Code Lumen Tv good morning. You are live in the cnn newsroom. Im jim acosta in washington. We begin with breaking News Right now, Hurricane Helene is churning in the Gulf Mexico is currently a category two strength, but is expected to become a major hurricane before it slams into florida. Later tonight, officials are warning of lifethreatening Storm Surges of up to 20 feet plus new York City mayor Eric Adams indicted sources say the mayor is now facing at least one federal what criminal charge this morning, investigators took his phone and are searching his residence and later on defending a racist post. Reads the Gop Congressman Clay higgins stands by his ugly comments, Calling Haitian Migrants Thugs and Quote Slapstick gangsters Breaking News but we do begin with the breaking News Right now, a tropical storm conditions are lashing florida. It is going to get worse though as Hurricane Helene barrels toward the southeastern united states, we are seeing flooding already hours before the storm makes landfall. Cnn has reporters covering every angle at this hour want to go to gulfport and cnns Carlos Suarez, the Storm Surge there are expected to reach up to eight feet are already seeing flooding. Carlos, what can you show us jim. Good morning. So in the last hour, Emergency Officials here in Pinellas County have expressed a great deal of concern with the fact that folks that live in this part of gulfport have not evacuated and youre taking a look at the reason why this storm is still to the southwest of us and its not really going to hit us directly, but were already seeing some of the flooding associated with it, which youre taking a look at right now, is essentially some of the rain that moves in through the area overnight. And this morning, coupled with the fact that we are in High Tide and so when those two things happen, youre already starting to see some of the flooding in this part of Pinellas County. Now, just two right of me is the bay itself and the entire Morning Weve been keeping a close eye on it because it continues to creep in as High Tide makes its way in, as this storm gets closer, as you said, jim, we are expecting that Storm Surge to be anywhere between four to six feet and so Emergency Officials here in Pinellas County really hidden been trying to tell folks, you really should get to higher ground, you should move inland. In fact, that just to the east of us in Hillsborough County, which is home to tampa, there isnt a mandatory Evacuation Order that was put in Place Yesterday for folks that live in the bay area, kind of the immediate area that goes right up against the water there because is that part of the Hillsborough County is also expected to see this four to six foot Storm Surge later this afternoon and into tomorrow, jim, this is my third time in the last three years, been at this location two years ago, Storm Hit to the south. This area flooded last year, the Storm Hit to the north, and this area flooded and the Expectation Question is that tonight the same thing will happen here. Jim all right. Carlos suarez in gulfport, florida. Thank you so much, carlos. Lets go to cnns John Berman and tallahassee. John, you covered a lot of these storms. Its getting messy already yeah. Were seeing the Outer Bands right now. Its been raining for the last couple hours or so when its only going to get worse. Remarkable pictures from Carlos Suarez in gulfport where theyre seeing six feet of Storm Surge about 20 miles south of me, right along the big Bend Area of florida. They could get up to 20 feet of Storm Surge and the Weather Service calls that simply unsurvivable. The situation here in tallahassee is a little different, but also very, very dangerous. This city with a population of 200,000 storms have passed over before, but in their records, never before at full hurricane strength. And that is what is forecast to happen at least right now, the storm is moving so quickly, you wont have time to slow down when it passes over tallahassee. And that could be a real problem because this city has so many of the huge, Gorgeous Live Oak Trees the County Administrator of Leon County where tallahassee is told me a short time ago, they expect thousands of trees down, hundreds of roads closed. Its going to be quite a dangerous situation in this city, not just tonight when the Storm Hits and passes over, maybe even a direct hit on tallahassee. But for the next few days, its going to be very difficult to get around lots of power outages, very difficult even to merely get by jinn. All right. John berman, stay safe. Thanks so so much for that coverage. We really appreciate it. Lets go to cnn. Meteorologist elisa rafah. Shes tracking all of this in the cnn weather center. At least one eye here, John Berman talking about 20 foot Storm Surges. It reminds me of hurricane katrina. I covered that in mississippi when the Storm Surge got around 30 feet as john was saying, if you were on the coast, you live anywhere near the beach that is unsurvivable. That coastal areas become like a Washing Machine and it just grinds up everything in its path. How bad could it get, could get like that. And some of these areas of the Big Bend of florida yes, that is what the national Hurricane Center is worried about using wording like catastrophic, unsurvivable. That is why you have to evacuate is because of the Storm Surge. Right now, we have a category two hurricane, what, 100 mile per hour winds still sitting south . Apalachicola. But again, well continue to intensify as we go through the day today. We already have tornado watches in effect for parts of the carolinas, georgia and florida, because well have some Tornado Spin up as the Outer Bands move on shore already have some Tornado Warnings near charlotte this morning. Heres a look at that Track Hurricane warnings, Apalachicola Up through town glassy, even inching into georgia where we are looking at a major lease, at least category three hurricane that can make landfall. Tropical Storm Force winds plow through georgia could cause a lot of problems even in atlanta hears that unsurvivable Storm Surge, again, up to 20 feet. That is why you need to evacuate. We also have these hurricaneforce its wins that will extend up to 400 miles out. So just lots of impacts across the southeast, jim . Yeah, very scary stuff. John carlos and elisa. Thanks to all he really appreciate it. Lets bring in someone who knows about hurricanes all too well, democratic Congressman Jared Moskowitz of florida used to serve as the States Emergency Management director. Congressman. Good morning. How worried are you about the storm yeah. Im worried about the storm. Im worried about it from multiple fronts, jim. I mean, obviously lets start with the Storm Surge. We always like to focus on the wind, but it is the Storm Surge. It is the water that winds up killing the majority of the people. And so listen if you are in low lying area, if you are in in a Flood Zone of you are in a Mobile Home and you live along that coast where theyre predicting 15 to 20 feet of Storm Surge, please leave. Please go to a shelter. Please go to a friends house. Just please get out of Harms Way it is unsurvivable. There are pet shelters. Bring your pets. Thats mandatory in florida and so look, the state is ready we are prepared. Obviously, this is a state thats been hit. This area specifically, unfortunately, several hurricanes over the last five years, michael and a dahlia specifically i feel bad for the people of the panhandle of florida has one of the best Emergency Management departments in the country and all i ask is that the residents heed the warnings of the Florida Partner emerged amendment and the local Emergency Management directors yeah you mentioned. Hurricane michael. I mean, this is this has been happening over and over in that part of florida how does helene comparative some of these others that youve seen hit the state i mean, people might look at the Hurricane Forecast right now and say, oh, its a category two, i can ride this out. Folks need to understand this is projected to become a major hurricane. And so i mean this, this could be right up there with some of the big ones that have hit that part of the state. Yeah. Again, jim, sometimes people focus on these lines like, oh, its gonna be a strong cat two or a Week Cat three, that five or ten miles an Hour Difference Isnt going to make a difference when it comes to the Storm Surge right . So look, i did to Hurricane Michael Recovery Efforts for the state of florida. This hurricane could exceed in search, we could say a higher surge with this hurricane and even Hurricane Michael did in Mexico Beach 20 feet would be higher. And so listen, i again, i want people who live in these areas please heed the warnings. Please Pay Attention please listen again. The difference in this storm and some other storms is this is a big storm so also, even if youre not in the cone, if youre not going to be in the eye, that doesnt mean that youre not going to see tropical Storm Force winds for hundreds of miles outside of the center. So were going to have impacts all over the state. Youre seeing those impacts and Pinellas County already with flooding, youre going to see that all along up the coast into the Big Bend. And so now is the time obviously to either get out and hunker down, get your last supplies if you dont have them, the storm is going moving in pretty quickly. And obviously id be remiss if i didnt say the same thing about the residence of georgia, please Pay Attention. This is gonna be some of the strongest winds coming into georgia as its moving very quickly please heed those warnings. Please get your supplies yeah, it could be very dangerous as it heads up into the southeast, youre absolutely right. I do want to ask you about the investigation of the first Trump Assassination Attempt. While we have you right now, the Task Force youre on is holding its first hearing about what happened in butler, pennsylvania i do want to ask you, what are you hoping to hear from authorities . Well todays hearing, jim is from local Law Enforcement, and so were going to hear the perspective from the men and women on the ground who quite frankly watch the Secret Service failed, tried to warn the Secret Service on what was happening. Were going to talk about communication failures. Were going to talk about the perimeter but look, i never thought id be a pointed to an Assassination Taskforce in my first two years, let alone while serving on that taskforce, have a second Assassination Attempt of former president. This has been a bipartisan effort that is super serious you saw just the other day, a unanimous vote in the house. Unanimous vote in the senate to make sure that President Trump has the protection that he needs an attack on President Trump is an attack on all america and so we got to get to the bottom of this on a bipartisan basis, and we got to solve the problems that the Secret Service, it could be a resource issue. But i also think its a Policy And Protocol issue. And sometimes you dont know when a system is going to fail until it gets tested. And so i look forward to listening to the men and women that were on the ground that day. And i do want to play a little bit of sound from what weve heard so far, the there and get your response. This tragedy, the very real threat to democracy of our nation escaped that day i think we realized it was entirely preventable Edge Security vulnerabilities not existed. It is entirely plausible he might not even have attempted the shooting and would have returned home much trouble is the Secret Service in right now as an agency is this just a oneoff or are there systemic problems that need to be dealt with at the agency . Well, look, i want to i want to wait till we get all the information, i mean, but i think the american people are starting to draw a conclusion that there are systemic issues at the Secret Service. I think the second attempt, even know obviously there was an agent on the ground when i wanna give credit to who saw the gunman . Prevented that and that agent deserves all of that credit. I think as a unit, the Secret Service, i think the american people has lost faith in it thats why we want to do this Task Force and get it right, jim, to restore faith in our institution. Thats why getting information to the american people make sure were communicating with the american people on what were learning as we learn it. Its so important thats why the Task Force and the chairman is talking about that people should be able to go to a rally in this country, listen to the president ial candidate of choice, and go home. Today, we had a person killed at that rally thats not what should happen in america. And i would be remiss if i didnt Say Jim is someone who is from the City Of Parchman who graduated Margaret Stoneman douglas high school. People should be able to go to send their kids to school and have those kids home. That same day as well absolutely. Youre absolutely right about that. Congressman Jared Moskowitz of Florida Thanks very much for your time this morning. Really appreciate it. Thanks, jim. All right. More Breaking News this morning. Soon we will learn what federal criminal charges new York Mayor Eric Adams is facing prosecutors are expected to hold a News Conference in the next hour earlier this morning, federal investigators searched the Mayors Residence and served him with a summons. Theres new video just into cnn as those investigators his lawyers said, authorities seized his phone. Thats the mega sudden the indictment follows a monthslong federal investigation over allegations as campaign conspired with the Turkish Government to receive illegal donations. Mayor adams has denied any wrongdoing. And heres how he responded last night. Its charges will, be entirely false based on lax but they would not be surprising always knew, that if i stood my ground, all of you, that i would be a target and he target. I became and sources tell cnn the mayor is expected to have several days to turn himself in, alright, still to come this Hour Fight with full force. Thats the message from israeli prime Minister Benjamin german netanyahu as the u. S. And several of its allies call for a ceasefire across the israel, lebanon border, a former Defense Secretary william cohen. He will join me areas right there. Hell join me in just a few moments to talk about all of that and as we were just mentioning a few moments ago, we are tracking the developments from and for a cane helene, as the storm inches closer to landfall in florida, stay with us as this dangerous Hurricane Heads towards the Gulf Coast is over. Tim Walz And J. D. Vance in their first and only face facetoface debate, and cnn has covered with the best political team in the business a cnn special event. But Vice President ial debate, tuesday at nine on cnn hi, My Name is Damian Clark and if he had both Medicare And Medicaid, i have some really encouraging news that youll definitely want to hear. 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