we're going to need a minute. >> did you hear the question? >> come with us. >> okay. >> scary and upsetting moment. i'm joined by dr. sanjay gupta as well as our cnn chief congressional correspondent, manu raji. what is the senator's office saying about this incident today? >> well, there haven't been many details about the cause and the reason for the freeze moment we saw that looked a lot like the moment we saw back in july when mitch mcconnell froze for roughly 30 seconds on capitol hill. today, freezing for roughly 30 seconds in speaking to reporters in kentucky. they said he felt lightheaded and that's what led to the pause. they said he did consult with a physician in the aftermath of that episode but didn't give any indication about what that physician said before he went to another event later in the day. now, mitch mcconnell has had a number of health episodes this year. he's 81 years old. in march, he fell, hit his head. had a concussion. out for several weeks. he is a childhood survivor of polio so walks slowly. i asked senator mcconnell after the july incident whether this incident here, freezing moment on capitol hill, had anything to do with the fall in march. he would not say at that time other than the fact he is feeling fine and that's what his office is also saying. he is feeling fine and tried to indicate he's still moving ahead with his schedule. >> sanjay, what do you make of that explanation that he was simply lightheaded? >> it's a possibility. there's a long list of possibilities here. i think what we saw was pretty concerning. most people could see that. it was similar to what we saw in july where there was this freezing. it's the freezing of the speech. it's the freezing of the body. it's the tight sort of grasping of the side of the lecturn. one of his aides tried to come over and lift his arm. he was grasping tightly. his face even has this mask like feature to it. so there's a lot of things going on there. you know, people will talk about could this be some sort of vascular thing, like a transient attack, perhaps, although it's about 30 seconds he's frozen. a seizure, possibly something like that. it could be something like when somebody comes off of their medications for things like parkinson's when the medication start to wear off, they may start to have freezing episodes as well. it was about 30 seconds so it comes and it goes pretty rapidly. one of the things that was really noticeable is that when his aides approached him, they did not seem so surprised by this. got the impression that happens much more often. they didn't seem particularly alarmed by it. if it was the first time or an unknown thing. i think there would have probably been more of a rush or against in getting him to a doctor more quickly. last time, we're not sure he went to go see a doctor. he did this time. whatever this is, it's not unusual for him and his staff. >> yeah. that staffer didn't pull him away. he stood there and she asked if there were any more questions. but sanjay, this is the second incident like this in two months. but there have been other health scares for senator mcconnell. what else has he been through? >> yeah, there's been a timeline of things that we sort of looked at. if you go back over time, he's had these falls that manu has mentioned. he's had difficulty clearly hearing reporters' questions, going back to earlier in the summer. he fell in july. he's had significant falls in the past where he's dislocated his shoulder then most recently, these quote unquote freezing episodes. again, i want to emphasize this is what we see you know, just as we were talking about, that the aides are not that surprised by this. his doctors may not be surprised by this either. these types of things may be happening more often. this may be something they're aware of. again, for example, p parkinsonianism, it gets better but again, it is a long list that can cause those symptoms. >> manu, it is summer recess on capitol hill, but are you hearing anything else from the senator's fellow lawmakers? >> yeah, senator mcconnell was on the phone with a number of his key allies after this episode. he did talk to john thune as well as -- both are part of his leadership team. thune could be a successor for senator mcconnell if he decides not to be lead er in the next congress. still an open question. both told me tonight that senator mcconnell sounded fine. he was in good spirits and they say they look forward to seeing him next week. >> all right. we certainly hope he's okay and wish senator mcconnell all the best. dr. gupta, manu raju, thank you very much. just ahead, an update from one of the most badly damaged communities from the disaster zone in florida. don't let student loan debt hold you back. refi at sofi.com. you coululd save thousands and get to your goals faster. sofi. get your money right. >> woman: why did we choose safelite? we were loading our suv when... crack! safelite came right to us, and we could see exactly when they'd arrive th a replacement we could trust. that's service the way we want it >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite repla. ♪ (pensive music) (footsteps crunching) (pensive music) (birds tweeting) (pensive music) (broom sweeping) - [narrator] one in five children worldwide are faced with the reality of living without food. no family dinners, no special treats, no full bellies. all around the world, parents are struggling to feed their children. toddlers are suffering from acute malnutrition, which stunts their growth. kids are forced to drop out of school so they can help support their families. covid, conflict, inflation and climate have ignited the worst famine in our lifetime. and we're fed up. fed up with the fact that hunger robs children of their childhood. fed up with the lack of progress. fed up with the injustice. help us brighten the lives of children all over the world by visiting getfedupnow.org. for as little as $10 a month, you can join save the children as we support children and families in desperate need of our help. now is the time to get fed up and give back. when you join the cause, your $10 monthly donation can help communities in need of life-saving treatments and nutrients, prevent children from dropping out of school. support our work with communities and governments to help children go from short-term surviving to long-term thriving. and now thanks to special government grants, every dollar you give before december 31st can multiply up to 10 times the impact. that means more food, water, medicine and help for kids around the world. you'll also receive a free tote bag to share your support for children in need. childhood without food is unimaginable. get fed up. call us now or visit getfedupnow.org today. (josh allen) is this your plan to watch the game today? (hero fan) i have to watch my neighbors' nfl sunday ticket. (josh allen) it's not your best plan. but you know what is? myplan from verizon. (vo) football season is here. get nfl sunday ticket from youtubetv on us. a $449 value. plus, get a free samsung galaxy z flip5. only on verizon. - [narrator] every day, our lives are filled with choices, both simple and life-changing. what's not a choice? addiction to opioids like fentanyl. but even with opioid use disorder, you still have a choice. by choosing treatment, you choose family, your career and your life on your terms. choose change, california, and find medically proven treatment options at choosechangeca.org. right now, we want to check back on one of the florida communities hardest hit by hurricane idalia. cnn's john berman has been assessing the damage in perry, florida. so, john, you just drove in. what did you see as you drove through town? >> reporter: we were in tallahassee overnight. it's supposed to be an hour, an hour and 20 minute drive from tallahassee. it took us much longer. we left right after the rains cleared. and on the roads, as you get closer here to perry, and perry the storm passed right overhead here, we saw trees down all along the roadway. we saw awnings ripped apart. and then ultimately we got here to perry. the storm made landfall in keaton beach, 18 miles south of here on the coast, and passed directly overhead. in perry you can see the m mcdonald's sign. it was about 85 miles per hour and caused all kinds of damage, telephone poles pulled off their mounts and lots and lots of tree damage. we found this gas station, a truck stop actually. it's rodie's truck stop. and the diesel station where the trucks drive through just was ripped up, completely ripped up and pushed over with the -- i can't get over the bricks, just the brick work and the twisted metal pulled off its foundations and now leaning completely on its side. you can see the force of even the 85-mile-an-hour winds how damaging that can be. and i think it's important to remember, the wind damage wasn't the real problem from hurricane idalia. it wasn't the winds or the rains, per se, it was the storm surge a little bit south of here that was potentially devastating and record-breaking. and those fishing communities, which are much more sparsely populated than perry, down by the water you're talking about several hundred people. but those fishing communities are dealing with the cleanup from that enormous storm surge, and that will take some time. >> which is why there are so many questions about those coastal communities, that water so, so dangerous. john berman, thank you so much. and if you are looking for information about how you can help hurricane idalia relief efforts, go to cnn.com/impact. just ahead, we'll keep an eye on tropical storm idalia. we're also following the news of rudy giuliani losing a defamation case connected to the 2020 election, which could potentially cost him millions of dollars in damages. stay with cnn. t things aren't worth compromising. at fararmers, we offer both quality insurance and great savings. (crowd cheers) here, , take mine. (fararmers mnemonic) (ella) fashion moves fast. setting trends is our business. we need to scale with customer demand... ...in real time. (jen) so we partner with vn to takour operations to the next level. (marqu) with a custom private 5g network. (ella) with verizon business, we get more control of production, efficiencies, and greater agility. (marquis) so our customers get what they want, when they want it. (jen) it's not just a network. it's enterprise intelligence. (vo) learn more. it's your vision, it's your verizon. ♪ ♪ wake up, gotta go! c'mon, c'mon. -gracie, c'mon. let's go! guys, c'mon! mom, c'mon! mia! [ engine revving ] ♪ ♪ my favorite color is... because, it's like a family thing! [ engine revving ] ♪ ♪ made it! mom! leave running behind, behind. the new turbocharged volkswagen atlas. does life beautifully. we, the moms who have lost our children to social media harms. we, we, we have had... enough. our politicians have failed. working for lobbyists, not us. we need your voice to pass the kids online safety act this fall. join us. join us. join us. join us. ♪ let's lead the way. yes, i need a trim. i just want to be able to cut the damage. we tried dove instead. so, still need that trim? oh my gosh! i am actually shocked i don't need a haircut. don't trim daily damage. stop it with dove. we are tracking idalia for new developments in the storm, now taking aim at the atlantic coast of georgia and the carolinas. but other news we're following tonight, former trump attorney rudy giuliani losing a defamation lawsuit filed against him by two georgia election workers. cnn political correspondent sara murray has been covering this story. sara, take us through this decision and what happens next for giuliani. >> reporter: well, the judge essentially said that rudy giuliani forfeits the case, and then loses by default because he wasn't complying with what he needed to, to provide discovery in this case to ruby freeman and shaye moss, the two election workers from georgia that giuliani spoke about publicly and made claims that they were involved in ballot tampering, which were essentially based on nothing. and the judge said, look, because giuliani is not complying with this discovery either willfully or because he believes that he can't, then, essentially, they win by default. what that means is that this is now going to go to a trial to determine what damages they could be awarded. so that could happen later this year or earlier next year. and it could be an expensive loss for giuliani. >> why would giuliani, sara, get tripped up over a compliance issue? >> one of the things that his team cited were cost concerns about being able to go through whatever he needed to go through in order to comply with this discovery. they also pointed out that some of giuliani's electronics had been seized previously in another case. this was not an excuse the judge was buying. she pointed out that giuliani was an attorney and also raised the possibility that maybe he was not complying on purpose to try to minimize some other risks he could have in litigation. >> sara, in the fulton county case, two defendants just asked the judge for separate trials. who are they, and what is the argument that they're making? >> well, they're ken chesebro and sidney powell, these are the two folks who've asked for speedy trials and asked to be severed from the other defendants including president trump in this case. and essentially they want to go it alone. and this gives you an idea of how difficult it's going to be for fulton county district attorney fani willis to go through with her goal of trying all 19 of these folks together. it's a little bit like herding cats. you have some folks who are trying to move their case to federal court. you have other people like ken chesebro and sidney powell who are saying we want to move ahead on this speedy trial time line, we're ready to go to trial essentially in october. and then you have the trump team that's been very adamant in their filings so far that they have no interest in trying to go to trial in this case in october, and would fight any effort by the judge to make them do so. so it'll be interesting to see how this case plays out, where people are going to get tried, and who could end up being tried together or separately. >> we have 19 codefendants, some, like mark meadows, pushing to be tried in federal court rather than in georgia state court. so how is that calendar in fulton county looking right now? >> well, right now for ken chesebro, he's on this speedy trial time line so he's looking at a potential october trial date. fani willis has said i want to try all of the defendants in this case in october of this year. the trump team has said essentially absolutely not. and mark meadows has said i don't even want to be in this state court, i want to be in federal court, i want to make the argument i should be tried in federal court. and, frankly, he's going to try to get those charges dismissed if he's able to move his case to federal court. so there are a lot of legal questions that need to be ironed out. and one of them is if meadows is successful, do all the other defendants go with him to federal court? does some of this state court fighting we're seeing become moot? >> mark meadows leading that charge, making the argument that everything he did was under the purview of his role as a federal official, as chief of staff to president trump. sara murray, thank you very much. and if you're looking for more information about how you can help hurricane idalia relief efforts, go to cnn.com/impact. i'm alex marquardt in "the situation room." thank you so much for watching. "erin burnett outfront" starts "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com "outfront" next, idalia leaving havoc in its path. new video into "outfront" showing the power of the storm surge as it rushed ashore. and that is just the beginning of this storm as it continues to moveor